Let's work together on your brand to stand out from the competition. PRODUCT OR PERSON!!
Questions to ask: Who are you? How do you compare in the market place? How do others see you? How can you maintain your brand exposure? How can you get more sales or booked as an actor?
- Establishing your brand - Without a strong brand image, theres no brand to sustain or be successful. To establish, first we/ the company determines and sells its unique selling proposition, or what differentiates the brand’s product or service in its category. The unique selling proposition, or USP, should be defined internally and communicated externally in branding messaging. To really be successful people must know your brand, be familiar, understand it fast to buy into what you sell. Whether you are an individual or product, your message needs to be the strongest to succeed.
-Maintaining your brand - Brand awareness is the key component here. If customers don't relate or understand fast what you are selling, they will purchase or book a competitors product, service or talent. Depending on who or what your brand is, it is critical to promote it through your marketing and advertising efforts. For a product, who and where are you targeting with advertising, what is your message, how does your logo look, what is the appeal? For the entertainer host, actor or individual - how does the client find you, trust your level of expertise and book you? Is your USP standing out? Who are your customers? You need to know where they are, what they want and need?
While customers must know your brand in order to buy or book it, your brand also needs to know its customers to reach them. In effective brand management, brand managers know their target market and its spending and consumption habits, and tailor the placement of marketing and advertising accordingly. Your marketing activities should meet your potential customers where they are spending their money or time. With the actor, only a great representative agent or manager can tell you if you align with the current climate and jobs available. There is a fine line with actors of manipulating your brand to fit the current trends yet staying strong as a unique individual. As with all brands, maintaining can mean flowing with the trends but also changing slightly to suit the customers. This is how a branding expert can work with you to deliver results fast.
Once your brand has been created, the work to maintain it never ceases. Logos, taglines, and editorial messaging should adhere to brand guidelines. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram updates should convey a similar brand tone and feel as brochures and mailers. All interactions with your brand should positively reinforce your brand identity. Maintenance never ends in brand management. Without adequate attention and nurturing, a brand’s image erodes. It’s the responsibility of brand management to continuously refine and improve it. Each new season the customer or casting director will expect to have seen movement and progress. We must share the success and growth for customers to keep buying into the product or person, and if heaven forbid there is no growth the illusion in marketing must be created. Actors must have new reels, new headshots to keep the casting director as excited as any customer in any business.
Consistency throughout a brand is critical.
Brands should convey a consistent tone and feel in every brand touchpoint. Brand managers work to ensure that both aesthetic and intangible aspects of a brand align. This includes packaging, product or service quality, marketing campaigns, and the customers’ emotional experience of interacting with your brand. Actors and entertainers need to provide consistent quality auditions and presentations for the casting director, producer and network studio bosses to trust you can deliver under pressure and in the moment. It is only by being consistent that they will book you, and want to see more of what you can do. Websites, tools, profiles all need to mirror each other with your brand image and message to be taken with credence.
Large companies, especially ones with affiliates, must take extra care to ensure consistency throughout a brand. The more complex the company, the more likely the chance of an affiliate or vendor using out-of-date or inaccurate messaging or brand identity work. Effective brand management examines the entirety of a brand meticulously to ensure a brand is communicating itself clearly and reliably across channels and platforms. So whether your brand and company is small, large or you - Your message needs to be true to type and steady.
-Evolving your brand
A well-managed brand externally expresses itself in a voice that reflects the company’s or individual's identity, culture and values. As we move forward into new coming years, trends, storylines, the evolution of your brand must also. This voice is reflected across its media presence, including its website, blogs, social media, and events. To execute consistent messaging and logo and design attributes, brand management often creates brand style guidelines. Brand guidelines typically manage the use of a brand’s logo, fonts, and official colors. These guidelines may also include editorial instructions, such as how to use taglines or specific wording, facts, and figures in communications. The individual and actor must be aware of shows, films, show runners, networks, who are extremely successful in the market place. The look, rhythm and tone of writing, the whole packaging runs in parallel with your brand and aligning to a project can be easier if awareness is at the forefront. An example I've seen over many years is when actor tapes for a show and totally doesn't understand the writers tone or the energy. There is yet again a fine line between being strong enough to say this is me, this is what I have to offer, this is my USP, and meeting what the writer, executive producer, casting director and network needs. Any manager must work with the actor to understand and have confidence in your brand, talent, image and type, yet fully be aware of what the customer is looking for. Otherwise its just luck turning up, filming and expecting the booking (which can happen) Let's tailor you to stand out and get results faster!
-Brand Loyalty
In addition to smartly placed marketing communications, your brand should also work toward building stronger customer loyalty, which rewards your brand with recurring purchases or for the actor auditions coming through from the same offices. Keeping customers aware of your brand with consistent advertising and marketing messaging helps. Social media advertising seems to be one of the smartest places for brands to share their news and promotions. Similar for the actor or entertainer promoting news and updates whilst engaging with casting professionals is an easy way to highlight accomplishments and achievements.
LET'S GET YOU THE RESULTS YOU DESERVE!
Liz X
One hour COACH/ BRAND/ MENTOR Session
Coaching & Branding
LIZ FULLER MANAGEMENT