Manage Your Tour and Manage Your Sponsors
Your label has just signed a killer band and their record will street in the next six months and it’s your job to get them on the road to tour, promote and sell records. But, being you are a record label, you have no money to promote the tour much less even put the artist on the road. Where do you go from here? You need partners; promotional partners. But, as I mentioned in my last newsletter, the days of simply slapping up banners are long gone. You will have to get creative and deliver a solid value to your promotional partners… an idea that facilitates your needs as well as theirs.
Where to start
Getting good promotional partners takes more than luck. The great Roman philosopher Seneca said “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” The process of preparing to pitch your opportunity to consumer brands is a long road indeed. However, if you adequately prepare your chances of getting lucky will have just increased exponentially.
Seven Quick Steps
Get an agent or somebody who can book the tour.
Set a date when the artist needs to hit the road. Make it at least six months out.
Route the tentative markets and venues. These will definitely change prior to the tour.
Create and introduction letter to potential promotional partners that spells out the opportunity and the creative ideas behind it. For some ideas see “Give People an Experience and They Will Never Forget You” http://multimediary.com/newsletter_July_2005.htm
Create an accurate Demographic Analysis based on Arbitron information. You can easily get this by calling radio station sales reps at radio stations that play music that falls into the genre that your artist is in. Extrapolate this demographic through at least five major markets. You promotional partner will appreciate this.
Perform a Sponsorship Value Analysis to determine the worth of your opportunity. See Determining the value of what you have http://multimediary.com/newsletter_May_2005.htm. There you will find the total process of finding these values.
Create a solid Sponsorship Presentation in Word or PowerPoint. Please feel free to email us to see samples. Also see Creating the perfect partnership http://multimediary.com/newsletter_June_2005.htm. This will give you a few great ideas for your presentation as well.
Now you are ready to hit the streets with your presentation. Pick up the phone and start calling marketing executives at the consumer brands that best represent your artist’s sensibilities.
The Gift That Keeps Giving
If you are so fortunate to find a promotional partner that jumps on board. Take good loving care of them, because you will want then to be your partner for years to come. In a recent study it was found that promotional partners base the success of the partnership at least 50% on the recap that is giving to them after the tour has finished. Take pictures of everything and deliver it to them in a professional presentation. Please see “Was it Good For You Too” promotional recaps http://www.multimediary.com/newsletter_April_2005.htm. If you would like a sample of a recap please feel free to email us for one.
Now you are seriously armed. Take no prisoners and definitely don’t take no for an answer.
Best of luck to you… but you know there is now such thing as luck.
About Multimediary Entertainment Marketing and Thom King
Multimediary was founded by Thom King in late 2001. Multimediary has worked with Virgin Records, Capital Records, and Universal, Warner Brothers, Lions Gate Films and several other major and independent record labels and entertainment production companies. Multimediary has also worked with several consumer brands including: Lifestyles Condoms, Miller Beer, Red Bull, Monster Energy Drink, Dr. Martins, Snapple, Honda Motor Company, British Petroleum, Adidas and more.
King started his career in the broadcast industry where he most recently worked as Regional Vice President of Sales for a division of Clear Channel Worldwide. King was instrumental in helping Clear Channel capitalized on unique opportunities by converging radio, outdoor, venue, and interactive assets into fully integrated campaigns. King parlayed his over 20 years of cutting edge marketing experience to form Multimediary. For more information visit http://www.multimediary.com
