When building a brand for you and your art remember: you want your brand to be as distinctive as you are.
Some artists like to have their brand extend to themselves and their lives. Others want to keep it primarily focused on their art work.
Focus on your strengths, and, when it comes to the media and marketing, focus on who you are, not who you think you should be. An introvert will most likely choose a very different approach than an extrovert, but both can launch successful and effective PR campaigns.
For example, as an artist, you might not be comfortable taking your anteater (you do have an anteater, right?) for a walk in public, as Salvador Dalí did in Paris in 1969. You might appreciate a more subtle approach. But, if you are indeed comfortable going the Dali or Warhol route, go for it.
It’s important to be authentic. You don’t need to put on a show or be an entertainer (unless that suits your personality) but you do have to realize you need to create a story in order interest the media. Your brand needs a narrative, a story arc. Your goals might be to inform and educate, but never forget that art is also entertainment. Art can be uplifting and inspiring. It’s illuminating at its best, but it also entertains. And that’s part of it inherent beauty.
With that in mind, find a way to present you and your art in a unique, singular way.
What separates you from other artists?
What is distinctively you?
How can you present that in a narrative?
How can you present your art in a way that commands people’s attention?
It’s not always easy for you as the artist to answer these questions. Artists are generally too close to their art to be able to see it. Plus, most artists aren’t marketers. That makes sense. It’s a skill that needs to be learned.
Most artists don’t always have the knowhow, expertise or contacts to get them and their art in front of the media, public, galleries, influencers or collectors. That’s why it’s important for to find a marketing and PR team that you trust to work with.
Plus marketing and PR are full times jobs. Your job is to create your art, but you can’t simply leave it at that and then hope for the best. Find a team who can help you develop your brand and promote you and your work.
Your art will thank you.
Copyright © PR For Artists Mora Communications 2015
“Salvadore Dali with his Anteater”. Photo. Shadow Vue. 09 Apr 2015. <http://bit.ly/1Gvcd71>