Seth Godin says “Humans are lonely. They want to be seen and known. People want to be part of something.” Or as Anne Lamott puts it, “Everyone is screwed up, broken, clingy and scared.”
Seth also says, “People don’t want what you make. They want what it will do for them. They want belonging, connection, peace of mind, status.”
Further, “Create experiences. Using a product, engaging with a service, calling customer service. Each of these actions is part of the story; each builds a little bit of our connection. Offer these experiences with intent, doing them on purpose.”
He is all about marketing, and speaks and writes with great abstraction. I try to apply what I hear him say to my art business, and finally, in these words, I think I can gather some practical advice. Let me translate:
- People need to be shown kindness and treated as if they are significant (because they are).
- Custom art commemorates and legitimizes, celebrates and pays tribute to the things that matter in people’s lives.
- Spending time to hear someone’s stories, look at his photos, listen to what matters to him, take more photos, make sketches, and involve him in the process gives the customer an experience to remember, one that validates the things that are most important to him.*
Does this make you want to hire me to make a custom painting or drawing for you?
I use pencils, oil paint, and murals to make art that people can understand, of places and things they love, for prices that won’t scare them.
*The masculine pronoun is intentional here; in this context it means all humans, regardless of biological gender. “They” is a plural pronoun, and I am speaking of a theoretical singular customer here, “someone” and “the customer”. This blog does not cave to current trends.