Your Manager, Your Ambassador

Back with the Talent Management series, . I am going to keep this one very short and

straight without any humour because I seriously want to pass a message across and I will try as much as possible not to offend anyone; I mean I will try as much as possible to offend as few people as possible because I know it is impossible not to offend anyone because I have this feeling that the mere opening of my mouth breeds offense at times.

Times have changed and the Talent Management industry has evolved a lot, I dare say every industry has evolved in its own way. If we are to survive these changes, we will need to change our modus operandi as well. For talents as well as their managers, the hustle is now twice as hard but luckily, the reward is also twice as bountiful, hence the need to work hard and evolve from a hustler to a brand as soon as possible.

And believe me, becoming a brand is as important for the manager as it is for the talent. I want to first disagree with anyone who is currently keeping a disgusted snare on their face as they read this, and probably wondering why I will say that a manager needs to evolve into a brand as well, my dear gone are the days of behind the scenes, of-course the manager needs branding as well in this digital age because it is easier for a brand to sell another brand; besides how do you expect me to spend the rest of my life building a brand out of a Talent and imagine that I am going to remain in the shadow myself?

Seriously, my take has always been that it is easier for a brand to sell a brand, and a combination of two brands makes the product easier to sell, so it is important that as a Talent manager you build a brand for yourself, but it is more important to know what type of brand you are permitted to have as it is important that you do not end up competing with your artiste. He is the product while you are the salesman and the salesman is jobless without a product to sell.

What Type of Brand Should a Talent Manager Have?

Or “what type of brand should a Talent manager not have?” like I said I don’t want to offend anyone today so I will be very careful with my examples but please read carefully and understand the following:

Your Looks: A talent manager needs to pass an overall impression of a responsible person, consistently calculated, strategic and well articulated, so sagging your jeans to meetings and putting all those fake gold and silver chainsaround your neck or worst still having numerous piercings isn’t exactly the best. Of course you should have swag, but your swag should be channelled to productive areas. You are even allowed to carry a signature look but let the signature be a balance between trendy and responsible.

You should be a bit savvy about everything (and possibly knowledgeable about nothing), but try to cut a perception of being able to hold intelligent conversations with all spheres of society.

Pictures in serious minded meetings with other big brands is a great way of selling yourself.

Picture updates in serious minded meetings with other big brands in sophisticated locations is a great way of selling yourself. It is okay to show affluence but you need to ensure that it doesn’t become sycophancy where you are posting dollars on social media or having a champagne bath as the case may be. Your artist may get away with that level of vanity and stupidity but you may not.

Your social media should have a bit of a business feel, people interacting with you on social media should be able to tell your line of business just from following you and you should sell your Talent as well as your management skills as often as possible through these social media channels.

You will need to handle business negotiations for your Talent, if you appear at those business meetings looking like a cheap joker, it will be difficult for you to convince the client that your Talent is worth some good money, so try to look like 1million dollar always even though you’re worth just a social media page.

Try to talk intelligently, if you have nothing to say no one will fine you for being silent but please don’t go asking stupid questions and belittling your talent.  It is important to place value on your talent but please borrow some sense while doing this, know who and when to play the games with so that you do not end up depriving the business of useful income

Your composure and demeanour should make it easy for people to identify the artist and the manager. Pleaseeee desist from competing with your Talent, it’s totally wrong, stop confusing us, let us know who the artist is and who the manager is. An example is this new artist who had one of the biggest hits in 2015, whenever his manager and himself are out together, most people think the manager is the artist, because the poor little boy will be dressed like a messenger while the manager will go the extra mile to look fly. On social media, out of ten pictures posted on the artist timeline, 5 pictures were his managers pictures, no wonder they presented a video to MTV Base and were told that the artist isn’t handsome enough to have his video on that platform…(packaging gone wrong)

In all, it is a business, it is show business, what we sell is arts and perception, ensure to keep a balance between both.

As a manager, you are the ambassador of a brand, you have to represent the brand well as the impression you pass across will always rub off on your brand. I love you for reading.