Written for Fast Company is a great post/article that gently reminds us what is needed to be a successful artist. I'm a fan of Lady Gaga she's a great example of how personal vision, networking and marketing can manifest one's creative dreams.
Enjoy!
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Business Ethics in Marketing
It is often stated that there must be 7 imprints of a brand to have an impact on a consumer. Think about how you as a consumer purchase new products...
As business entrepreneurs we need to have 7 imprints or impressions with our end users before they become aware of our services and creativity.
There is no second chance to make a first impression! So do the research, the legwork, to craft a great targeted message. Value your potential clients, let them know that! Personalize a card, preferably a card with your imagery on the front - thank them for a meeting, conversation, etc. Remember that quality is tantamount as well as perceived value/usage. Consistency in delivering your art and message... And in a phone conversation adjust yourself to the personality of the recipient. Use social media to connect - facebook fan page, linked-in, etc. Create direct mail pieces that have impact to get you the face-to-face meeting.
Happy Creating!
As business entrepreneurs we need to have 7 imprints or impressions with our end users before they become aware of our services and creativity.
There is no second chance to make a first impression! So do the research, the legwork, to craft a great targeted message. Value your potential clients, let them know that! Personalize a card, preferably a card with your imagery on the front - thank them for a meeting, conversation, etc. Remember that quality is tantamount as well as perceived value/usage. Consistency in delivering your art and message... And in a phone conversation adjust yourself to the personality of the recipient. Use social media to connect - facebook fan page, linked-in, etc. Create direct mail pieces that have impact to get you the face-to-face meeting.
Happy Creating!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Success Tips
There are a few key things you can do to build your business:
- Follow your Passion
- Read, learn, explore all you can about your passion
- Read the headlines, seek inspiration
- Network - relationships are everything
- Send an email or note everyday to one person who can hire you. Send them an inspiration, a follow-up, a link, or simply say Hi! Handwritten notes in this digital world are especially standouts!
- Touch base with an old friend, associate or former client - ring the phone, even if you get voicemail it's still a personal touch.
- Wake up early, seize the day - and don't procrastinate.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Competitions, Calls for Entry
The Center for Photography
Theme: Food
Juror: David Bram
Deadline: 5/17/2011
Theme: Art in Nature
Juror: Nick Brandt
Deadline: Early Submission: 5/25 Final Submission: 6/8
----------------------
PX3 Prix de la Photographie
Deadline: 5/15/2011
----------------------
Le Book Connections
New York
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The Art of Photography Show
Deadline: 5/17
----------------------
Photography Masters Cup
Deadline: 5/20
Theme: Food
Juror: David Bram
Deadline: 5/17/2011
Theme: Art in Nature
Juror: Nick Brandt
Deadline: Early Submission: 5/25 Final Submission: 6/8
----------------------
PX3 Prix de la Photographie
Deadline: 5/15/2011
----------------------
Le Book Connections
New York
----------------------
The Art of Photography Show
Deadline: 5/17
----------------------
Photography Masters Cup
Deadline: 5/20
Photo Project - TED Prize Winner 2011
INSIDE OUT
Wishes Big Enough to Change the World
Create a large-scale participatory art project that transforms messages of personal identity into pieces of artistic work. Everyone will be challenged to use black and white photographic portraits to discover, reveal and share the untold stories and images of people around the world. These digitally uploaded images will be made into posters and sent back to the project’s co-creators for them to exhibit in their own communities.
Follow the Blog
I encourage everyone to get involved, think out of the box and create projects that have impact.
Wishes Big Enough to Change the World
Create a large-scale participatory art project that transforms messages of personal identity into pieces of artistic work. Everyone will be challenged to use black and white photographic portraits to discover, reveal and share the untold stories and images of people around the world. These digitally uploaded images will be made into posters and sent back to the project’s co-creators for them to exhibit in their own communities.
Follow the Blog
I encourage everyone to get involved, think out of the box and create projects that have impact.
Marketing Advice - Seth Godin
Hungry or guarded
"The hungry person at the all you can eat buffet is happy to take one more item. She doesn't spend a lot of time comparing this to that, or saying 'no thank you' or avoiding certain items. If it's interesting, "sure I'll try a little bit. I can always come back."
The guarded person walking down the street avoids eye contact with the homeless person, doesn't answer a request from the petition-signer and certainly doesn't help a Boy Scout with that old lady.
And this is precisely the dichotomy every cause, every candidate and every marketer faces.
Either you're selling to people who are hungry for what you offer, who are open to hearing what you have to say, who are fans...
Or you're selling to people who are actively protecting themselves, guarding against interruption or a mistake or worse.
How can you possibly have a strategy about what you're going to do next until you determine which mindset you're marketing to?
Here's the key truth: in any given moment, in any given situation, a person is either hungry or guarded. You need to decide which sort of person you'll be telling your story to, because one approach won't work on the other type of person.
[PS the mindset can (and does) change as people go through their day. At the bookstore she might be hungry for a new idea, and just a few minutes later, at the bus stop, she wants to be alone...]"
"The hungry person at the all you can eat buffet is happy to take one more item. She doesn't spend a lot of time comparing this to that, or saying 'no thank you' or avoiding certain items. If it's interesting, "sure I'll try a little bit. I can always come back."
The guarded person walking down the street avoids eye contact with the homeless person, doesn't answer a request from the petition-signer and certainly doesn't help a Boy Scout with that old lady.
And this is precisely the dichotomy every cause, every candidate and every marketer faces.
Either you're selling to people who are hungry for what you offer, who are open to hearing what you have to say, who are fans...
Or you're selling to people who are actively protecting themselves, guarding against interruption or a mistake or worse.
How can you possibly have a strategy about what you're going to do next until you determine which mindset you're marketing to?
Here's the key truth: in any given moment, in any given situation, a person is either hungry or guarded. You need to decide which sort of person you'll be telling your story to, because one approach won't work on the other type of person.
[PS the mindset can (and does) change as people go through their day. At the bookstore she might be hungry for a new idea, and just a few minutes later, at the bus stop, she wants to be alone...]"
Monday, May 9, 2011
Attitude
"Your attitude is now what's on offer, it's what you sell. The emotional labor of engaging with work and increasing the energy in the room is precisely what you sell. So sell it." Seth Godin
I selected this quote as it resonated and reminded me that enthusiasm, joy and passion are contagious... it also demonstrates to the potential client that working with you will be a positive experience. So the next time you have a conf call, sales call, portfolio review or meeting - bring your A game!
I selected this quote as it resonated and reminded me that enthusiasm, joy and passion are contagious... it also demonstrates to the potential client that working with you will be a positive experience. So the next time you have a conf call, sales call, portfolio review or meeting - bring your A game!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Emphas.is
Check this out: Emphas.is
Crowdfunding for visual journalism. Get involved in the story.
On Emphas.is you are the gatekeeper. Photojournalists pitch their projects directly to the public. You get to decide whether a story is worth doing.
By agreeing to back a story, for a minimum contribution of $10, you are making sure that the issues that you care about receive the in-depth coverage they deserve.
In return you are invited along on the journey.
Photojournalists on Emphas.is agree to enter into a direct dialogue with their backers, sharing their experiences and insights as the creative process unfolds.
Crowdfunding for visual journalism. Get involved in the story.
On Emphas.is you are the gatekeeper. Photojournalists pitch their projects directly to the public. You get to decide whether a story is worth doing.
By agreeing to back a story, for a minimum contribution of $10, you are making sure that the issues that you care about receive the in-depth coverage they deserve.
In return you are invited along on the journey.
Photojournalists on Emphas.is agree to enter into a direct dialogue with their backers, sharing their experiences and insights as the creative process unfolds.
There is no thrift store for Content
As creators of "content" I thought you would find the following info posted on Seth Godin's blog interesting with respect to pricing of content...
Compared to perfect: the price/value mismatch in content
"How's the wine?"
You really can't answer that question out of context. Compared to what? Compared to a hundred dollar bottle? Not so good. Compared to any other $12 bottle... great!
"How was the hotel?"
"How's the service at the post office?"
In just about all the decisions we make, we consider the price. A shipper doesn't expect the same level of service quality from a first class letter delivery than it does from an overnight international courier service. Of course not.
And yet...
A quick analysis of the top 100 titles on Amazon (movies, books, music, doesn't matter what) shows zero correlation between the price and the reviews. (I didn't do the math, but you're welcome to... might be a good science fair entry). Try to imagine a similar disconnect if the subject was cars or clothing...
For any other good or service, the value of a free alternative that was any good would be infinite--free airplane tickets, free dinners at the cafe... When it comes to content, though, we rarely compare the experience with other content at a similar price. We compare it to perfect.
People walking out of the afternoon bargain matinee at the movies don't cut the film any slack because it was half price. Critics piling on to a music video on YouTube never mention the fact that HEY IT WAS FREE. There is no thrift store for content. Sure, we can get an old movie for ninety-nine cents, but if we hate it, it doesn't matter how cheap it was. If we're going to spend time, apparently, it better be perfect, the best there ever was, regardless of price.
This isn't true for cars, potato chips, air travel, worker's comp insurance...
Consider people walking out of a concert where tickets might be being scalped for as much as $1,000. That's $40 or more for each song played--are they considering the price when they're evaluating the experience? There's a lot of nuance here... I'm certainly not arguing that expensive is always better.
In fact, I do think it's probably true that a low price increases the negative feedback. That's because a low price exposes the work to individuals that might not be raving fans.
Free is a valid marketing strategy. In fact it's almost impossible for an idea to have mass impact without some sort of free (TV, radio, webpages, online videos... they're all free). At the same time, it's not clear to me that cheaper content outperforms expensive in many areas. As the marginal cost of delivering content drops to zero (all digital content meets this definition), I think there are valid marketing reasons to do the opposite of what economists expect.
Free gets you mass. Free, though, isn't always the price that will help you achieve your goals.
Price is often a signalling mechanism, and perhaps nowhere more than in the area of content. Free enables your idea to spread, price, on the other hand, signals individuals and often ends up putting your idea in the right place. Mass shouldn't always be the goal. Impact may matter more."
Compared to perfect: the price/value mismatch in content
"How's the wine?"
You really can't answer that question out of context. Compared to what? Compared to a hundred dollar bottle? Not so good. Compared to any other $12 bottle... great!
"How was the hotel?"
"How's the service at the post office?"
In just about all the decisions we make, we consider the price. A shipper doesn't expect the same level of service quality from a first class letter delivery than it does from an overnight international courier service. Of course not.
And yet...
A quick analysis of the top 100 titles on Amazon (movies, books, music, doesn't matter what) shows zero correlation between the price and the reviews. (I didn't do the math, but you're welcome to... might be a good science fair entry). Try to imagine a similar disconnect if the subject was cars or clothing...
For any other good or service, the value of a free alternative that was any good would be infinite--free airplane tickets, free dinners at the cafe... When it comes to content, though, we rarely compare the experience with other content at a similar price. We compare it to perfect.
People walking out of the afternoon bargain matinee at the movies don't cut the film any slack because it was half price. Critics piling on to a music video on YouTube never mention the fact that HEY IT WAS FREE. There is no thrift store for content. Sure, we can get an old movie for ninety-nine cents, but if we hate it, it doesn't matter how cheap it was. If we're going to spend time, apparently, it better be perfect, the best there ever was, regardless of price.
This isn't true for cars, potato chips, air travel, worker's comp insurance...
Consider people walking out of a concert where tickets might be being scalped for as much as $1,000. That's $40 or more for each song played--are they considering the price when they're evaluating the experience? There's a lot of nuance here... I'm certainly not arguing that expensive is always better.
In fact, I do think it's probably true that a low price increases the negative feedback. That's because a low price exposes the work to individuals that might not be raving fans.
Free is a valid marketing strategy. In fact it's almost impossible for an idea to have mass impact without some sort of free (TV, radio, webpages, online videos... they're all free). At the same time, it's not clear to me that cheaper content outperforms expensive in many areas. As the marginal cost of delivering content drops to zero (all digital content meets this definition), I think there are valid marketing reasons to do the opposite of what economists expect.
Free gets you mass. Free, though, isn't always the price that will help you achieve your goals.
Price is often a signalling mechanism, and perhaps nowhere more than in the area of content. Free enables your idea to spread, price, on the other hand, signals individuals and often ends up putting your idea in the right place. Mass shouldn't always be the goal. Impact may matter more."
Monday, May 2, 2011
Competitions, Reviews and Contests - May 2011
DAYLIGHT/CDS PHOTO AWARDS / Deadline Extended to May 15
Awards in Two Prize Categories: Project Prize and Work-in-Process Prize.
Guest jurors for the second annual Daylight/CDS Photo Awards are Anthony Bannon, director, George Eastman House; Darren Ching, owner, Klompching Gallery, and creative director, Photo District News; Stacey D. Clarkson, art director, Harper’s Magazine; Whitney Johnson, picture editor, The New Yorker; Joel Sternfield, photographer; and Sasha Wolf, owner, Sasha Wolf Gallery.
They are joined by Taj Forer and Michael Itkoff, editors, Daylight Magazine, and Alexa Dilworth, publishing director, and Courtney Reid-Eaton, exhibitions director, at the Center for Documentary Studies.
READ MORE
fotovisura PORTFOLIO CONSULTATIONS & REVIEWS/ May 7th & 8th
READ MORE
THE CENTER FOR FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY
FOOD: ENTRIES DUE MAY 17, 2011
EXHIBITION: SEPTEMBER 2 - OCTOBER 15, 2011
THEME Food, in its most basic purpose provides the fundamentals of existence. The act of eating, and what one eats, is based upon many societal implications including location, resources, and access. For centuries, food has helped distinguish cultures and on occasion, been the source of rituals. Photography has the ability to transform our vision of food graphically, politically, and culturally.
JUROR DAVID BRAM
David Bram is a fine art photographer and the editor, founder and curator of Fraction Magazine. Founded in 2008, Fraction Magazine is currently on its twenty-fifth issue and has shown portfolios from more than 150 photographers. David reviews nationally and was selected as the 2010 recipient of the Griffin Museum's Rising Star Award. MORE INFO
DREAMS
ENTRIES DUE AUGUST 9th, 2011
EXHIBITION DECEMBER 2, 2011 - JANUARY 7, 2012
THEME Dreams are a creation of images, ideas, sensations and emotions that occur in our conscious and subconscious mind. They can be the manifestation of our aspirations, goals and fears both realistic and fantastic.
JUROR ALINE SMITHSON
Aline Smithson has been the Gallery Editor for Light Leaks Magazine, writes and edits the blog, Lenscratch, and has curated exhibitions for many galleries and online magazines. Smithson is a national reviewer of photography and is a contributing writer of Diffusion, Too Much Chocolate, Lucida, and F Stop Magazine.
MORE INFO
PORTFOLIO SHOWCASE VOLUME 5: ENTRIES DUE SEPTEMBER 14, 2011
NOTICE OF ACCEPTANCE OCTOBER 14, 2011
ONLINE EXHIBITION NOVEMBER 30, 2011
BOOK RELEASE AND RECEPTION JANUARY 2012
THEME There is no theme for this exhibition. The images will be evaluated as a cohesive body of work, rather than individual images. Fifteen photographers will be chosen to display their twelve-image portfolios in the Center's Portfolio ShowCase Volume 5 book and online exhibition.
JUROR CHRIS PICHLER
is the founder and publisher of Nazraeli Press. Based in Portland, Oregon, Nazraeli Press publishes books specializing in contemporary photography. MORE INFO
The ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW is an international exhibition of photographic art which will take place August 13 through October 16, 2011 at the elegant Lyceum Theatre Gallery, located in the historic Gaslamp Quarter of downtown San Diego, California. This is the seventh year of this major photography competition and exhibition. Deadline: 5/17 MORE INFO
Awards in Two Prize Categories: Project Prize and Work-in-Process Prize.
Guest jurors for the second annual Daylight/CDS Photo Awards are Anthony Bannon, director, George Eastman House; Darren Ching, owner, Klompching Gallery, and creative director, Photo District News; Stacey D. Clarkson, art director, Harper’s Magazine; Whitney Johnson, picture editor, The New Yorker; Joel Sternfield, photographer; and Sasha Wolf, owner, Sasha Wolf Gallery.
They are joined by Taj Forer and Michael Itkoff, editors, Daylight Magazine, and Alexa Dilworth, publishing director, and Courtney Reid-Eaton, exhibitions director, at the Center for Documentary Studies.
READ MORE
fotovisura PORTFOLIO CONSULTATIONS & REVIEWS/ May 7th & 8th
READ MORE
THE CENTER FOR FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY
FOOD: ENTRIES DUE MAY 17, 2011
EXHIBITION: SEPTEMBER 2 - OCTOBER 15, 2011
THEME Food, in its most basic purpose provides the fundamentals of existence. The act of eating, and what one eats, is based upon many societal implications including location, resources, and access. For centuries, food has helped distinguish cultures and on occasion, been the source of rituals. Photography has the ability to transform our vision of food graphically, politically, and culturally.
JUROR DAVID BRAM
David Bram is a fine art photographer and the editor, founder and curator of Fraction Magazine. Founded in 2008, Fraction Magazine is currently on its twenty-fifth issue and has shown portfolios from more than 150 photographers. David reviews nationally and was selected as the 2010 recipient of the Griffin Museum's Rising Star Award. MORE INFO
DREAMS
ENTRIES DUE AUGUST 9th, 2011
EXHIBITION DECEMBER 2, 2011 - JANUARY 7, 2012
THEME Dreams are a creation of images, ideas, sensations and emotions that occur in our conscious and subconscious mind. They can be the manifestation of our aspirations, goals and fears both realistic and fantastic.
JUROR ALINE SMITHSON
Aline Smithson has been the Gallery Editor for Light Leaks Magazine, writes and edits the blog, Lenscratch, and has curated exhibitions for many galleries and online magazines. Smithson is a national reviewer of photography and is a contributing writer of Diffusion, Too Much Chocolate, Lucida, and F Stop Magazine.
MORE INFO
PORTFOLIO SHOWCASE VOLUME 5: ENTRIES DUE SEPTEMBER 14, 2011
NOTICE OF ACCEPTANCE OCTOBER 14, 2011
ONLINE EXHIBITION NOVEMBER 30, 2011
BOOK RELEASE AND RECEPTION JANUARY 2012
THEME There is no theme for this exhibition. The images will be evaluated as a cohesive body of work, rather than individual images. Fifteen photographers will be chosen to display their twelve-image portfolios in the Center's Portfolio ShowCase Volume 5 book and online exhibition.
JUROR CHRIS PICHLER
is the founder and publisher of Nazraeli Press. Based in Portland, Oregon, Nazraeli Press publishes books specializing in contemporary photography. MORE INFO
The ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW is an international exhibition of photographic art which will take place August 13 through October 16, 2011 at the elegant Lyceum Theatre Gallery, located in the historic Gaslamp Quarter of downtown San Diego, California. This is the seventh year of this major photography competition and exhibition. Deadline: 5/17 MORE INFO