Creation. What's missing from your marketing?

I was coaching an actor this week, and I noticed she had written on her goal worksheet: "2012 will be the year of content!"

She, like a lot of actors, hasn't been discovered. She's done some improv and sketch. She's made a few digital shots. She's done some plays, she's made some connections, she's made some money, but she's still agent-less, and waiting tables. And, she happens to be one of the most talented people I know. No joke - she's special.

Here's what we decided for her: If she works within the system (agents, managers, casting directors) it could take her years to quit that restaurant job. If she takes the skills she already had and sold them, maybe that's a quicker way in.
Maybe she needs to make a pilot? Maybe she needs to start a web series?

Here's the upside:
•She knows how to do it.
•It's fun work to do.
•Maybe she'll sell it and make money.
•Maybe she'll post it and draw advertisers.
•Maybe having accomplished this goal will make her more marketable to agents.

The downside:
•It's hard work and it won't pay anything.

What I'm saying is, if success isn't coming to you quickly enough inside the paradigm of the industry, consider creating something yourself. Why not?

It worked for Franchesca Ramsey. She's the actress who put together "Shit White Girls Say To Black Girls," put it on youtube, and within a month was signed with Gersh.

You could:
•make a digital short.
•vlog.
•write sketches.
•write a screenplay.
•write a one-person show.
•write a pilot.
•improv, improv, improv.

Marketing is a combination of making use of every opportunity that comes your way, as well as creating them. Maybe that's what's missing in your career.