The Most Important Story In Marketing Art
The Most Important Story In Marketing Art
I've had a huge epiphany and I left out the most important story of all
After our recent article series about the power of stories in marketing art, I was reviewing and updating the chapter on stories in my upcoming art marketing book, and suddenly, out of nowhere, I was hit by the epiphany that I inadvertently left out the most important story of all! The fact that the Universe sent me this revelation so suddenly is ironic as you’ll see in the following article.
But first, in case you missed it, here are links to the five different types of stories and how to use them in marketing your art:
1. Your Origin Story
2. Your Ongoing Public Story
3. The Story between you and Each Fan
4. The Context Your Art is Displayed Within
5. The Story of Each Artwork
I originally didn’t think about this, the most important story, because, from a practical standpoint of marketing, there's not much you can do with this particular story at the marketing stage, your part of this story happens in the creation phase of the artwork. As this story pertains to each artwork separately, I suppose I could have added it to number five above, “The Story of Each Artwork.” But, as I reflect upon it, I firmly believe it is the most important story your piece of art will tell, it has the potential to live and reach far beyond your lifetime, and, as such, it deserves its own section. The story about each artwork we talked about before is a written story, a story that you add after the artwork is finished to share practical and interesting details with a potential buyer. But this story is different and deeper.
What I’m about to say, is going, to some, to sound a bit “whoo whoo” out there and “New Agey.” It is difficult to talk about non-verbal phenomena, when having to express the idea through words, so I hope you’ll bear with me.
Let’s start with my working definition of art:
Art is the ultimate physical expression of the insatiable human hunger to create, and it allows humans to send inspiration and energy to one another across space and time.
Those reading this, the artists, you certainly have experienced that hunger, that soul driven need to create, especially after The Muse gifts you with a spark of inspiration. But, have you ever considered why you, specifically, suddenly have the muse whisper in your ear with a particular idea?