FIND ALIGNMENT IN YOUR PROMOTION

Why does “promoting our stuff” feel gross? Probably because we see people doing it bad, and instead of just promising to ourselves we’ll never do it like that, we throw everything related to promoting into one big garbage back and leave it on the curb.

Which is wild, because there are so many different ways to doing “promotion,” just as there aer so many different ways of painting, writing a song, riding a bike, posting an essay, making a mug.

Last June Jes Raymond told us how she got people to a show in a town she never played before.

“This past weekend, we had a little show up in a tiny town—St. Johnsbury. One of those places with a small newspaper. And I just decided that instead of making a bunch of social media posts about the show—especially to a town I don’t know—I’d do the human work.

I figured out who the journalist was at the local paper who writes the arts column. I wrote to them directly and sent them a press release. Then I found the local radio station—Vermont Public—and called them. I got our event on their calendar.

We ended up having about 150 people show up at this little church in a town I’d never played before.”

Instead of “making a bunch of social media posts.” she reached out to two people who could help. Instead of her jumping up and down and trying to get the attention of strangers in a town she never played before, she spoke with the people who actually live near that town.

Instead of trying to do everything yourself, ask “who can help and how?”

Or instead of “just posting,” what if you got creative and made a rad flyer and hung it up in town? That’s what Mel Mitchell-Jackson did (see it here).

These are just two way you can promote your work without it feeling gross. Reaching out to media outlets to promote your event makes sense because that’s what they do! Nothing gross about that!

And a bulletin board in a local coffee shop? That is what it’s there for – nothing gross there either.

Join our Promoting Your Work Without Feeling Gross Zoom calls this week to talk about this sort of stuff with other creative people thinking about the same thing!