Sunday, May 24, 2015

~ Power Marketing for Artists ~ Value Proposition



Stand Out Like This Strawberry!


One time I saw an artist selling her beautiful resin-like art using pouring medium in a flea market. Two ladies walked by. One of them (Lady A) looked at the art and was amazed by this artist work; then I hear the other lady (Lady B) told her, "it's so easy to do it, you go buy this and this, and you do this, so you don't need to buy it from this artist... she is charging $xxx which is way too expensive."

One day Picasso drew a small sketch in a restaurant in Paris... 

Someone asked him how much it would cost,

He said, "$20,000".

"That's crazy, it only took you 2 minutes to do it!" 

"Yes," Picasso said, "... but it took me a lifetime to get there!"

We can say that the prospective buyers are sometime ignorant, but it is very common because they don't know the true value behind the work.

So, dear Artists, if someone doubts your work with you price, don't be upset, all you need is to tell and boost your "VALUE".

Here, I wish to share with you the following "7 Tips on How to Boost Your Value" I created picking some goodies from Bender's and Torok's "Secrets of Power Marketing", and added my suggestions.


#1 - Understand the Principle of "Price" vs "Value"

First thing first, we need to understand what is price, value, and total value.
Price is what you pay; value is what you get ~ Warren Buffett 
Formula: 
Total Value = Actual Price (Cost) + Perceived Value (Benefits)

From the scenario at the beginning, the Artist needs to explain to Lady B the below "perceived value":

  • Buying time. She can save the time to create the art since the Artist already did it for her. Time is money right? She can spend the time doing something else that has higher ROI.
  • Buying the Artist's creativity. The art is unique.
  • Buying convenience. She can buy the real piece immediately that suits her home furnishing, no need to DIY with trials and errors. The piece is ready to hang. She receives instant enjoyment.

Think about the extra value (non-monetary) value your client is getting and make sure you are always prepared to tell them.


#2 - Create Perceptions 

How much are you worth depends on how professional you portrait yourself to the world. Remember in last session we talked about two social life styles between Picasso and Van Gogh?

If you choose the first one, then apparently you will be always out there meeting people, therefore, handing out business card will potentially start your conversation with people. A good quality business card is a must. On the business card, it should include 2 images: your beautiful smile face and your most sold painting.

The business card should also include your website. That's for the people to search you up in the internet and learn more about your credibility after the meetup. A well designed and layout website will give an idea what type of artist you are. You are an Artist with unlimited creativities in you so treat your website as a canvas, don't settle with a simple and tacky outdated website because it will portrait a second meaning that you are ok with lack of creative style.... third meaning that you can't justify what is gorgeous... it becomes really hard to justify the artistic sense in your painting.

Dressing for success especially when meeting with people in trade show or other social network events. Many people won't agree because they believe what's inside is more important. However, this is only true if you are already known by everyone. It's like an interview every time you meet with people, the difference is, as an Artist, your interview can happen anytime, anywhere so the first impression is very important. When you become well-known and famous, then you can start forgetting about the "dress for success" part.

Artists love helping each others, so if you open yourself and ask your artist friends how they do for their lovely website, business cards, what they usually dress for social meetups, most of them are very happy to share with you their experience.


#3) - Have a Tagline about Yourself 

Create a short tagline (less than 20 words), memorize it, practice until you say it confidently. When meeting with people, do not just tell them, "I'm an Artist". Tell people more so it will stick to their mind and associate you with the image. Here is an example:

"I'm an abstract Artist... I enjoy painting the synergy of nature and wildlifes... here is my business card (refer to #2 business card with 2 images)


#4) - Tell your Inspiration

Prepare for a story on one or two of your paintings how you came up with the idea of painting it. Write that inspiration with your autograph on the back of your painting so people acknowledge they are not only paying the price for the painting, but also the unique inspiration from you where they cannot obtain from anywhere else, another perceived value here.


#5) - Know your Audience

The scenario I mentioned happened in a flea market, don't get me wrong, there are tons of treasures found in flea markets. However, 90% of the people go to flea market are looking for economic stuff. so they pretty much expect buying things at low price. So always think about who you want your potential clients to be. That will help you set your price. You can raise your prices as you get better, but most of the time you are stuck with an image and position for a long time. If you set your demographics to middle of the pack, then your marketing strategy should tailor to those audience.


#6) - Come Forward to Build Rapport

Always show your positive attitude. The only way to build rapport with your client is to come forward, take initiatives, prob and learn of your clients about their lifestyles, show interest in making friends with him/her. already prepare for a list of questions that will help you know more about your clients. (I can share more about "effective probing" upon request, please comment below and let me know)  . You never know, even if he/she won't buy from you, his/her friend might, his/her family might.


#7) - Enhance your Credibility - Smart Marketing

Yes, you must market yourself, no matter how much you hate this idea and prefer painting only. Tradition marketing like TV, Radio, and such are very expensive. Nowadays, we are all very lucky to be able to access to social media platforms, we might as well take advantage of this. What I meant here is Smart Marketing. Lay out a budget of your Marketing money first.

There is no need to spend a fortune. From time to time, you don't even need to spend money.

Since the "Smart Marketing" topic has a bit bigger content size, I will share it in the next session. =

To be continued... stay tuned.

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