If you want people to help you promote your event, you have to give them the tools they need. You have to be clear about what you want them to do and how you can help them do it.
Whether you're promoting an exhibit opening, a workshop, a demonstration, a fundraiser, or a performance, you must make it easy for others to promote you.
Recently I received a request in my inbox to help organizers promote their annual event.
The subject line of the email contained the name of the event.
The body of the message was personalized and polite, but was asking for me do all of the work. It said, simply: “Hope you might be able to mention it on your sites again” and ended with pleasantries.
Here's why this message was ineffective:
- No hyperlink to resources to help promote the event (more on this in an upcoming post)
- No hyperlink to the event itself
- No pitch or urgency
- No timeline (the date of the event wasn't in the message)
So . . . if I want to promote this event, I have to search for it online and go through all of the site's links to find out how I should promote it. I'm sorry, but I really don't have time to do that. And neither do your connections.
Give people what they need. Do the work for them.
8 thoughts on “Give people the tools they need to promote your art and events”
This is spot on Alyson. This is something I learnt with the media. It really pays to send a complete package (press release, bio, event details with a short and a long description) on paper AND on a disk for an easy cut & paste. But it does not stop there and your article is a good reminder… easy to forget about this and not do it. I did this several times and regretted it later on.
Regards,
Benoit
Great post – another point is to have live text in the message. Don’t send an email with a picture of your announcement – that requires someone retyping all of your information. There’s a possibility that your message will either be ignored because it’s too much work to deal with, or there could be an error in transcription. To put it simply – type out the information you’d like posted.
Good reminder; I have a show coming up in January and will need to help the gallery and the local media promote it.
One thing I’ll add is: people LOVE images, so sending image files they can use online/in print is very, very helpful. And it’s much appreciated when you keep in mind that online vs. print images have two very different size and resolution requirements. It’s always best to send images the recipient can use without having to make adjustments.
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Sharing the events and stories via the blogs is very powerful.
I use my blog powered storefront where my friends and family can easily share any stories or events in a easy way!
Here is an example how I can easily share a story: http://meylah.com/chirag/2010-walk-a-ton
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Yes I agree.. and have been using this approach for my local art association for a while now. It also helps, to promote a call to artists, if you attach the prospectus to the email. Makes it easier, its right there, all the artists have to do is print it, fill it out and bring it to the venue…. as a former gallery owner i sure did appreciate the forms being already filled out by check in! So did the other artists waiting on line…. great tips Alyson keep up the great work!
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