I walk through a few of the first steps to making a marketing plan.
Read more about Social Objects or “Social Markers.”
More about a “Purpose-Idea.”
Transcript:
Sings: Video Monday, video Monday, it’s a Monday so here’s a video!
So today I thought I would briefly talk about obviously what I’ve been talking about most of the time these days is if you’re an artist and you’re trying to market yourself more, specifically online what you can do about that.
So that can be kind of a daunting task to say day one, I’m going to start marketing myself. So it’s a lot easier to kind of break it up into more manageable chunks. So I think on this Video Monday I’ll quickly go through just a few of what those steps can be, and maybe next week I’ll give you some more specific examples so this one doesn’t go too long.
Step One, identify your key markets. So who are the people that you want to be promoting yourself to first of all. This is usually one group of people is the type of person or type of industry or the type of gallery that has either purchased your work before, or seems most interested in it already. So you wanna continue to build upon those interests, continue to build upon those sales.
The second group of people is just, those people who you think you’ve got a shot at. This is the growth area that you suspect is going to start happening. If I can make a few sales, and get myself out to this group of people a little bit, this is going to be where it takes off. So that would be your second group of key markets. And of course there could be more, but those are two major ones to focus on first of all.
The Second step is key messages. Okay, so now I’ve figured out who the specific places are, the specific people or the specific type of you know, demographic I’m going after, what messages are they going to be most receptive to? Is it that this work, if you display this painting in your office it’ll tell your employees, it’ll tell your potential clients what kind of business you are. It’ll help, they’ll be conversation pieces for you, as you know, Hugh Macleod or Mark Earls would talk about, these are the social objects, or this kind of demonstrates the purpose-idea of our business. This is the kind of thing we’re going after, these are the types of conversations we have.
And then basically after that you’ve got your markets, your messages, how do you get yourself out there to them? Is it you need to start writing this type of blog post. You need to make a social media news release, to talk about the sale you already made. If you’ve sold a piece to this type of business, make sure those other businesses in that sector know about it. If they want to be like that business maybe they’ll come to you too.
So that’s Video Monday, thanks everyone!
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Great points! In order to feel like I'm doing my PR degree justice, I'd just suggest taking potential ambassadors into consideration when you start identifying your key markets.
Yes – absolutely right: you want to target the people who will inevitably affect your bottom line and create a return on investment, but in a social media space I'd argue that there's also a huge amount of value in getting through to people who can be outlets for you as an artist or brand.
Much like what you mentioned in terms of offices hanging your artwork, think of the bloggers, tweeters, or prolific life sharers who are able to amplify your message through their channels to help you reach a hold new audience.
Love the direct value you're offering folks with this series.
Excellent points, Ben! Shouldn't forget about the people out there who can help spread the word.
Glad you're liking the videos!
Great points Joel. There are many small biz/artists that could find these points useful.
Webconomist: Thank you!
As always, a cogent reminder that you are actually speaking to an audience, to define that audience and speak directly to it. Looking forward to more.
Great points Joel!
WordsWorth: Glad you liked!
Bruce: Thanks!