Branding

As an actor there is a ton of marketing that one can choose to do or not do for oneself. Ideally I’d like my work to speak for itself, however I am not so naïve as to think everyone gets where they are with hard work and talent alone. As in any other industry, it’s all about who you know (and who knows you).

I have an actor friend, Tess, who is a marketing maniac. She sends out postcards every month or so, same with email blasts, she has a $400 actor website, she’s constantly plugging her work on her facebook page, and she has started hardcore distinguishing herself as a 40’s Bette Davis girl. I envy her vigor for this aspect of the business. I’ve had her buzzing in my ear lately (in a helpful, excited, proactive way not an annoying way. Yet. ) But now I can’t help wondering: how much is too much?

I’ve been wanting to update my website for over a year now, I’ve also wanted to get some web videos up there forever. I sent postcards out in the fall and am struggling to squeeze anything noteworthy out of these past few months for a Happy New Year batch. (Maybe Tess is just working more than I am? Is she working more because she’s doing all this junk?) Tess is encouraging me to embrace my style, persona, or whatever and work on branding myself. Her point is that people like an entire, clear-cut package to know how to categorize you. It's also easier to remember you that way. It's a shortcut into your personality which is the thing that is truly unique about you. She’s also throwing out some sort of kooky ideas about creating a logo to go along with my name. Like, some sort of symbol or punctuation that people will recognize after seeing a few times. And a catchphrase! Oy.

Is creating an entire brand for myself, an unknown actor, ridiculous or genious? Maybe my fear is that it’s going to seem like I’m trying way too hard in these irrelevant areas rather than in more pertinent ones. I don’t want to stick out from the crowd by being over the top and ridiculous! I also don’t want to bombard my contacts with excessive mailings. I’ve had numerous people tell me lately that it is their job to remember who you are and not to postcard them if you have nothing to say. They end up getting annoyed and remembering you in a negative light.

I can’t sit here and think about this too long and hard or I’ll just end up doing nothing. I guess I should do the things I believe in, like truly defining who I am as an actor, and let the rest naturally follow. That is, if it follows at all.