A music PR campaign is a structured, time-bound promotional effort -- typically 4-8 weeks -- in which a PR professional or agency pitches a specific release to targeted media contacts across radio, press, playlists, and blogs, tracking outcomes and reporting results to the artist or label.
Running music PR campaigns is satisfying when it goes well and overwhelming when it doesn't. The difference between the two usually isn't talent or luck. It's workflow.
Small agencies -- 1-3 people running 3-5 campaigns simultaneously -- face a specific challenge. You don't have a team of specialists. You're the strategist, the researcher, the pitcher, the tracker, and the reporter. If any part of that chain breaks down, the whole campaign suffers.
This guide walks through each phase of a campaign, in order, with the practical details that most guides leave out.
Phase 1: Scoping and planning
Every campaign starts with a conversation. Before you touch a contact list or draft a pitch, you need clarity on three things.
What are we promoting?
This sounds obvious, but "the new single" isn't a campaign brief. You need:
- Track details -- title, release date, genre, featuring artists
- The hook -- what makes this release worth covering? A sync placement, a streaming milestone, a comeback story, a debut, a feature artist?
- Available assets -- streaming links (or pre-save), press photos, music video, press release, exclusive content
- The artist's current profile -- monthly listeners, previous coverage, social following, live activity
Who are we targeting?
Define the target outlets by type and tier:
- Radio -- BBC national, BBC regional, commercial, community, online
- Press -- national, regional, online, music-specific, lifestyle
- Playlists -- editorial, independent, algorithmic triggers
- Blogs and podcasts -- genre-specific, tastemaker, regional
Be realistic about tier. A debut single from an artist with 500 monthly listeners targets BBC Introducing, community radio, and indie blogs -- not Radio 1 daytime and NME. Pitching above your tier wastes time and burns contacts you'll want later.
What does success look like?
Set expectations with the client before the campaign starts. This prevents the most common source of agency stress: an artist expecting Radio 1 plays from a GBP400 campaign.
Honest benchmarks for an emerging artist single campaign:
| Target | Realistic outcome | | --- | --- | | BBC Introducing | 1-3 regional plays | | Community radio | 3-8 plays across stations | | Specialist shows | 1-2 plays if genre fits | | Blog coverage | 2-5 features | | Playlist adds | 1-3 independent playlists |
Put these benchmarks in writing. A simple campaign scope document protects both parties and sets the professional tone for the relationship. For templates, see our client onboarding guide.
Phase 2: Contact research and enrichment
Contact research is where amateur campaigns diverge from professional ones. The quality of your contact list determines everything that follows.
Building the list
For each campaign, build a fresh, targeted list. Do not reuse your "master list" without verifying it against the current release.
Steps:
- Start with genre -- who covers this style of music? Not broadly, but specifically.
- Match to tier -- which of those contacts operate at the appropriate level for this artist?
- Check freshness -- is this person still in this role? Is the email still valid?
- Note preferences -- how does each contact want to receive submissions?
A properly scoped campaign list is typically 25-50 contacts. Larger lists usually indicate insufficient targeting, not thorough research.
Enrichment changes the game
If you're building contact lists manually, each contact takes 15-30 minutes of research. For a 40-contact campaign, that's 10-20 hours before you've written a single pitch.
Contact enrichment compresses this. Upload your contacts, run enrichment, and receive verified emails, roles, genre focus, submission preferences, and confidence scores in minutes rather than hours. The time saved goes directly into pitch quality and follow-up discipline -- the activities that actually secure coverage.
For a detailed look at what enrichment adds and why it matters, see our complete guide to music contact enrichment.
The contact tiers
Not every contact gets the same pitch. Organise your list into tiers:
Tier 1 (5-10 contacts): High-priority targets where you have an existing relationship or strong genre fit. These get personalised pitches with extra context.
Tier 2 (15-25 contacts): Good fits that need a tailored but more efficient approach. Personalised subject line and opening, standard body.
Tier 3 (10-15 contacts): Worthwhile but lower probability. Efficient, professional pitches with genre-specific hooks.
This tiering ensures your best effort goes to the contacts most likely to engage, without neglecting the broader list.
Phase 3: Preparing campaign materials
Before you pitch, everything needs to be ready. Producers who are interested won't wait while you prepare assets. Having to say "I'll send the press release tomorrow" kills momentum.
The essentials checklist
- One-sheet: Artist name, track title, release date, genre, key streaming links, one paragraph bio, one paragraph about the release, hi-res photo
- Press release: For press targets, a properly formatted release with all details, quotes, and assets
- Streaming links: Private link or pre-save (pre-release) or live links (release week)
- Photos: Hi-res, properly named, immediately downloadable
- Audio: WAV or high-quality MP3 available if requested (don't attach to cold pitches)
- Bio: Current, accurate, appropriate length for the campaign context
Everything should be accessible via a single link or folder. Don't make producers hunt across multiple emails for assets.
Phase 4: Outreach execution
This is where the work happens. Outreach execution separates professional campaigns from hopeful blasts.
Timing
Best days: Tuesday, Wednesday. Producers plan their shows and content schedules early in the week. Monday is catch-up day. Thursday and Friday are too late for the current week's planning.
Best time: 09:00-10:00 UK time. Early enough to be near the top of the inbox, late enough that the recipient is at their desk.
Worst timing: Friday afternoon, weekends, bank holidays. Your pitch will be buried by Monday morning.
First wave: priority contacts
Send your Tier 1 pitches first, individually. Each one should reference something specific about the recipient -- their show, a recent play, their stated genre focus. This isn't optional personalisation. It's the minimum standard for professional outreach.
Space your sends across Monday-Wednesday of the first outreach week. This prevents the "blast" feeling and allows you to adjust messaging based on early responses.
Second wave: broader list
Once Tier 1 pitches are sent, expand to Tier 2 and 3. These can be more templated but should still include genre-specific hooks and contact-appropriate formatting (streaming links for radio, full press kits for journalists, etc.).
Logging
Log every pitch as it's sent. Date, recipient, subject line, key content. This is not administrative overhead -- it's the foundation of your follow-up strategy and your campaign report. Without it, you're guessing at who you've contacted and when.
For tracking frameworks, see our campaign reporting checklist.
Phase 5: Follow-up strategy
Most coverage doesn't come from the first pitch. It comes from the follow-up. But there's a professional way to follow up and an unprofessional way, and the line between them is thinner than most people realise.
The rules
Every follow-up adds new information. "Just checking in" is not a follow-up. It's an interruption that signals you have nothing new to say.
Follow up once, maximum twice. Three contacts about the same release is the absolute limit. More than that and you're damaging the relationship for future campaigns.
Reference the original pitch. Don't make the recipient search for context. "Following up on the Maya Blue single I sent last Tuesday -- wanted to share that Amazing Radio added it to rotation this week."
Strong follow-up hooks
- Radio play data: "The track has picked up 40 plays on WARM this week across 6 stations"
- Streaming milestone: "Hit 25K streams in the first week"
- Press coverage: "Clash Magazine featured the track yesterday" (with link)
- Live activity: "Just confirmed for Latitude Festival"
- Exclusive offer: "We have an acoustic session video available for first play"
The best hook is social proof from the recipient's peer group. If you can tell a BBC 6 Music presenter that Amazing Radio and BBC Introducing Bristol are already playing the track, that creates genuine momentum.
The follow-up cadence
| Timing | Action | Hook type | | --- | --- | --- | | Day 0 | Initial pitch | Release details + why this contact | | Day 5-7 | First follow-up | New data point (plays, streams, coverage) | | Release week | Nudge | Live links + momentum summary | | Week +1 | Final update | Campaign highlights (only if significant) |
If a contact doesn't respond after two follow-ups, cool them. They're not ignoring you personally -- they're busy, the music didn't fit, or the timing was wrong. You'll want that contact for future campaigns, so preserve the relationship.
Phase 6: Tracking and monitoring
Professional campaigns track everything. Not because it's fun, but because the data serves two critical purposes: the current campaign report and your long-term contact intelligence.
What to track per contact
- Pitch sent: date, content summary
- Response: replied (positive/negative/request), no response, bounced, out of office
- Outcome: played, featured, playlisted, passed, no response
- Follow-ups: dates and content of each follow-up
- Notes: any useful intelligence for future campaigns
Monitoring plays
Don't rely solely on email responses to gauge campaign success. Stations frequently add tracks to rotation without notifying the plugger. Use radio monitoring services (WARM for UK) to catch plays you wouldn't know about from email alone.
Similarly, check Spotify for Artists and Apple Music for Artists for playlist adds that may have resulted from your pitching but weren't communicated directly.
The radio monitoring tools guide covers the available services in detail.
Phase 7: Client reporting
The campaign report is your deliverable. It's what the client pays for beyond the actual promotion work, and it's what determines whether they hire you again.
What a professional report includes
Campaign overview: Dates, target outlets, total contacts pitched.
Results summary: Plays secured (with station, show, date), press coverage (with links), playlist adds (with playlist name and follower count), blog features (with links and estimated readership).
Metrics: Response rate, conversion rate (pitches to plays/coverage), total estimated reach/impressions.
Contact breakdown: How many contacts were pitched at each tier, response rates by tier, notable feedback received.
Streaming impact: Any measurable streaming uplift during the campaign period. Be honest -- correlation isn't causation, but directional data is useful.
Recommendations: What to do next. Is there momentum worth extending? Which contacts should be prioritised for the next release? What angle worked best?
The honesty principle
Report honestly. A campaign that secured 4 community radio plays and 2 blog features is a legitimate result for a debut single. Don't inflate numbers or obscure poor results. Clients who are misled discover it eventually, and the damage to your reputation is permanent.
Conversely, don't undersell genuine success. If those 4 community radio plays came from stations you identified through enriched contact research and professional outreach, that's a system working. Help the client understand what the results mean in context.
For report templates, see our campaign report templates.
Running multiple campaigns without losing your mind
The real test of a small agency workflow isn't one campaign. It's three, four, or five running simultaneously with overlapping timelines, different artists, and different target contacts.
What breaks first
Follow-ups. When you're juggling multiple campaigns, follow-ups are the first thing to slip. You intend to follow up on Tuesday, but you're prepping first-wave pitches for another campaign, and suddenly it's Friday.
Contact confusion. Pitching the same contact for multiple campaigns in the same week looks unprofessional. Without centralised tracking, it's easy to overlap.
Reporting. Campaign reports get delayed when you're deep in outreach for other campaigns. Delayed reports make clients anxious, which creates more work.
What prevents the breakdown
Centralised contact management. One system that shows every contact across every campaign, with history. This prevents overlap and maintains contact health.
Structured cadences. Plan your outreach schedule for all active campaigns at the start of each week. Block time for follow-ups. Don't let one campaign's urgency cannibalise another's follow-up schedule.
Weekly client updates. Don't wait until the end of the campaign to communicate. A brief weekly update ("12 pitches sent this week, 2 responses, 1 play confirmed") keeps clients informed and reduces anxiety-driven check-ins.
Batch similar tasks. Research contacts for all campaigns on Monday. Send pitches Tuesday-Wednesday. Follow up Thursday. Report Friday. Batching reduces context-switching, which is the real productivity killer for small agencies.
The PR agency operations guide covers multi-campaign management in more detail.
The compound effect
Every campaign you run generates intelligence that makes the next one better. Which contacts responded to which genres? What follow-up timing produced the best results? Which stations added tracks without replying?
This is the compound effect of professional PR, and it only works if you capture the data. Update contact records after every campaign. Note outcomes, preferences, and feedback. Over 6-12 months, your enriched contact database becomes the most valuable asset in your business.
The agencies that thrive long-term aren't the ones with the biggest contact lists. They're the ones with the deepest contact intelligence -- built one campaign at a time, captured systematically, and deployed with precision.
Manage campaigns without the chaos
TAP gives small agencies enriched contacts, pitch tracking, and campaign reporting in one system. Free tier available.
Start freeFurther reading
- Radio promotion tips that actually work -- practical advice for the radio-specific parts of your campaign
- Music PR pitch writing: the complete guide -- detailed pitch frameworks and templates
- The complete guide to UK radio promotion -- deep dive into the BBC and UK radio landscape
- PR measurement and ROI: complete guide -- how to measure and report campaign value
- Setting campaign expectations with clients -- managing client relationships professionally
- Weekly campaign status templates -- keeping clients informed without wasting time
