Managing Public Relations Resources for Music Festivals

Good coverage in relevant media can boost awareness and interest in a music festival ultimately leading to higher demand for attendance and ticket sales. Festival organisers manage their PR in various ways depending on the resources available. How can a smaller up and coming music festival maximise their coverage with limited resources.

The music festival sector in countries like the UK and United States is a crowded market with thousands of festivals taking place every year. The volume of press coverage is huge and can be dominated by the bigger more well-known festivals. Mainstream media will always focus on the larger festivals when considering publication of content with smaller events limited to local media, however, the increase in social media channels can be a great way to level that playing field.

PR Resources.
Large music festival organisations will often have a sizable marketing department which may include a dedicated PR manager along with contracted external PR agencies. This can be a formidable force when getting coverage for content, but the costs will likely be high too. Smaller festival organisations are more likely to outsource their PR activity to an external consultant or small PR agency. Most external PR consultants s and agencies prefer to work on a monthly retainer basis, but others may be willing to work in more flexible ways. Any PR resources selected will need to have extensive experience of working in the music festival industry with an excellent network of journalist and media contacts.

PR Resource Activities. 
The primary role of any PR resource is to get converge in target media outlets and for festivals the proposed content can range from date and venue announcements to line-up and artist news. Early in the planning process whoever is responsible for the festival’s PR should create the strategy and tactics plan for future events, Tactical initiatives can include a focus on artist headline act announcements, perhaps offering exclusive interviews with them. Press releases and by-lined articles about the festival's sustainability initiatives or other positive news can generate interest from target media. Other topical news can include ticket availability including discounts, packages and other money saving schemes that are currently topical given the cost-of-living crisis. 

Leveraging Accreditation. 
Journalists and media organisations often relish the opportunity to gain access to a music festival and organisers will always have strict criteria when assessing who gets accredited. PR resources can sometimes leverage their influence on the accreditation process to give preferential access to target journalist and media outlets who are more likely to produce content related to their attendance. Selected journalists can be given backstage access and tours plus meet and greet opportunities with artists.

Social Media Channels.
Producing content on social media channels is free and is usually the responsibility of the marketing team working closely with PR resources to manage consistent messaging. Good relationships with the media can help in getting key news and content shared. PR resources can provide early notification to their contacts of any upcoming news, this strengthens their relationships and increases the chances of getting content shared on the media outlets own social media channels.

However PR resources are managed it is essential that organisers monitor and measure the results of media converge and social media engagement achieved to determine overall effectiveness. Results can be used to help define the PR strategy and tactics for future events.

For festival organisers planning their events using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

Image by Viorel Vașadi from Pixabay

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