The Myth of the One True Way
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The Myth of the One True Way
Last week we talked about a huge myth in art marketing in The Original Sin of Art Marketing which leads to all sorts of misconceptions about the best way to market and sale art. This week, we’ll look at another myth that I call The Myth of the One True Way.
“Any framework, method, or label you impose on yourself is just as likely to be a limitation as an opening.” - Rick Rubin
All marketing ideas and frameworks are models. Models of how the world works. Models of economics. Models of what motivates people to purchase art.
There is something important you must understand: All models are wrong.
Even our scientific models are wrong. Einstein’s theory of relativity and quantum mechanics are wrong. They are each only “right” in a subset of reality and they contradict one another. Science will never know the Truth (with a capital T), but will, over time, continue to develop new models that are slightly closer to Truth. “Trust the science” is a popular phrase, but it embodies the opposite ethos of what real scientists actually do.
It’s the same with marketing advice.
So I want you to understand that the ideas and frameworks that I present to you are not the “One True Way.” There is no one true way. There is only one true way….for you.
That’s because ultimately you can’t simply copy what made other people successful. Because there is one element of their success that is more important than any other, and that is this: successful people found their own truth and their own way to success. And by copying the visible tactics they undertook, you are doing the opposite of their overall strategy which was to forge their own path.
By copying the formula or tactics that made someone else successful, you are ignoring the actual strategy that got them there: Forging their own path and not following a formula. In fact, especially in online marketing, the moment everyone copies a particular method that method’s effectiveness diminishes. If enough people copy a method, eventually it stops working. Think how the effectiveness of Instagram has diminished over the past decade. (There are some “methods” that are timeless principles that never diminish in effectiveness and those, mostly, are what we teach - things like building trust, treating people with respect, delivering a timelessly great product, etc).
So think of what we discuss here (of this book) and the marketing models we present (this marketing model) as a starting place, like learning your marketing scales before you can play your own marketing music. You can learn the basics and the tricks of the trade, but you must ultimately merge that with your own unique ideas to create your own path to success.
In a serious meditation practice the goal is to reach enlightenment - liberation - the end of suffering. There are hundreds of different meditation methods, schools, recommendations and styles. They are all somewhat different. One method works for one person, but doesn’t necessarily work or appeal to another person. Buddhist go the negative path and end up in “nirvana” which is “nothing” or “emptiness” whereas other schools go the positive path and enlightenment represents the realization of “everything.” These paths are all methods toward the same end goal and the serious meditator needs to find which one works best for their own proclivities and, even then, each person has a somewhat different experience. Again, you can choose a marketing framework - path - to follow that appeals to you, but feel free to pick and choose to make it truly your own.
What I have been writing about, and will continue writing about, represents the way I think about marketing, the way the business of creativity and art appears to work, filtered through the unique prism called “Clint.” What I discuss represents a way to market, primarily online, that has worked for me. And these ideas have worked for others. They represent real, hands-on, battled tested ideas. They do work, and, if they make sense to your way of viewing the world, they will work for you.
Other marketing books and ideas written by other people will present their unique way of viewing the world. They will present different frameworks and different terminology. They will even suggest you do things that contradict what I have written. That’s OK - those ideas may also work. If my ideas don’t connect with you and don’t make sense to your unique way of viewing the world, perhaps another framework would be better for you.
What I’ve been teaching you in my writing is what I call “The BoldBrush Way.” But just as Karate is different from Jiu Jitsu, which is different from Taekwondo, which is different from Krav Maga, eventually, you must become your own master and find your way.
Ultimately, just like mastering your medium, you must master your own marketing. You must, as Bruce Lee said, “Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own.”
And, in the end, you must leave frameworks behind, and simply know what to do, and to do it with your unique flavor. At that point, you have become the master and not the student.
There is no absolute right and wrong in this.
Only what is right, for you.
This is the way.
The BoldBrush Way.
Creatively,
Clint Watson
BoldBrush/FASO Founder
Creativity Fanatic
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