One of the biggest challenges of being and independent artist is getting someone to pay for your work. The problem is that many creative minds thrive when it comes to creating art, but fail miserably when it comes to trying to sell it. No matter who you are and what you do, the following strategies can help you build a support system that will raise awareness in the marketplace about you and make selling your artwork easy.
Stand for Something
People want to know that you stand for something. It doesn’t really matter what that “something” is, as long as you have an opinion one way or another and an end goal. You could stand for indie music and playing the festival circuit; public spray art and getting your work in the Google offices; digital media and making the internet more useful; HD Video and revolutionizing an industry; Saving the Music so our children can have creative expression, etc., etc., etc. It doesn’t matter what you stand for, just stand for something.
Rally Support
Now that you stand for something, you can find other people who stand for the same thing. These people might be family, friends, co-workers, colleagues, fans, etc. These are the people who believe in what you’re doing 110%. They are your biggest fans and evangelists. Your inner circle. Once you know who these people are, tell them very clearly and very frequently what you want to be doing. Tell them where you want to be going. Then, ask them to help you get there. Using online tools (social networks, blogs, wikis, podcasts, vlogs, etc) is a great way to exponentially increase your support group. Always keep your support group up to date with where you are at in achieving your goal.
Get Seen
Get out to the people that can help you and introduce yourself. Networking is the key to success. The old saying, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” is still very much in effect. Go to conferences, mixers, events and meetings that are related to your particular industry. Once you’re there, start meeting people. Pass out business cards, CDs, DVDs, etc. and tell people what your goal is and how far you’ve gotten, thus far. You never know who is going to be able to help you. Informing everyone you meet of your end goal is an open invitation for someone to help you. The more people you know, the more opportunity will come your way.
Become Respected
Now that you have an ever expanding support group, it’s time to give something back. Share your experiences and what you’ve learned from them. Find others looking to achieve similar goals and introduce them to your pool of contacts. In exchange, you’ll most likely gain access to their contact pool, as well. Add value to the conversation your industry is having and present yourself as an expert. Giving back to your creative community builds respect for you among your peers and raises awareness about the things you are doing. But, most of all, respect yourself. Don’t be afraid to turn down offers. Your work is great and deserves to sell at top dollar. If at first you aren’t seeing much success, hang in there. Build respect and customers will come.
Repeat
You now have a loyal support group that knows your end goal and wants to help you reach it. People know who you are and you’re a respected member of your creative field. Now, it’s time to do it all over again. You can never have too many supporters and as long as you are keeping them well-informed of your goals, they will help you achieve them. Just make sure you thank your supporters from time to time. After all, they are the reason you’re doing so well.
On that note, I want to thank everyone that reads this blog regularly and has helped me become the person that I am today. It’s been a great year for us at Suited Productions and now, thanks to you and your help, we are now extending our services. Out of our new facility and partnerships, we now offer start to finish HD video, audio, marketing and internet campaigns with the same (if not better) level of excellence that you’ve come to know from Suited Productions. Again, we couldn’t have done it without your support and we ask that you continue to help us grow as we go into a prosperous 2008. Thanks!
What are you doing to raise support for your art, music, company? How do you utilize your support group and give back to the community? When things get rough, where do you turn for motivation? There’s a million ways to build a support system, the above is what is working for me. What is working for you?
