What’s your PR goal as an actor?
Careful! Your answer to this simple question could be what’s keeping you from grabbing the career attention you deserve. If you’re not sure or if this is something you’ve never thought about before, I want to encourage you to start right now.
We all know that declaring a goal is easy. Anybody can say they want to be a guest on a podcast, get interviewed by their hometown paper, or even land in a story on Backstage.com. But setting a goal, then creating solid action steps to help you achieve it, and then making it happen is where success really lies.
Here are thought-starters to help you shape strong and realistic PR goals.
1. Consider who will find your news interesting.
Not every announcement or role is the right fit for every reporter. It’s important to understand when to target an industry trade publication versus a general entertainment outlet. And pay attention to who covers the type of project you’re involved with; a TV reporter is less likely to cover your short film than a reporter who covers indie projects.
Now, if you’re thinking to yourself, “No one is going to care about what I’m doing,” I want to tell you that it’s not your job to decide the interest level of a reporter—that’s their job. You simply need to target them effectively by focusing on those who could have the most interest in reporting on the news you’re offering.
READ: What Every Actor Needs to Know About PR
2. Evaluate your previous efforts.
Being honest with yourself about your previous PR efforts can help you figure out why a campaign worked or didn’t. If you did nothing, you know exactly why you got nothing. But if you’ve utilized PR in your career before, take a look at all your campaigns, successful and not. It’s vital to understand why something gained momentum or press coverage. Was there more effort on your part? Was the project already a known entity within the industry? What, specifically, do you think caught a reporter’s attention?
Then, think about your less successful campaigns and determine why they didn’t work as well. Did you put less energy into capturing attention? Was there a time constraint? Was the project completely unknown to the media at that point?
Evaluating all your campaigns can prove vital because you might discover that what you thought was a complete flop really wasn’t. Perhaps you’re actually comparing apples to oranges. Take the emotion out of the equation and understand that not every project or role is of equal value to the press or public.
3. Plan ahead for indie projects.
It’s impossible to predict what roles you might book this year, but getting a jump start on your PR isn’t hard. Take stock in all the self-produced and indie projects you’re either planning to participate in or have recently completed. Reconnect with indie filmmakers you’re slated to work with in the future and get a rough idea of when their project will be starting and finishing. How are these projects premiering? Will they hit the festival circuit or release online?
Next, create a timeline related to these projects that includes key dates. This will help you map out a publicity gameplan that highlights when you expect to have a bit of career news to announce. That way, when you book those unexpected, higher-profile film and TV jobs, you can piggy-back your press outreach to include both.
4. Organize your promotional tools.
Do your prep work. Create a kick-ass bio you love; generate a target media list that includes reporters who have covered you previously; gather images you want to use for promotional purposes; create an EPK (electronic press kit) that visually highlights your successes; get your personal website in order.
All of these elements are things that reporters often use when evaluating ideas or writing a story. Having them readily available when requested makes a reporter’s job easier and keeps you from scrambling at the last minute.
Overall, don’t wait to think about what you want until it’s time to launch a press campaign. Take the time to set yourself up for success; you can start right now.
Want even more tips to help you get started with PR? Grab my free PR Starter Kit here!
Get all of your PR questions answered by peers and experts on the Backstage Community forums!
The views expressed in this article are solely that of the individual(s) providing them,
and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Backstage or its staff.
