THE SIMPSONS NEWS – Artists and the Value of Learning to Market Yourself.

Simpsons Quote:

Homer: (places a dollar on the counter) I’d like a colossal donut, please. Just like the one on the sign. (Homer is given a regular-sized donut.) D’oh, nuts! That’s false advertising!

How often do you hear an artist talk about marketing?

When does it come up in a drawing class? What art school has a special class dedicated to Direct Marketing?

Is it even part of the artist’s radar? Do we even consider it to be a valuable skill or does marketing have a negative connotation?

I’m going to explore this topic this week. I’ve come to believe it’s an essential part of an artist’s skill set and I’ll explain why below.

You can either watch the video or read the post. They both say pretty much the same thing:

Marketing

I was never taught marketing.  Not in any art class I took. It wasn’t ever mentioned. I don’t know any artist who was taught marketing in any art school they went to.

I’ve been learning a lot about marketing recently. I’ve come to the realization that everyone who draws…well, not just those who draw, EVERYBODY, period, should learn marketing.

Why?

Because, we’re ALL selling something.

Any person that’s gone to a job interview to get a job for any reason, is selling something. That something is YOURSELF.

You’re Already a Marketer

When you go to a job interview, what are you doing? What’s a job interview?

It’s a “pitch session.” A “pitch session” of YOU. You’re pitching yourself, your service, as someone who has what they need.

What’s a resume? It’s “testimonials’ of your past work, right? It’s proof that your worthy to have the job. It’s “social proof” that you’ve got experience.

Marketing is the same thing. It’s pitching a service, pitching a good, pitching something of value to someone. A value you exchange for equal value, in the form of money.

Marketing in the purest sense is getting the word out, that you have a service that will help other with what they need.

Direct Marketing

When I talk about marketing, I’m not talking about any kind of marketing. I’m talking specifically about Direct Marketing.

Direct Marketing is a different kind of marketing. It’s not like Brand Marketing. It’s not like having a billboard with a Santa Clause drinking a coke or someone on TV eating a burger. That’s not what I’m talking about.

Direct making is getting your potential customer to directly respond to your ad. When you put an ad somewhere, you get a direct measurable result.

When you put money into a Direct Marketing ad, it results in getting a client. The ad you use gives information that allows your client to contact you for your service.  That way, if you spend money, say, in a newspaper ad. The amount of money you spent on the ad pays itself back through the clients it brings in and may even bring MORE money than you spent on the ad.

This response marketing, is measurable.

Brand Marketing is far more difficult to measure. There’s no real way to measure if anyone will buy your burger or drink you soft drink, just because you put an ad up with your drink in it without some way to track an actionable response.

Big companies do this because they have enough money to throw at Brand Marketing. As artists we can’t afford to be wasting our money this way. We need results from any marketing you may pay for. You want something you can measurable results from.

Avoid “Hope Marketing”

There are many forms of Direct Marketing. There are also many sources to learn about Direct Marketing. I highly recommend you seek them out and learn these things.

Without it, what will happen is, you’ll put your portfolio online and you’ll sit and think that by taking that action people will magically go to your site and give you work.

Not going to happen. It’s what Direct Marketers call “Hope Marketing.” You don’t want. You don’t want to put yourself out there and “hope” someone sees your work and gives you a job.

You want them to come to you because you’ve gone out of your way to show them what you can do for them.

Direct Marketing should never be about you. It should always be about what your service can provide for other people. For you potential clients.

It’s about them first, “here’s what you’re having problems with, I can help you with that.”

That’s what Direct Marketing is all about.

I advice everyone, but specifically you artists, freelancers, animators whatever your in, to learn this. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a good job in a studio or a steady job.

Learn it. I guarantee, it will help you no matter what your circumstances. It’s a very important skill set, to hone, learn, and have.

I hope this has given you some food for thought. I may be writing more in depth about this in the future.

Simpsons Crew Christmas Cards

If you like or dislike what you’ve read here, please leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you. If you have anything to add, even more so.

This week, in my newsletter, I sent some examples of Simpsons Christmas cards that my co-workers handed out this year. They’re all very cool and Simpsons related.  This is the kind of unique item, you’ll never see in stores…or anywhere.

If you’d like to receive a copy of this e-mail, opt in below before next Thursday and I’ll send to you.

Have a Merry Christmas.

THE DRAWING WEBSITE- Formulas – An Introduction to Drawing Shorthand

Yesterday I managed to get my latest Drawing Website post up on my site.

It was the closest I’ve ever come to not meeting the post deadline. I honestly thought I was going to upload it later in the week.

There were so many false starts, so many useless and unused drawings.

It took me a while to even wrap my head around exactly what part of my topic I was suppose to focus on.  I was in a panic about it.

I then, simply sat down in a quite place and began to write.  The post took shape, I knew exactly the artwork that was needed to illustrate my points and I cranked away at them the next day, whenever I had a chance.

Once the artwork was done, I wrote a second draft of the post and it was ready to go.

So here is it, just for you. I hope you like what I wrote:

Formulas – An Introduction to Drawing Shorthand

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