The Back Road
Find your back road. The one where your kindred souls travel.
The FASO Way newsletter — exploring how to thrive as an artist in the age of AI
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“How many eyeballs are passing by is a useless measure. All that matters is, how many people want to hear from you tomorrow?—Seth Godin
Imagine you're driving down a busy interstate highway. The congested roads demand your concentration and billboards shout at you from all directions, trying to entice you to exit and part with your money. This is mass marketing, and every exit promises a Chili's, a Home Depot, a McDonald's and a Starbucks.
Now imagine you're driving down a secluded country back road. There are no billboards, no traffic, no Starbucks. occasionally, you might see other people...kindred spirits with whom you have something in common: a love of the road less travelled, and indeed a shared interest in this particular road.
All of a sudden, you see a bright green sign in front of a bright green treehouse that promises "The Best Banana Bread on the Planet." Do you stop? Of course you do! Things like this are exactly why you take the back road.
This metaphor is actually real, and the road is the Road to Kahakuloa Village on Maui. Many parts of the road are only one-car width wide. My wife and I were delighted to find Julia’s Banana Bread that day. Certainly much happier than if we had found yet another Chili's or Starbucks!
Here's the thing: "working" on your "SEO Keywords", measuring user engagement, pouring over Google Analytics graphs, working on increasing the number of Instagram “Likes,” making “reels,” and trying to “reduce bounce rate.” Those are all mass marketing activities. If you're Starbucks, you should be worried about your bounce rate.
But, unless you're someone like Thomas Kinkade, who at one point had his art in malls, marketing your art is a back road activity.
And, face it, your not Starbucks, and you're not Thomas Kinkade. And that's a wonderful thing. You make your art for love, not for likes.
So why do you insist on setting up your bright green shack next to the algorithmic interstate and then wonder why the cars zoom by without even glancing at you?
Be like Julia instead. Find your back road. The one where your kindred souls travel. And then sell them the "Best Artwork on the Planet."