5 Tips to take the Risk OUT of Marketing

Marketing IS risky.  Why?  It might not work.  That alone is what has most actors not market themselves at all.  Oh well, sure…you go online and submit for gigs, send some follow up postcards out every once in a while to build your contacts…is that really marketing?  It is, but BARELY.

To really clear through the clutter, you have to be BOLD, courageous and sometimes outrageous.  You have to THINK like they think, not like you think.  And after you figure out what, how, and who to market too, you actually have to take ACTion and DO it.

So here are my 5 Tips to take the risk OUT of marketing…FOREVER!

1.  Don’t be AFRAID to make a mistake.  If you haven’t made a mistake lately in your marketing, then well, you aren’t marketing.  FEAR is the #1 reason people don’t take action.  Mistakes are GREAT – if you learn from them, then correct and continue.

2.  Put yourself in the position of the person you are marketing to.  Remembering there is a HUMAN BEING on the other end of your correspondence is essential.  If you were them, what do you think would be important for them to know about what you uniquely have to offer?  Then provide them with that info.

3.  Target market.  You’ll save time and money if you market to LESS people, MORE often.  The widely popular (really? still?) mass marketing ploy is a “throw it up against a wall and see what sticks” method…and it’s outdated.  Getting a list of names and companies that you don’t know and emailing them (or even snail mail) is like blindfolding yourself and holding out wads of money to strangers.  You’ll waste postage, effort and most valuable, TIME.

4.  Lower your expectations of a RETURN.  I know, I know…no one wants to hear that.  But the TRUTH is one that ALL true marketers know:  A 2% return is average.  What that means is that on the average if you send out 100 messages, 2 will get a response.  So why not do the mass mailing that I said was a bad idea?  Because here’s a better idea.  Choose 10 people/companies to target and mail to them 10 times.  Your exposure will go WAY up and your ROI (Return On Investment) will correspondingly go up as well.

5.  Be yourself in your speaking…write the way you speak.  Speak the way you speak.  Don’t try to be who you’re not.  This includes your headshot, your resume and everything else about what you are marketing.  Be authentic, be smart, be accessible, be natural.

And last but not least be prepared to hear a lot of “nos”, then keep on keepin’ on and do MORE.  Don’t stop, don’t ever stop…MARKETING!

I’d love to hear some of your marketing methods, and PLEASE share with our community what works.  Also, if you have tried something that didn’t work, but then learned something, corrected it and then it worked, that’s REALLY worth sharing.  Thanks so much!  Lisa Gold