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MEGA TOPICS<br />
Issue no: 03<br />
1. Agents.<br />
Agents act on behalf of artist. They handle<br />
the business side of an artist's life. These<br />
are the people responsible for bookings<br />
and marketing. Investing in one is very<br />
important because in most cases these<br />
people are trained and knowledgeable<br />
about the art and entertainment industry.<br />
Always bear in mind too that they come<br />
with a price attached.<br />
2. Direct approach.<br />
What better way to market your craft than<br />
through pulling the bull by its horn?<br />
Approaching businesses about what you<br />
have to offer shows how a person is<br />
adamant and determined to deliver to the<br />
audience. One cannot always wait for<br />
businesses to approach them, because<br />
sometimes with lack of marketing some<br />
businesses don't even know one has<br />
something to offer.<br />
3. Press releases.<br />
We all got to hear and read about Ntsiki<br />
Mazwai's open letter to Mr Mbalula on the<br />
media. So why not market your craft<br />
through it? Most artists take advantage of<br />
the social media, and it would be<br />
comparative that any emerging artists<br />
should also adopt this platform and get<br />
themselves and their work out there. Letting<br />
people know who you are, what you have to<br />
offer, where and when they can see your<br />
work can reach the masses through just a<br />
tweet or status update, coming from that<br />
smart phone of yours.<br />
4. Networking<br />
Go out there. Be seen. Exchange numbers.<br />
Enlist your name for the open mic session if<br />
you're into poetry. Attend events that are<br />
related to what you do, and see what other<br />
people are doing. It will benefit you. Sitting at<br />
home and hoping to wake up with an<br />
invitation to an event that could benefit your<br />
career is just useless.<br />
5. Brand packaging.<br />
As a brand, one should also consider how<br />
they present themselves to potential fans,<br />
what they say in public that could damage<br />
their reputation and work as artists, what<br />
worthy causes they associate themselves<br />
with and how they behave in public places.<br />
Brand packaging means being true to<br />
yourself, that is, not stealing and copying<br />
other peoples work, because diversity is a<br />
great thing and bad publicity isn't always<br />
good publicity.<br />
6. Consistency<br />
In order for one to excel in anything, a rule of<br />
consistency should be applied. An artist<br />
doesn't sit and fold their hands after having<br />
one project that doesn't sell or attract more<br />
customers than he had hoped it would. One<br />
is bound to be forgotten if their work is<br />
released five years apart, learning from<br />
Beyoncé is actually beneficial. Her<br />
consistency commands you not to even<br />
dare forget her because even if you wanted<br />
to, you wouldn't.<br />
The above mentioned marketing tools are<br />
but some of the tools that one can use to<br />
nurture their career as an artist. Put them to<br />
test. One can argue that by having a great<br />
marketing plan, open letters that suggest<br />
ministers overlook local artists and in Miss<br />
Mazwai's words, “…put Americans before<br />
their own” will not plague our social media<br />
and ignite twars, in the long run. The<br />
minister might even consider his obsession<br />
with Beyoncé and obsess on a local artist.<br />
Marketing will always be, after an artist's<br />
actual craft, an artist's sharpest weapon in<br />
the war that is the art and entertainment<br />
industry.<br />
Tshegofatso Rasekgothoma is a<br />
seasonal Poet, Writer, Educator, MBA<br />
student at University of Limpopo<br />
www.megaartists.co.za FEB - MAR 2015<br />
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