Comedian Marketing – How to Successfully Position Yourself to Earn Big Bucks Through Effective Comedian Marketing

Marketing Yourself For Maximal Profit and Fan Base

There is so much confusion when it comes to comedian marketing. Making money as a stand-up comedian might seem tricky, but it’s actually quite simple. Comedian marketing isn’t about how many Facebook friends or twitter followers you have.

 

Ever wonder how there are so many unfunny comedians that get paid way too much? Ever wonder why you’re not making the money I want as a comedian? Here’s why…

Comedian Marketing – Become a Comedian That Actually Makes a PROFIT

The secret to comedian marketing is through differentiation of your stand-up comedy performances. Plain and simple. Sure, there are other factors (like exposure) that are necessary. But without differentiation, you’re pushing a boulder uphill. The good news for you is that differentiation has been largely ignored by comedians. Why? Because it takes moving off the beaten path, and that scares most people (even comedians). Take a look at the top comedians of all time and you’ll see that every single one of them differentiated themselves as their primary strategy. I believe none exemplify this creativity more than Steve Martin and Andy Kaufman. Both these comedians managed to differentiate themselves so well that fame was almost inevitable (but their story will have to wait for now).

If you can’t differentiate yourself as a comedian from the 100,000+ other comedians working today then you have very little chance of pulling away from the pack. This type of differentiation requires creativity. Not the kind of creativity that every single comedian uses (i.e. “I wrote a new joke”). This type of creativity is long-term. It looks at the big picture. And it’s ballsy as hell. And that’s why it works so well. This type of creativity is all about creating contrast between you and every other comedian working. When you create contrast between yourself and every other comedian working then marketing your comedy will never get easier. This comedian marketing strategy has two main benefits…

Bigger Fan Base Through Effective Comedian Marketing

Positioning yourself as a comedian makes it dead-simple to create a bigger fan base. Audience members aren’t inspired to become a fan of a comedian because they were slightly funnier than the 10 or 15 other comedians they saw on the showcase. Being slightly funnier than the other comedians means you’re competing with them head-to-head, and that’s a no-no. Effective comedian marketing allows you to differentiate yourself as a comedian so well that it doesn’t matter how funny any other comedian is on any given night. You’re no longer competing head-to-head.

Let’s use a thought experiment to show this. Do you think John Stewart (host of The Daily Show) is really worried about how funny his fellow comedians are? Do you think he’s worried about other news networks? The answer is no. He is so well differentiated that he competes with neither group.

Why is Comedian Marketing so Important?

The brain hates ambiguity. This is why billions of dollars are spent by marketing firms to position a product in a consumer’s head. Comedian marketing has the same end result. You are no longer a generic comedian. Once you are no longer ambiguous, you give yourself the chance to be memorable.

Don’t be ambiguous. The more differentiated you are to audience members the easier it will be for you to position yourself in their heads as the best comedian on the night, even if another comedian got more laughs. It isn’t fair, but that’s what happens. This means you don’t even have to be as funny as all the other comedians on the night (but you do still have to be funny) to gain fans. As long as you’re differentiated enough to make it easy for the audience to remember you they will.

Here’s the caveat. You’ll also split the audience. But don’t click the back button just yet. Splitting the audience is actually a good thing. Whenever you split the audience you divide the audience into two groups: future die-hard fans of yours and everyone else. The worst mistake that can be made is diluting your natural sense of humor to appeal to a group of audience members (or a demographic) that’s going to end up leaving you anyways. Once you split the audience you’re able to create die-hard fans, which would have been impossible before the split. You’re only job after splitting the audience is to serve your future die-hard fans better than any other comedian in the world.

In fact, one reason why this comedian marketing strategy is so amazingly effective is because most comedians are scared of splitting the audience. They don’t want anyone to not like them. Those that embrace this comedian marketing strategy create contrast between themselves and 99% of the comedians out there.

But the best part is what happens AFTER the show. Long after the show has ended your comedian marketing strategy is still be building momentum. Guess what the comedians in your die-hard group do? They tell everyone they can about you. They go home and YouTube you to see more of your material. They send links to their friends to go and watch you. It’s the perfect comedian marketing strategy. Friends almost always have the same style of humor. So when an audience member finds a comedian that appeals perfectly to their own sense of humor the natural thing to do is tell their friends, building your fan base while you’re off performing elsewhere.

Effective Comedian Marketing …

  1. Makes it EASIER for you to appeal to the audience
  2. Makes audience members more likely to spread the word you

Now compound this over your entire career.

So how do you become a comedian that can serve a niche this well? Well, what’s apparent is that it requires more than learning how to write comedy better than everyone else. Success isn’t using the same tools and techniques as every other comedian. It’s about giving the audience something they haven’t seen before. Being “a little funnier” isn’t going to cut it.

In Faster & Funnier online comedy course we break down these comedian marketing components. You can learn exactly why audience members become your fans, what actions they take after becoming your fan, and how to make them spread the word about your comedy because it makes THEM feel good. Best of all, it doesn’t require any manipulation tactics. You won’t have to continually beg audience members to spread the word about you. They’ll do it naturally. For THEIR reasons.

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Read “Comedian Marketing Part 2