After attending a luncheon this week with one of Nashville’s biggest artist management firms, I started thinking about how important it is for our students/alumni to craft their professional brand. If you want to work in the entertainment industry, you are constantly thinking about others’ brands and how to best market the brand to a wide audience. But what about you? – the artist manager – the booking agent -the screenwriter – the receptionist.
What is your brand? How are you going to market your strengths and aspirations to the employer when the time comes? In an industry this competitive you must have an edge – something that distinguishes you – your professional brand.
Here are some questions to ask yourself:
– What do I do better than anyone else? What do I excel in?
– What makes me excited?
– What do others consider to be my strengths? Ask them. (Have a personal board of advisers that are honest with you.)
– Who do you want to be? How do you want to be known? What do you want others to take away from an interaction with you?
These aren’t easy questions to answer, and sometimes it takes talking it through with friends and mentors. Spend the time crafting your brand! The entertainment industry loves creativity and self awareness. Be prepared to talk about yourself and what you can offer.
And then magically…your brand aligns with an employer’s brand and everyone lives happily ever after.
