Artist Branding: how to be remarkable?

Introduction

Many musicians grapple with branding, but just like mastering the drums, brand thinking is a skill you can learn and apply. With the right tools—like buying drumsticks or learning the paradiddle —you can master branding. Developing a strong artist brand enables you to communicate with more personality, artistry, and purpose. Remember, branding isn’t just the “business side of music”; it’s as personal and integral as you and your music. Effective branding thrives on an "inside-out" approach. It needs to be authentic and resilient under pressure, much like when you get on stage.

Brand Strategy

Seth Godin, a marketing guru I read everything by, teaches that marketing is about being remarkable—meaning 'something worth talking about'. Not by you, but by others. Since your brand is at the core of your marketing strategy, this is even more true for your artist brand. So, how do you do remarkable? Remarkability is found in the edges. Your goal isn’t to please everyone but to resonate deeply with a few. It takes true fans to spread the gospel. So, make your brand edgy. Make it stand out. Develop an artistic identity that is distinctly you.

Think of your brand as a human being. Your Brand Essence is your beating heart—your core personality. It centers around concepts such as your Archetypes, Brand Mission, and Brand Myth. Around the beating heart of your brand is your Brand Core, comprising of brand elements such as your Core Values (the principles driving your decisions and behavior), and your Artistic Vision. These crucial elements will be discussed in more detail in later blog posts.

Next, define your Brand Promise—what you commit to delivering to your audience. This centers on your interaction with your audience and Superfans. A key step is formulating your Live Promise: how do you engage with your audience on stage? What will they experience at your gigs? You can see a music venue as your brand experience center. On social media, let's call this your Social Promise, what kind of content can fans expect? Your brand is a promise about how interacting with you will feel. Your behavior is your brand.

Your brand identity encompasses your visual and verbal communication: biography, stage presentation, interviews, website, press photos, color palette, fonts, logo, fashion, light shows, and more. These are also called Brand Touchpoints - all key touchpoints with your audience. These should be developed to embody your Brand Essence, match your Brand Core, and deliver your Brand Promise to your (Super)fans.

When we work together, we’ll tackle all these aspects of brand strategy, culminating in a personal and distinctive brand book that embodies your identity on a foundational level with clear guidelines for how to be on-brand. Furthermore, this brand book summarizes your artist brand for record labels, sponsors, graphic designers, photographers, and others to better understand you as an artist. That way, others can do a better job too.