IN.Sight - The 4 Ps of Marketing

The 4 Ps are essentially a simple guideline of what to consider when preparing to market a product or service. They were part of every marketing course I ever took. It always comes back to the 4 Ps. And now you, artist, can also reap the benefits of the 4 Ps! Move over, Wall Street!

The 4 Ps of Marketing are: Product, Place, Price, and Promotion

Think of these as a key to unlock the doors of progress when you get stuck in an idea or process. Here are some questions and tips to help guide your grand promotional scheme:

Product: This is a bit tricky because your artistic creations are very personal, but still consider what you can do to better your paintings, films, musical recordings, live performances, etc. This can be anything from taking classes to developing new ideas and venturing towards new directions. In a perfect world, you should constantly be bettering your output!

Place: The most important question here is does your product appeal to an audience that is currently not being reached? As an artist, you can’t afford to pass up a penny (don’t we know it!). If you’re a visual artist, have you approached companies, schools, or other establishments who might be interested in hanging your art on their walls? If your main focus is live performances, have you considered performing in other cities, or unconventional venues? Anything can be done on a budget; you don’t have to go too far!

Price: I know a lot of artists who undervalue their product and a whole bunch of others who don’t even want to think about money. But this has an impact on how people perceive what you do. Is your attitude towards money making you inaccessible to people who might be willing to support you? Are you devaluing your product in the eyes of the consumer because of an overly modest price-tag? You have to be comfortable selling yourself and your art if you’re going to make a living from it, so it’s worth a little extra thought.

Promotion: This is the big piece of the pie. Newsletters, flyers, posters, logos, website, giveaways and contests, showcases and demos, and otherwise yelling at passers-by in the streets are all Promotional considerations. This is where the ideas of branding and targeting a market come in, and lots of fancy words that basically describe how you are telling people about your art. It’s also the kind of stuff that tends to get drowned out by the overwhelming number of large and small media initiatives out there, so think about what you do or don’t pay attention to when walking down the street, checking out a website, or perusing flyers on your way out of a café.

In my opinion, the single most important aspect of promotion that artists too often forget is branding. That’s a post on its own, but as a creative person, you have a natural ability that can get you a long way in developing an image for your product. Branding is about consistency. Weather you do it with colors, words, images, sounds, ideas, or a combination of these and other qualities, your promotional materials should be familiar and evocative of your art. They should be unquestionably you! Hmm… maybe a post on branding is in our near future.

In the business world, as much effort goes in to Marketing as in Product Development. If you spend hours a day honing your craft, you should at least be spending 1 finding ways to spread your message.

Do you have any stories of quirky promotional tactics that could inspire us? Any marketing breakthroughs or revelations that could help a fellow artist? Let’s hear ‘em! We love this stuff!

- Nadine