Actor Postcards and Email Blasts
It's SOP (standard operating procedure) for actors to mail an acting headshot, resume and cover letter to prospective casting directors and agents for your acting entertainment career. Then what? Following up with industry folk often calls for other means. Two of the best: acting postcards and actor email blasts.
Actor postcards and acting email blasts are fantastic marketing tools for actors to keep CDs, agents, and other movers-and-shakers abreast of your roles in upcoming plays, films, commercials, or TV projects. But how do you get their digits?
Networking is a great way to build up a mailing list — both on paper and electronic. If you meet some industry insider at an event, get their business card. Or, at the least, ask for their snail mail or email address. If you're performing a show, ask the director/producer to prominently place a sign-in book in the lobby.
Actor email blasting can be done the old-fashioned way — with a long list of email addresses (one netiquette tip: put all the addresses in "bcc"; otherwise, recipients get an annoyingly long email header). Technologically disabled? Actor email blasting can easily be farmed out to companies that specialize in email marketing campaigns and can include custom HTML designs.
Introductory actor postcards are less useful because, by nature, the design is small. There isn't much room for large/multiple pictures or cover letters. Postcard submissions can be more appropriate for a commercial or modeling submission (called zed cards), where experience can be less important than look. Postcards are best made at the same place you get reproductions printed — or even at the local Kinko's.
There is, however, a fine line between persistent and pesky: Don't launch more spam than a Monty Python skit. Acting email blasts should be reserved for business-related news only (launch parties, openings). If you're announcing an appearance onscreen or onstage, remember to send it a couple of weeks prior. Then, a few days before the event (not Friday), email a reminder — no more than that. Brevity is the key.
Good reviews or profiles in publications would be another justifiable cause for email blasting. Postcards are always better when handed out personally. Essentially, personalizing and thinking creatively may set you apart with postcards and email blasts.
LINKS
Introductions, Please
CDs and agents weigh in on the materials you'll need to announce your arrival-and how to stay busy when no one responds"
Promoting Yourself on Video, CD & the Internet
Actors needn't be computer geeks to understand the upside of a website. Indeed, many actors rely on friendships, bartering, or hiring others to build them.
Tread Softly
The art of self-promotion is a delicate balancing act.
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