I talk a lot about the Eight Profit Activators and how to apply them to your business.
But what if you’re an artist? Would that same framework work just as well?
Well, here’s the thing…
Even when you’re an artist, you need an audience if you want to thrive. And that audience needs to know you, like you and trust you... before they decide to buy anything from you.
The only difference is, trust in the context of art means that people trust they’ll have a good experience when they come to see you perform, or buy your album or your painting...
Everything else remains the same. You start where your audience is. You deliver a dream come true experience for them. And you try to make them come back for more...
And just like in business, your email list is your biggest asset even when you’re an artist. Probably even more so...
It used to be, in the old days, if you wanted to become successful as an artist you had to be discovered first. You had to sign with a major label. And you had to be on the radio and TV. Because back then, those were the only two outlets to the world. And your label was the only way to get you there. There was no way around it…
But technology changed all of that.
We live in a society right now where the cream definitely gets to rise to the top. There’s no lid keeping you down anymore. There's no middle man anymore. If you’re good, you have all the means and opportunities to succeed. For free.
If you’re good, you have all the means and opportunities to succeed.
Think about it. You don't have to be globally famous to fill a venue in a club in New York or in London or whatever. You can just send an email, (or place a targeted Facebook ad)… and you can compel people to come.
But here’s the catch: To be able to go directly to your audience and fill a venue, you have to start building that audience ahead of time.
For example, I go “on tour” each summer to Toronto, London, Amsterdam and Sydney. And I do small events that last three days, with 12 to 14 people per event.
These events are usually sold out in advance, but all I have to do is send out a short email saying…
"Hey, I'm coming to London. Here are the dates. Would you like to join us?”
And the reason I’m able to sell out those events is because I’ve got a group of people who know me, like me, trust me... and they want to spend those three days with me. It would be very difficult selling those tickets if I didn’t have that…
There’s a lot of parallels you can draw between business and art. Everything you learn about marketing for business, you can be sure it works just as well when you apply it to your art.
But nothing works unless you have that audience first.
Because the truth is… no matter what your “performance” - business or art… your biggest asset is your growing list of people who know you, like you, and trust you.