Publicity or PR (Which Do You Need?)

Most PR firms do publicity, not PR.

Publicity is the act of getting ink. Publicity is getting unpaid media to pay attention, write you up, point to you, run a picture, make a commotion. Sometimes publicity is helpful, and good publicity is always good for your ego.

But it's not PR.

PR is the strategic crafting of your story. It's the focused examination of your interactions and tactics and products and pricing that, when combined, determine what and how people talk about you.

Regis McKenna was great at PR. Yes, he got Steve Jobs and the Mac on the cover of more than 30 magazines in the year it launched. That was just publicity. The real insight was crafting the story of the Mac (and yes, the story of Steve Jobs).

If you send out a boring press release, your publicity effort will probably fail, but your PR already has.

A publicity firm will tell you stories of how they got a client ink. A PR firm will talk about storytelling and being remarkable and spreading the word. They might even suggest you don't bother getting ink or issuing press releases.

In my experience, a few people have a publicity problem, but almost everyone has a PR problem. You need to solve that one first. And you probably won't accomplish that if you hire a publicity firm and don't even give them the freedom and access they need to work with you on your story.

Are You Different...You Should Be

We all have our favorite artists that we relate to, but it's not a
good idea to try to be just like that artist instead of finding
our own unique style and sound. I can't tell you how many
submissions we receive from people who try to be just like their
mentor. It's obvious who their favorite singer is... because they
imitate that artist by dressing like them and trying to sound just
like them.

By listening to a wanna be artist, we can tell that person has all
of that artist's records, and has sung all their songs for years,
acting and sounding a lot like them. There is nothing wrong with
practicing with your favorite singers and imitating their various
vocal qualities, because you can learn vocal tricks and skills by
copying what successful singers have done to get their sound.
Singing with your favorite artists can teach you a lot about
singing, give you confidence, and help stretch your creativity.
It's really great experience, but while you are singing along with
your favorite artists, try to develop your own style. Try to outdo
your mentor and try something different. At some point in your
development as a professional singer, you need to figure out who
YOU are as an artist. You need to discover your own distinctive
sound and style and capitalize on that special quality that is
distinctively yours.

Be yourself. What is it that makes you different, that sets you
apart from everyone else? What is your niche? Be the very best at
what you do, and develop vocal tricks to help you sound
interesting, fresh, exciting, powerful, unique and special.