Artists building your brand.
As an artist, you are your brand. You should treat your approach to business development just like any other organisation that works to strengthen its brand over time, testing it in the marketplace and discovering what works.
A brand is the overall impression your customers and other stakeholders have about your business and the products and services you offer. While you envision your brand and act to solidify it, it is the public that shapes and sharpens it. In other words, you put your brand out there, but the response makes your brand what it is.
- Envision Your Brand. As an artist, it is up to you to envision the impression you want your brand to create in the minds of people encountering it. What do you want people to think of first when they first see your work? What do you want them to say to people after they purchase your work? Think about the differences between Apple and Microsoft, two coffee house franchises, or two airlines. What makes them different from each other? What makes them each memorable? What are they known for?
- Do your marketing materials and website reflect your brand? If you are a painter known for dramatic landscapes with daring open space and strong brushstrokes, do your materials reflect this spirit and ease? Or is your website highly technical feeling, contradicting your brand?
- Deliver Your Brand. Conveying your brand amounts simply to living it; delivering it to the world. As an artist or crafts person, while you may have logos and brand names, at the end of the day, you are the living, breathing embodiment of your brand. Everywhere you go and everything you do represents your brand and invites the public to assess it and engage with it. You will convey your brand personally and professionally. If someone asks you what makes you unique, are you ready with an easy answer?
[/private_free]
