Technology is Seductive

Along with art, I am a tech head by nature and vocation. I have taught Web design and development and its use in marketing for years. Artists interested in marketing themselves get tons of encouragement from marketing and career coaches to start a Web site, do blogging, post pod and video casts and join social networks. This is great advise, but beware:

TECHNOLOGY IS SEDUCTIVE SO PACE YOURSELF
Try to master one new technology at a time. This is harder than you might think. Not because the technology itself is difficult to master. Often times it is quite easy to use which can be part of the problem. It is seductive. For example, blogging is free, and easy to set up, but it can be addictive as can social networking on MySpace and/or FaceBook. And one technology often leads to another - building a Web site leads to shopping carts, to e-mail campaigns, to blogging, to Facebook and MySpace, to podcasts to YouTube, etc. It can really suck you in and suck your time. I know this from oh so much personal experience.

DEFINE YOUR GOALS
Know exactly how the technology is going to work for you to achieve your goals. Make it part of your marketing plan. If you just dive in without that clarity you can easily find yourself wondering around in a virtual maze of options.

BE AN ARTIST FIRST
Technology is great and its proper use is critical to your success. But it can be a huge time drain especially when you are just getting your feet wet. As artists we need to have our art be our primary focus and not let the use of technology replace your productive art time.

Wine and Art: A Beautiful Blend

Wine is part of my ritual when I paint in the afternoons and evenings. A single glass will last me for hours. It is the mood that the music and wine creates that I love. It makes me feel creative and energized. I imagine how the painting might be enjoyed in someones home enveloped by the same ambiance. Also, I tend to get a little tight about mid-way in the process as I am working through the challenges of the painting. So, too avoid overworking a painting I find music and wine help me keep loose.

When a painting is finished there are wonderful parallels between wine and art. Many painters strive to create objects of beauty and interest. They interpret ideas or experiences through a blend of shape, color, composition, and texture. When they don't hit the right note a painting can be flat or so out of balance it is boring or off putting. Much like a sad wine that lacks complexity or just tastes awful. But, when the artist gets it right there an astonishingly beautiful balance that can be at once stunning yet subtle and complex and reveals new delights the longer it is explored. Like a good wine that is perfectly blended and aged - full of complex aromas and flavors - enjoyed more deeply the longer it is savored.

What's in a Name: Branding

I have been in the marketing communication (branding) business for over three decades. As I jump into the art world I am learning that there are many practices that are common for all businesses - even the free wheeling world of art. One of those is earning name recognition through brand identity practices. Without name recognition an artist’s career is dead in the water. All successful businesses have developed distinctive names and most have logos. That process usually requires a lot of research, testing and money. In the end, through a disciplined program of application and protection of the brand name and logo, the return on the investment is usually great. The use of a distinctive and memorable name and logo (visual cue to the memory) is the primary visual tool of any branding effort.

For artists, thank God, the process is simpler than for large corporations. An artist's professional name is usually an easy choice - "just use your real name, duh." Not so for all of us. My name, for example, is one of the most common names around - Michael Adams. A Google search for "Michael Adams" returns 393,000 links and I haven't found the real me in the list yet. Fortunately for me, my middle name is unusual - Lynn. So professionally I am Michael Lynn Adams. A Google search for "Michael Lynn Adams" returns 138 links, the first three link to my blog and the sixth to my Web site. Score!

An artist's signature is equivalent to a logo. It needs to be distinctive and memorable. It should have the same general appearance every time a work is signed. The signature is the guarantee of authenticity and high quality. Just like the name, the signature should be on every type of communication - ads, business cards, Web sites, etc.

Obviously having a distinctive name and signature does not guarantee fame and fortune, or even name recognition. But without them the chances that a collector will remember an artist's name is significantly reduced.