Marketing Mind Taffy
With the new year upon us, I have begun thinking about how to market myself better as an actor. The only problem is, marketing is not one of my strong suits. I am hoping to improve in this area in 2013. Here are some of the things I struggle with:
I have a business contacts list, where I organize all the names and contact information of the people I have met and would like to keep in touch with. The only problem is, every year – this list grows shorter and shorter. People move/change their e-mail addresses and don’t think to update me. So each year, I lose important contacts.
I usually write to my contacts twice a year. Once at the beginning of the year, and once at the end of the year. I have heard of people writing more than twice a year, but I don’t want to be a burden. I’m never sure if I should be writing to my contacts more than twice a year or not.
I also tend to get really excited whenever I have a new project/update to announce. I love going on Vistaprint.com and creating neat, colorful postcards to announce the news. However, I always have trouble actually distributing the postcards! I always feel braggy giving them to friends/fellow actors, and I can usually only think of a few people to actually send the postcards to. In the end, I usually have a large box of leftover postcards that I don’t know what to do with. I hate to waste them, but they are out of date.
Maybe there are simple solutions to these problems, but I just haven’t discovered them. Do you run into these issues? How do you solve them?
The Green Room 
I have been using social media extensively in my own self-marketing. I connect with lots of local actors on Facebook and Twitter, and keep other websites like LinkedIn up to date with my latest doings. Besides the fact that social media is fun, it has also been helpful because people get to know me as an individual and as a performer, and it has aided me in finding new projects.
Thanks for the advice! I definitely need to work on my social networking. I have been hearing a lot about LinkedIn, and I am planning to make an account very soon!
I agree with using social media! Blogging and tweeting are HUGE for me. I also keep in touch with people I’ve worked with before through facebook. I “have” a website–and do update it but I don’t find it very useful to me right now as I’m not working professionally.
Thanks for the advice! I think working on my social networking skills will be one of my goals for 2013.
Definitely reach out to your contacts more often! There’s always something to share, whether it’s the latest project you’re working on, that new salsa class you’re taking, or that important callback for that awesome casting director. Being a burden is contacting them every week. Keeping people in the loop every few months is just that. ^_^
Thank you for the advice! I will definitely be reaching out to my contacts more this year!