Guerillas & Purple Cows
11 Jan
“Today the one sure way to fail is to be boring. Your one chance for success is to be remarkable.” -Seth Godin
You have to live outside the box to persue a career as an actor. Heck, you have to be a little off your rocker be in this business. Like my mama always says, “You don’t have to be crazy to be in this family, but it sure helps!”
In his book Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable, Seth Godin says that the key to success is to “find a way to stand out–to be the purple cow in a field of monochrome Holsteins”
So we started asking our “family members” in the voice acting community what kind of ”guerilla marketing” tactics they prefer to make their voices stand out. One of my VO buddies reached out to the head casting directors at Pixar a few years ago. He sent a HUGE box full of party supplies to Pixar Studios & a note that read, “have a party, on me!” Of course this grabbed their attention & now he has developed a relationship with the casting department at Pixar. Voxy Lady, Kelley Buttrick says, “Make sure everybody you know, knows what you do”. And why wouldn’t you?? If you’re a working voice actor, that’s interesting! People are interested in what you do & you never know who knows! Recently, we took a page out of our good buddy Peter O’Connell’s “book” & have started wearing t-shirts with the Voxy Ladies logo on them when we attend networking events. Heather Henderson has a gift for gab & oftentimes opts to call the prospective client or contact directly. We understand that it’s easier & less intimidating to send an email but cold calling STILL WORKS, and we too, prefer keep it “old school” if the opportunity presents itself.
As for the Voxy Ladies, well, we can’t give away all our secrets but much of our marketing revolves around building personal relationships with people we desire to work with. Nothing takes the place of a handshake and a friendly smile. We prefer to pound the pavement, armed with our three weapons of choice: baked goods, fake tattoos & sparkling personalities.
Lots of love,
The Voxy Ladies
Totally true. I live by this method, but I’d probably be slightly peeved if someone called me a purple cow.
Rock on, Lisa! See you in June!
I would have to disagree…
What you need to do is: Blend In, Become Lost in the Crowd, and what ever you do… DON’T Make Any Waves.
Take me for example… My Website is quite demure, lacks imagination AND self promotion. Same with my new FB page ( you can access it quite easily from my website ) You will find nothing different from any of the other boring, tech-laden, voice artist websites.
There are a variety low risk things that I do.
Just because it works for me, doesn’t mean it will work for everybody.
Oh… one more thing… Always say/write/type “Cheers” at the end of everything you post and/or send.
Thank you for your time.
Thanks VoxyLadies… you inspired me to write this: http://andyboyns.com/2012/01/dare-to-be-purple.html