Acting With No Experience Part 7: Marketing for Actors

You need to build a brand around yourself. The term ‘building a brand’ is often something that involves a product being marketed by a group of people in fancy suits.  When it comes to branding yourself, as crude as it seems, the concept is pretty similar – you are the product and your image is the brand that surrounds you.  Of course, there are differences between you and an actual inanimate product, for one, you’re not being sold – that would be illegal.

“To find yourself, think for yourself.” – Socrates

There are many similarities though, for example before a product is even released there are many things the creators need to take into consideration – such as the target market, the look, as well as the quality of what they’re putting out there.  The same can be said about an actor, as well.  A product, much like an actor, will also take some time to gain popularity after being released, and at the end of the day will only do so if they’ve fully thought out what their aim is.

This is why before you try and market yourself, you need to decide on what you’re trying to market. To jump to other sections of the Acting With No Experience series, please use the table of contents below.

VII. MARKETING FOR ACTORS

7.1 Marketing Yourself as an Actor

Saying you need to market yourself really makes it sound as if you’re being sold like the new iPhone that just came out – don’t worry, you’re worth a lot more than that though, it was just a phrase.  There are many ways to market yourself in the industry, some of them being rather simple.

Brand Image.

Deciding on an image can be hard for an actor, as the decision can lead to you being boxed into one specific stereotype.  If you want to have an edgy, rough-around-the-edges image, it’s highly probable that you’re going to be placed into that category of roles.  This is why you need to think long and hard before making the final decision on who you want to be perceived as.

Once you’ve decided on your image, or the brand that surrounds you, it’s time to decide on how to market yourself.  It’s like that moment before a product is ready to be placed on the shelves, where the marketing team decides how they’re going to promote it.  Promoting yourself, however, is rather different and doesn’t involve cheesy TV advertisements with really catchy theme tunes.

Today, the best way to create a brand around yourself is a step by step process:

1. Build your own website (there’s a step by step guide for you here)
2. Become active on social media
3. Start making connections online
4. Create a clear type around yourself
5. Network in real life with the right purpose

Let’s take a closer look at some of these.

Social Networks. In this day and age, social networking is clearly a very good way to go if you want to get somewhere in the industry.  You hear stories every day of people becoming stars simply by posting videos on the internet.  If you’re more into stage acting in London, then posting videos hoping for fame is probably not for you, however having different social networks is never a bad thing, and will help you stay connected.

By having different social networks, you have the ability to promote yourself… for free and however you want to.  It will also give you the ability to keep tabs on other big people on these websites and try to market yourself to them in the hopes of gaining connections.

Facebook. If you don’t know about this website, then you’ve probably been living under a rock your whole life – or without Wi-Fi, which is basically the same thing.  Facebook is the biggest way to not only stay in touch with people, but put yourself out there.  It’s really easy (not to mention free) to create a Facebook page for other people to like and support you on.

It’s understandable if you’re skeptical, as who’d want to like a page of an up-and-coming actor with not much credit to their name right?  Well, it doesn’t matter if you haven’t done much in your acting career – having it will be like having a digital business card that lets people know about you, as well as giving them the ability to get in touch with you. You need to put some time and effort into creating a professional looking Facebook page that markets you well, for people to look at when researching you.

Don’t, I repeat, DON’T use your social media platform as an opportunity to complain about your career, director, or fellow actors.  That’s a sure way to end your acting career before it even begins.  Stay positive.  Promote yourself and your successes, no matter how small.  Congratulate and support your peers.  It will all come back to you, I promise.

Twitter. When this social network first came out people thought it wasn’t going to be very big.  A couple of years later and almost everybody’s on there, mentally converting the sentences in their heads into ones of 140 characters.  This website is filled with people in the acting industry, which will be hugely beneficial to you, as it gives you the opportunity to reach out to them and try to market your skills.

Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram. Post photos of rehearsals, your cool makeup, backstage shenanigans, you in costume — anything you can think of that will illustrate yourself as a successful working actor.  It’s all about what image you choose to portray.  Herald your success with frequent updates.

7.2 Personal Actor’s Website

As the internet continues to change the entertainment industry, more actors are starting to utilize all the opportunities the online world has to offer. Even Hollywood’s A-listers are working hard on maintaining their personal actor’s websites and growing social media following. But do actors who are just starting their acting career need a website?

Anyone who’s been trying to become a working actor in any of the larger cities such as London knows that the secret to getting more auditions is networking. Casting directors that know you are more likely to bring you in rather than simply call you from a casting submission.

This is called presence. The more time you spend in a city, the more people you meet, the more connections you make – the more memorable you become. This eventually leads to more phone calls or emails, invites to auditioning for parts and hopefully booking those parts.

Why Acting Websites?

Online world is like a city, and you need to be hanging around there, making connections just like you would in a real world.

If you want to optimize your web presence so that when someone enters your name in Google they are able to get all the necessary information about you without having to spend a long time researching, you need a platform for that.

The best platform is the one that you can control – your website. Results from establishing that web presence through your own platform will eventually translate into the real world: more connections, more people that are aware of you, more phone calls, more auditions, more jobs. Not only that, but building online presence isn’t as difficult as it is in the real world.

In a big city, networking is one of the best ways to make people around that place aware of you. However, it’s by no means an easy job. Thankfully, online world is much easier, because you can do this with the comfort of planting your butt on the chair in front of a computer.

What is web presence made out of? Anything where you can put your name in: your website, blog, social media profiles, reviews, comments, photos and videos. Everything with you and/or your name out there can contribute more or less to your overall web presence, raising your rank, so to speak.

The more stuff you have out there, the more present you are online. Ultimately, everything does (or should) stem from your personal website which is the foundation of your web presence.

Why? Because you’re in control of it. You can put out there anything and everything you want people to consume. You’ll be in charge of how your audience and anybody else sees you.

Online Audience.

Nowadays, your online audience is one of the key factors to book a job. If you go through casting websites searching for potential auditions, often you’ll notice casting directors mentioning web presence and social media following. The bigger your audience, the better chance you have of booking a job (even if someone was better at their audition than you).

Why? Because if you get the part, then your audience may become an additional set of eyes and support for the project. You come in with your own army of followers to whom you can promote this film or web series you’re working on, regularly. They will be the ones who will come and see it.

Remember Kevin Kelly’s theory of 1,000 true fans? Yes, it especially applies to actors. This is extremely important in 2016. It’s never too late to start or continue building your web presence and expanding your online audience.

Building and utilizing your own acting website is the best way to present your followers with what you want them to see. It’s going to become your actor’s online business card, sort of. Plus, it’s really not that difficult to make a website.

Why isn’t it difficult? Because of all the available tools. There are people out there charging a pretty penny for creating a site, but in my opinion, it’s not really worth it.

Honestly, creating your own acting website focused on your acting career doesn’t have to take longer than half a day, even if you’re completely new to this. With today’s content management platforms like WordPress, or services like SquareSpace, it’s never been easier.

Website for Actor’s Marketing.

I’ve talked to many casting directors, agents and other industry people. Nobody ever disagrees with this: as an actor, you are the product and you are in the sales team to sell yourself. It’s the reality of the entertainment business.

Many actors shy away from this, thinking that it diminishes their “artistic” presence, but it’s simply not true. Acting has been over-romanticized, but as someone who’s just starting, there’s almost no chance for you to become a working actor if you will not work on marketing and promoting yourself.

When you’re a young actor with little experience and fame, marketing and networking is just as important as being good at your craft. That’s the nature of this business. Accept it, and move on. Your website is of course one of the best tools for marketing yourself.

The site can be as big or as small as you want it to be. After a few years of researching, testing and trying different methods and websites, I found a sweet spot that works for me and for many other actors whom I helped to build their sites, or fixed their existing ones.

What do you want to show people?

• Your headshots: put up old and/or new ones, and have as many as you want on there!
• Your showreel: make sure you have several, including your comedic and dramatic scenes;
• Personality: many love seeing/reading non-acting related things to get an idea of who you are;
• Special skills: mention or show everything you can do – singing, dancing, magic, acrobatics and whatnot;
• Landing page: the first page with photos, videos and info someone sees when they visit your site;
• Your news: what have you been doing and what are you about to do – show that you’re a working actor;
• Personal blog: this can increase your presence immensely, and I’ll talk about how in the future.

All of these things and more can and should be on your website, and you’ll be able to control it all by yourself, unlike with social media. This helps with creating an impression, as well as building people’s perception of who you are both as a person, as an actor and as an artist.

7.3 Your Actor Type

Knowing your type as an actor is absolutely essential. It will set you up for the right parts and increase your booking-to-audition ratio. There are a lot of acting jobs out there, and as an actor trying to book as much work as possible, you need to spend your time efficiently instead of wasting it on the parts you simply do not fit.

Typecasting Yourself.

Actors are virtually entrepreneurs, running their own business in this industry. One of the very first rules of entrepreneurship is to find your audience. The success of the business will depend on entrepreneur’s ability to find a circle of consumers interested in the product.

The very similar strategy can and should be applied by actors marketing themselves in the entertainment business. It’s an acting business after all. Actors are products and our audience are the consumers. Only with smart marketing choices can you build a solid following, fast.

For decades, actors have been fighting typecasting, and rightfully so: nobody wants to do the same thing for the rest of their lives. That’s one of the reasons many of you decide to become actors: it’s the variety of jobs and things you get to do on a regular basis.

However, it’s one thing to go against typecasting when you’re an established name within the industry, and a whole different story when you’re trying to get your feet wet in this huge showbiz pool. When you’re just starting out as an actor, in fact you DO want to get typecasted and be known for certain things in the film industry.

When you know your actor type:

• You can market yourself more effectively, because you know who’s going to be interested;
• You will know how to shoot and sell your headshots;
• You can present yourself more accurately during online submissions;
• You will know exactly what parts to go for and raise your chance of booking them;
• You will not waste your and others’ time by auditioning for something you aren’t fit for.

How to Know Your Type.

Knowing your brand as an actor in the beginning of your acting career will not only get you cast more often, but it will also help you in fighting typecasting later in your career (something that almost every working actor has to go through).

So how do you figure out your own type as an actor?

1. Start with your looks. Understand how to look at your physical appearance objectively and learn everything about yourself; be aware of it. Can you honestly pull off a leading man’s or leading woman’s role, or would you suit better a part of his/her geeky friend?

Judging from the side, do you see yourself a lot in comedy skits or in serious drama? I know you can do both, but for now, you need to pick. Think about any minor detail and what makes you stand out, what makes you that type of a character.

2. What’s your acting age range? This should probably go with figuring out your looks and exterior, but I just want to stress how important this part is. In this industry obsessed with looks and age, knowing what you appear like is vital.

First of all, remember that you are as old as you look. If you’re 30, but you can pull off a teenager – good for you! In the acting business, that is how old you are; it’s not about your legal age. So learn how old you look and go for parts that are asking for that particular playing age.

3. Your personal traits. That’s your character, charisma, personality, emotions, individuality, temper and anything else that makes you, you. As we have previously talked in Tips for a Successful Audition, it is very important for actors to be themselves and bring their own personality.

Learn what kind of a person are you:

• Are you funny and witty?
• Are you quirky and awkward?
• Are you very serious and straight?
• Are you shy, silent, neurotic, energetic?

The list goes on and on. Write your own and start working at it.

These three aspects mentioned above are major factors in determining your actor type. That’s what the industry cares most about. But figuring out the answers to those questions is a thousand dollar question; it’s not easy for most of us.

One of the common tips I’ve heard repeated a few times before was going to the airport to start asking people who they think you are or how old do they think you are. It’s an interesting advice, and it can definitely work. Unfortunately, not everybody is going to be comfortable with this approach; plus, this makes it very easy to come in contact with security on location.

It’s always easier to start figuring your actor type in the beginning of your career, when you’re still fresh. Here are a few more ways to do that.

Improv. Improvisation classes will teach you how to be in the moment and play of what you have, and it always results in a lot of attention to your looks and personality. You’ll quickly start noticing patterns.

Workshops. Acting workshops is another option: playing a vast amount of characters in a short period of time means finding something that you’ll be perfect for. The best acting classes for this sort of thing would be any with camera in the room: audition classes, commercial classes or scene study classes where a camera is utilized.

Camera never lies, and your acting coach will usually cast you in a part that fits your type. On top of that, some acting teachers start off their new students by introducing them to the class and then asking the group – before anybody got a chance to meet you properly – on what they think your actor type is and what parts you can play. That’s very useful.

Finally, just ask. Inquire your friends, relatives and fellow thespians and see what they say. Make a list of questions and go ask anybody you know, including your co-workers, class mates and even acting teachers. Most of these people, however, might be biased, so be aware of that. Try going to various gatherings and parties and talking to strangers you’ve never met. Ask them the same kind of questions. Request objectivity and accept whatever you get with a smile.

Also, get into a habit of asking this question regularly, particularly when you meet new people. It’s not a big deal, since the question can be quick and simple: “By the way, what parts do you see me playing?” or “How old do you think I am?”

One thing to remember is that whatever answer you get from people around you, and even your own assessment from when you’re in your most “honest” mood, might not be the answer you were looking for. Be aware that what you want isn’t always what you get. Your actor type could be the complete opposite of what you really are in person, or what you have initially expected it to be. Get enough answers to draw a more concrete conclusion, and embrace your type – whatever it is.

(NOTE: This part of the guide is still under development and more details on acting with no experience in London will be added as we continue to develop the whole series.)

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