It’s Time To Promote a Single

In our article about Distributing Your Music we discussed set some distribution channels (SubmitHub etc) you can use when releasing a product, single or album. Today's focus, however, will be on what you can do on your social pages to build hype and to pre-frame your listeners/customers. The result will be more streams/purchases and a bigger impact on the listener/user, meaning they are more likely to come back!

Before we set out little plan. let us start with two very important points:

1. You should be giving yourself AT LEAST one month for promotion prior to release. And, importantly, that one month starts from the moment you have the finished (and, if applicable, mixed & mastered) product/song in your hands. Don't let mixing delays eat into your promotion time because you set the date before you had it. Be patient to get this right!

2. As we have stressed previously, so much of your promotional strategy has to be thought of from the perspective of your fan/customer. It's about identifying what they want and then giving them value. Identify a problem that you can solve for them and tell them how you will solve it. Or, focus on a hook - of the song, an emotion - and hook them with that. It's NOT all about what you have to say (although sometimes, of course, it will be).

OK, so you have it in your hands, it's time to drip feed your promotion over the next month. The main point is just don't say "I have a new single, listen to it!" People don't want to be told what to do, they want to be led to it and then decide for themselves (which will be an easy decision after you build the hype!).

The whole purpose of your promotion is to give the CONTEXT of the song and LET THE LISTENERS KNOW HOW IT WILL MAKE THEM FEEL. So, with that said, here's a rough guide/some ideas for what your strategy can contain.

NOTE: Don't make every post about your release, every third or so post to start then maybe every second in the last week or so - as I say don't "sell sell sell" too much!

- Week 1: One or two posts/stories. Why not start with a post about where you were or what you were doing when the song idea came into your head? How were you feeling at that time, what were you going through? What is the motivation behind the song (a teaser before you go into it in more depth!).

Also, how about a post on the writing process? What came first - the melody or the lyrics? Why? Is that normal for you to write that way? If not what made this one different/special?

- Week 2: Again, one or two posts/stories. Now you start to tell the story of the song. Drop some lyrics into your copy, perhaps, and you can walk through the story of the song. Why is it important to you - this song/story? If it is about something or someone, how do you know it/them? What is your relationship to them, now and in the past? Do they know you wrote it about them? etc etc

- Week 3: Now you start to PRE-FRAME your listeners/customers! Pre-framing is a marketing technique used to tell a listener how they are going to feel when listening to your song or using your product. Like the tampon ads that tell you you will be full of confidence and life by using them, the burger ad that tells you how delicious and mouth watering that burger will be, or the cologne ad which tells you you're going to feel sophisticated, stylish etc! These are pre-frames which frame the mind in advance to feel a certain way and they work!

So maybe you are starting to understand how this could work with a music product... you start to tell the listener or customer how this song is going to make them feel.. and remember, this is different to how it makes you feel. So, choose a few ideas/concepts/words and start to consistently drop them in your promotional posts so that this idea is clearly framed in the mind when the song comes out. You are basically guiding a listener to the desired outcome, and it will have maximum impact if you do that!

So week 3 you start to tell people how it will make them feel, what place their mind will travel to when they hear the song. One or two posts again, and mix it in with how it makes you feel, and also the story of the song of course!

- Week 4 - the week before release! Two or three posts/stories. Now you're starting to get really excited, the time is almost there. Again, you want to keep the pre-framing language up so you entrench that firmly in the mind - the emotions and places the mind will go in listening to the song. Also this week you can be open, if you want, about how you hope the song will go. Your dream for the song, what you hope to achieve with it. And now you're starting to give information on how people can find the song, where they can get hold of it and where they might be able to hear it once it is released. By now you have them hooked into the whole song, it's meaning, feeling, story, the process, so people are going to want to know where to find it. That's why you tell the story first!

Some other ideas to drop in to the posts during the month could be:

- the recording process. Perhaps you worked with a new producer, in a new studio, and there is something that really surprised you or that you loved. If you have some behind the scenes footage from the studio then that would be great content!

- Anyone you collaborated with on the song/product. I'm a big believer in taking people with you to the top! If you can really show your gratitude or appreciation for someone that was part of the process then do it! Explain what they did which made the song or product what it is.

Needless to say all of the above is just a rough guide.. you can of course do it your way, follow it to the letter or just take ideas from it! But one thing is for sure, giving context and building hype in the right way will see your listen counts rise!