Kurt’s Rant: The Sound of Failure Calls Her Name It’s funny sometimes how one thing you see or read can create several different paths of creative inspiration. That happened to me the other day when a friend shared an email he received from a band. The comments started flowing and went in several different directions. Many of my regular readers have probably seen this one already, but for those who have not, here’s what he received: Ay yo! My band is playing sat at rxxxxxxxxx in axxxxxxxxx 140 mxxxxxx rd around 10ish. Come thru! I got mad comps! Heres our new video This email came through with NO SUBJECT LINE and the “return address” was a PHONE NUMBER. I removed the venue details to (somewhat) protect the guilty. For now I’d like to look at the email for what it is (or is not) and leave the venue vs band issue for another day. There are so many flaws with this attempt at promotion. First things first, who is it from? I sure as heck don’t see the name of the band anywhere. Tell me who you are damnit. The return address is a phone number? Ok, you’re sending your promo from your handy dandy phone, but unless your number is in my contacts I still don’t know who you are. The recipient of the email in question thinks he knows who sent it, but he wasn’t sure. No subject line? Most of the mail that I get with no subject line is either spam or a virus waiting to go to town on my computer. I’m actually surprised this email made it to the inbox and not the spam folder. A link in an email from an unknown sender? Wow, this is definitely like all those emails I get for cheap meds and ways to increase my size. Not going near that thing. These flaws alone would have made me (and probably most people) ditch the email without ever opening it. If we consider the tone of the message, it sounds more like a drunk dial voicemail than an invitation to come to the show. Blab as much as you can in 10 seconds and move on. Even if I was a fan of this band, this email isn’t doing anything to build any excitement for me to come out and see this show. Broadcasting that “I got mad Comps!” So you’re going to put everyone on the list? If you’re getting paid by the door, you’re going home without gas money. If you’re getting a flat rate, you’re probably going to get yourself blacklisted from the venue for giving everyone and their sister freebies. Either way, you’re gonna take the hit in your pockets. Not smart. Getting even more specific, this is also a good example of why TARGETTING and TAILORING your emails/texts/invites is a good idea. The recipient of this particular email is heavily involved in the music industry, and is somewhat influential. If he likes what he hears, he’ll be letting people in his network know about your band. If he likes you, you’ll be on lots of other people’s radar very quickly. Show him some respect and make him feel special with a personal message inviting him to the show rather than a generic blast. He can go anywhere, give him a reason to come see you. All things considered, this email is a promotions fail. There are more things in these two lines to get the email ignored than to draw anyone in. Had the sender slowed down and taken a few extra minutes, he could have created something that would draw people in, instead he created something that will either be ignored, or worse, turn people away. As Mr. Rogers always said: “Take your time to do it right.”
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 17:38:40 +0000
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