After working for nearly 10 years creating marketing & publicity strategies for shows, I decided it’s time to do something about the huge problem artists face in the arts-entertainment industry:
Artists are producing some excellent work.
Artists want more audience, more press coverage, more fans, more attention for their excellent work.
Artists, 99% of the time, believe they don’t have either the time or the money to properly promote their excellent work.
Artists get stressed out about marketing and publicity, and it gets in the way of the magic and fulfillment of producing said excellent work.
I’d seen glimpses of it from the other side during my years as a performer, writer, and producer in New York City, but now that I was a full-time arts-loving marketer, more and more individual artists and producing companies were starting to ask for my help. I’m consulting arts businesses, companies, organizations, and events via Pressler Collaborative, but I have to turn down too many individual artists or small companies, because, you guessed it: time or money. They either needed too much too fast, or didn’t have a budget to hire someone to help. So here I am stretching to work with as many people as I can handle, but still get paid for what I do (too many years as an unpaid actor, youknowwhatimsayin?). While I tend to price my services way below market rate, I want to throw up when I hear what the average firm charges even a nonprofit arts company. Still, you guys need what we can offer.
So I decided I had to try to blow apart the traditional arts PR model.
It’s time to find ways to get you the help you need to promote your show, your project, your company, your album, your talent, your passion. I completely welcome your suggestions too – as long as you agree to be a team player:
1. No Victim Mentality. I have zero tolerance for whiners. This will be a community of doers, action-takers, ass-kicking name-takers. If you don’t want to do the work, you have to either be willing to hire someone to do it for you or stop calling yourself a professional artist.
2. Keep it Positive. If you get frustrated with the process of building a marketing strategy, go punch a pillow, don’t take it out on this community. If you don’t like my approach or my no-bullshit tone, that’s completely fine, no one is forcing you to hang out here.
3. Get That Some Stuff Will Cost Money. I’m not independently wealthy and this is not a nonprofit operation. Mama’s gotta pay the bills, so specialized help like my consulting services, workshops, and certain tools will carry a fair price tag. However, I know more than anyone that the arts world isn’t always flush with cash, so I’ll both keep as much as possible for free and tell you all my strategies for getting paid for what you do.
So are you with me? Let’s do it.
Sign up for my zero-spam mailing list so I can let you know the minute we launch a new marketing tool to help you Promote Your Show. As a thank-you gift, you’ll get my community-only article “11 Myths About Show Marketing & Publicity.” Awesome!
