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QuoteThrough networks and friends of friends, we have warmed up some fairly well-known people in the music industry to review some tracks for Beth, a young artist that my daughter Flo is helping to promote. If we get their comments to use as testimonials it will improve the 'social proof' of Beth's work immensely.
Our plan is to use the basic sales page format in the MMM theme (minus the order button of course, and with a 'no index, no follow' setting) to provide artwork, some narrative about the artist and the buttons to stream the tracks from the audio player.
We'll then send a link to the page to the people who have kindly offered to listen and review.
I think this could look quite attractive and professional, which is important as the artist is young but wants to be taken seriously.
We're just making a start to create the page, so before we go too far, I wondered whether anyone has experience of doing this to share with us, and what advice you would give about the content of the page?
I had a quick look around the forum but I couldn't see this discussed anywhere else.
Thanks
Deb
5:41 am
June 7, 2011
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Hey Deb,
using a sales page template to set up a simple online EPK or one page is a great idea. I've seen quite a few people do it and used to have one up myself, but I can't remember any of the URLS at the moment. But it's pretty self explanatory. Just publish whatever you want to share. Using the no index, no follow option is essential, you could even create a universal password for the page if you really wanted to be sure it wouldn't be shared. It's easy to do right next to the time and date options when editing a post/page.
Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.
Thanks, John - we're on it!
Have you you ever published training or advice about creating an online EPK? If you manage to recall the URL for one of yours and are happy to share it, we'd be glad of the inspiration. Flo is working up a few ideas but it's always good to know 'what good looks like'
Thanks also for the hint about the password. I didn't know that was possible.
Deb
10:18 pm
June 7, 2011
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Hey Deb,
I haven't done a lesson on creating an online EPK, but that's a handy suggestion. I'll see if I can come up with something like that. The EPK I had up was part of a different site structure so I took it down when I switched things up. But if I'll see what I can find in my files.
Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.
We've been working on the copy for the page. Do you mind if I share it with you to get a critique before we go much further?
so far we've got...
Imagine listening to a tenderly haunting young vocalist and loving every minute of it
Every generation has entranced us with a singer so intimate yet powerful in tone, we are mesmerised, moved and hungry for more.
Following in the legacy of Stevie Nicks, Judie Tzuke and Sarah McLachlan, Beth Ford's echoey quality and pure natural sound will draw you in and leave you wondering where her future will lead, while yearning to go there with her.
Born on the 7th October 2000, into a family whose singing roots run deep into the Welsh Valleys, Beth really is the child who could sing before she could talk, happily gurgling along to her favourite CD. Not the TellyTubbies for Beth but Andrea Bocelli! She has always been far more at home in the world of classical artists and musical theatre than contemporary pop music.
Beth's concert appearances began with a local children's choir, From the age of five, as a young soloist, Beth has performed at many prestigious events and open air festivals throughout the Midlands.
A turning point came in December 2011 when, at the age of just eleven, Beth was invited to join Alfie Boe on stage at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, to sing 'The Impossible Dream to an audience of over 2000 people. It was without a doubt Beth's appearance at Symphony Hall that showed her that what might seem like an 'impossible dream' is in fact no such thing.
More recently Beth has begun to explore her identity as a recording artist. choosing covers from her preferred repertoire together with original material, her forthcoming debut single release 'If I Could Escape'
Obviously we'll need to finish it off with a call to action, and have all the tracks available to listen to via the player etc, but as a starting point, how are we doing?
The people we'll be sending this to are well known in the music industry and (through our networks) have offered to listen and maybe give a review. So we need to respect the time and attention that they have promised to give to Beth's music.
Oh, and some of the references are British, because that's where we are and the people we'll be sending it to will understand them 
Thanks
Deb
9:17 pm
June 7, 2011
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Hey Deb,
Seems pretty good to me. The only word I didn't like was "gurgling". Just didn't conjure the most pleasant of images for me
I agree with the short and sweet thing for an EPK. My thinking is that just an image and a paragraph or two at the top, welcoming people to the page, explaining what the page is and who the artist is, and a call to action. Then followed by all the relevant stuff, album downloads, press quotes, photos, etc (the standard press pack), is all that's needed. But what you have reads well. Start laying it ot and see how it feels when it's all in front of you. Good job so far.
Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.
Thanks, John
gurgling is now 'cooing'
I'd appreciate your critique, please, if you have a moment to check out the page. Here it is, so far...
http://www.angrybaby.co.uk/int.....beth-ford/
Technically, I'd love to be able to move the player buttons down a bit so they align better with the image, but when I stick a /br in they jump too far down. Is there a trick that I'm missing?
I'm also wondering about the call to action, At the moment I'm asking them to listen, but what we really want is a review or comment. There isn't a comments box on the sales page for them to use - is it possible to add one? Or is there an easier way to get a comment? I like to make it easy for people to do something when they are doing us a favour?
Thanks for your help
Deb
11:05 pm
June 7, 2011
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Hey Deb,
The page looks good to me. If this is an EPK I'd probably add some press quotes and/or links, and then download links for the tracks and high res images. Any potential press will need that. If you have a longer bio you could add a download of that as well. One trick is to load the bio with quotes from the artist. Then writers can quote her without needing to do an interview. It really helps them.
As for the alignment issue, yeah, there is no simple way of doing that. You just need to play with it until it looks the way you want it to. What I usually do is go over to pixlr and create new image with a slightly bigger canvas and give it a white or transparent margin on top until the image bumps down to where you want it to. Typically that's the only way to get that exact margin you are looking for. Usually takes or 3 tries until it looks right.
I think the call to action is fine. But what is the primary purpose here? I thought this was for the industry and press? If so, I wouldn't ask them to comment there on this page. I don't think many would and then you have a social proof issue. Instead I'd just have a basic media contact at the bottom. Email whoever at soandso@whatever.com with media inquiries or to schedule an interview. Or something like that.
That all make sense?
Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.
Thanks John, that makes perfect sense and thank you for your prompt feedback.
The purpose of this page is quite specific. It will be sent to a small number of people who are willing to listen to the music and, if they like it, provide a comment or review.
They are people who are well known in the music industry so their comments and reviews will give Beth a lot of social proof - not quite in the same league as your Elton John quote, but you get the picture.
Once we have their comments we can build them into a proper EPK for more general media interest. Thank you for your advice about how to structure this, it'll be really helpful when we get to that point in a few weeks time.
And the 'social proof' will also help when Flo constructs Beth's squeeze page and funnel.
Thanks again for your help. I'll let you know how we get on.
Deb
8:51 pm
June 7, 2011
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Ok, I see, then you probably won't need the press stuff, but some might still like the download, so they actually get something out of it. It's easy enough to turn on the comments for pages, but then they will be on for all pages. So that might mess up your sales pages if you;re using them.
You could also pay someone like @scottjames to code something so you just had comments on that page. Probably wouldn't cost much.
Another option is to use something like the contact form 7 plugin and add a simple little form at the bottom of the page that they submit and it sends to you via email. People might like the private aspect of that method.
Finally you could just provide an email link and say please email in your quote.
I probably think the contact form plugin might be the most graceful for the user.
Cheers.
Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.
Thanks again, John
Flo sent it out today and has already got some great feedback. The recipients seem to have worked out how to hit 'reply' on the covering email. I guess it's easier with this because they are already warm to the idea of replying since they are part of Flo's network of contacts.
She'll be putting a traditional EPK together for the next stage, so your advice will come in handy. I'll probably be back for another critique soon
Deb
11:42 pm
June 7, 2011
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Awesome to hear. Glad it's all going well so far. Break a leg.
Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.
Just thought I'd give you a quick update on this.
The page did its job and we now have three good reviews to include as social proof in a squeeze page. A couple of other people offered to review the music but were too busy with tours etc at the moment, but at least we are on their radar and they didn't say no!
We have drafted the squeeze pages so I'll set up a new thread to ask for some feedback on them. Meanwhile, if anyone else is in a similar situation, where your artist is very new and has little or no track record to support a promotion, I'd certainly recommend creating something that enables you to reach out to a few people for a review.
Thanks again for your help, John and Steve
Deb x
11:59 pm
June 7, 2011
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That's awesome Deb. Glad it worked out and you got what you needed. Well done!
Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.
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