She's hit the scene harder than Keith Richards circa 1978, put
pop back on the map with a bang, and firmly laid her steak (arf
arf) to being music's most controversial contemporary via
that meat dress. And she racked up a truckload of
number one hits along the way. But Lady Gaga isn't all razzle
dazzle - she's got quite the business head on her. Here's what you
can learn from the newly crowned Queen of Pop.
1. Create an air of whimsy - but work your nipple-tassles
off behind the scenes
Gaga may look like a fun-time kinda gal, but she's working her
PVC-chappered butt to the bone in the background. She learnt to
play the piano aged four, was performing at open mike nights by 14
and gained early admission to the New York University's Tisch
School of the Arts. She produces and plays various instruments as
well as singing and dancing around provocatively, and has written
songs for Britney Spears, New Kids on the Block, and the Pussycat
Dolls too. In short: she knows her trade inside-out, and that's
because she's worked non-stop at it.
Big opportunities don't just land serendipitously in your bowl
of cornflakes one morning - you have to create them by putting in
the man hours. Know your industry like it's your best friend, get
all the experience you can, and give up TV - you could be using
those languishing hours to make your business a reality
instead.
But don't let anyone know that you're putting in all that effort
(apart from your nearest and dearest, whose Kleenex and shoulders
you'll need to borrow from time to time). Don't whinge to your
professional network, and learn to smile cheerily even when you're
running on two hours sleep. This is an old Richard Branson trick as
well as a Gaga one - making it look easy when really you're working
incredibly hard. It works because people want to work with
unstressed, easy-going, unfathomably talented people - and keeping
quiet about how hard you're working while pulling off master feats
creates just that impression.
2. Don't be shy about recycling great ideas
Lady Gaga has been compared to Madonna and accused of ripping
off her style so many times that Saturday Night Live convinced them
to appear together in a mickey-taking fashion fist
fight while dressed in identi-kit outfits.
While Gaga's picked up a bit of flack from the die-hard Madonna
fan contingency in obscure blogs across the world, most people have
to admit she's done a ruddy good job of reincarnating the former
Queen of Pop. And, let's be honest, it's been hugely to her
advantage. Gaga might not have been half as successful had she not
copied Madonna from time to time - and gained precious column
inches from it. That said, she's not just a Madonna lookalike -
Lady Gaga has differentiated herself musically enough that she's
managed to become one of the world's most popular current pop
stars, with Madonna in tow as a fan (rumours abound that Madonna wants Gaga to tour
with her). And she's pushed the fashion boundaries that tads
further too (see above).
Success isn't about doing everything yourself first time round -
it's about using proven models and other people's ideas cleverly,
and expanding on them. Take something that works, and make it
better. Why wouldn't you? Doing everything from scratch is
desperately inefficient, and you'll spend so long trying to
reinvent the wheel that you'll run out of time to spot all the new
applications of it that will earn you big bucks.
3. Publicise your business by being memorable
We don't need to tell you for the thousandth time that
networking is one of the most important keys to unlocking your
business' potential; that people do business with people; that a
healthy cross-section of people in your little black book will give
you unprecedented access to customers, partners, suppliers, PR
opportunities and word of mouth marketing. You know that. Trouble
is, how do you build that teeming network of people who are falling
over themselves to help you?
The answer, improbably enough, lies in one of Lady Gaga's
greatest weapons: creating a buzz around yourself. The more people
talk about you, the further your name travels, and the further your
extended network reaches. You want to become one of those people
whose name always springs to mind in other people's conversations,
so you get recommended and set up when you're not even there.
That means you need to be memorable and well-liked.
We obviously don't mean for all of you to go out in a dress made
of sirloin steak, but you need to find a way for people to remember
you. That can boil down to the kind of instantaneous self-branding
that many well-known entrepreneurs have contrived (James Caan
renamed himself after his favourite actor; Richard Moross of Moo always
dresses in existentialist head-to-toe black; 4Networking
founder Brad Burton used to carry around a pizza box with his
branding on it at networking events). Read our feature on creating a
personal brand for more info on that.
Or it could mean dropping in titbits about things you do and
have done that mark you out (Shiny
Media's Katie Lee has championed this with her unusual penchant
for crocheting; others drop in titillating tales of trekking up
Everest or becoming kickboxing champions - take up a weird hobby if
you have to).
Or it could just mean being a super-connector yourself - the
more you hook people up with each other, the more they'll want to
return the favour (Oli Barrett is a master of this and blogs on it
too).
Just make sure you have something - whether it's being
hilarious, looking distinctive, or always being that helpful person
on Twitter. And, of course, keep in touch everyone you meet and get
on with on social media to keep you fresh in their minds and
solidify fledgling relationships.
Then take every publicity opportunity you can: ask to be
featured on blogs, find angles to get into the local papers and
onto website, sponsors kids' football teams, organise networking
events under your branding (like Huddle did), tell journalists you're available
for expert comment, pitch ideas to magazines. (Read our guides on
PR for more ideas.)
Beyonce et al fell over themselves to work with Gaga because she
made herself hot news. Generate a similar buzz around yourself
(albeit in a tamer, more friendly and less aggressively sexual
way), and you'll find the movers and shakers in your industry might
just open their doors to you too.