Your Talent Chefs blogging about insider info and guidance, current castings and bookings (only those made public), tips on improving your booking chances and how to use your Webcomp portfolio as a virtual agent to land more work. Get yourself in the Soup!

Self Marketing For Talent - What Are You Investing In, Really?

Wednesday June 30, 2010 by Chef

We've been around long enough that we rarely get questions anymore, from new talent, about our business model. Every once in a while we'll get a question about how are we different from the million subscription-based talent listing sites out there. You know the ones, big promises for just a little monthly fee...

You know, the sites promising to promote you (but actually you have to promote yourself), or promising fame and stardom (without ever actually doing anything for you or providing proof they can), or the worst, promises of hidden "super-secret" castings that you'll receive in your inbox (no such thing, sorry).

The overwhelming majority of those "casting" or "listing" sites are built to do one thing: Take your money by exploiting your desire to succeed in this business (for fame, or money, or simply because it can be a fun business).

TalentSoup is out to radically change our industry. How? We book (or transact) talent, those other sites list talent. Inside TalentSoup, it's in everyone's best interest that we are successful to that end...booking our talent.

Think about it. Our Clients win with great Talent selection, pricing, service and speed. The booked Talent win because they get paid, get experience, and get tear sheets (the examples of the work) for their Profile, which makes them even more marketable. And finally, our Talent community wins, because both Clients and Talent trust TalentSoup and spread the word, which results in more projects and more bookings for more Talent.

So think about how you spend your Self-Promotion budget in this business. How are you investing in your Talent Brand? With a listing service? To get some Castings in your email box that YOU still HAVE TO GO TO? What could you be spending that money on? What efforts will make you more marketable?