Artist Branding Playbook - Part 7 - Shoot Your Shot

Imagine This…

You're in an elevator, and in walks the hotshot artist manager or label A&R rep you've been dying to meet.

You've got until those elevator doors reopen to make an impression. This isn't just small talk; it's your shot.

So, what's your play?

At this stage in the branding process, you have learned how to clarify and communicate your brand in many different ways:

• Your Brand Story

• Your Value Proposition

• Your Purpose, Mission, and Vision

So, why is it important to learn another way?

What’s different about the elevator pitch?

The biggest difference is that the elevator pitch is meant to be said verbally, in person… and quickly.

Your brand story, value proposition and other ways of communicating your brand are all very important and have their place. They will be present in your emails, marketing materials, ads, website, music, and social media content.

Your elevator pitch is literally just a short, practiced statement that you can use when introducing yourself to someone that you believe might be relevant to your career.

Think about it…

When you go out to networking events and you introduce yourself to someone, they usually ask…

What do you do?

And unfortunately, what I hear most is a response like:

I’m an artist.

Or…

I’m a producer.

Those are terrible responses because they don’t provide any context or compelling information about you.

When you meet someone new who might be relevant to your career, you are hoping for one of two possible outcomes:

1. They are interested in finding out more about you (this includes streaming your music or following you on socials).

2. They want to introduce you to someone that you need to know.

That’s it, that’s the goal of the elevator pitch.

If you don’t give them a reason to be interested in you, and you don’t give them context about what you are working to achieve, there’s a slim chance that they will try to find out more or introduce you to someone in their network.

On the other hand, if you are specific about why you matter and what you are working towards, they may actually be interested. And someone may come to mind that would be a good connection for you.

To craft your elevator pitch, you should look back at your Value Proposition Formula and use it as a starting point.

But, of course, it would be really weird for you to say your entire value proposition to someone right after you meet.

You need a shorter, punchier, and less formal version. The most important elements of your Brand Persona need to be present:

• What do you want to be known for?

• What makes you stand out?

• Why should anyone care?

Remember, BE SPECIFIC!

Let’s illustrate the idea with the value proposition aimed at industry professionals that we used in Part 4 of the Playbook:

As you can probably tell, this value proposition is structured more like an email introduction. It’s too long and wordy for a good elevator pitch.

However, we can use the value proposition to answer the most important brand persona questions:

• What do you want to be known for?

  • This artist wants to be known for making conscious hip hop.

• What makes you stand out?

  • The music is deep and poetic.

• Why should anyone care?

  • The songs have racked up over a million streams.

Then we need to add one more element to finalize the elevator pitch:

What’s your ultimate goal or vision that you are working to achieve right now?

Maybe a million streams is just a warmup for you… maybe you’re on your way to a billion!

If that is the case, a simple, informal elevator pitch could be as follows:

Again, imagine you are saying this to someone in person.

If you said this to someone when you introduced yourself, they would have all of the information they need to either:

1. Find out more about you and check out your music (especially if you also handed them a card with unique aesthetic branding).

2. Introduce you to someone else that might be able to help you achieve your goal.

Can you see how this simple framework will drastically improve your efficiency and odds of finding the right person when networking?

But what about the call to action? Shouldn’t you ask for a followup meeting?

Wait for the person’s response before being too pushy and trying to get them to take action.

• What’s their body language?

• Do they seem impressed?

• Are they curious to find out more?

If so, go ahead and ask how you can follow up. Can you get their email address or phone number? That is probably the easiest ask.

If the person isn’t really relevant to you but seems impressed by your elevator pitch, ask if they know anyone you should meet.

We all know that networking and team building is the key to success in the music industry. But most people really suck at it, and nobody tells you how to do it!

They just say, ‘go out and meet people.’

And yes, you must meet people. But you need to be ready with a compelling elevator pitch when you meet the right person.

Because you don’t know who they know.

Even if they don’t seem relevant to you, they may have a close friend who is. So provide the context they need to make that connection.

Last, but not least, I will share my current elevator pitch that I use when meeting someone new.

I believe in ‘broadcasting your intention’, which basically means that you should put it out into the world what you are trying to achieve. And, since I have your attention, I must practice what I preach!

I would love to hear any feedback you have on my elevator pitch. And I always appreciate introductions to anyone you think might need to know about HOME or might be able to help us achieve our goal of scaling the model to other cities!

Just reply to this email, or forward it to someone else and cc me at [email protected] 🙏

I would love to hear your elevator pitch too!