00:00:00:00 - 00:00:25:05
Unknown
Welcome to Film on Tape, a free audio library for creatives in film and television. My name is Misha Calvert, and I've worked as an actor, writer, director and producer for many decades. I had so many questions when I was first getting started in New York, and I just wanted fast, free answers. That is what this library is for.
00:00:25:05 - 00:00:46:16
Unknown
The work that you do as a creative is so important. I really hope that this library is going to help get your work out there. This tape is sponsored by Vermilion, a coaching and educational company for creatives. You can learn more at clubvermilion.com. Do you want to build a brand but you have no idea what that means or how to go about it?
00:00:46:18 - 00:00:48:08
Unknown
I'm making this episode
00:00:48:08 - 00:01:08:06
Unknown
just for you. I get so many questions about branding as it relates to marketing and just like, what is a brand? How do I - I need a brand! I'm a brand, but I don't know what brand I am or how to be that brand. So we're going to talk about all of that. Because I have a background in brand and I really understand it.
00:01:08:06 - 00:01:28:20
Unknown
I really love it. I used to work in marketing and advertising and PR way back when I first got to New York. So I take brand very seriously. And to me, there's nothing tacky or sell-y about it. It's just if you're a business, you already have a brand. You just may not know it. And if you don't know it, you are not in control of it.
00:01:28:21 - 00:02:00:23
Unknown
So we're here today to get in control of your brand. AKA how to become the life of the party. So let's start with the idea that branding gets a bad rap. I don't want you to think about it as gross or sell-y or fake or hollow or anything like that. I want you to think about it as showing up to a party, because anytime you post on social media, you’re basically showing up to a party with millions of people that are there at that party with you.
00:02:01:01 - 00:02:30:11
Unknown
If you think of branding less as this pressure to sell or advertise and more like you're just showing up to a party, well, that just makes it a lot more fun. Now your brand lives at the intersection of what you like and what people will buy, and it's basically, for our purposes, a 50/50 split. Now, if you were in some other industry other than the arts, it might lean more heavily on what people would buy.
00:02:30:13 - 00:02:50:08
Unknown
But you're not here for the money. I mean, yes, we want to make money. We want to be paid for our services fairly. But if you were in this just to make money, you would probably have chosen an industry that was a lot more lucrative. So the point of being an artist is that you get to express yourself in a way that you like.
00:02:50:10 - 00:03:13:00
Unknown
Therefore, your brand has to live at the intersection of what you like and what people will buy. Now, central to all of this is getting your audience to three things: know, like, and trust. And if you can get them to know, like, and trust you, they're going to buy into your brand. It's really that simple. So we're going to come back to the principles of know, like and trust throughout this episode.
00:03:13:02 - 00:03:33:07
Unknown
And by the way, it's a two part episode, so you'll get half of this next week because there's just too much to kind of go through all in one. However, by the end of these two episodes, you are going to hopefully be able to make version one of a blueprint of your brand strategy. So if you want to take notes while we're going through the episode, that's great.
00:03:33:07 - 00:03:57:03
Unknown
Or, you know, listen a couple of times to really digest the concepts here. Let's talk terms. Key terms we're going to use are sales, marketing and branding. Now sales is the exchange of a product or service for money. This is direct. It's transactional. It's very clear cut. I give you a product or service and you give me money.
00:03:57:03 - 00:04:28:11
Unknown
That is sales. Marketing, however, is a bit different. With marketing, you're raising awareness about your product or service via any number of platforms or environments or settings. And you don't necessarily need a sale. You're not always asking for one. Marketing can be indirect, and it's not always transactional. Sometimes you're just raising brand awareness. And finally, branding is the aesthetic and energetic identity of your product or service.
00:04:28:13 - 00:04:49:04
Unknown
These three concepts work together all the time, but they're also separate and distinct and need to be approached, each in their own way. Now, if you were showing up at a party, let's say you go to a party because there is a director there that you really want to talk to, because you really want to work with them and you know they're going to be at this party.
00:04:49:05 - 00:05:03:12
Unknown
So you decide to go to the party so that you can corner them and have a conversation with them and try to get them to hire you. So you show up at the party, you see the director, and you kind of beeline straight for them and you corner them just like you said you would near the snack table.
00:05:03:14 - 00:05:36:20
Unknown
And you have that conversation. You pitch yourself to be in their next movie, and the conversation goes well. That is sales. You're going directly for the thing that you want, the exchange of value, and you're selling yourself to that director. But as you're showing up to this party, you're also wearing something that says interesting, in-demand artist. Maybe as you're mingling around the party, you're casually mentioning that you're an actor and you just wrapped a film as the lead role, and it was an indie film, and it's going to be premiering at XYZ.
00:05:36:22 - 00:06:11:21
Unknown
That's marketing, because you're not asking these people at the party to buy a ticket to your film or to support you financially. You're marketing yourself. When any one of those people that you're talking to, they could end up offering to pay you for your services down the line. But that's not your goal. It's not your direct goal. You're simply marketing yourself to this roomful of people in the way that you adorn yourself, the energy that you provide, and the information that you choose to share. How you show up to that party? That is branding. The aesthetic, what you're wearing, how you do your hair and makeup, whether you're in a good mood or not, what
00:06:11:21 - 00:06:33:05
Unknown
you choose to say or not say. Literally, how you look and how you show up to anything, that's all part of your brand. Not to be forgotten, your brand isn't just what you post on social media. It's also what you choose to wear. I'm talking to myself here. If you want to control your brand, choose how you want to show up in person, in meetings, in events, because that's going to have a big effect on your brand as well.
00:06:33:09 - 00:06:52:04
Unknown
In-person marketing is one of the most efficient and most successful ways to market yourself. So you got to make sure that you are dressed in a way that accomplishes that. Again, talking to myself. All right, we've got nine points on building a brand. We're going to go through... let's see how far we get, maybe 4 or 5 of them.
00:06:52:04 - 00:07:18:19
Unknown
And then we'll punt everything else to part two. The number one main point of building your brand, this is really where you want to start, is your Why. Your Why, and maybe you've heard this before if you've been in corporate settings, your Why is informed by your values and mission. It's why you do this, why you have this career, why you make the art.
00:07:18:21 - 00:07:40:20
Unknown
It should be meaningful to you and it should be your Why. Not your parents Why, not your best friend’s Why, not your boyfriend's Why - your Why. It also is rooted in your unique energetic signature, which we cover in the Life Inventory episode. This is your nature. It's going to also be informed by the specific life experience that you've had, your nurture.
00:07:40:21 - 00:08:07:04
Unknown
So it's both nature and nurture. And it should involve issues that you care about. Duh. It's your Why, it's your mission. Something that bears repeating at this point, even though I think I've talked about it before. And if you're in business, you've very likely heard this before. You want to come in to your brand with “how can I serve”. Not “I need, I want”. That “I want, I need” energy,
00:08:07:10 - 00:08:31:04
Unknown
it is a turnoff to customers. It's pretty icky. And it also doesn't feel good. It's coming from a place of scarcity instead of “I already have, I'm good, I'm just here to share”. So this is why giving away free content works, and giving sales and giving discounts, it just works.
00:08:31:04 - 00:08:33:14
Unknown
It's one of the best ways to get new customers.
00:08:36:00 - 00:09:01:14
Unknown
I am so excited to tell you that I'm launching a brand new slate of classes that are incredibly helpful on my website. Some of the classes include: on camera acting technique and how to self produce your own film, actor self-care, which is something that nobody talks about, and how to write a feature film in ten days, which I'm going to teach you how I did it and how you can do it too.
00:09:01:16 - 00:09:16:07
Unknown
And believe me when I say I poured my heart into these courses. Go to clubvermillion.com. I am so excited about this website. I can't wait to work with you.
00:09:16:07 - 00:09:39:21
Unknown
Furthermore, the “how can I serve” mentality is going to lead to more satisfaction. The self service mentality, ultimately, it feels like it would get you to money and success faster, but it's much slower and actually you will have less success on the balance if that's your approach to the Why. Now let's take an example of a Why: to protect underserved communities.
00:09:39:23 - 00:10:15:01
Unknown
You can still include your family and your loved ones in that statement. If your mission is to protect underserved communities, likely it's because you came from an underserved community or you're adjacent to some. It's going to have personal meaning to you so those communities can include your loved ones. They can also include you. And that's why I say it's better to serve a group of people, because not only are you going to get yourself in there and your loved ones in there, you're going to end up serving a lot of other people on top of it, so you don't have to neglect yourself and shut yourself out of your own Why.
00:10:15:01 - 00:10:34:00
Unknown
You can also make sure that you're part of the group of people that you ultimately want to serve, and you probably will be. When you get honest about your mission, you probably will be in that same group of people that you're trying to serve and make their lives better. Number two, you want to know your audience when building a brand. What does that mean?
00:10:34:01 - 00:11:00:20
Unknown
Well, identify your target market, right? This is Sales and Marketing 101. Where they live, their age, their gender, their occupation. But you also want to identify their not just demographics, but their psychographics. Psychographics are what they care about, where they want to spend their money, political alignments, things that make them laugh, fears that they have, goals, aspirations, dreams.
00:11:00:22 - 00:11:22:23
Unknown
How ambitious are they? How much personal responsibility do they have? These are questions I ask myself when considering my clients, right? You can also look at what are the pain points of your ideal customer. And this is going to lead to a lot of sales. So if you can get really clear on what are the pain points for my clients, how can I solve them?
00:11:23:01 - 00:11:44:20
Unknown
You have a business. If you can solve people's problems, you have a business. Ask yourself, what are the things that your customers or your audience want to spend money on? If your brand is on social media, where it's not like directly monetized, and you're trading your services as an entertainer for likes and follows, what are the things that your audience wants to watch?
00:11:44:22 - 00:12:06:13
Unknown
If you're selling things, what's their number one desired product? For me, I could tell you, from Vermilion, the thing that sells out the fastest is the casting director workshops. I wouldn't think that would be the case, but they consistently sell out really fast, sometimes within 24 to 48 hours. So it's just good to know what is the thing that people seem to want to spend money on the most.
00:12:06:14 - 00:12:27:02
Unknown
All of this “know your audience”, this is about figuring out what it's going to take for people to like you. So it's a really important part of the process. Let's talk about your brand identity now. This is where most people's brains go when I say branding. Your name, your logo if you have one, a slogan. This also includes colors, fonts, content.
00:12:27:02 - 00:12:46:07
Unknown
So the video and images that you put out and the audio that you put out - like this podcast! This is an example of audio branding. Experiences that you want to give people. I'm talking to a client right now about teaming up on a networking event, and I just suggested, why don't we do an Easter egg hunt for Easter? And it's a networking event for actors and directors.
00:12:46:07 - 00:13:06:16
Unknown
That would be a branded experience, and people would really go for it, and they would remember my brand in association with that super fun Easter egg hunt. Your brand identity also includes your tone, your vibe, your energy, your culture, even the signature of your emails. All marketing materials are going to be infused with this branding unless you just like, don't bother.
00:13:06:18 - 00:13:31:07
Unknown
Whether you're aware of the branding or not, your email is going out with or without a signature. Your phone calls are happening with potential directors, with or without branding. So you kind of want to get ahead of this stuff because the brand is already there. You just have an opportunity to control it if you want it. It also includes your website, your social media, obviously, and forums, platforms and marketplaces.
00:13:31:09 - 00:14:06:16
Unknown
I don't know if you guys have thought about this, but Actors Access is a marketplace, like a very busy one actually. Backstage is a marketplace. Film and TV Pro is a marketplace, and your branding on those marketplaces is really going to impact the amount of sales that you make there. So if you come into that party and you beeline for the director standing at the cheese board and you look like a stinky bum, like your clothes are shredded and you've got like a weird hat like me, and you smell kind of funny.
00:14:06:18 - 00:14:27:01
Unknown
Your branding is going to have an impact on that conversation. Or if you've got like, I don't know, cheese all over your face, that's going to inform how the conversation goes. The director might think, like, okay, this person isn't very in touch with reality. You just want to be aware of how you are impacting the people that you're interfacing with.
00:14:27:03 - 00:14:49:00
Unknown
And then this will be my last point, because - I don't know if you can hear, my voice is actually getting kind of tired. But let's talk about USP and UVP. Maybe you've heard about these before, but USP is unique selling point. UVP is unique value proposition. What do they have in common? Unique. You are unique and you don't want to ignore this.
00:14:49:00 - 00:15:11:18
Unknown
In fact, you want to lean into it. What sets you apart from your competitors? So if you're a filmmaker, what sets you apart from all of the other filmmakers out there in the world? For me, I can make ten bucks look like a hundred. That is one of my superpowers as a filmmaker, how do you go above and beyond the rest?
00:15:11:19 - 00:15:45:19
Unknown
So if you're an actor, how do you go above and beyond, whether it's in your looks, in your craft, in your email outreach, like how are you outperforming your competitors? What skills do you have that no one else does? Can you memorize very quickly? Do you have more empathy than most people? Are you funnier than most people? I'm doing a casting director class right now that I'm team teaching with him, and there's one actor in the class that is just so frickin funny.
00:15:45:21 - 00:16:06:10
Unknown
He's so funny and he's so humble about it, but he's just, like, consistently funny. And he's been emailing me in between classes, just like little things. Ask a question here and there, and even his question emails, like, they're like a half a sentence long and those are funny. And I'm just so grateful to him for bringing some joy and laughter into my life.
00:16:06:12 - 00:16:26:21
Unknown
He knows his brand. He understands it. He's like the weird, kind of twitchy comedy guy. Sort of like white collar meth addict, right? It's a brand. It's a brand. And he is damn good at it. I'm sure he's not a drug addict at all, but he just does it very well. Tommy, if you’re listening, your comedy is gold.
00:16:26:23 - 00:16:51:06
Unknown
Finally, with USP and UVP you want to figure out: what is all of this worth to your customers? Can you put a value on it? Can you put a monetary value? And that's going to vary based on the context. Are you like the number one person who can do this one thing in your local market? Do you do this better than anyone else in your entire country?
00:16:51:08 - 00:17:19:03
Unknown
What about in television? Like, can you do this better than anyone else on TV? Because if so, you have a career. Your brand will flourish. You just want to figure out what part of the market you specifically can live in, and then you want to hit that market so hard, you just want to show up, show up, show up, and make sure that all of your brand is aligned to be able to showcase your unique value.
00:17:19:05 - 00:17:44:21
Unknown
Oh my God, I have so much more to say on this topic, but I think we're going to have to call it here and pick it up next week with Building a Brand, Part Two. I hope you've been taking notes. I hope you've been really thinking about your brand, which already exists, and making some tweaks and adjustments, modifications and improvements, and we're going to continue to build it out so that by the end of next week, hopefully you have version one of your own brand strategy.
00:17:45:01 - 00:17:51:02
Unknown
Thank you so much. This has been incredibly fun and I'll see you next week.
00:17:51:04 - 00:18:17:08
Unknown
Thank you so much for listening to Film On Tape. If you like the way that I approach the industry, check out our other classes, consulting and mentorship at clubvermilion.com. Vermilion is a home for artists and those looking to expand creatively. Whether you're an actor, film professional, an entrepreneur, or a CEO, we'll help you find your voice and hone your skills to thrive in any market at any scale.
00:18:17:10 - 00:18:29:06
Unknown
You can schedule a free phone consultation at clubvermilion.com.
