The Actor and the Target Audience

Give the people what they want

Here’s some advice we’ve all heard a thousand times as actors:

“Don’t worry about what other people are looking for, just be you.”

This advice comes from top-tier industry folks, like that “huge” casting director or the big-name actor. Mainly it applies to auditioning, which makes sense. You’ve made your choices when you walk into the room and now your job is to do what you set out to do. Stop worrying about other people and what they want, stay true to your art and yourself and eventually you’ll book at the “right place at the right time”.

However, we see many actors applying this principle to every aspect of their creative lives. They put their foot down and defiantly refuse to consider what industry folks may be looking for or may need. “That’s not my job,” they may say. “My job is to focus on my art and trust that a tribe and group of support will form around me”.

We think this is a grave mistake.

Any good business is constantly thinking of its customer base. How can they improve and position themselves to provide more value to the people who pay them? How can it ensure that it messages its brand in a way that reaches the customers that it needs to reach?

Why should our own businesses be any different?

Unfortunately, there’s no subsidized arts program that will pay us to just do “our thing” in order to culturally enrich society. Unfortunately, actors unions haven’t negotiated guaranteed work for each member. The fact of the matter is that for the majority of us, we must consider our target audience at every turn. Especially when it comes to marketing.

The other person’s interests

We define marketing as the clear messaging of a consistent brand. This is done through varied strategies, whether it’s word-of-mouth, social media, press releases, paid advertising, newsletters, vlogging or blogging. When it comes to formulating a marketing strategy most people like to stick with what they are comfortable with, timidly sharing an upcoming project on their Instagram story so as not to seem needy, desperate or braggadocious.

However, you need to get outside of your head and start getting into the head of your target audience. What kind of content do they engage with? Do some simple research! Who are your competitors? What kind of marketing do they do? What publications feature them? What’s their highest performing insta content? Have they been on a few podcasts? How do they drive engagement to their site?

You may realize pretty quickly that your marketing game could be stepped up about a thousand percent, that you may not be cranking out the type of content your target audience engages with. Don’t grow discouraged! Instead get curious about how you can more effectively reach them with your unique brand!

This brings me to a final point. In a previous post, we discussed how when you comprehend the totality of your unique brand you can then tailor a pitch for anybody listening. Getting through to our target audience requires you to know your product (yourself as an actor) then highlighting the parts of your product that they are interested in. It’s not about being something you are not, but knowing how what you bring to the table will benefit whoever is in front of you.

The 🔑 ? Listening. Actively get to know your target audience more and more. Seek anonymous feedback, do lots of research, try strategies and track if they are getting out there. Whatever it takes! Just know it is your responsibility to reach the people you need to reach.

Also by Artist’s Strategy:

Book the Office, Not the Gig

You Stop, Your Business Stops

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