When most artists come to me for one-on-one artist coaching, they have a massive, overwhelming list of marketing activities they want to accomplish. And they want to start them all at once. Often our first session is spent prioritizing projects and the marketing activities that flow from them. One lesson I teach all the time is to “think of marketing like a diet.” You’d never assume that you could starve yourself for the month of January and then say: “Well, great, now I can eat whatever I want for the rest of the year because I starved myself for a month.” (Come to think of this, I did try this when I was younger but it never worked!)
I say, “think of marketing like a diet” by which I mean you’re just going to do a little bit each day and each week so that eventually you get into a rhythm. Marketing is not something that you’re ever going to be done with. Just like you’ll never stop trying to eat healthfully, you’re never going to stop marketing.
So, rather than think of marketing as something that you need to get through, hopeful for the day when it will finally be over, think of it as something you’re going to organize so that you’ll do a little bit each day and each week and watch your efforts and your business grow slowly.
So, how can you apply this? Let’s say you have a show coming up in three months. You have to organize your mailing list, start making regular posts on Facebook, write a press release, design and print postcards, write notes on the postcards, stamp them, mail them. The list goes on.
In an artist coaching session, we’ll make this master list and then we’ll get out the calendar and turn this list into action items and schedule each one. This way, you’ll avoid looking at the list and feeling overwhelmed and giving up.
So, what can you do this weekend to treat your marketing like a diet where you’ll do a little bit each day? Maybe action number one is just to clean your office or studio. Or maybe, if that’s too much, your first action is to spend 20 minutes cleaning your desk.
If your desk is clean already, then spend 20 minutes organizing your mailing list. Or make a list of the marketing activities you know you need to be doing.
Think of it like a diet. Do a little each day.
Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash