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File Naming For
Idiots, Voice Actors, Musicians and Artists
By
Stew Crossen
Before you attach that file
and hit send... Stop and Think!
Think about File Naming Convention. File what?
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Okay, you're a Voice Actor
with a great demo mp3 you need to email to a prospective
client or maybe you're a Musician with a killer song mp3
you want to email to an industry pro. Perhaps you're an
Agent with an awesome media kit in pdf format you want to
email to a major venue on behalf of your artist or you
might be a Photographer with a stunning photo in jpg
format you want to email to a publisher.
In the business world,
everyone is swamped with email and media professionals
receive hundreds of emails with attachments. So, before
you email an attachment to someone, take a moment and
think about the File Name and how the end user will handle
and manage your file once it hits their inbox.
Imagine receiving 20, 30, 40
or more different attachments every day or week and saving
them all on your PC. A busy professional may not have time
to review your attachment the minute it's received, and
may wait a day or even a week to listen to your mp3 or
view your pdf or jpg. So, it's very important to give your
file a name that clearly identifies it. Here's three bad
examples of file attachments I received yesterday;
DS1301.jpg - Track 01.mp3
- MediaKit08.pdf
Once these attachment files
end up in your inbox or a folder on your PC, could you
tell who sent them and what they are? No, I didn't think
so. The folks who sent them, didn't give much thought or
consideration to File Naming Convention.
Imagine what it looks like
when a busy person opens their attachment directory and
your file is mixed in with 50 other poorly named files?
Now, wouldn't it be better if...
DS1301.jpg ... was named ...
BeefStewCDArt.jpg
Track 01.mp3 ... was named ...
Muffin-Top_If-Only-You-Knew.mp3
MediaKit08.pdf ... was named ...
NextAmericanIdol_MediaKit2008
Much better don't you think?
If you wrote a book, would you name it BK129? Would your
name your child RS4500? No, of course you wouldn't. So,
name your attachment files exactly what they are. With
proper names, files are easy to identify and manage.
So, the next time you send a
file attachment, take a moment and think how the file name
will look when it reaches the end user. If you want your
attachment file to stand out and be recognized, give it a
good name.
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