I was asked this recently by someone who was, in fact, quite interested in knowing what I do for a living, but equated success with fame and was genuinely baffled that he hadn’t heard of me. Of course this is because I am a performer. He presumably doesn’t expect his bank manager to be famous, however successful he is. Perhaps some of us start out as singers secretly hoping that we will one day be a household name. Personally, I can’t think of anything worse than being papped in Tesco when I am trying to slink home with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s after a hard day’s rehearsal.

Of course we need our public; and the less ‘famous’ we are, the more we need to actively work to develop this, acknowledging the attention of existing supporters as well as courting new ones. Creating and sustaining relationships is one of the ongoing tasks for any self-employed singer and isn’t limited to a brief ‘hello and thank you’ after the performance or audition. I include our employers in this because the principle is the same. We build relationships with producers, directors, agents, casting directors and many others who may at some point feel moved to assist us in some way, just as concert-goers will hopefully seek us out again if they liked what they saw and heard.

Happily, staying in touch with our audience is much easier than it used to be. Gone are the days of sticking stamps and glueing envelopes – now it’s all about running a media campaign. The first thing anyone does on hearing the name of a singer they don’t know is to Google him/her. In the space of a few years, having a website has gone from being the province of those who like to be at the cutting-edge to a basic necessity without which your playing field isn’t level. It’s not difficult to build a simple page with a few photos and some basic information but the real added value comes with the addition of sound clips and, ideally, video. Platforms such as WordPress (on which this site and my own site are built) are easy to use and accessible from smartphones and tablets, so it’s not too much of a chore keeping everything up to date. It makes the admin easier too; how efficient (and hopefully impressive) to have a current CV and photo available via your website, that can be fired off to someone in an instant.

Social media such as Facebook and Twitter are extremely useful in profile-building too, although it must be said that there is nothing more dull than endless self-congratulatory tweeting. A presence on You Tube and Soundcloud can be powerful, but be sure to get the appropriate permissions from other featured performers – it’s embarrassing to ask (or be asked) to take a clip down after the event. I also use Mailchimp, an online facility for managing newsletters and mailing lists. A single page, fired off every couple of months, is enough to publicise what I am doing and keep me on everyones’ radar. On several occasions this has led directly to work, with the e-newsletter landing in someone’s Inbox just as they were looking to fill a gap in the cast-list. 

But the very best thing is when a notification arrives to say that someone has spontaneously signed up to receive my newsletter.  Then I know that somewhere I have a real live fan.