Intentional PR for an artiste and an active community.

An essential component in building and selling of an artiste’s brand is how he or she relates with the public and this is deeply determined through a system called Public Relations or PR for short. This mechanism creates the enabling environment for the artiste to interact with the public , fans and potential fans through  diverse means.

An artiste’s management team must be intentional about promotions. You don’t only go on media runs when you have a song to release. For example if you have a show coming up in a foreign land , you are booked for Coachella, your publicist can come up with a media tour to inform the media and the public about it and give out necessary information like venue, date and how they can stream your performance live. That is something as an artiste you must do cuz the media only feeds on what they get so give them what you want them to sell to the public.

Media run is a good example to promote anything you, not only music but your shows and any other thing connected to your brand.

When you do embark on such media tour, you are indirectly informing your community about the event and building a buzz for it . You must promote everything about you aside music releases,  shamelessly and it will go a long way to help you.

Intentional PR keeps the community active. Now let me explain this. The community here stands for the media, avid fans and potential fans, the music industry ecosystem. That is what the community stands for and your narrative as an artiste; how you tell your story is exactly how they are going to perceive you.

The community exits because you as an artiste exits. The practitioners in the community become useless if you don’t churn out anything from music to news etc. Let me do a breakdown of the various practitioners in the community.

1 THE MEDIA

The media is one important tool an artiste, brand, organization etc cannot do without. The media is always needed to help put out information , make things public and inform the public about various endeavors of a brand, artiste  etc. Every brand, organization etc needs the media but the media can be in your face all the time and you may not know how to put it to good use if you are not intentional about your game. Even in the advent of new technological innovations especially with the advent of new media, the traditional media still holds the power of being the liaison between a brand, an organization, an artiste and fans or potential fanbase and one way of doing this is staying relevant through intentional public relation campaign. New media is doing a lot for the space nonetheless, traditional media still holds such power of breaking brands and making them relevant and that is where intentional campaign by a brand’s marketing team comes into the equation. One fact lovers of a brand , an artiste, talents must understand is, nothing in the entertainment industry happens just because; there’s always a reason behind everything that happens in the space. This has been the reason in most entertainment industries.

2 FANS.

As an artiste, see yourself as a brand and your fans as the people who patronize your products or consume your products and ask yourself “How do I keep them glued to my products?” That is where intentional public relations comes in. When you are conscious of the fact that there people who spend time and resources on your works and without them your brand can lose its value, it helps you to do everything possible to keep them engaged. There are so many ways to keep your fanbase community active and help create that healthy relationship between you and your fans. Putting out music on streaming platforms for them to consume is not the only way to keep them engaged.

A) You can do meet and greets and have that tête-à-tête conversation with your fans and that creates a special bond and connection which your music cannot create. Some people want to have that connection with you after listening to your music; they want to know the personality behind the music not the brand but the personality.

B) Selling products like merchandise goes a long way to create that relationship as well. Some people want to have something they can hold on to attached to your brand and a merchandise is a good idea. It can be a merchandise for your forthcoming concert, an album, EP, a clothing line you own et cetera.

C) Your social responsibility to your fanbase community. There are some people who don’t like the music of certain artistes but are in love with their personality due to how they relate with the public and their commitment to social issues.  You can use your influence as an artiste and advocate for the desires of the people, playing the role of an activist. When you begin to give back to the community through activism, advocacy and other social movements for change, you don’t only impress your fans and followers but you begin to gain respect from people who may not necessarily like your music.

3 MEDIA OUTLETS/ MEDIA PERSONALITIES/ MUSIC JOURNALISTS.

Some have the thought that the media presents what will garner attention to their platforms. If that is the case, then the artiste must feed the media on every second of their life to help create the perception he/she wants to sell to the public. As an artiste, you shouldn’t forget your Electronic Press Kits which your management must make sure it’s up to date with the current state of your brand. When you have a project coming out, send emails to  various media outlets weeks before the release and follow up with media tour to create that awareness. Music journalists need stories to share, your publicist must make sure the perception your team wants to put out there is well written and sent to various music journalists for publication because if you don’t tell your story, someone will definitely tell your story. Hence it’s important to be intentional about what you want to public to see or hear. The other things you don’t deem fit for your cannot always be avoided but you have the power to always put out a positive image through your intentional public relations campaign with an active community.