What is Commercial Modeling and How to Become One?
If you aspire to be a model, understanding the types of modeling is crucial to help you decide your line of work. Commercial modeling is one of the most considered fields in the fashion industry, and learning about it will assist you in this process.
In this article, discover what commercial modeling is, your duties as a commercial model, and how you can become one. Keep reading!
What is Commercial Modeling?
Commercial modeling is a niche of the modeling industry focused on creating marketing materials for companies in several different content formats.
The goals of commercial modeling can be to brand, market, or sell a company’s services and products.
For this, companies hire models aligned with the target audience to wear or present their products in a way that becomes relatable to the people who will possibly buy that solution.
Therefore, different from high fashion modeling, which usually requires a specific stereotypical kind of model, commercial modeling is more diverse and embraces a variety of models.
Another essential aspect of this niche is that it comprehends various types of marketing materials such as advertisements, TV, catalogs, online shots, websites, etc.
What does a Commercial Model Do?
Like any other professional, a commercial model has responsibilities when performing their job. Some of them are:
- Attend meetings with clients to define the scope of the job;
- Create a portfolio of their work;
- Wearing fashion pieces of the brand/company, they’re modeling for;
- Understand the goals of the brand and project when starting a new job;
- Pose for different modeling jobs, whether a TV commercial or a billboard.
The Main Requirements for Commercial Modeling
As you might know, the modeling industry usually has requirements when hiring models. The commercial modeling niche is no different.
So, understanding most brands’ main requirements is essential to see if you can invest in becoming a commercial model. Check them out!
Gender
Both men and women are required in this niche of modeling. Nowadays, transgender models are also being sought by brands to promote their products.
However, this is a matter that still needs to be put more in evidence in the industry to promote a more inclusive niche.
Age
The age will vary a lot. Since commercial modeling is a vast industry that usually searches for models to whom the target audience can relate, the age range is broad.
Therefore, the age will depend on the job’s goals and the product the brand is trying to market and sell.
Height
Height is usually a “big thing” to be considered in the modeling industry. For example, to invest in fashion modeling, the professional must have a minimum height to be able to do runways.
In commercial modeling, the minimum height is more flexible than in the fashion modeling niche.
Therefore, a female model should have at least 5 feet 6 inches. At the same time, males should have between 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 11 inches.
Physique
Another requirement of this industry is the physique. Although high fashion modeling is more restrictive and usually requires specific, standardized body types, the commercial niche can be more diverse and look for different shapes.
Since this is relative, the body type requirement will ultimately depend on the brand and style of the campaign the company is promoting.
For example, if a plus-size company sells plus-size products to a plus-size audience, it makes no sense to look for a skinny model to do the project.
However, in any case, cultivating a balanced routine of exercising and eating healthy food is recommended to the models looking to get into this industry.
How to Create a Promising Commercial Modeling Portfolio?
Another essential step towards becoming a commercial model is to create a modeling portfolio to display your abilities as a model and showcase some of the jobs you’ve done in the industry.
If you still haven’t done any campaigns, try to do a photo shoot to add to your portfolio at the beginning of your career. This way, you can show your abilities to possible clients and increase your chances of getting hired as a commercial model.
If you have worked on some projects, they should also go on your portfolio. The more diverse your portfolio is, the bigger your chances of getting a job.
Showing you can communicate a brand’s voice through different niches and industries will also give up an upper hand in recruitment processes.
Having different types of jobs in your portfolio will make brands realize you can adapt to their goals too, and deliver excellent results.
Commercial Model Salary Range
A commercial model salary can vary, depending on many aspects like the experience and years in the industry, the amount of work they get per year, the region where they model, etc.
However, according to ZipRecruiter, a commercial model can earn around $64,945 per year in the United States. On the other hand, the Glassdoor website shows that the average salary for a commercial model in the United States is approximately $65,579 a year.
Of course, this is an average, meaning a professional can earn more or less than this, and the aspects mentioned above influence their earnings in general.
How to Become a Commercial Model
To become a commercial model, you must invest in two things: working on your abilities as a model and making yourself noticed in the industry.
Luckily, we have some tips to help you on this journey. Stay tuned!
Tips to improve your modeling abilities
At the beginning of your modeling career, you must focus on enhancing your modeling skills to prepare to model for brands.
Some things you can do to improve your abilities are:
Take care of yourself
Models work with their images. So, it is clear that you must focus on developing a healthy and balanced routine and taking care of yourself to maintain a good look.
As we mentioned, there are some requirements in the industry. Therefore, being aware of them is crucial to building a significant modeling career.
Create a presence on social media
Nowadays, being present on social media is an excellent way to channel your abilities and find work, as well as build a consistent target audience that can later be aligned to the brands you want to reach and work with.
Therefore, it is a great way to amplify your skills and make yourself noticeable in the modeling industry.
Update yourself about the industry
Learning what is happening in the modeling industry and keeping yourself up-to-date is essential to see how you can improve your skills.
Therefore, search for references in the field, try networking with other professionals, see what possible trends are arising in the industry, etc.
Train your modeling skills to become comfortable in front of the cameras
Being comfortable in front of cameras is a must for a model. If you’re still not confident enough to pose for cameras, you may want to improve your abilities by going to one of the best modeling schools.
After all, this is your primary duty, and clients will expect you to act naturally and fluidly when working as a commercial model.
For that, you can look for inspiration from previous works of models you admire, search for your best poses, and which traits are more natural to you and make you feel more comfortable.
With time, you will enhance your posing abilities and become more acquainted with these scenarios.
Create your portfolio
As mentioned before, a portfolio is a crucial tool to display your modeling skills and showcase your best jobs. Additionally, this kind of material is essential to get into the industry as most agencies require a portfolio.
Therefore, investing in making a professional portfolio and avoiding amateur photos will give you an upper hand when looking for agencies.
Tips for entering the commercial modeling industry
Now that you know some aspects to work on yourself to become a successful commercial model, take a look at some tips to enter the commercial modeling industry.
Discover commercial modeling agencies with good reputations
The first step for entering the industry is searching for good agencies with a solid reputation in the market.
If you get into one or more agencies with significant connections with brands that currently look for commercial models, you will probably “make a name” sooner than you expect.
Therefore, take your time searching for the best agencies aligned with your personal and professional goals.
Sign up and apply for agencies
Once you find them, sign up and apply for the agencies. Be careful in this step to add the right and relevant information and avoid errors during your application process.
Then, wait for the answers and hope to get representation from a good agency. This will help you find work and start your career.
Care for your own reputation in the industry
Once you work on your first projects, you will hopefully become more and more known in the industry. However, you should focus on building a good reputation from day one.
That is crucial so the commercial industry knows that you are a team player and are willing to work to achieve excellent results for your clients.
Developing a positive reputation can boost your career and help you achieve great results in modeling for commercial purposes.
Don’t give up
Another fundamental tip is for you not to give up. This can be a challenging career path, but it is also a gratifying and exciting one.
This is more a reminder than a tip because if you have this dream and work on it, you will undoubtedly enjoy harvesting its fruits, even with the challenges that come with the job.
Therefore, work on the tips we provided in this article and start building your career in commercial modeling. Then, step by step, you will see that the path is worth it if this is really what you want for your professional life.
In addition, always keep yourself up-to-date in your career so you can improve your skills regularly and build a successful career path in the commercial modeling industry. Joining a modeling course and community that supports you along your journey can change your modeling life.
Moreover, if you have questions about modeling for commercial purposes, feel free to let us know in the comments so we can help you. And if you like our tips, keep browsing our blog to check more valuable content!
