Artistes urged: Aim to be consistent

Consistency is more than just a buzzword. Branding and Communications specialist, Matthew Fewwture Ashby maintains that it is the key to an efficient and effective content strategy.

Addressing participants at a recent Artistes Development Workshop hosted by the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) which was held at The Sagicor School of Business, Cave Hill Campus, Ashby gave several nuggets of information about the value of consistency.

For one, he stressed that consistency builds trust, and in turn, trust is very important when you’re building a relationship with your audience.

Ashby, who is Director on the NCF’s Board of Management and manager of world champion disc jockey, DJ Puffy, elaborated that consistency can only be achieved if it goes hand in hand with the grand design that the artist or their team has for the brand.

Content strategy is the process of planning, creating, publishing and managing. It is important because it builds relationships and helps you to create content that stays consistent.

“So, instead of you just waking up and you just post whatever comes to you, have a strategy behind it to make sure that it aligns with the brand that you are creating. Random content confuses your audience. If you are going for high quality, you have to keep it high quality.  

“Content is your currency – your asset. It’s really important and the reason why I say that is one of my clients is DJ Puffy, he won the Red Bull Music 3Style DJ World Championships in 2016 . . . . Winning that competition brought brand awareness around the world. So, when he won everyone went on Google. What they found?

“Archived and valuable content because we strategised the content even before the world got to it. So that by the time they got to it, we already had it out there. Then we were able to be engaging with them and start a relationship with them much faster. So content is key,” Ashby stressed.

Cultural practitioner and blogger Stephanie Chase echoed similar sentiments and added that the goals outlined in the strategy should be specific, measurable, attainable and relevant to the brand and where the artist intends to take it into the future.

In addition, she encouraged artistes, aspiring and experienced, to seek avenues to continue the self-development necessary for improvement.

She continued: “I know that many people will think that if you’ve been in the industry for 15 years, 20 years you’ve learnt it all or have it made. There are people who’ve been in the industry for 15/20 years whose careers have plateaued. They are not going anywhere because they have not evolved.

“So, if you think you can’t evolve as an artist or there is nothing else left to learn then you are placing yourself in a box and you are pretty much cutting off your career. Always be in a state of becoming, in a position to learn, there is always something to learn.”

The workshop was produced by the NCF in March as one of a slew of initiatives aimed at assisting artistes in their further development. (PR)