Sales

White slip plate.

When I am not out in my studio I spend the majority of my time studying and thinking about marketing. I have only seriously been working at marketing my work for about a year. Seriously in the sense I still don’t think my efforts are up to par for what is required but I have been taking concrete actions toward the end of cutting out galleries in my overall plan.

Why?

I have had a spectacularly bad run at connecting and keeping up the mojo with galleries. That is it in a nutshell. Things started out well enough, back a few years ago.  I put the bad vibe down to my personality. The feelings are mostly on my part.  It isn’t like I have had arguments with a string of gallery owners. Just the opposite in fact. I get along well with those I have shown in. I also enjoy meeting and talking with the people who come to see my shows. More like I really don’t enjoy the pomp that surrounds being an artist.  Being here in Japan there is a force multiplier, to borrow a term, of my not fitting well into hierarchical schemes, which galleries are here.

What now?

Good question. I am now in the place of  having to figure out how to completely cut out the crutch that I think 95% of artists look to, i.e., a gallery  hawking their wares.  Like, seriously, dude.

There are two people I have taken notes on and continue to read and learn from. Seth Godin and Naomi Dunford. Naomi being the foulest mouth gal I have run across in a while. I love her directness.    More specifically this video by Seth and this audio by Naomi.

What have I learned so far?

Not much. A little. Enough to see that what I am doing here, slaving away, is great, fantastic, and I need to market it better.

Stay tuned.

The long tail

I worked all day getting the front wall of my new kiln in today thinking about an article I read about the long tail.

Do I believe it?    The simple answer is yes I do.

Do I think it takes into account all the variables that make up life?    No.

I think the reasons that keep any artist from finding 1,000 true fans are many. Finding  1,000 true fans without the help of a marketer is a difficult prospect. Not impossible but something that needs a lot more fleshing out as far as methods, tactics, goals, etc., in other words a good marketing plan. Where does the conflict come in? I think in my case as is probably the case with a lot of artists is that marketing is something I enjoy as much as digging the large trench my new kiln is being built in. That isn’t to say I don’t think it isn’t necessary. Absolutely necessary. I think artists are excellent executors but poor on strategic planning. I speak more about my self. I am a good strategic planner but not when it comes to marketing. It is like I feel like I can do most things I put my mind to but when marketing comes on the radar I lose my Buddha.

I have been reading up on marketing, mainly at this point Seth Godin. I am a native English speaker but most of the marketing terminology is really like a foreign language to me. One of the reasons I have taken to the Seth Godin “Tribes” thinking is it makes a lot of sense to me. There are points in the articles I have read I think the “concept” of building the tribe is taken a little too far but overall it is common sense put into writing with a focus on marketing. Maybe that is why it is so valuable. It is common sense.

Seth Godin video on tribes.

Here is a video that I am taking notes on. I am sure Seth Godin is well known but he is new to me. It is especially interesting to me as Japan is often viewed as a tribal society. I have a podcast available here , podcast #4, in which  I interview longtime Japan hand Gregory Clark on just this subject.