During the American Revolutionary War, the British armies had a hard time fighting against the Americans. The British were used to fighting in wars where everyone stood across an open field from each other and fired shots until one side gave up. In this kind of war, whoever had the largest army won.
In America, however, the fighting was done from tree to tree, from house to house. The much smaller, and poorer, American army fought like an insurgent group, out-flanking the British soldiers and taking swipes from the sides. When the British would finally turn their full attention to a flanking enemy they would simply melt away back into the woods or city. It was endlessly frustrating and exhausting for the British.
As artists, we’re fighting in an insurgency. If, as Hazel Dooney says, Art is War, the Internet is a new battlefield where size does not matter. Before the Web, an artist had to market themselves through galleries and other set channels. That doesn’t need to happen now. Insurgent creatives can market themselves with great power and authority while running circles around the big corporations that are doing things the way they’ve always been done.
Insurgents Abound
There are lots of artists already joining the insurgent revolution. They are marketing directly to their fans, not worrying about whether a gallery is going to support them or not. These artists are fun, direct, and fearless. They don’t worry about what people will say about them or whether or not the academics will approve. They just make art and then share it with people who might like it.
Mark McGuinness recently wrote a post about this kind of activity where he talked about Matthew Inman, of TheOatmeal.com fame. Inman is a comic artist who has built a business out of releasing some of his best stuff for free on the Internet and then selling prints, shirts and other swag on his website.
Hugh Mcleod of GapingVoid.com does similar things. He sells prints. You can get daily emails with a new comic in your inbox each morning. He also draws Cube Grenades for some pretty big companies. He’s pretty awesome.
The People Help the Insurgents
One of the key ways that insurgents succeed is when they win over the hearts and minds of the people where they are fighting. The insurgents are one of them after all. The people of the native land will share the message of the insurgents, feed them, shelter them, and even help them fight when it looks like they can win. We all want to believe that our home town team can win.
Just like helping insurgents, fans will help artists. The band OK Go broke huge when they posted their video Here It Goes Again on Youtube, and tens of thousands of people embedded the video on their own websites. The video’s been seen over 50 Million times on Youtube alone.
TheOatmeal.com became huge because thousands of people loved his work enough to share it on Digg.com. One recent comic had 2000+ shares on Digg, 100k+ shares on Stumbleupon, and thousands more on Twitter, Facebook, and other sites.
John Kraft‘s work is well known because people share his work on Facebook and Youtube. Each of these artists has received tremendous help from the people around them. John has told me that his favorite method of marketing his work is through Facebook.
Insurgents Succeed Because of Their Creativity
Whether it’s a sniper shot from a hidden window or a road side bomb disguised as a gas can, insurgents succeed because they come up with creative ways of winning. Just as in war, there are no rules in selling art. You can be the most creative person you want to be when marketing your work. Indeed, marketing can often be just as creatively fulfilling as creating art when it’s done successfully.
People are looking for fun, original, thought provoking or emotional content online. That’s why the Internet grew to what it is today. The scientists and computer programmers who started the World Wide Web had a lot in common with artists – that creative streak runs in genius of all kinds, not just artists.
Businesses succeed online not because they are creative. They think like artists, and there are lots of business thought leaders who are recognizing this right now. People like Dan Pink, Gary Vaynerchuck, and Seth Godin espouse the need for more artistic thinking in business.
Learn the Basics, Make Up the Rest
Understanding why people buy things is part science and part art. You can learn the science part. There several really good resources (ahem!) online. You can use me as a resource, or you can check out some of the even more successful creative entrepreneurs and see what they have to offer.
I’d recommend checking out what Brian Clark, Mark McGuinness, Steven Pressfield, and several other creative entrepreneurs have to say over at the Lateral Action blog. There’s a ton of free content there that is highly relevant to creatives.
After you’ve learned the basics of how to market your work online, you should be able to come up with some pretty interesting ways to sell your art online. I’d love to hear about them!
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