The Secrets of Promoting
By "The Shaman of Sexxxy" Abel Carv
A Promoter is someone who books and publicizes shows, competitions, talent, artists, venues, and anything in between. Primarily promoters exist in the entertainment industry, but I shall focus on modeling, music, and mixed martial arts in my article. My aim is to debunk some myths as well as answer some common questions pertaining to promoting.
Promoters don't have favorites
If a promoter tells you that he or she doesn't have favorites, he or she is lying to you, the ethics comes to the purity of the reason for the people being favorites. The purpose of promoting simplistically is to draw attention, but the motivation is to make money. A promoter's favorites will be the person or people that either fill seats or sells the most product. He or she will try to provide a level field to figure out who brings in results, but realistically once someone or some people establish themself/themselves as the face(s) of the brand, the face(s) will receive treatment to keep them happy so that they stay with the brand and/or continue to work at a level to continue bringing in the money.
My promoter isn't publicizing me, should I find a new one?
If a promoter isn't publicizing you, that does not necessarily mean that their is a problem with the promoter, you, or the relationship between you. There are a few factors that must be considered. In promoting the main factor is timing. A good promoter will not push you, your product, or your show in an oversaturated market. That is not fair to you or your competition as it is splitting the market, whereas dominating or taking turns in a market is more favorable. Another possible scenario is that your promoter is trying to avoid a COI (Conflict Of Interest) between you and another client by waiting until the conflict would be resolved without breaching anyone's terms. Another scenario could be that your promoter is waiting for you to improve slightly. These are just a few scenario's, many more exist, but if you feel that your promoter isn't doing his/her job, just ask.
Why is someone less talented/skilled/advanced/knowledgeable being promoted in conjunction with me?
If you feel that someone beneath you is being promoted in conjunction with you, they probably are. Promoters like to have what they call "enhancement talent," this is talent that they have that is to be used to make you look even better by comparison. In MMA, a matchup between rookies will often be placed right before the main event to make the fighters in the main event look more crisp and technical sound in comparison. In music, a rookie band or singer will oft be placed right before a highly touted act in order to make the main event appear better and professional. In modeling, a promoter will present an unrefined model prior to one that looks good, to make the good one appear flawless in comparison. If you are the "enhancement talent", do not feel bad as you are benefitting too. You are being exposed to the superior artist's fans as well as given a bar to strive to achieve, you also have the accolade of having been in conjunction with the superior artist.
Comebacks and "underdogs' sell
Generally in entertainment, fans/viewers/consumers want to be surprised and have variety. The rise of a star is a fun story to watch, as well as someone making a comeback to claim their throne. Someone being in the limelight for a long period of time gets stale in the eyes of the public fast. A fight promoter will most likely promote a fight with a fighter on a losing streak seeking redemption than one that has a dominant fighter who always wins in a very similar matter. A model promoter will often push someone who is getting better but has had public setbacks so that people fall in love with them and grew into a model in front of them. This is emotion-based marketing and is very successful.
Nobody is bigger than the business
There is an old adage that goes, "nobody is bigger than the business". This is especially true in entertainment. No matter how close a client and promoter maybe, the promoter should never push someone or something that is not able to sell or is bringing a negative name for the business. Not only does this destroy the business, but it causes residual damage to all clients of the promoter by association. Always expect the promoter to drop your or any other client that can no longer be an asset to everyone.
Rival promoters talk amongst each other
Although two or more promoters may hate each other, more likely than not, they probably still talk amongst each other. One reason could be to set and enforce territories whether they be geographically, by genre, by age, or some other partition. Another reason is to discuss clients. One promoter will usually help blackball/blacklist bad clients by telling other promoters to not work with them so as to not have the industry suffer. Promoters will often help each other out to stay afloat as competition makes better products in capitalistic Keynesian economies such as that of the United States. So don't be surprised if your dealings with one promoter follows you to others.
Promoting is a very demanding job requiring patience and knowledge. All reputable promoters will use all the information I have provided you in one or more variation, but maybe not all at the same time. This information, as I know it is very true, though some promoters will not admit to it. Thank you for reading and please give me your opinion on the matter.