In early December, Chase Jarvis’s (@chasejarvis) and Craig Swanson’s (@craigmswanson) brainchild creativeLIVE (@creativeLIVE) ran a seminar on online businesses hosted by former pro athlete and entrepreneur Lewis Howes (@LewisHowes), with guest appearances by Derek Halpern (@derekhalpern), James Wedmore (@jameswedmore), and Amy Porterfield (@AmyPorterfield). The workshop did a great job covering the basics—it featured discrete lessons on business services offered by YouTube and Facebook, specific directives for attracting an online audience, and strategies for efficiently generating revenue. The information covered in this creativeLIVE workshop is particularly useful to those who are selling a product or set of services with concrete features and benefits, such as educational materials, photography, business services, and the like.
But… what if you can’t concisely list the benefits of what you have to offer?
What if your audience doesn’t make decisions the same way a buyer of an information product does? I thought I would take this opportunity to sum up some of the lessons from the workshop and explain how they can be applied to those individuals whose value emerges through subjectively-valued goods—say, if you’re an artist that uses media like fiction, art, film, music, and the like to express ideas. I loosely use the term “artist” to describe anyone who makes a living, or wants to make a living, selling subjectively-valued artifacts.
Lesson 1: Ask the key question properly. Who wants this, anyway?
It’s a no-brainer that the key to selling anything, whether it’s a work of art or a guide to marketing on LinkedIn, is to know your audience.
In a typical business situation: identify what problems your product helps solve, and find people who have those problems.
When selling art: identify what kind of person someone interested in your art considers him or herself to be, as well as how they currently experience art forms in their lives.
In a typical business situation, an audience would primarily become defined by a uniting set of problems that a given product or service solves. The process of defining your audience gets a little bit tricky when your product doesn’t offer concrete solutions to problems. Few people pick up novels to solve a well-defined problem.
As an artist, your challenge is to aim higher, and to figure out what speaks to people at their very core. When it comes to selling art, a creator should focus on figuring out which identities their product affirms as well as their ideal clients’ purchasing histories of art. Answer the following prompts:
- People who are likely to buy this have a track record of ___________________ (e.g., reading mysteries on the beach, pre-ordering Haruki Murakami novels, sponsoring art projects on Kickstarter)
- People who are likely to buy this care about ____________________ (e.g., defining true love, conservation of the environment, scientific progress, supporting young artists, supporting older artists, being seen as an authority)
Here you’ll start to reveal the defining traits of distinct communities that are united by existing behaviors and passions. Once you start getting an idea of what these groups are like, find the strongest voices among them, and do whatever you can to make sure the individuals behind these voices know about your art. Make the connection by emailing them directly, introducing yourself at an event, finding a friend of a friend who can introduce you, and so on. Dare to put yourself out there. The best way to get attention is to meet people who already have lots of it.
Next, figure out how people already buy similar art, and make sure your art can be acquired the same way, in the same environments. Go where people already are instead of hoping that they’ll find you where you’re most comfortable selling. You don’t need to be a sleazy salesman pushing your art on people who don’t want it—you just need to find the right doors to open.
Lesson 2: Extend the life cycle
Some artists fall into the trap of thinking that the transaction between them and their client is rather short-lived—that it begins with exposure to a given piece of art, allows for some decision-making time, and ends with the purchase itself. I would like to challenge this misconception and suggest that just like in more conventional business situations, purchases of various art forms include a pre-sell phase, a post-sell phase, and opportunities for re-selling the same value in different forms to new audiences.
In a typical business situation: before you even begin to create your product, start promoting your idea, gather interested parties, and allow influencers to sign up for exclusive first dibs. After you launch, create follow-up products, offer less optimal versions of the product at a lower price, re-release the same value proposition in a different medium, gather and publish testimonials, and do what you can to build community hubs around your product.
When selling art: before you even begin to create your art, start promoting your idea, gather interested parties, and allow influencers to sign up for exclusive first dibs. After you launch, create follow-up art, offer less optimal versions of the art at a lower price, re-release the same idea in a different medium, gather and publish testimonials, and do what you can to build community hubs around your art.
Remember that the primary motivation for buying a piece of art is not just the execution of an idea—it’s the value of the idea itself. Don’t limit yourself by the comfort of familiar execution, and share your ideas in as many ways as you can.
In addition, always leverage social proof for your work. Help people who love your stuff find one another, and don’t be afraid to show the world that people love what you do. Few people enjoy experiencing art in complete isolation, and it’s your job to help audiences get the best possible experience out of being exposed to your ideas.
Lesson 3: Business is not evil
This is the lesson that will take several years to really sink in. Business is not evil, and you are not selling out when acting like a rational business owner. It’s ok to outsource work that distracts you from doing what you are uniquely capable of, it’s ok to make money (a lot of money, if you choose), and it’s ok to become more skeptical of the favor economy and start turning down opportunities that do not provide direct benefits to you as an artist.
In fact, getting over the discomfort associated with charging good money, outsourcing tasks, and demanding respect in certain relationships is the very thing that is going to help you create the greatest amount of impact with your art. When you survive as a business, your art lives on. Forget the myth of the starving artist and divorce yourself from artistic martyrdom.
In a typical business situation: charge for the value you provide to people, not just for the cost of time and resources. Say no to toxic people, deals, and work.
When selling art: charge for the value you provide to people, not just for the cost of time and resources. “This is just a hobby” and “I’m not good enough to demand more” are not only terrible excuses for lowballing your own work; they also hurt other artists by artificially lowering the perceived value of art in the marketplace. And, of course, say no to toxic people, deals, and work.
And if you really need to make the idea stick, consider that you won’t ever make it as an artist if you just rely on having the “best” ideas. Just like in other types of businesses, “there are no million-dollar ideas, only million-dollar executions” (as pointed out by inventor Chris Hawker). Ensure a life in which you have the ability to create a lot of great art by executing the business side of your work better than other artists.
Lesson 4: Draft away into the sunset, friend
In competitive cycling, the lead bicyclist’s body creates a wake that benefits the rider directly behind him—air pushes the follower forward without any additional effort on her part. This is called “drafting”. Drafting in a promotional context refers to riding out the momentum created by influential events, cultural movements, and people by aligning your work with them. Even the most timeless, classical works can be framed in the context of an influential event. To expose the most people to your art, draft. In fact, 20% of your time should be spent creating art, and 80% should be spent promoting it in such a way that those with more influence than you start to talk about it for you.
In a typical business situation: draft behind hot news, people, and topics. Get in touch with influencers that have a history of talking about these events and show them the unique ideas you have as framed by the given event.
When selling art: draft behind influential events, and get in touch with those affected by them. Unique emotional responses to the world create cravings for unique art to represent them.
And if you’re looking to simply find a general topic that has a history of getting a lot of attention, the following niches consistently work:
- Physical well-being
- Relationships
- Wealth
- Personal development and spirituality
- Learning
Pretty much all great art addresses an emotional appeal in one of the above niches, so find a way to show the world how yours does the same.
“Like many artists, I have struggled with the notion of art as a business. It doesn’t come naturally to me but it is a very important part of being an artist. I don’t intend to be a factory but I do plan to become wiser in the areas of business.” | Dion Archibald
Huge thanks to creativeLIVE and Lewis Howes for creating a workshop that introduced the above ideas.
Best of luck to everyone on their artistic journeys!