In my over half a decade existence in the Creative Arts industry as a blogger, artiste manager, producer, event organizer, advertising, media consultant and now a Celebrity Broker and Brand and Communication consultant, l have seen many artistes rise and evaporate into thin air like they never happened. I have also encountered many great talents who really did loved what they do but end up demonstrating it to themselves and their nuclear families.
The desire to be great is really exciting but the process that leads to that is one long journey many won't be willing to embark. Believing in your genus-level talent is no crime but there is talent and there is skill. 
They say it takes 10 years of dedication to become an overnight success. This phrase is largely due to all of the things that the public is blissfully unaware of. We acknowledge artists when they pop into the mainstream, but we're blind to their denied demos, poor image choices, and bad business deals that happened before they reached the mainstream.
As your branding and communication strategist, though there are many factors that go into an artiste's gradual growth and rise in the music industry, it is only wise for me to identify the image and brand choices that can help boost an artist's career. These factors whether by planned or a strategy by the artiste or the artiste's management, there is no denial of its contributions to the growth of some artistes in the music industry.
Unfortunately, many up and coming artists don't pay attention to them and the end up evaporating into the skies.
Here are 2 BRAND FACTORS that can contribute to the growth of your career as a artiste.

1. Brand Name: What name should l call myself?

A NAME is a huge part of your branding identity, so choose wisely(if you forget everything, never forget this). I have encountered many artists especially up and coming ones with some names which would throw you into the Lion's Den and wish you never returned. Lots of them just go ahead and take names just for taking seek and do so in the hour of their moments. Your name is your first point of call.
Some few months ago, my team and l had a meeting with one of Ghana's biggest artiste and BET Award winner Stonebwoy. During the conversation, he revealed how he wished to had changed the name "Stonebwoy" when he was growing into a "man". According to him, he was wondering how his name would represent him when he becomes a man. He continues to say he is fortunate that his name relates very well with the masses and so he is safe and will keep his name forever. He mentioned this when he was advising one of our brand on his choice of name on social media.
This should tell you Your name is a huge part of your brand identity so don't just choose it any how. Don't make the mistake of thinking you can change it in the future. There is a high risk of failure in that. The likes of Hiplife musician Sidney to Barima, songstress Bertha to YaaYaa, Abortion of 4x4 fame to Coded, Ace highlife musician Daddy Lumba to DL, Ace highlife musician Kojo Antwi to Kojo etc all did not succeed.
Right from the beginning, if you choose your name right it will help identify your brand and the efforts you need to rebrand will rather go into enhancing your territories.

Again, as you grow as musician, corporate brands will like to work with your brand but your name might just erase you out of the consideration file.
The corporate and music worlds often collide, namely in spokesperson, endorsement, and influencer deals that are meant to boost the corporation's marketing and demographic growth.
Let's consider this, which company would like to work with an artiste with the name, "Fremzy Kotino"? Again, can you imagine a corporate entity signing a deal with an artiste by name "Jah Weed"?
Let me share with you my personal experience. In the year 2014, l was the head of the entertainment team for a company. We had to organize an event for the independence day celebrations. As a team, we prepared the list of musicians we wanted to perform on the day and also shortlisted some of them for an endorsement deal with some European companies who would be part of the event. Among the names on the list was an artiste whose name sounds like the porn word in the local dialect.
After submitting the list of performers and possible brand ambassadors for the financiers, they returned with the said artiste name cancelled with a simple text, "we can't associate with his identity".
This artiste to the team was absolutely good with his song and performance but his name cost him a good business deal. That is how your name can affect your brand. Becareful what you call yourself. And if your name is affecting you, it is wise to strategically plan and change gradually.
Never forget this, A name is a huge part of your branding identity, so choose wisely. 

2. Don't overlook features and collaborations

I use to be one person who was not in favor of up and coming artistes feature A-list artists in their maiden songs. My experiences and encounter with many up and coming gave me that impression until l started to look outside the box. As a brand strategist, l have come to understand that if a new artist utilizes a feature well, he or she can make it into mainstream.
Guest features are huge in today's music scene, and they're also a fun and often refreshing marketing phenomenon. Just think about the effects – it can be instant exposure! For instance, a feature can be used to introduce an up-and-comer by giving them a guest verse on a well-known artist's track. But even more strategically, you can combine two different genres of artists on one song to try and introduce your sound to other audiences.
Check out how Samini featured Stonebwoy to introduce him unto the market. Another example is Joey B feature Pappy Kojo. The missing Castro featuring Kofi Kinaata and Asamoah Gyan on the Odo Pa highlife song. Do you remember the Daddy Lumba feature Borax? Sarkodie feature AKA and Burnaboy?
These features tell you one can be successful with collaborations. Collaboration is one genius way of generating a bit more buzz in new/mainstream demographic segments.  Collaborations do not only help up and coming artistes but also help the mainstream artistes.
My experience over the years didn't only see successful collaborations but has also witness some career ending collaborations.
Collaborations are good but it must always be strategic. To collaborate with a A-list artist with the mind of using that to introduce you to the market is a serious risk which many people don't know.
One, the A-list might dominate the song and you will end up missing in memory. Again, your song might be attributed to the A-list artist which would mean you will have to do extra work than you earlier thought to get noticed.
All these happen due to the simple fact of up and coming artists allowing A-List artists do more verses on the song. A typical example in recent time is Wisa feature Luther. Another one back into memory lane is Edowodzi feature Stay Jay on the "Yenko konnn" song. 
As an up and coming artist, as much as you would want everyone to know what you have done with an A-list feature, never make them dominate the song. You will totally be missing in memory of the masses. 

Another way to have a well planned collaboration is when you are fortunate to be featured by an A-list artist project. With this, you get the opportunity to be noticed by the masses with condition of your performance on the song.
In the above mentioned, the most important fact about collaborations especially for up and coming artists is this,"every collaboration you do must have a backing plan to unveil your uniqueness. If you are featured or you feature an A-list Artist, by the time the song will be released, you have to have a plan in place to keep you active in the minds of the people. You have media promos or you can also prepare for your independent release or negotiate with the said artist to allow you on stage(Opening act) when he or she has invitation for shows. You can also arrange with the said artist to allow you on their media promotional platforms in promoting of the song. All these are ways, you push your name and identity into the minds of the people.
You don't just do collaborations and expect that to catapult you into mainstream automatically. You must always have a backing plan for the collaboration or you would easily be forgotten.
If you are an A-list artist, collaboration is a marketing tactic that should not be overlooked. These are fine opportunities for you to share fan base with similar (or dissimilar) artists. This is a very often overlooked marketing tactic, but it's a very powerful one! Whenever possible, partner with bands to co-promote, whether it's musically or even a quick marketing shout-out on your social media channels.
Don't forget the star power of your fellow artists! We're not all rivals in the music game. 
This piece was inspired by two of my favorite music marketing strategist, Tyler Allen and Gregory Peters. 
Let me also give credit to my team who always challenge me to do more and better,
My name is Ntiamoah Williams, your Celebrity broker, Brands and Communications Strategist.
Always remember, Brand or Be Branded