Art Marketing Buzz

Art marketing demands sacrifice. Try sleeping with the enemy. What!!? Here is a secret from an abundance perspective that has been a huge benefit in many different business niches. The world of art is no different. Part of marketing art is awareness, internal and external. When we see a threat or view a “competitor” as a threat we clam up, shut up, bare our teeth and generally attack or run. Right? Why is that ? I am not big on Darwin’s gig so I don’t want to open that can of wrigglers but… in most cases I think it is a knee jerk reaction. What else would we do? We survive with art marketing. That is what we always have done. We go into “protection mode” and become single-minded in avoidance or defeat of our perceived enemy.

I have seen this first hand and in fact have been the brunt of some seriously low, below-the-belt tactics from folks who view me as a competitor. Sad. I am a big boy so I know there really is competition out there and marketing our art is tough. If you have read me long enough you will know that I am a hardcore, old-school capitalist. A free enterprise guy to the core. But here is a thought. Lets do the ol’ compare and contrast thingy. What happens when we manage to run across anyone or anything that we perceive can help build our business, improve profitability, expand our market? We begin to salivate like one of Pavlov’s dogs and instinctively begin to think of ways to leverage that to our advantage. Yep. I know that is true. So do you.

Lets change our way of thinking about this just for a moment. Humor me here. In most cases we become protective because of FEAR. Really. What I mean is we view a competitor as someone who can potentially steal from us. Take away, make less that which we believe is ours. Market share is really what I am talking about. If we were not fearful of a “competitor” taking some of our business, we may have a different outlook. I submit to you that the fear in this case is coming from a bad attitude. Stinkin thinking. It stems from a core issue, a believe in scarcity instead of abundance.

The belief is that there are 1000 customers and I have 800 of them. If you take one now I am down to 799 and so on. The proverbial pie is only so big and you need the largest piece possible so 3 year old Johnny can have the newest zipideedooda in every color so he can be entertained when not playing his Nintendo Wii on his 42” plasma. (another rant for another time) The fangs come out, hackles raise and kitty cat becomes a lioness.

Why don’t we try a different method to market our artwork? Wouldn’t it be the coolest thing ever if you could milk your competitors, figure out how to make money from them…how about with them? Awww…. run Forest run. I am only saying, stop trying to divide the same freakin pie. Stir the pot, (I love that …it’s what I live for) combine, collude, and compliment. Then make a new pie. Joint venture or become an affiliate.

Heresy, I know. Just check it out for a minute though. What would happen if you transformed the pickled grey matter into fostering an ethos of abundance instead of perpetuating the lie of scarcity? Don’t ya think there may be a tad of wisdom in utilizing our competition, leveraging that relationship into a positive instead of the same ole thing. I know it hurts. But consider this, if you can figure out how to compliment what they do, how much nicer and less stressful and more profitable would things be? And further …keep your eye on the prize. What are you in business for anyway? To earn capital to fund the dream, I would guess. I hope you have the why figured out already, if not go to “starting with the end in mind”, and come back here later.

If you are just in business to compete I would suggest another arena, maybe WWF or UFC, there are a ton of places to get your butt kicked. In business you can still compete and I submit we always will, it’s a good thing. If however,  we can begin to work in a synergistic nature with a perceived competitor a few things will happen.

First you will definitely become a contrarian. That is a good place to be because we all know that what most people do, i.e. the masses, doesn’t work. Doing what everyone else does is a sure ticket to the mindsuckin-dreamstealin-state of mind and way of being… average. Cream of the crap. Mediocre. So step out, receive the tomato or egg in the face and become a contrarian. I promise it will positively affect your bottom line.

Next, you will find a breath of fresh air in your business life, your art will reflect it, your home life will be transformed and you might even smile…and on occasion accidentally forget to stifle a earth shattering belly laugh. Be sure to have your cell phone with you always because your family could in fact mistake this new (real) you for a dissociative identity disorder and ship you off.

Another serendipitous change from all of this blather is you could re-create your business, find new direction, or even find the air speed indicator edging closer and closer to redline. Sweet!

So instead of listening to chicken little and tuckin’ your horns in, I suggest opening yourself up to sleeping with the enemy and finding out what’s under the sheets that may be mutually beneficial.

Until next time…live, love, laugh.

tim

Kenny Kim has always been fascinated by the visual arts – and especially the connection between art & photography. His passion ?rst led to the study of graphic design at the University of Illinois, where he also became a skilled web designer and eventually opened up his own design studio in 2003. It was during this period, he began to realize that the greatest outlet for his artistic expression and technical skills would be through his passion for photography. Incorporating his own vision into the technical elements of photography, Kenny’s goal with each photo he takes is to present each moment he captures with a subtle artistry that enhances the feel of the moment. With the launch of Kenny Kim Photography in 2005, Kenny’s vision for a photographer’s work instantly resonated with his audience and within a short period of time, Kenny Kim Photography has now grown into a nationally recognized studio. In just 3 short years, Kenny has been commissioned for over 100 weddings in locations throughout the United States and the Caribbean. He was also retained to shoot for the University of Illinois Men?s Basketball & Tennis teams along with various celebrity events featuring David Foster, Andrea Bocelli, John Legend, Three Doors Down, Chris Tomlin, Michael W. Smith, and many others. Kenny currently resides in Chicago, Illinois. He is thankful to call his passion in life, his profession as well.

Kenny has made incredibly quick inroads to success in a very competitive area.  Find out about Kenny when we podcast…maybe we can pry some of the secrets out of him. Get his views on social media marketing, social networking, digital painting and a host of other fun questions.  If you have specific questions for any of our podcast interviews you can leave a comment with the question and we will get them answered. We will publish his interview in 7-12 days. Coming up next will be Marilyn Sholin on Thurs or Friday next week.

OK I know. We visually creative folk may shudder at the thought of boooring stuff like copy-writing.  It will be a common theme sung here though. We have got to get in the habit of self-education when it comes to marketing and copy-writing is a biggie.  Here is a piece written by a friend and expert marketer Ann Sieg.   I certainly cant communicate it better and I do subscribe to  the blog that is profiled.  AWESOME! So here is another free tool for you presented by Ann.

… Here’s a little secret for you: While investing money to expand your business and sales know-how is a necessary part of success that can’t be bypassed…

…it is actually possible to get a million dollar education
by consuming a lot of the free stuff that’s out there.

In fact, some expert’s free content and material is so good that it’s literally worth ten times what you would pay for others people’s products.

Which begs the question: If that’s the case, then why even bother buying any-one’s product anyway?

Well, there are some things that you’ll never learn for free. The stuff you have to pay for will always be more complete and more advanced. It gives you the whole story whereas often times the free stuff leaves a lot of blank spaces that need to be filled in. And if someone’s free content is really good, it means their actual products are that much more valuable to you. Plus, they’re usually laid out in a way that’s easier to follow and in a more “paint by numbers” fashion. As opposed to free content where you may have to go through a lot more of it to find the diamonds in the rough.

I can tell you though that many of the strategies I’ve used that have been crucial to my success were obtained directly from free resources. I’ve gleaned ideas, “light bulb” type inspirations and core concepts from these resources that have without a doubt been worth a fortune to me.

The right free content can provide you with much of the groundwork and building blocks with which to build your business.

And here’s why this is true: As more competition develops in any given niche, it means that in order for people to stay ahead, they have to give away more and more info that they may have previously been charging for.

That’s the beauty of competition. It forces people to stay sharp and on their toes. And the end winner of it all is the consumer who gets a better product.

As Marlon Sanders says – If you really want to have a killer offer, just take what your competitor is selling and give it away as a free bonus!

Anyways, one of these free resources that has been absolutely invaluable to me is Clayton Makepeace’s free e-letter ‘The Total Package.’ You can check it out at: The Total Package.

Clayton is known as the highest paid copywriter in America and every Monday he sends out an e-letter issue that’s crammed with some of the best marketing and sales advice you’ll ever read.

Did I mention it’s totally free? I don’t think I could even put a price tag on this if I had to. I attribute a lot of the marketing knowledge I have to reading his material.

His e-letter is geared towards copywriters and some of the issues specifically address how a copywriter can find work in the freelance world, but overall the brilliant marketing wisdom he dispenses applies to anyone and everyone who’s interested in making large amounts of money.

If you do decide to subscribe to The Total Package, be sure to go through all the back issue archives. There’s some 87 past issues at the time I wrote this and you can read each one of them at no cost whatsoever. Every issue is usually well over 10 pages of pure gold content and the whole archive is literally a book in and of itself. There’s enough reading material back there to keep you busy for weeks.

When you get your first issue, just look on the right hand side of the page and you’ll see the ‘archive’ menu button…..

OK Tim back here.  definatly check this out.  It is good information and well worth the time. It is one more component of marketing our passionate brushstrokes or shutter clicks.  

I left a post on the digital painters forum today about elevator speeches. I thought this post was already on my art marketing buzz blog but it was not. I wrote it on another blog. So here you go.

Basically the elevator speech or pitch is the first volley from the standpoint of self promotion. It really isnt a “speech” per-say it is basically an introduction. It is a short description of what you do or the point you want to make given in 30+60 seconds and is the first impression of your business. Thought out, planned, and practiced.We all have heard the ol’ “You dont have a second chance for the first impression” saying eh? Trite perhaps but true. The purpose can vary but here we will look at introduction. As entrepreneurs or infopreneurs we need to be diligent about marketing and self promotion. So here is the target, to write a clear, concise Elevator Speech so people say “Wow! You do that?! I want that! When do we get started?”

Your Elevator Speech tells (1) who you are and who your clients are, (2) what you do for people — the results you get, and (3) the value you provide — what’s in it for your clients.

Here is a short blurb I use when I am prospecting for Portrait clients. When someone introduces themselves and i am responding, “Hi I’m Tim. I help VIP families retain there visual heritage by providing heirloom commissioned portraits in timeless mediums.” Not extremely compelling and needs some tweaks but it works because usually they say, “what?” That is an open door for me to say, “I am an artist that specializes in blending cutting edge techniques with the masters proven quality control processes specific to heirloom portraits.” It is a way to start a conversation and they ask questions. It is far better than saying, “Hi I am Tim…I am a photographer or I am an artist”

Here is what I use in the investment world. “Hi I’m Tim. I help people make smart decisions about money, I facilitate the creation of strategic financial plans for lifestyle.”

Here is an another example of an Pitch from my day job. This is from Robert Pagliarini he is the CEO of SeekingCapital.com. You will get the idea, it is 60 seconds and really what we want is more in the neighborhood of 15-30 for a quick intro. So this is too long for my tastes but will work for some specific things.

“Here is what I’d use to “pitch” SeekingCapital.com:

SeekingCapital.com is changing the future of private equity investing.

Private equity is a $100 billion a year market, with over 400,000 entrepreneurs aggressively seeking capital at any given time.

SeekingCapital.com offers entrepreneurs and investors an efficient and uniquely interactive method for obtaining or investing capital in pre-IPO companies.

SeekingCapital.com is not an “Internet only” company, but supports its online community with local franchises in the United States and internationally.

Our team has decades of experience in the securities industry, investment banking, private equity, and executive management. My partner and I have worked together side by side for several years co-managing and running the entire Internet operations of a publicly traded brokerage firm.

Our competitors such as XYZ Corp. and ABC Capital have had much success-ABC Capital was recently valued at $550 million . . . despite several limitations.

SeekingCapital.com isn’t just a listing or matching service, we offer a community that breeds interaction, education, and discussion. We work with companies globally, through all stages of funding, and across all industries.

We are anticipating $XXX million this round to be used for employee building, increased office space, and marketing.

We have a compelling two page executive summary that I would like to send you. Can I get your address?”

About the Author:
Robert Pagliarini is the CEO of SeekingCapital.com-an online and offline community that offers entrepreneurs a cost-effective, efficient, and uniquely interactive method for obtaining capital while offering qualified investors access to select pre-screened, pre-IPO investment opportunities.

Okay, so again for me to long and to salesy but…it depends on what you are trying to accomplish. For an intro something short may be more appropriate. The big thing is do something.