Here at Sync Summit, one of our primary missions is to help people to connect to music in media decision makers effectively. And as important as best practices in research, documentation and metadata are to your success, if people aren’t opening your emails or social media direct messages introducing yourself, your music or your company, what’s the point?
And though I cannot guarantee that anyone will open your emails, respond to your DMs or click the links you send of your music, what I can do is give you some tips to create effective emails and subject lines that will exponentially increase the chances of your messages rising above the hundreds of emails music supervisions and other decision makers receive every day. Let’s get into it.
First, know who you are contacting. Who are they, what do they do? What are their previous, current and upcoming projects? Start with this when you are crafting an introduction to your music or company. This will help you to properly target your outreach to their specific needs and interests.
Then think about how you are helping them solve a problem and reach out to them based on their self-interest, and then write to that self-intertest. All too often, we send out emails only thinking about our interests and not those of the people we’re reaching out to. I cannot count the number of introductory emails I receive that tout the greatness of company X or artist y without taking the time to actually address what my needs are and my concerns.
I, like most people, have my own concerns, interests and problems that I need to solve, and the messages I receive from people I don’t know that introduce themselves with an understanding of my unique needs are the messages that are opened, read and responded to at a far higher rate. I want to be addressed as an individual and know how connecting with you can be of service to me.
As Dale Carnegie said years ago, when you make contact with people, speak in terms of the other person’s interests and make people feel important with sincere appreciation.
Here’s two examples of emails – one that employs this thinking, and one that doesn’t. I’ll go through each paragraph by paragraph to detail why one is a poor approach and the other is more effective:
Example A:
SUBJECT: Music Submission for Sync
MY THOUGHT: I think this is the 300th I got today – but I’ve got five minutes so I’ll open it – maybe it’s interesting.
Hi Mark,
I am thrilled to connect with you and introduce myself and my music to the sync community. I am an artist with a catalogue of over 100 songs ranging from R&B to Americana, and I have won numerous song competitions and awards for my music and my performances.
MY THOUGHT: I really don’t care how thrilled you are or your accolades – I have three projects over budget, my showrunner is angry I cannot clear the publishing for the title track for my project, and to add to all this, I have to open my inbox to a hundred emails all like this telling me how great they are and asking for my time, though I could use some Americana…
I have a really big and growing social presence and community with over 15,000 Instagram followers and my songs have been streamed thousands of times on YouTube and streaming platforms.
MY THOUGHTS: Well, good for you – you’re certainly proud of yourself – I don’t care if you have more followers and streams than Taylor Swift. How does any of this help me and what I am doing and how would working with you help me to do my work better and actually get some recognition in this business for myself?
I’m looking to connect my music to people in the sync community, which is the next step in my career.
MY THOUGHTS: Why do I care about what you want to do or where you want to go in your career? You haven’t said anything whatsoever about how you are going to help me and my career! Just like everyone else, you want to suck my time away and expect me to regurgitate opportunities into your mouth like a bird feeding its babies without doing anything for me at all. I mean seriously, I really don’t have time for this crap in my life.
Have a listen to my music through the We Transfer Link I’ve sent below.
MY THOUGHTS: Really? We Transfer? Just what I need – a link to music with an expiration date. Come on – at least send it with Dropbox or something. So lazy. I bet there’s no metadata or ownership info too.
Take a listen to my music and let me know what you think. I’ve got the perfect songs for your project.
MY THOUGHTS: Perfect? How do you know it’s perfect. Are you now doing my job? You have no idea what the perfect song is for my project. And, you send me the same badly written form letter you probably sent to 1000 people without any thought to what I actually do or what it is I need and now you want me to listen to your music and then take the time out of your day to respond? Are you my boss now or something? Great – I cannot wait for the flurry of notes coming asking me every week if I hear your music… You’ve got to be kidding me. I swear, can’t get a break. 100 emails a day just like this…
Thanks!
Example B:
SUBJECT: Mark, I Loved Your Work With HP
MY THOUGHTS: Hey, cool – they saw my HP commercial – and name checking me is a nice touch. Let’s see what else is here…
WHY THIS IS BETTER: The subject line instantly does two things – it lets me know you took the time to personalize the subject line – we all love it when people address us personally. And, by mentioning one of my projects, you’ve let me know that you actually know what I do and established a baseline of personal connect to me and my projects. Now let’s continue.
Hi Mark,
I hope you’re doing great today, and I want to take a moment to share with you how much I enjoyed your work on the HP commercial featuring Kina Grannis’ version of “Can’t Help Falling In Love.” It was a great usage of an iconic song that brought out the emotion of the story of the ad, and it truly touched me.
MY THOUGHTS: Wow. Well, thanks. You really do know my work. And we did work hard to get that ad done, and it makes me feel good that our work had a real impact on someone.
WHY IS THIS BETTER: Taking the time to actually let the person you’re writing know that you know about one of their projects, that you liked what they did, and moreover described what it made you feel creates a feeling of personal connection and puts you in a positive light in their mind, and makes you someone they want to know and potentially work with.
I love what you do, and I hope that I’ll have the opportunity to be of service to you through my music. I’m Bill Williams (website), a jazz singer with a catalogue of over 75 original, one-stop songs as well as a roster of 50 interpretations of classic and modern standards. When you have a chance, I’d be grateful if you would check out the five-song sampler I have created for you:
(DISCO LINK)
MY TOUGHTS: Okay, here’s the ask. Jazz singer? Okay, I get a call for that from time to time – especially decent one-stops that I can use as replacement tracks as well as good covers. I’ll give it a listen.
WHY THIS IS BETTER: The ask is going to always be tricky, but by making it deferential and presenting yourself as a problem solver connotes that you are here to help, and that you’ll likely be a good potential partner.
Thank you so much, Mark, for everything you do, and for your time and for everything you do. Again, I hope for the opportunity to be of service, and with you a wonderful day.
Best,
Bill Williams
MY THOUGHTS: Thank you – the soft touch without a lot of me me me about you means a lot. I’ll check this guys music out for sure and put them on my search list if the music is up to snuff.
WHY THIS IS BETTER: Again, you’re thinking them, you are being personal and considerate of them and their time and leaving the next step open ended.
By putting yourself in the mindset of the person you are reaching out to, your outreach will be more much more effective as it is now oriented towards the self-interest of the music supervisor, their needs and their projects. Try this approach and let me know whether it brings you more effective results over time.
And One More Thing… polite follow up is key. Resist the temptation to quickly follow up if you don’t get a response to your letter. People are busy, and usually make contact on a needs-oriented basis. Again, it’s about them, not about you.
So when you make a follow up to your initial letter, don’t mention you already sent them a letter or that you saw they didn’t click your disco link (a real kiss of death that tactic).
A better approach is to simply send them a similar, completely different letter with your link, and then give them a chance to follow up with you based on their timetable and needs.
I promise you, if you take this approach, not only will your outreach be more successful, over time, you’ll be seen as a potential problem solver and a good resource. And being seen as a trusted resource in this industry means everything.
