How do you get clarity over what you offer as a musician ? Surely it’s great to be versatile and show off all the talents you have ? Right ? Wrong.
Multiple talents as a musician ?
Sharing multiple ‘talents’ you have as a musician does not do you any favours online. You might be a music teacher, you might lead or run workshops for various companies, you might go into a school and teach, you might teach at home, you might perform with a famous name or choral group.
You might think that everyone needs to know everything about you.
The reality is, you are much better really thinking about what you WANT to do, work out who that helps, and why you offer something different and unique to anyone else, and then market that. On it’s own. That doesn’t mean you have to ignore your other talents or not do them. But what it does mean is you get known for doing the thing you love over anything else.
What makes you unique ?
And when it comes to asking the question, what makes you unique ? This doesn’t mean making up an angle or thinking of a persona that you should be. It means asking yourself some tough questions about yourself, becoming self aware enough to create a brand based on you. Because you are the only person in the world who can do you. Even if you sing or play exactly the same material as another musician, it will sound totally different. So focus on what makes your voice unique, your playing unique, what things light you up when you play or sing them ?
What is it about your personality that brings your unique magic to your music ? And this doesn’t mean you have to be a songwriter. A lot of musicians I work with are session musicians, as that’s the part of the industry where I know the most people! And they still have a unique brand – standing in a line of sopranos when we’re singing on a film, I can look down the line and notice individual qualities that are totally unique to each soprano. We are often singing in unison yet the combination of voices creates the atmosphere the vibe needed. If we all sounded the same it wouldn’t work!
Clarity in your marketing
So, the best way to get known for being you, is to be you! And think about the one thing you do over anything else, that you would love to do every day, that makes you happiest. Market that. Even if you don’t do it all the time. Market what you want to be doing. A client of mine a few years back came to me and said ‘I want to be an orchestral soloist’ – she wasn’t at the time, but changed her Instagram bio to ‘Orchestral Soloist’ and then the marketing followed suit, and she began to think and sing and behave like an orchestral soloist. She believed it, she inhabited that version of herself and now she is working with Orchestra all the time and about to go to Europe to work with and orchestra on a theatre program!
It’s part belief and part positioning, but the original question I asked her was ‘What would you ideally like to be doing all the time ?’ – Seems simple, but we often don’t ask ourselves that question because we’re saying yes to everything and marketing too many things at once. One thing at a time wins the race.
If you want to gain some clarity in your career. Call me here. And I’ll show you how.
