Christmas Season guitar sales are around the corner and you could be getting free press to promote your cigar box guitars.
You just need to start on it now.
This made the front page of my local newspaper... >>>
"Cigar-Box Guitarist Goes with Crowd's Flow"
The article didn't happen on its own. I didn't just get a call out-of-the-blue from a reporter.
No...I sent them press releases to promote myself and they called back because they thought the story was interesting.
I laughed when I saw the article on the front page and joked that it must have been a slow news day! At the same time, the paper was grateful to have something different to fill the empty space of their daily rag.
I have three or four press releases I keep in my computer and I prep for the next month's shows, I send them out to every newspaper, radio station and media outlet in the area. I do it like clockwork...they must get sent for each show.
If you're a guitar builder or musician, slow news days can be your best friends! this photo above is proof. Consider this: Imagine what was going thru the editor's mind when he walked into the newsroom that morning, faced with a blank page to fill and absolutely no fun news in the queue. At 10am, an email comes across his desk about an upcoming concert featuring a guy who plays homemade cigar box guitars and sings thru a tin can microphone. "Here, run with this," he says as he throws the information on a young journalist's desk.
I sent that press release on a Tuesday morning at 10am. I received a call within two hours from the journalist. Two days later, my story was sitting on the front page of the paper.
In this era of Facebook and social media, many of us tend to forget the old "dinosaur media."
The fact is, these journalists are waiting for your story. They wake up each morning and face a blank page, dead airwaves or open TV slots and they're desperate for something interesting?
Do you do something interesting? Of course you do! You're in the world of cigar box guitars! Would you like the media to notice you? Learn to write a press release.
- Start with this great article on how to write a press release. It was written by the newspeople at CBS News.
- Do your homework. Find unique angles on your story (maybe ask friends for outside viewpoint which can be better than your own) and make several drafts.
- Get some high resolution photos that you can attach to the email. (Newspapers require photos to be 300dpi in size. Don't know what that is? Google it.) The photos don't have to be from a pro studio. Just make them interesting.
Once you have your press release ready, make sure to email it to the editors and writers 3-4 weeks prior to any event or concert you're having. If you are trying to promote your cigar box guitar business for the Christmas season, GET YOUR RELEASES OUT BY THE END OF OCTOBER! Then re-send it again every two weeks. (Yes, the same exact press release. Resend that sucker!) The more media outlets you hit, the better chances you have in snagging a story.
Now go get famous!
Replies
very clever usage of free press:)
Good advice, Shane!