How many times have you been told that the secret to success in business is marketing?  If you’re like me, I was sold on the need for marketing early in my business career, and have made it core to the growth of my art business.  So why then is my business growing so slowly?  Does it just mean that I suck at marketing after all?  What if I were to suggest to you that marketing is not “the” secret, and that you’re doing everything right?  Don’t believe me, stick around and let me explain.  
     Every business guru seems to support the notion that marketing is “the key” to unlocking business success.  But scratch the surface, and you’ll find that most articles and videos out there seem to conflate several concepts under the title of marketing.  It’s hard then for me to distinguish between sales, advertising, publicity, and marketing.  Part of me really, really wants to lump all of these concepts together in my head, and a quick survey of the literature would confirm that others do as well.  Perhaps that’s because we need to be able to do all of these things at the same time.  No pressure there.  Is it any wonder that many artists don’t want to think of themselves as marketers.  We’ve talked before about the need to be self-reflective, and to be honest about ourselves.  So let’s admit that there is more going on here.  From classical times, the arts were considered to be above commercial concerns.  Blame the ancient Greeks, the academics, or the aristocratic classes, but much of that snobbery still exists today.  It amazes me though, as Michelangelo and Leonardo daVinci both were paid for their work.  And we can see that many of the great masters ran studios that functioned like art factories.  But the notion lingers.  
     Unfortunately, we are all part of that same cultural environment, and so are our customers.  I know many artists who won’t refer to their clients as customers, or to their art as a product.  While that may be part of their marketing strategy, it may also be a stereotype that’s getting in their way.  Take a quick self-check about your own presumptions and attitudes, and feather them into your overall marketing plan.  
 
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Episode 13

John Bishop Fine Art's "Conversations for Freelance Creatives" is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels.  We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. His work can be seen online, or at his studio at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, Studio 108, in Houston.

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