The New York Times recently ran an article on Danielle Baskin, a 27 year old artist turned entrepreneur. The title of the article is: “An Entrepreneur Juggles Six Companies and One Worker: Herself.”
Although her story is one artists can learn from, that’s not to say that every artist needs to focus on being an entrepreneur. Still the article does illustrate the kind of opportunities that are available to artists. As the article explains, her business was as self-contained and shoe-string as a business can be. Until recently, her businesses had their headquarters in a 160-square-foot live-work space in the East Village.
According to the article: “Ms. Baskin started her first venture, Inkwell Helmets, in her New York University dorm room in 2008, when e-commerce was much more difficult, and expensive, to break into. As an art student interested in optical illusions, she hand-painted a scene of a blue sky and white clouds on her bike helmet and varnished it to a high gloss. When she wore the helmet on bike excursions around the city, people frequently stopped her to ask where she had gotten it.”
And it was that interest that convinced her to launch her business. Once she launched her first idea, another followed, and another and… Again, this isn’t to say that artists need to be serial entrepreneurs, but her story does illustrate the opportunities for launching and marketing you and your art. Danielle Baskin is an entrepreneur, but she is first and foremost an artist and it is her art that informs her business decisions, along with shrewd, easy-to-access analytics, sales and marketing tools, which are now available to any small business owner.
To again quote the New York Times piece: “Now when Ms. Baskin comes up with a new product or business idea, she gauges whether there’s a market for it by quickly setting up a website using the content-management system Squarespace, which links to a payment processor called Stripe. She then relies on digital analytics tools, including Google Analytics and Inspectlet, to see if an idea is catching on. If so, she begins selling the products right away.”
And what will probably be her most savvy marketing tool is PR, illustrated by the New York Times piece that brought her to my attention, as well as to the attention of thousands and, maybe, eventually, millions of others. Her narrative is her ingenuity and her story has now gone locally, nationally and internationally. If utilized effectively, the legitimacy and validation of being featured in the NY Times can be gold. It can be the first step in in a full-blown media campaign with can help establish her art, her brand and boost sales.
Bottom line is that you don’t need to start a number of different companies, but, to be successful in the art world, you do need to learn the business of art, which includes effective PR and marketing. You don’t have to go solo and do it all yourself. That would indeed be a daunting task. Find experts in various fields who can become a part of your team. Doing so will allow your vision to grow and your art to soar.
Copyright © PR FOR ARTISTS 2015