Not along ago, I blogged about the rise of right brainers and the book “A Whole New Brain” by Daniel Pink. I told you there is something important going on and I’d keep talking about it in this space because the Creative Class is taking over the world and I want to be your revered leader and President for life. (Ok, I’ll settle for selling you some books and getting paid to speak to you).
If you look to the right, you’ll see I offer links to my other places on the web, and I only (currently) link to one blog, Seth Godin’s. Seth understands marketing and what he has to say has quite a bit of bearing on how our revolution is working.
Meatball Sundae is about putting fancy toppings on something not designed to have fancy toppings. Specifically, he is talking about using the new internet, Web 2.0, to sell old established products, products designed to be sold through mass marketing. Meatballs are staples, existing products that no amount of sweet toppings will enhance. Companies who are successful using the new web, in other words, are not selling old products, they are asking a very important question,
“How can I create new product to capitalize on the web.”
Here’s why we should listen to Seth: As I’ve written here before, the way people buy things has changed forever. Advertising that “interrupts” us is going away. People who filter and parcel out information are going away. You can reach your market directly now, you can find them and you can have a group of buyers that is unique to YOU. My buyers are NOT yours and vice versa, the idea of advertising to everyone en masse is gone forever, you target your clients, target them with a laser.
Meatball Sundae, Purple Cow, All Marketers Are Liars and the rest of Seth’s work, including his blog, tell us (and big companies) that we live in an age After Advertising, that we can sell our work without trying to get some editor or gallery owner to buy it. Our work can stand on its own merritt and it is our responsibility to find the buyers. Our word, our opinion can get out there faster than the editor at the New York Times and so can our customer’s opinion. The world is about the democratization of information and NO ONE is more poised to benefit than creatives.
When I started in the financial planning business in the eighties, my branch manager said, “Interesting fact, 2% of the population is mentally ill.” Then he handed me a phone book and said, “Here, go find the 2% of the people who are crazy enough to do business with you,” and he went back into his office. Today, thanks to Web 2.0, you can find those people, the people who will become your fans and clients and you can:
Design Products They WIll Buy.
Find people you can create for. In a DVD package I’m releasing soon, I give an example of a fictitious painter who likes Harley’s. So, he decides to go to Bike Fest in Daytona Beach and set up a booth, he’ll offer to paint portraits of rich guys on their bikes. By selecting a niche with people who will be enthusiastic to give him money for his creation, our hero can use blogs, Facebook, Harley Davidson Dealers and grass roots marketing to get the word out that he is the guy. No gallery owners need apply.
People want to get to know you, they want to know other people are buying from you and that you are not going to screw them over. You don’t find your customers anymore. Nope. YOU DON’T FIND CUSTOMERS ANYMORE!
Your Customers Find You.
I’ve gone on enough for today; I’ll revisit some of Seth’s principals this week, it is imperative that Self Employed and Corporate Artists understand the entire ramification of his work. Like I’ve told you, the revolution is here, grab your pitchfork AND your I Phone!
2 Comments
June 22, 2009 at 4:58 pm
This is so true. I’ve wasted so much trying to find customers for my art, but now enough people know of me that they come to me. I’m not wildly successful yet, but it is working.
-Don
June 22, 2009 at 5:52 pm
I think you have to be a little shark like when it comes to clients, always hunting, always hunting for more. Innovation and creation can lead to more streams of income, if you have some people finding you through one channel, it might be time to investigate another channel.