The Importance of Positioning for the Performing Artiste & Entertainer

Winning a chess game is all about positioning.

Winning a mixed martial arts fight is about positioning.

Winning a pool match is all about positioning.

Gaining marketshare in business is all about positioning as well.

Creating a well-defined position that has current commercial appeal is the single most important thing that the performing artiste has to do (after having a solid product in your chosen art – that must be a given).

It is much harder than it sounds and while many know that this is important, very few know how to go about it or fail quite badly. Studying the books of Jack Trout and Al Ries who pioneered the concept is the first step. (More recently the same concept was presented as The Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne.) After reading the literature, comes the seemingly insurmountable tasks of applying and executing the concept to your craft and business.

Knowing what you want your position to be and actually owning that position are two completely different things. Firstly, you cannot go about creating your position and expect the market to accept it. The position you own has to be given or accepted by the marketplace. All you can do is to do your best to make a strong case of why you should own a particular position.

For example, if you are a photographer and you want to own the position of a photographer who is on the cutting edge of camera technology which in turn results in photos that look superior than anyone else; you will need evidence for the market to accept this.

This could be in the form of a special arrangement that you have with top camera manufacturers to beta test their latest equipment, or being a contributing writer to top photography equipment magazines or maybe you regularly lecture or conduct workshops on the subject on behalf of top camera manufacturers.

These are just some examples that help you make a case for the position. At the end of the day, it is the one who makes the best case who will ultimately win the position he sets out to own.

Of course, some think that positioning is a marketing gimmick. Well, chances are, these are individuals who make a fair living off their craft but aren’t the most successful in their field. Or if by chance they are, it is not because they don’t own a position but rather they never consciously tried to create and own a position. Circumstances or good fortune led them to own a great position by default.

Positioning is a marketing strategy that determines your marketing tactics. You plan your marketing battles based on your position. Each position determines how one fights in the war of business. A market leader, the 2nd position, 3rd position or one of the rest vying for one of the top 3 places all employ different tactics to reach their business objectives.

There are two things that are fundamental to positioning. Without either, positioning cannot be achieved.

1) Knowing the Competition & Market

2) Focus

Knowing the Competition & Market

The very concept of positioning is all about creating a position AGAINST what is already established in the consumer’s mind or AGAINST who is already in the marketplace or AGAINST competition.

Thus, the very essence of positioning dictates that a superior knowledge base is essential. Domain knowledge of your craft is not enough. You need to know everything that happens in your industry, know who the players are, their strength & weaknesses and be aware of any external events, regulations or policies that may affect your industry.

This is the information age and if you are not informed, you will be completely ill-equipped to be commercially successful as a performing artiste . In business, ignorance is not bliss.

One technique for helping craft a unique position that you can convincely own against your competition is to map out a strategy canvas. This gives an objective overview of your strengths and weakness in the marketplace as compared to your competitors. But, once again you will need to have extensive knowledge of your competitors and industry in order to map out the canvas in the first place.

Focus

Positioning requires focus which also means sacrifice. You can only own one position at any one time in the minds of consumers. It is impossible to be successful if you do not focus.

For example, actors who embark on a music career can only be taken seriously or be successful when they focus on either craft at a time. Usually, the position you own will be the one which you spend more time on or did first. That is why when you think of Jackie Chan, you think of comedy action martial arts actor and not singer. Or when you think of Britney Spears, you think singer and not actress, same with Mariah Carey.

With so much cross over between acting and singing, it is now easier for these artists to be successful at different crafts at different times. There is a mainstream acceptance between the close relationship between both arts. However, if you are trying to own two positions in two completely different fields, it is an impossible fruitless task.

For example, if would be impossible for you to own a position of being a top engineer and painter at the same time, or pastry chef and juggler or photographer and fashion designer. Every craft requires time, effort and dedication. And if you are looking to be commercially successful in any given field, it will require your 100% focus; and even that does not guarantee success.

There is an exception, if there is zero competition in one field you select, then it is possible. But if you have strong competition that is focused and competent – tough luck.

Besides having focus in the your craft, you need to be focused in your marketing tactics. With so much “noise” in today’s marketplace, it is impossible to cut through the clutter without focused marketing. As a CCA, you are also likely to have limited resources and time. So, you need to stick with what works and stay on course.

Too many performing artistes lose focus on their marketing tactics. One common example is their blog or website. They launch it with much fanfare but within a month or two, they lose focus and stop updating the site. The website or blog does not get updated frequently and soon becomes a useless marketing tool. Or, in many cases, damaging since a website that has not been updated in a year suggests to potential clients that you are not in business.

Focus requires discipline but so does the perfection of technical skills of a performing artiste’s art. If you are a performing artiste , you need to put equal effort in both.

How is the Value of a Performing Artiste Measured?

Every year, Forbes publishes a list of the world’s most powerful celebrities. To generate the list, Forbes estimates celebrity earnings (earned solely from entertainment-related income), then factors in media metrics like Google hits, press mentions as compiled by Factiva, TV/radio mentions from Lexis/Nexis and the number of times an A-lister appears on the cover of more than 50 consumer magazines.

So, you might wondering what this has got to do with you, a performing artiste who may not necessarily be in the same celebrity league as an Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt or Oprah Winfrey.

The fact is, the majority of the people are responsible for the commercial success of a performing artiste (paying audience, clients, potential clients, agents, sponsors, media etc) will also judge you based on similar criteria, just not with the same level of expectation.

If you are perceived as successful, it is assumed that you must be doing something right in your field. This, in turns, adds to your credibility and commercial value.

The problem is, as creative artists, we often live in our own imaginative ideological world of fantasy. But, as I discussed in “Who does the Performing Artiste have to Satisfy?”, performing artistes cannot survive if they are only concerned with satisfying themselves or their fans. The benchmarks of success for a performing artiste can neither be purely idealistic or based on your personal likes. Being a performing artiste means you are governed by the forces of the marketplace and societal standards of what is considered commercially successful and what is not.

So, bearing in mind how the value of a celebrity is measured can help you plan how you can achieve similar milestones as a performing artiste. Now, the milestones set out by Forbes may not be practically attainable by most performing artiste’s, especially new ones in their careers. So, below are four realistic milestones, in order, that performing artistes can confidently work towards.

1) Referrals & Testimonials

Build up your collection of testimonials and showcase the best and/ or most recent testimonials. Request clients if they can be your referrals or would be willing to make referrals to y0u. Referrals are your cheapest, yet most effective, form of marketing. The more referrals = more bookings and opportunities to showcase your craft. The higher the quality of your referrals will also mean that the projects you get will be of  higher value.

2) Proven Track Record

The more projects you take on, the more you can add to your portfolio. But, do not just constantly take on the same type of projects over and over again. Add diversity to your track record by taking on all types of projects where you can creatively apply your craft to. Having a diverse proven track record will showcase your value to many different markets and audiences which gives you potential to scale your business. The more markets you appeal to, the higher your commercial value will be.

3) Media Features

This may seem easier said than done… because it is. If you do not know how to secure PR for yourself, learn or find someone who knows how to. This article is not the place to discuss PR & media publicity techniques; but, the point is, media feature gives you credibility and is an important milestone for the performing artiste.

4) Fees Commanded

When you have worked on the preceding 3 milestones, you can work on the fee you command. The higher the fee you can command, the more perceived value you have. High value clients will use your fee as a benchmark of your value.

The great thing about the creative arts is that there is no such thing as a market price for your fee. Your fee is not determined by time, size, or scale of your work alone.  Your fee is based on the value you bring to your clients. You can charge whatever you want as long as people are willing to pay that fee on a consistent basis. A singer in a lounge may command $100 an hour but Britney Spears can command $1 million for the same hour. Both may do exactly the same thing and even sing the exact same songs but it is the artist who brings more value to a client that will be able to command a much higher fee.

The above are only the commercial milestones for the performing artiste. It is a given that you should have a separate set of artistic milestones that ensue you continually push yourself to improve and reinvent your craft on an artistic level.

In addition, while achieving all four commercial milestones is not a 100% guarantee that you will be a very successful performing artiste, all performing artistes who have achieved considerable success would have achieved all four milestones and would still be continually re-achieving them as their career develops. So don’t pick and choose, just do it!