Lasker

Life is like a bank. You get out of it what you put into it. — Albert Lasker

Albert Lasker was born in the late 1800’s. He began his career as a newspaper reporter but moved into the field of advertising. Lasker built one of the largest advertising agencies in America. Claude Hopkins acknowledged as one of the copywriting greats, worked with Lasker.

Emotional connection

So…what does advertising have to do with art? Quite a bit. Lasker and Hopkins realized that you have to move people emotionally to get them to buy a product. Master artists touch viewers emotionally in their art.

Art that moves people on an emotional level, sells. The Renaissance Old Masters understood this. They were no different than artists today. They had to make a “happy buck” to continue doing what they loved. If you want to make art a career you have to be able to sell your paintings.

Demand

Advertisers know you can be more successful – faster – by tapping into existing demand. Trying to convince folks to buy something they don’t want just doesn’t work. Successful marketers show customers how to fulfill a need with their product.

If you think about it, a painting is like an advertisement. Every work of art you create should touch your viewer on an emotional level that already exists. That’s why some folks are going to love your art and others, not so much!

In advertising, you don’t care about the folks who don’t respond to your ad because it’s not for them. So too, you shouldn’t worry about folks who do not like your art because your art is not for them!

Tribe

Want to know a marketing secret that you can use right now in your art career? Every successful artist builds a tribe which likes and admires their work.

It is interesting how art collectors seem to buy more than one work from the same artist. David Bowie died recently. He had over four hundred pieces of art. He purchased many works from the same artists. Lasker’s collection included over sixty paintings by Impressionist and post-Impressionist artists. He had more paintings by Matisse and Picasso than other artists in his collection. Albert Barnes, who made a fortune in the pharmaceutical field, specialized in Renoir.

As an artist, you can begin to attract people who like your art. Don’t try to appeal to everyone. Specialize in what you do well and attract those who like what you do. Build your tribe!

Avoid this trap!

Everything you do should be, just like in advertising, focused on your potential buyers. Entrepreneurs who don’t understand their audience build products no one wants. Then they try to force folks to buy it. Not surprisingly, they fail. These entrepreneurs focus on themselves, not their tribe.

A successful artist is always customer centered. Understand the emotions that drive your tribe. Paint them into your art.