Get fans by turning a snowball into an avalanche
Make a big snowball
Do you think the artist Metaform should spend about $4k on PR ?
Here is where Metaform is at:
“In the last 1.5 years I have sold 2700 units of my first album, using a traditional pr/radio campaign. That same album has been downloaded more than 60,000 times via P2P and torrent sites. I currently have distribution setup in the US, UK, and Japan.”
However given that strong start, there are currently few hits to the Metaform site and fewer purchases of music from Metaform’s self set up store page.
While there was traction on the last album, it hasn’t resulted in much demand to connect with Metaform’s website. Facebook fans are at 154 though the fans that are there as well as the fans on Metaform’s Last.fm artist page are supportive and positive.
The past sales and the small but positive feedback from fans on Facebook and Last.fm are all good signs indicating an above average connection of music to people.
Another PR spend could be done to try and sell this next record but will that result in more fans? Or, do you think it will likely result in a spike of a week or two of sales, and then a slump back to current levels? If the later happens, then it will be tough for Metaform to increase sales on each record.
To really get more repeat visitors and fans who will want to purchase direct from the Metaform site, he is going to need to build and sustain some momentum online to grow the fan base so that there will be record sales for this record, and the next one as well.
MOMENTUM
Here are two kinds of momentum online:
The flash in the pan type where it gets huge fast then gets forgotten about just as quickly.
The steady building momentum that just keeps spreading. The people who tell people keep telling people not just once or twice, or for just a week or two, but they keep telling people for a month or more.
PR can definitely generate momentum. It depends a lot on what the angle of the story is but by design a short PR campaign like the one Metaform is contemplating is best deployed to create a lot of “impressions” in a short period of time (one month). The gamble is that out of the quick flash in the pan momentum, a small subset can be cultivated to create that ongoing building momentum.
But what if Metaform was able to build a growing and sustained momentum, and then amplified that momentum with PR?
That would be like first packing a small snowball, then rolling it around so you’ve got a decent sized snow ball, then rolling that thing down a hill. Building your momentum first gives you something more substantial to roll.
So if PR is the hill, and if your ball o snow is big enough, it’ll roll and get big fast – it might even set off your avalanche.
Hiring on the PR first might get you a good sled ride, but to get a big snow ball out of it you’re going to have to do the same work of packing up that first snowball and getting it big enough to roll down the hill – before the snow melts and the opportunity is gone.
Better yet, you’ll be able to get your first supporters to help you build it up. If you get enough help, you may not need to pay for the hill.
Check back on Thursday for some ideas on how to get that first snowball started. If we’re all lucky I’ll stop using this snowball analogy….I just saw the picture and liked it ok?
