Even Art Products Are Conversations
Tell me... Are you more likely to trust a recommendation from a friend or a marketer? Are you more likely to make a purchasing decision based on expert advice or an advert?
If your answers to the above were "friend" and "expert advice", then you probably already understand that recommendations are far more credible when they come from a third party.
It stands to reason then that you should probably consider why someone would talk about your work.
Remarkable
Your work needs to be Remarkable. Literally interesting enough that people would Remark on it. And people will tend to remark on subjects which help them connect with other people - unusual, funny, shocking, beautiful, arresting, admirable or some other quality which has a clear affect on the person who experiences it.
This is not a matter of how good your work is; it is about how much conviction it has. Conviction is more important that quality when it comes to ideas that spread.
Social Currency
It is useful to think of ideas that spread as "Social Currency" - they add value to social interactions between people.
Once your art product is a part of people's conversations, you have earned a very valuable form of attention, for virtually no financial outlay.
Accessibility
The next question to consider is how you wish to channel that Attention. Would you want them to contact you? If so, how would they?
The answer is that once you are a part of the conversation, you need to be accessible in order for people to act on their knowledge of you.
The Web
The internet can help here. Each mention of your work online leaves a digital cookie-trail which can be tracked to it's origin. Furthermore, each mention online remains there for other people to discover, and so you build momentum.
Blogging Blogging is a great way to build your presence online. A blog is simply a website that you can very easily create yourself, and then add content such as writing, pictures, videos or audio to.
You can create your own blog at www.wordpress.com amagama.com or blogger.com. These free blogs will give you an address that looks like: yournamehere.wordpress.com. There isn't much wrong with this, except that it's longer to type.
But if you would like a cleaner domain (i.e. without the ".wordpress"), then you can get a .com here or a .co.za here. Expect to pay around R100 per month for hosting. The two hosting services I have linked to here contain a section in their control panel called Fantastico, which will allow you to easily put your blog online. If you have any difficulties, you can contact their Support staff and they will assist you at no extra cost.
Growing Your Network
The next step after creating your blog is getting people to visit it.
Search engines like Google are most helpful for this. When people search for words related to your work, you want to be as near to the top of the Search Results as possible.
Here are four ways to improve the effectiveness of your site on Search Engines (and add value to the people who visit it):
1. Content: Write well about your subject. Explore it from many different angles. The more you talk about it, the more likely you are to use all the words associated with your subject (which can then be found by people searching for them) 2. Links In to Your Site: The more links you have to your site, so your authority online increases. You can ask people to link to you directly (especially sites with related content) or list your site on directories (such as Amatomu.co.za for blogs or a directory specifically for your industry). Also, make sure that you link to your own site from as many other websites that you use - such as MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, or any other website you've set up. 3. Freshness of Content: New content is often more useful than old content, especially as you comment on news or developments in your work or in your industry. In addition to this, search engines "notice" that you maintain your site well and they rank you higher as a result. 4. Amount of Content: The more content you have on your site (around a particular subject, particularly), the more likely you are to be picked up by search engines. Furthermore, your site grows into a rich resource of information about your topic.
Relationships
Remember that relationships are built over time. When you first start building your online presence, it can seem like it is more effort than it's worth. However, as continue to engage with people through this medium so your network will expand and more people will join the conversation around the work you do. At this point, the work and time that you have put in initially will start working for you, and you will see better rewards on anything you do to build on it.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed it’s the only thing that ever has". - Margaret Mead
By Dave Duarte, Huddlemind Labs *The Market for Something to Believe in, pic from Hugh MacLeod, Gaping Void
Public Relations Acumen for Artists
Jane Notten, MD of Rothko gave an insightful talk on the origins of PR, and tactics and methods which are applicable for practitioners today. Below are her slides. If you can't see them, click here to download them.
In the talk, Jane encouraged us to be proactive in managing our own PR and to consider more a way of doing business than an isolated task.
Any questions you have, feel free to pop them in the comments here.
Is there an art to marketing? Or is it just talk
Hi all, I found it tough to squeeze all the ideas (too many) and the tools to help the marketing side of your businesses into the time available on Monday night. Especially since I know that this section should be most hands-on for you, so you can start using your creativity to market yourself immediately. So, I attach the presentation below - in pdf format - with additional notes and explanations. You may find the explanations of the Blue Oceans Strategy slides helpful, as I have tried to simplify the benefit of these and given practical examples. The last couple of slides, which we did not get to on Monday, touches on networking and the ways you could reach your markets through networks. Pdf file: Branding & Marketing your Creativity and You We didn't look at inexpensive ways to get your message to the right people, but, this coming Monday we will have more practical communication methods explained to us: PR and using the Web! And by two very enthusiastic and passionate experts.
I am very aware that each of your marketing strategies and practical solutions are going to be different (Jess was right in that comment). And you may need some help with thinking how to put your marketing ideas into practice. Even though I'm still in development as a painter, I'm really good at marketing strategies, and have been given budgets ranging from R6million to zero to launch products/services locally and internationally. So, if you're stuck, I can help work out a specific strategy and give you practical ways to tell your target market about your product or sevices. I'm very willing to give a couple of hours, bartered for fair value exchange...
In any case, standing out from the crowd will be easy for all of you if you apply your inherent "out-the-box" thinking and creativity to communicate with existing and prospective customers.
Let the network-centricity begin!
See you again Monday night,
Elske
"There are few people who don't become more interesting when they stop talking." (Mary Lowry)
The Art of Giving and, hopefully, receiving
Two weeks ago Elsbeth Donovan spoke about this article (attached). Although not completely centred around funding the arts, there are some foundations that are listed that might consider arts programme/training programmes (present and future) that are tailored to and furthers their cause. The Mail and Guardian is advertising a supplement that is specific to funding the arts during October - so I will watch out for it and post it as soon as it happens. Here are a few more foundations/organisations that I know of that you can also contact:
www.act.org.za - they supply huge funding to many projects. It is closed for this season, but get ready for next (2008/9)! Make sure you fill in their forms correctly and hit their deadlines otherwise they will not consider you.
www.dac.gov.za - not sure how you find out about their funding, but you can find out what they have funded here: http://www.dac.gov.za/projects/asdy.htm
www.dti.co.za - sections that might be of interest are: the SMME button (look under Integrated Small Enterprise Development strategy), and under Offerings button (look at Incentives and development finance)
www.cwci.co.za/CWCI_Grants_02.htm - an EU Conference, Workshop and CULTURAL INITIATIVES Fund. available to South Africa.
www.nfvf.co.za - only for film, look under the funding section, they will fund training, development and production
http://www.idc.co.za/Media%20and%20Motion%20Pictures.asp - they fund both motion pictures and publications - but do expect their money back.
If you get an angel investor, they can also get tax offset for any film investment they make. SARS allows this under Section 24F of the Income Tax Act. Get more info from www.SARS.gov.za
I have also asked Mike Auret to give us his list of funders - and I will post it to the b-log as soon as I get it.
If you know of any other funders, please post it up to the blog.
See you on Monday!
Isla