Career Strategies

Yesterday I was on the New York City subway running late to a very important meeting. Whenever I ride the subway I never seem to get a seat but that day I thought would be different.

Just for those of you who may have never ridden the subways in New York during rush hours; the thing you need to know is that you have to be very aggressive. It is kind of like defensive driving.

Anyway, a little old lady got up out of her seat and got off at 86th street. As I moved toward the vacant seat I saw the cutest little girl next to me. She smile, looked at the vacant seat and started to move toward. She must of had super powers because before I knew it this darling little girl had took my seat. No worries, because I would have given it to her anyway. But it was what she said at the end that got to me. She glanced back up at me and said, "You're too slow old man".

I was thrown back by her audacity after all I am only 21 (okay, okay plus or minus twenty years but whose counting) so right away I grabbed the little girl, started slapping the crap out of her then preceded to body slam her on the ground. I threw my hands up victories and shouted to the shocked car of subway riders, "Yeah son, da Bronx is in the house!" I then relaxed back in my newly acquired seat like a King sitting on his throne. Hey, what could I do, I had to represent.

Alright, you got me. I made that up. But he girl did take my seat and she did call me an old man. But the little darling was so cute who could be angry at her. Anyhow, shortly thereafter a woman got on the train and started preaching to the entire subway car. Apparently, we were all going to hell unless we accepted her God. What struck me was the fact that this woman needed a serious makeover. Her hair was a mess and her clothes looked like they were left over from the seventies.

All this brings me to my point. For actors and filmmakers getting your name out there can be challenging. In fact, it is crucial if you want to survive in this business. This is so important that it can make the difference between having food on the table or not.

First things first, not matter what you are selling whether it be yourself, your work or your newly found spirituality, you must DEMONSTRATE VALUE. If you're not communicating what I call "high value" then no one will want your product or service. The woman on the subway may have had the greatest religion in the world but because she was not presenting herself well she demonstrated low value. This can turn people off and create a bad reputation for yourself.

Next you want to stand out and capture people's attention. This can be done through many avenues but one way that works best is through the art of storytelling. If you recall my story about the little girl who took my seat on the subway, yes I was being dramatic, but this was a perfect example of standing out and capturing the market's attention. You can also accomplish this through the manner in which you dress, the way you speak, how you structure your ads and so on and so forth.

Now, I want to present to you three powerful ways to promote yourself. This is the first time I am going to reveal this information so don't say that I have never given you anything. But first let me say this. Most people in this business don't have a plan of attack. We go about things in an unstructured way and when we don't see the results we were looking for we give up and eventually drop out of the industry. Well, you can achieve all of your dreams if you approach things from the proper perspective. You simply need a proven plan to operate from. So let's look at my three surefire ways you can use to market yourself.

CULTIVATE SMALL MEDIA NICHES

In this method you try and capture the attention of a small but powerful niche. Most people try and blanket the entire industry with their image or service which can be very costly and time consuming. Rather, try focusing on those key players who are small in numbers but powerful enough to help get your name out there. This makes use of what I call is "SCALE". If you recall in a previous article I wrote SCALE is anything that exponentially increases your efforts with very little work on your part. With this method you come to a "Tipping Point" where you hit a certain critical mass that causes your name to spread like wildfire.

SATURATE THE MARKET

Here is where you will try and position yourself so that wherever people go or whatever they do they will always be exposed to YOU! Coke-Cola is a perfect example of this because not only do they have billboards, TV commercials, Internet presence and print ads, but even their top marketing executives admitted that they don't know which campaign is the most effective method of marketing. But what they can tell you and agree upon is that if they eliminated just one from the pool they would undoubtedly see a decline in sales. So the saturation approach works for them. This relies more on longevity for true effectiveness. The more and longer people see your name the more sales you will get. It's call frequency of exposure.

THE CAMPAIGN APPROACH

This relies on short bursts of exposure. Let's say you have a big movie coming out. Well, you start putting up movie posters, doing press interviews, sending out trailers and so on. But after the movie has its run you are done. But wait. A couple of months later you gear up for the DVD and cable release. So you start the marketing process over again. This type of marketing relies on generating as much hype as possible in short increments.

So there you have it. I have just given you the basics from which you can develop an extremely effective marketing plan. You may ask which approach is best for you? That is something you will have to determine given your budget, availability, and resources. But with this current information at hand you are far better off then those just going at it with an unstructured approach. A great resource for more marketing tips is http://www.kamiticartssystem.com

Okay, I have to go now. But tell me how well this works for you. Tomorrow, I am riding the subway again. I think this time I will bring some candy so that I can bribe the little girl into giving me a seat. She's quick as heck. To tell you the truth I don't want to piss her off because she may end up kicking MY BUTT.

Later...

# posted by Ronald K. Armstrong @ 7:38 PM