The Art of P.R.

P.R. for Artists TM & the Art of P.R.

Although L.A. is seen by most as the P.R. capital of the world, actually very few local artists know how to effectively promote themselves and their work. Most find it a daunting task, some believe that if they wait long enough others will do it for them, still others believe that P.R. is not an artist’s job.  (It seems that no one ever explained that to Warhol, Madonna or Tarantino).  Ask anyone to name their favorite successful artist and you can be assured that, at some point, a skillful promotion was an essential component of that artist’s success.  Art is first and foremost a calling, but if you hope to reach a large audience, or to make a living from art, it must also be a business.  Success is achieved when art and promotion have been effectively blended.

A Personal Journey:  Creating and marketing your art are very different processes and the relationship between the two can be daunting and confusing, something I know only too well.  I began as a poet, publishing in obscure journals; I then had some short stories published.  From there I moved to journalism.  I eventually wrote for such publications as Us Weekly and Rolling Stone and edited for a few magazines.  I then made a leap to P.R.  In 1990 I started Anthony Mora Communications, Inc. and published two books on P.R., The Alchemy of Success and Spin to Win.  Our company has placed clients in a wide range of media including Time, Oprah, 60 Minutes, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and other media outlets. Launching P.R. campaigns for others is an interesting challenge, but when the hardcover version of my first novel, Bang! A Love Story, was published, I came face to face with the dilemma of promoting my own art. I adapted it as a play and again came face to face with the issue.  Since then I’ve had four plays produced, the latest being Modern Love and am presently working on Hang Fire, which I’m writing both as a film and as a play.  So I understand in a very visceral sense the issues that artists face when promoting their own works.

Being a P.R. consultant did not save me from the artist’s mental trap.  I found myself torn between art and marketing.  It’s not easy wearing both hats.  After awhile I discovered that I was ignoring my own well-worn advice to artists which is:  if you’re going to give your blood, sweat and tears to your art, you owe it to your art to give it a true shot to succeed.  If you hope to reach a wide audience, you need to approach your art from a new perspective.

Explaining and defining this perspective is what P.R. For ArtistsTM, is all about - P.R. as an art form.  Whether you’re a writer, musician, director, or actor, whether you keep your screenplay in your trunk, your paintings under your bed, or your music in your basement, there are P.R. skills and tools that you can learn and master. You owe it to yourself. You owe it to your art.

The Myth of the Artist – And Its Danger to Your Art

Our culture has deified the myth of the artist.  It is a very seductive myth, that of the struggling, starving eccentric creator.  Art is a unique form of communication, communication with oneself but also with others.  Reading a poem in an empty room does not diminish the poem’s value, but sharing a poem with an audience, no matter how small, transforms the work and becomes a different form of creation and expression.  There are no rules.  Each artist must make his or her own path.

P.R. for Artists was created to help artists in any field reach their audience and share their work.  The first step is to challenge your perceptions and redefine your relationship, not with the creative process, but with yourself and your art.  The second is to give you the marketing information, tools and a P.R. roadmap.

Some deeply held beliefs that can stand in your way include:

1) I’m an artist, not a marketer

2) My work is so exemplary, I don’t need to market, the public will find me

3) A white knight (publisher, investor, producer, etc.) will see my extraordinary talent and take care of everything for me.

4) If I live the artist lifestyle and buy into the myth of the artist, I am an artist.

5) I am ahead of my time.  Once I’m dead people will see how talented I am.  Then they’ll be sorry.

6) Marketing is beneath me.

7) I’m not good with people.  I’m too shy to market.

That’s not how my brain works.  I don’t know where to start or what to do.

Most artists deal with one or more of these issues.  The trick is to mover beyond them.  These thoughts can spell the difference between you creating your art and you becoming a successful artist by reaching your market.  Art is best shared; it is a form of communication unique to each particular artist.  To communicate you need to find your audience, or more importantly, they need to find you.