Monday, March 19th, 2007
Preparing A Professional Promotional Package... Part 3
Part 3: The Cover Letter
Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. All impossible scenarios are possible if you choose only to see a problem as a challenging opportunity...
The cover letter is the only personalized piece of your promotion package. It's your chance to state your goals (i.e., "We are currently seeking an agent or management") or, you can inject a little humor (i.e., "We are now booking our World Tour," or "We would like to be offered a large sum of money from your company"), and an opportunity to throw in a little hype if you feel so inclined. However, as it is with any other business letter, it is best to be brief, courteous, and to the point.
If you're not particularly comfortable with your humor or writing style, and you feel that attempting to write a professional business letter might be getting you in over your head, then by all means... keep it short.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with choosing to write a formal business letter, especially if you are sending out a "blind" mailing to recipients you've never met before. A formal business letter is probably overkill for the promoter at a local rock club, but the music director of a radio station, or a potential buyer, would appreciate the professional touch. Even though you may cringe at the thought of having to compose a dry, boring letter, don't think that having a professional business approach in any way detracts from your image as "the most outrageous party band." Even the most outrageous big-name acts - the ones seen in national magazines, on television talk shows and such, don't get that kind of mainstream exposure by having their PR rep mailing out "totally outrageous" press kits. Behind every hotel-trashing rock band you'll likely find a fairly conservative business approach to public relations.
This is not to say that publicists who have a good working relationship with their contacts never send out any outrageous, or totally informal, press releases - in fact, they do, and some of the most successful PR people get fantastic results with some of the most un-businesslike approaches. In the PR world, however, most of the very successful and powerful people got there because of many good working relationships and personal contacts. Their relationships have been built up over years of near-daily contact. These are not your traditional business associations.
In the case of an unknown artist sending out entirely unsolicited materials, the totally informal approach is not the correct one. To be honest, asking anyone to consider your unsolicited material is an imposition to begin with. Essentially, you are asking for the recipient to gamble his or her valuable time away, on the chance that they will find you to be exactly the act they have been searching for! Given these circumstances, you are receiving a huge favor having this person review your materials... the least you can do is be polite, concise, and to the point.
It is a common misconception that a promo package, particularly for a new artist, needs to stand out from the rest by being the biggest, brightest, most unusual one in the pile... In practice, though, the one that gets the most attention is the one that says "I realize that you're busy, and to get right to the point... Here's who we are, and what we have to offer. Thank you very much for your time."
There is one last item to consider... a fact sheet. This is exactly what the name implies. A fact sheet containing no hype, no salesmanship, and no filler... just a concise overview of the factual information of who and what you are. For a band or group project, it's the place to list individual members' names, instruments played, and musical backgrounds (i.e., "Dan's previous band spent two months opening up for Nora Jones on her American tour last year," etc.). For solo artists, the focus will be on the specifics of personal achievements. There are no hard and fast rules on what exactly should be included in a fact sheet, but in general, it should at least include...
Hometown of the artist... Member's names and instruments played... Highlight information... Tour dates & upcoming shows... Contact information for Manager and/or Agent... Contact information for Record Label (if applicable)... Producer and/or production show associations.
The fact sheet can contain just about any relevant information you would like, as long as it is, indeed, fact... "We got a standing ovation at every show last year" may or may not be entirely factual, however, "The band played over 100 concerts last year..." is much more appropriate. In many cases, the facts might be more impressive than any hype you can come up with, because you won't risk losing any credibility by sticking with hard facts (the implausible retelling of your glorious conquests won't fool anyone).
Your cover letter/fact sheet is not the place to write a story... it's the place for others to gather some background information when they are writing your story. (i.e., "From his earliest days as a Starbucks employee, to the first roadhouse tour across America that brought him/her to the attention of Las Vegas, etc., etc...." The fact sheet is a tool to help media types look like they have a clue what they're talking about! It's an equally important tool for promoters, potential management, and everyone else, as well. They need to know where you've been, what you've done, what kinds of audiences you've played to, what media exposure you've had... The fact sheet is the place to outline the highlights of your career, or, at the very least, to introduce your fake stage names to the world (no-one needs to know that your lead singer, Rick Sonata, was born Ulderico Sorichetti from Toronto, Canada).
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