Social Media for Authors (Expanded Literature)

Authors today, whether self-published or blessed with a traditional book contract, must do at least some marketing on their own (or hire someone to do it for them). If they want a book to achieve even moderate success, they should be prepared to dip a few toes or more in the muck of commerce, beyond the pristine realm of conferences and readings.

Nonfiction writers have traditionally been more comfortable with marketing, so for them the trend toward heightened self-promotion may just represent more of the same. Fiction writers, though, especially those inhabiting the rarified kingdom of literary fiction, are another breed—one inclined to view marketing as vulgar and mercenary. To many in this tribe, self-promotion is a contaminant that poses a threat to their art, even literature itself. (See anything Jonathan Franzen has ever said on the topic for an example of this attitude.) While in principle this may be true, in practice it is potentially fatal—to the lives of their books.

This poses a dilemma: if self-promotion is a sellout/distraction, yet rejecting it precludes a wider readership or a readership period (and a writer without readers is barely alive), what is the true artist to do?


Parallel Content Delivery/Ongoing Marketing Vehicles

One approach is to fashion a strategy that conflates art and commerce, by creating content/marketing vehicles that both supplement and promote the book. This strategy is expanded literature (EL). EL can incorporate the full range of social media, including Twitter, a blog, photography (via Flickr, Facebook, etc.), YouTube—anything.

EL annotates and expands the book; and functions, in part, as a repository for the wealth of texture/background—including history, reportage, topical parallels, etc.—that cannot all fit between the covers. EL helps to make the book come alive. Also, EL gives it constant visibility, thus making the book (and its wider subject) perpetually fresh.

With an EL strategy that is smart and well-maintained (this is key), the full potential of these platforms—especially the “social” dimension—will be realized through the convergence of content, promotion, and audience interaction.

Expanded literature (EL): content/marketing vehicles that supplement & promote the book


A New Paradigm: The Convergence of Literature & Social Media (Plus Merchandising)

EL represents a new paradigm—the convergence of literature and social media. Though the book is the central element and stands on its own, the concept lends itself to a multifaceted presence. It allows/inspires ample opportunities for new platforms, new content sources, and additional streams of revenue.

Even merchandising can be incorporated, in a seamless, cost-free way, via one of the produce-on-demand sites that make customizing a multitude of items (clothing, accessories, home and office products, etc.) surprisingly simple.

A three-headed entity . . . mutant spawn of literature & technology, art & commerce


It is a truism that authors today must “get their hands dirty” with marketing like never before. The economic factors and (techno)logic behind this reality are indisputable, and quite well documented. (See every single blog and Twitter feed emanating from the legions of publishing professionals.)

Expanded literature can make this truism real, in a way that allows authors to promote their work without sacrificing integrity or vitality (though Franzen might still disapprove), and maybe gain a lot more readers in the process.


If you’re an author, agent, or other publishing professional and would like to learn more about how expanded literature/strategic communications can help you or someone you work with, contact me at ajeisenstat[at]gmail[dot]com, or visit my portfolio AdamEisenstat.com and LinkedIn profile.

How I Work with Artists

Most visual artists can talk freely and fluidly about their work: technique and materials, underlying concepts, influences, etc. But when asked to put these ideas into writing, they often find themselves at a loss for words; or more often, overwhelmed by too many words—gushing forth from the wellspring of information/experience that collects naturally through their immersion in the creative process.

 

The artist is intimate with every single aspect of his/her work, which can make it difficult to focus on its most significant elements—especially when attempting to explain their art in black and white. This should come as no surprise: visual artists are generally not writers, and writing per se, which relies on a different mental palette—another side of the brain, no less—may be relatively alien to them.

 

 

An Outside Perspective is Essential
 

Every artist can benefit from an outside perspective on his/her work—carefully considered and directed toward a specific end. Clarity, brevity, and focus are qualities an objective voice can bring to basic marketing communications, such as an artist statement.

 

Separating the promotional voice from the artistic vision makes a lot of sense—like a frame that separates a painting from the outside world; facilitating the conditions that allow the art to “speak for itself.”

 

 

My Methodology: Here’s How I Work
 

Artist statements are my specialty—tailored to each individual artist and his/her work. Here is how I create an artist statement (~ 500 words):

• I thoroughly examine the artist’s work, notes, ideas, etc.—with the aid of a general questionnaire I send beforehand;
• I revise the questionnaire based on our combined notes, creating a customized questionnaire for our . . .
• Phone interview (one hour max). Invariably we uncover truths about their art they had never imagined (everyone seems to love this part of the process);
• I write the statement, and edit it based on the artist’s feedback.

For more posts on art promotion, and for links to samples of my work, go to the Writing for Artists tab.

Outstanding Art Requires Marketing that Stands Out

The following post is from an e-mail message (lightly edited) that I sent to a recent client who had asked me the following: “Do you know of any ‘preferred’ ways to approach a gallery? My plan is to finalize the Website, then create a brochure/postcard about my work and send it out to selected galleries to drive them to the site for more info. Does this sound like a good plan for exposure?"


I would not claim to be an expert in “art world” promotion tactics; there are subtleties and intricacies in said world about which I’m just not that knowledgeable. (I know enough to know that I don’t know much.) Fixing your site and doing a postcard are key, but how exactly to approach galleries I can’t say for sure. Consider the following rules of thumb, though, which might apply to ANY realm to which you/I/anyone might be seeking access.

Do your research; find a handful of galleries that you believe would be receptive to your work—based on previous work shown, stated philosophy (if any), word of mouth, and whatever information you can glean. Then target those galleries through some combination of stealth, accepted practice, and, if possible, audacity (though you probably don’t want to do anything too wacky or brash). Tailor your approach to each gallery, even if only slightly; make sure that each one you contact knows you’re aware of what it shows (i.e., the art they like), and DO NOT even hint that it (the gallery) is part of some mass mailing.

A generic, “broadcast” approach will never be a substitute for diligent research and networking/personal contact. I realize that this in itself is fairly generic advice, but it’s still true. It’s EASY to send out a mass of promotional fodder and think you’ve made a good faith effort to promote yourself (come what may); it’s HARD to really find out where your work might have the best chance.

There are no silver bullets; there are no one-size-fits-all answers or approaches. Before you do anything, though: make sure that your art and your materials (Website/postcard/etc.) are the best they can be; ALWAYS try to make whatever you do—art/promotion/anything associated with your creative life—stand out. First take care of what you have the most control over (ESPECIALLY your art), and the rest might be easier than you imagine.


For more posts on art promotion, and for links to samples of my work, go to the Writing for Artists tab

Zen Marketing: Passive Dimensions of Creating Positive Impressions

Do something amazing, requiring a ridiculous amount of time and devotion. Then make no effort to promote it. Later, do the same thing again. It’s an exercise in discipline, craft, and generosity; and an investment—however elusive or indirect—in future returns.

Cultivate a reflexive hesitation to grandstand, employing your reserves of humility, personal experience, and understanding that “pride goeth before the fall.” (This is not the same thing as  reluctance to promote yourself, but rather a way to infuse your promotion with subtlety and grace.)

Never show your ego to the client; your own self-worth and confidence should be taken for granted. Hone your ability to inflate your accomplishments to oversize proportions, but practice the technique of holding back and deploy hype surgically. Be like the quiet karate master—capable of overkill and supremely confident, thus exuding strength and avoiding conflict altogether. 

Creating a buzz is essentially a metaphysical idea. (Has anyone ever seen or actually felt this “buzz?”) Yet the process comprises distinct, concrete steps.  Make all of these steps meaningful and organic—that is, integrated with previous and pending steps—so that they reflect both the object of the buzz and your life’s work as a whole. 

Everything you do—even random, seemingly meaningless gestures and actions—influences your future, in ways both obvious and unexpected. Pursue each opportunity or exchange mindful that it may lead to more significant ones. 

To learn more about writing and strategic communications that can amplify your distinction, contact me at ajeisenstat[at]gmail[dot]com, or visit my portfolio AdamEisenstat.com and LinkedIn profile.

To the Artist in Search of a Marketing Strategy (Part 1)

A Fundamental Truth: personal feelings can never truly be shared or adequately communicated—no one knows how/what you felt when you were working on a piece. If you try to tell them, rhapsodizing about your passion, the transcendence that enveloped you in the throes of creation, they’ll simply interpret those feelings through the prism of their own experience. The creator’s feelings are one thing, the audience’s feelings another—the twain shall never meet. The best you can hope for—and it’s definitely something—is to provide a space for others to intensify/explore their own thoughts and feelings.

Be allusive, use telegraphic language; suggest rather than explain or expound—it’s more alluring. And while you’re at it, banish forever the words “journey” and “therapy.” These are clichés, and worse, indicators of self-absorption. Using too many words like that, or just a few in the wrong place, may prompt the viewer to see your art as clichéd and self-absorbed—even if it’s truly amazing. (That’s why bad promotion is a scourge: it distorts the audience’s perception.)

The details of your life/struggle are not inherently interesting. Really, who cares? What is your “journey” compared to those of Picasso, Da Vinci et al.? Not much. However, the relationship of your work to the history of art is something else—that’s big. Your work is part of the same vast dialogue/continuum as the titans of art (more or less, per its originality/vigor/etc. and recognition).

Mute the personal, accentuate the universal (“I am but a vehicle . . .”). Survival is dreary, art is significant. Communicate the latter truth to the audience through your promotion, so that they may appreciate your work in a larger context.

Promotion is a frame through which artwork is seen. It is a guideline, a means of orienting the viewer. It should be completely unobtrusive; never showy or superfluous.

Click label below (Marketing Strategy for Artists) for Parts 1-3. Click Arts promotion for all posts on this topic.


To learn more about writing and strategic communications that can amplify your voice, contact me at ajeisenstat[at]gmail[dot]com, or visit my portfolio AdamEisenstat.com and LinkedIn profile.

Good Writing Is Good Marketing

Good writing is good marketing. Good writing is not interchangeable with bad or adequate writing. There’s a real difference, not only in the writing per se, but in its effect.

Some people think that the product or service they sell really speaks for itself. They look at copywriting, social media, and other communications as something they need just to fill a space or satisfy some marketing convention (like producing a brochure because everyone else has one). When seeking a writer, their sole criterion is price.

This attitude ensures that they’ll have a harder time standing out from their competitors. Assuming they have the absolute best product in the field, if they cannot communicate this fact convincingly, their superiority may not translate into higher sales/business success.

It’s also a mistake to think that effective SEO writing is equivalent to good writing. Improved search ranking and site traffic is just an opening; you also need to close. Good SEO writing that cannot make a persuasive case for your product or service is ultimately not good writing. It’s a well paved road that leads to a derelict shack.

What about “content” and social media marketing? The writing in these areas cannot come across as overt marketing. In blogs, Twitter, and other vehicles, you have to actually add value (not just appear to), by providing services/information that complement what you sell.

As marketing gets more subtle, more sophisticated, more UBIQUITOUS, consumers or “targets” get more sophisticated, too. People are more wary than ever of being marketing to. That’s why the content you provide, even if it has an ulterior motive, must contain some kernel of meaningfulness.

Good writing is more than just words on a page or screen. Good writing is a vehicle for ideas, which takes it beyond the space it fills and creates another dimension. This is no abstraction, especially in marketing, where words must drive action and produce concrete results. A typical copywriter will likely produce typical results, while a writer with genuine passion can make his excitement for a subject contagious . . . In order to make your products/services speak for themselves, you need a writer who can give voice to them.


To learn more about writing and strategic communications that can amplify your voice, contact me at ajeisenstat[at]gmail[dot]com, or visit my portfolio AdamEisenstat.com and LinkedIn profile.

To the Artist in Search of a Marketing Strategy (Part 2)

Artists may be fundamentally unsuited to write their own promotional materials. They're simply too close to the work and know too much about it. Excess knowledge, and with it the inability to distill the work’s essence and fit it into a marketing vehicle, may be the biggest downside to the whole “lack of objectivity” issue.

Artists who write their own marketing materials—even those who write well—often abandon the best qualities of their work, like brevity, rigor, and alluring ambiguity. They gush about the many influences and inspirations that figure into their work. They expound and explain when really they should tease and allude.

If you agree with the following premise, then it means the assertion above is on target: If I know little or nothing about how a piece of art was made, who made it or why, then I can make that artwork mean anything I want it to mean.

When the artist allows people to define her art themselves, the work can function or signify in ways that she never imagined, and thus expand beyond its origins/intent.

Faulkner said "Kill your darlings." That is, jettison those attachments that clutter your work. Fixations can be huge impediments in art. That goes doubly in marketing . . . When it comes to promoting art (if not everything), less is more.

Click label below (Marketing Strategy for Artists) for Parts 1-3. Click Arts promotion for all posts on this topic.


To learn more about writing and strategic communications that can amplify your voice, contact me at ajeisenstat[at]gmail[dot]com, or visit my portfolio AdamEisenstat.com and LinkedIn profile.

Social Media for Artists

Social media makes self-promotion for artists more accessible and wide-ranging than ever, but it also brings with it a new set of responsibilities. The more platforms/media you use to put your work out there, the more important it is to ensure that you speak with one voice—a powerful, consistent voice.

Here are some ways artists can more effectively tap into the power of social media:

Activated Artist Statement. You can streamline your artist statement and extend its reach—so you’ll always be ready whenever someone asks: “What kind of art do you do?” To make your statement an active element in your promotion, start by reshaping it into additional versions, like a Q&A—perfect for press kits, events, etc.; and a 30-second “elevator pitch” or mini version of your statement (just the essentials). These concise pieces are ideal for communicating with buyers, dealers, critics—anyone you want to reach . . . so that your art truly can “speak for itself.”

Communications Audit. Before plunging into social media—or even if you have already—make sure all your materials are up to par. Don’t let typos, awkward phrases, or broken links—on your Website, profiles, and other channels—tarnish your public face. Review and compare all your materials thoroughly, to ensure that everything is in top form. Also, plan to revisit your site design; make an effort to get a few outside opinions and see it with fresh eyes. (If you think you’re too close to your work and its promotion to be objective, you’re probably right.)

Marketing Plan. As part of your audit, you should also create a plan to integrate ALL your promotional efforts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn updates, etc.) . . . Approach your marketing systematically; fashion it into a seamless tapestry, with all the different platforms interconnected and showcasing your work—consistently, dynamically. A few simple techniques can give your marketing a strategic edge.

Social media truly expands the artist’s promotional palette, which is significant on multiple levels. In the best of circumstances, promotion not only helps an artist gain exposure, but also enriches his/her art by adding texture and context—those fundamental elements of meaning.

Click the Arts promotion label below for all posts on this topic.


To learn more about writing and strategic communications that can amplify your voice, contact me at ajeisenstat[at]gmail[dot]com, or visit my portfolio AdamEisenstat.com and LinkedIn profile.

Statistic of the Week (Archive)

I’m really not a numbers person, but I love a good statistic, especially one that confirms what I had known all along or what common sense might dictate.

With that combination—Insight/observation > Common sense > Evidence (quantitative)—you can be relatively certain you possess an authentic truth. Any comfort this certainty may bring, though, is often short-lived; the numbers can reveal harsh truths, and confirm what you had hoped was not as bad as it seemed.

Statistic of the Week is intended to highlight good stats—figures that reveal significant social/cultural/economic changes or trends . . . A good stat is one that synopsizes a big issue or idea, and is obviously credible.

Please send me good statistics (including the source) and I will try to include them here.

# # #

In 1950, less than 10 percent of American households contained only one person. By 2010, nearly 27 percent of households had just one person. [Source: Atlantic Magazine, “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?”; May 2012]

In 1950, 4 million people in this country lived alone. These days, there are almost 8 times as many, 31 million. [Source: New Yorker, “The Disconnected”; 4/16/12]

The number of American workers in unions has dwindled to 1 out of 14, from 1 in 3 in the 1950s.[Source: New York Times, Film Review: “Who Stole the American Dream?”; 3/1/12]

In 1890, 90% of bread in the U.S. was baked in homes; by 1930, 90% of bread was purchased [Source: Chronicle of Higher Education, “What Would Great-Grandma Eat?”; 2/26/12]


To learn more about writing and strategic communications that can amplify your voice, contact me at ajeisenstat[at]gmail[dot]com, or visit my portfolio AdamEisenstat.com and LinkedIn profile.

To the Artist in Search of a Marketing Strategy (Part 3)

“My work speaks for itself . . . I don’t like to put labels on my art.”


The statement above represents two-thirds of what I call the Trinity of Artistic Fallacy (the other part being: “I don’t care what people think, I’m just doing it for myself.”).

Not since Jackson Pollock made a splash in the pages of Life magazine has it been possible to deny that an artist (and his reception) is an agglomeration of his work, his life, his persona—his entire being. The time is well past that an artist can claim with any ingenuousness that “my work is all that matters.” No, everything matters.

Labels are fine, as long as they’re sufficiently fluid and either a) accurate/useful, or b) utterly ridiculous (perhaps as a parody). Labels are an essential part of language, especially when it’s used to translate across mediums/art forms. Anyway, an artist is labeled continuously, by a variety of interested and disinterested parties—some who label because they have a definite agenda, and others who do it without a clue.

Why not get there first and literally define the terms? Meaning is a negotiation, which the artist should master soon after figure drawing 101. Why not just let the labels fly? Be creative—you’re an artist, right? Let the language you use to promote yourself sizzle and amuse or baffle and disturb, or whatever effect you’re looking to create in the work itself.

If you must borrow, be accurate. The old terms of art history come with a lot of baggage you should be ready and able to shoulder. Better yet, be inventive (see above). It has advantages, especially in marketing.

If branding is something you have a taste for, you can use labels and phrases programmatically, for a deliberate “tag” effect (using the same language consistently, across different marketing vehicles).

When it comes to promoting your art, call it what you will. Just make sure it resonates, and conveys the essence of what you believe your work to be.

Click label below (Marketing Strategy for Artists) for Parts 1-3. Click Arts promotion for all posts on this topic.


To learn more about writing and strategic communications that can amplify your voice, contact me at ajeisenstat[at]gmail[dot]com, or visit my portfolio AdamEisenstat.com and LinkedIn profile.

Self-Promotion for Artists: More Than a Necessary Evil (Part 1)

If a tree falls in the forest and no one writes a press release about it, does it make a sound? By the same token, if an artist creates a work and no one else experiences it, does it have any artistic impact? Is it a viable creation? The act of creation guarantees only that a work will come into existence, but this is an incomplete equation without the presence of an audience.

Whenever you hear an artist say that he/she creates “just for myself,” don’t believe it. Everyone knows that the audience isn’t secondary to the artistic process—it’s a crucial, necessary component. An audience, however, does not come into being on its own; there’s an intermediary step between creating art and the formation of an audience. That step is promotion.

Many artists regard self-promotion as a base activity, at odds with the creative process. In the extreme, they see it as dubious and sleazy, a mercenary endeavor that can only corrupt the purity of their vision. At best, it is a necessary evil that is divorced from the real business of making art.

This attitude is increasingly unrealistic and burdened with the quaint notion of the artist as a gifted exile in a pristine realm, completely insulated from the world at large. More importantly, this attitude can be fatal to artists’ careers and may preclude them from realizing even the most basic level of success.

Artists that are not established rarely have the luxury of being able to entrust all of their promotional needs to a specialist. So, if an artist does not promote him/herself then this necessary task will go undone, in which case it is likely that the work, no matter how good it is, will not find an audience. Artists must “get their hands dirty” and lay some of the groundwork required for initiating their own careers.

Click label below for complete Self-Promotion for Artists (Parts 1-4). Click Arts promotion for all posts on this topic.


To learn more about writing and strategic communications that can amplify your voice, contact me at ajeisenstat[at]gmail[dot]com, or visit my portfolio AdamEisenstat.com and LinkedIn profile.

LinkedIn: A Bounty of Untapped Potential

It’s a good bet that most people on LinkedIn have little more than a threadbare profile and aren’t in the habit of updating their information, adding connections, or doing much of anything at all. They are there, but not there—an indistinct presence, a dormancy. A healthy subset of these people probably joined LinkedIn at a colleague’s insistence, or because of some vague idea that it’s “the thing to do.”

These people on LinkedIn in name only—let alone those who eschew it entirely—are neglecting what is easily the most valuable social media platform; whose benefits are concrete and can be said without exaggeration to have a life-changing capacity.


Strangers Today, Employers/Colleagues/Patrons Tomorrow

LinkedIn—what’s the point? I asked myself that question for years, after joining at the insistence of a colleague (see above). Now I know. The point is to expand your network beyond your direct connections. In other words, gain exposure to a larger audience than you could ever hope to reach on your own.

LinkedIn, like other social media, allows you to use your existing network to create a larger, more valuable network. But LinkedIn is better, much better. The key, though, to realizing even modest results, is that you must have a definite strategy. It is not a casual undertaking, and it’s certainly not as simple as just posting your resume online (a common misconception).

A LinkedIn profile should be like a “three-dimensional sales brochure” and provide a more in-depth picture of who you are than any resume ever could. A resume, after all, is a basic sales sheet and represents one single tactic among a handful of others; it is one part of a wider strategy.


Sowing Seeds of Value: The Basis of Any Solid LinkedIn Strategy

A good LinkedIn profile is three-dimensional because it is dynamic; it includes links to and information about new projects, current activities, and more. It usually includes one or more of the apps available that really expand the profile; apps that allow you to share reading suggestions, portfolio highlights, upcoming events, and more.

At the heart of the dynamic, three-dimensional power of a good LinkedIn profile is the “Post an update” field, located near the top of the profile. It is here one can begin “sowing seeds of value”—offering genuinely useful resources/information, while avoiding any kind of hard sell.

This is essential, because in order to expand one’s network, to reach complete strangers—and possibly benefit from connecting with them—it is hardly enough to be just another hungry job seeker or salesperson trawling for prospects. Few people, whether friends or acquaintances, let alone strangers, are looking for that kind of attention.


All quotes courtesy of John Crant (SelfRecruiter.com), career coach and featured speaker at the N.Y. Public Library's Job Search Central. He is the rare motivational speaker who actually motivates. Also, his blog features several posts on LinkedIn that are beyond useful.


To learn more about writing and strategic communications that can amplify your voice, contact me at ajeisenstat[at]gmail[dot]com, or visit my portfolio AdamEisenstat.com and LinkedIn profile.

Self-Promotion for Artists: More Than a Necessary Evil (Part 2)

Basic tactics of self-promotion can be learned, but artists need to be motivated to learn them. A preliminary step toward motivation is to abandon anti-promotion attitudes and realize that art promotion, if done correctly, is hardly the same as peddling consumer goods. It can be an enriching experience; it doesn’t have to be painful or artless.

Another factor that might move artists to embrace self-promotion is the realization that it is essentially a means of shaping their destiny; everything a creative person does with regard to their work reflects upon their future.

Promotion means interacting with the public, producing a friction between the interior world that initiates a creative work and the exterior world. This friction gives promotion a frisson of tension and excitement; its consequences are unpredictable, and no matter how carefully it is planned, no one really knows where it will actually lead or precisely what its effects will be. It may open other opportunities or reveal undreamed of possibilities. Or it may backfire and reveal harsh truths.

An artist must capitalize on the results, whatever they may be, and adapt to the destiny they reveal, just as he/she does in the course of his/her artistic life. Self-promotion is taking your fate in your own hands; it is an active, deliberate effort to make a mark and impose your creative vision on the world.

Click label below for complete Self-Promotion for Artists (Parts 1-4). Click Arts promotion for all posts on this topic.


To learn more about writing and strategic communications that can amplify your voice, contact me at ajeisenstat[at]gmail[dot]com, or visit my portfolio AdamEisenstat.com and LinkedIn profile.

Self-Promotion for Artists: More Than a Necessary Evil (Part 3)

Artistic creation and effective promotion are not mutually exclusive. Some of the same qualities that make good art—such as clarity, insight, and directness—are those involved in good promotion. The artist who is good at self-promotion is generally one who can put some of those same qualities into the service of amplifying the work and expanding its audience; the promotion will be successful because it evokes the power of the art and hints at its further pleasures and revelations.

The choices an artist makes in how he promotes himself often have a major impact on how his work is perceived. These choices are driven by the artist’s intent: Is he more interested in cultivating an audience or a market? Is it more about the art or the money? Not all methods of promotion are created equal, and certain approaches correspond to certain goals.

Promotion is a framework for the artist’s oeuvre, and promotional decisions have an importance that may be equal to artistic decisions. For better or worse, the effort an artist devotes to marketing may determine success or failure, and whether the art can bloom in an environment clouded by issues that have nothing to do with art. In a culture of saturation, with an art world reflecting those values, the work that stands out may be that which deflects some of the vulgarity, while still being promoted intentionally. In other words, the most effective art promotion may be aggressive, but avoid the hard sell. Promotion that doesn’t seem like promotion is a path to achieving the sort of mystique barred to those whose work is considered too commercial (or even worse, dull).

Click label below for complete Self-Promotion for Artists (Parts 1-4). Click Arts promotion for all posts on this topic.


To learn more about writing and strategic communications that can amplify your voice, contact me at ajeisenstat[at]gmail[dot]com, or visit my portfolio AdamEisenstat.com and LinkedIn profile.

The Case Study: A Timeless and Versatile Form

The case study or “success story” is a mainstay of marketing. Most people whose work has even a cursory relationship to marketing communications are at least familiar with the basic format:

* Problem [Client situation/Industry background]
* Solution [How the customer used a product/service]
* Benefits [. . . and they lived happily ever after]

The very ubiquity and simplicity of case studies means that often they’re taken for granted. Many people in marketing, or those who hire people in marketing, see case studies as peripheral or supplemental to their primary vehicles—a Website, collateral, etc.

The case study is an essential marketing vehicle, or at least it should be. It can go where other vehicles cannot, to deliver a measure of credibility and complexity that is unmatched.


Beyond Explanation: Identification > Association > Extrapolation

While other marketing copy tells you about a product or service, a case study shows you how it works.

Case studies eschew the “salesy” language so many people have been conditioned to view with skepticism (no matter how true it is). As in social media marketing, the attributes of the company whose product/service is featured in the case study are implied, never stated directly.

A well written case study is a story that is engaging and triggers empathy. It enables the reader to identify with the challenges faced by the customer in the story, because he/she faces similar challenges.

Also, when the problem addressed is a familiar one, the case study can serve as a model for prospects/existing customers who may have never thought of using the product or service in the fashion illustrated by the story. Without spelling out every minute benefit—usually impossible anyhow—the case study allows readers to imagine how they might benefit in their own situation. That is the ultimate purpose of any case study.

* * *

Not only is the case study a mainstay of marketing, it’s also a mainstay of those who venture to instruct others on marketing. (A Google search of "How to Write a Case Study" returned 5 million hits.)

(Here’s an example of the format this post describes, written by me.)

To learn more about writing and strategic communications that can amplify your voice, contact me at ajeisenstat[at]gmail[dot]com, or visit my portfolio AdamEisenstat.com and LinkedIn profile.

Self-Promotion for Artists: More Than a Necessary Evil (Part 4)

Promotion needn't be a purely functional aspect of one’s creative output; it has dimensions that go well beyond standard tactics like creating a promo card, assembling a mailing list, posting online about exhibitions, etc. In the best of circumstances, it can also help define and enrich the art and the artist. For example, the artist statement, a fundamental promotional tool, is also a means of exploring biographical elements in an artist’s work, and bringing to light influences and ideas that add texture to the work.

Interviews and other press coverage can also help add layers of meaning to the work and life of an artist. While artists often see the media as simply a vehicle for increasing their exposure, it also serves as a forum for their ideas, and a means for giving context to their art. Artist statements, viral videos, and other tactics can work double duty for artists, both promoting and defining their art. If approached with a similar care and seriousness as the art per se, these tactics may come to be seen by the audience and/or critics as important components of an artist’s entire body of work.



Self-Promotion Is Self-Discovery

Self-promotion is not just about selling your work, it’s also about selling yourself. This requires an artist to delve into some basic questions about herself: Who am I? Where am I from? What image of myself do I want to project? The answers to these questions have deep relevance to the work itself, and show how one's persona, promotion, and aesthetic are intertwined.

For most artists, self-promotion is never less than a challenge; it means presenting and explaining their work to others. It takes discipline and clarity to do it well, and definitely confidence to sustain the effort. Such an exercise, though, can be invaluable, allowing the artist to see firsthand how others perceive their work, and learn surprising new things about it themselves. Self-promotion may thus be a route to artistic discovery.


Click label below for complete Self-Promotion for Artists (Parts 1-4). Click Arts promotion for all posts on this topic.


To learn more about writing and strategic communications that can amplify your voice, contact me at ajeisenstat[at]gmail[dot]com, or visit my portfolio AdamEisenstat.com and LinkedIn profile.

Mega-media (It’s Mark Zuckerberg’s World—We Just Live in it)

These days, all it takes is ten minutes and a few mouse clicks for any individual or enterprise to gain a worldwide platform with round-the-clock access. But then what? The effortless quality of social media is deceptive. Building a strong online presence is hard work (which many Internet boosters fail to mention).

The sea change wrought by mega-media is that more people than ever—way more—now have the capacity to broadcast themselves far and wide. Capacity, though, is only a vehicle of possibility, like a car without fuel.

Lots of people are starting to use these powerful tools, owing to social and commercial pressures that make self-promotion imperative at all levels. But many lack the time and/or the temperament (to say nothing of basic communication skills) to use them in any way that could possibly advance their goals.

Adding to this plight are the legions of would-be gurus and “expert strategists,” the credible ones indistinguishable from the frauds. For those finding our Brave New World exceedingly alien, all the tips and advice can only go so far.

Mega-media is here to stay. That means you have to connect with your customers/prospects (i.e., your audience) more than ever. It means you have to create new content relentlessly—tweets, Facebook updates, blog posts, etc. And your content has to be strong: engaging, relevant, something beyond what you’re doing on your Website.

You also have to manage excess—that debilitating force. You must be a soldier in the ongoing war for attention/productivity and face endless conflicts on multiple fronts: man vs. machine, man vs. man (and his/her respective feed, page, etc.), but mostly man vs. himself.


To learn more about writing and strategic communications that can amplify your voice, contact me at ajeisenstat[at]gmail[dot]com, or visit my portfolio AdamEisenstat.com and LinkedIn profile.

Less Hype, More Intrigue

Hype is the junk food of marketing. It’s empty, it lacks substance. Hype is saying louder, more insistently than anyone else: Look at me, I’m so great; Listen to me.

It’s not enough just to tell people how great you are—you have to show them . . . Specificity—exploration of detail—is the essence of understanding; specificity is integral to texture.

Case studies are a good way to present concrete examples of what you offer and why it works. A case study puts your product/enterprise in a real-life context and illustrates specifically how/why it works. (More on case studies.) 

Another approach is to focus on process—offer an inside look. The most functional things, whether objects or entire realms of commerce, can have a peculiar allure . . . The bonds of tradition and individual dedication, found everywhere in some degree, ensure there are people who have stories to tell.

Craftsmanship, the minutiae of specialized fields—these are linchpins of civilization, whether understood as such, or even mentioned beyond the confines of their particular fields. Revealing the beauty in the commonplace or making some basic though critical process come alive in prose are hallmarks of potent communications.

There are no dull subjects only dull writers, said H. L. Mencken . . . Good writing is good marketing (I said that).


To learn more about writing and strategic communications that can amplify your voice, contact me at ajeisenstat[at]gmail[dot]com, or visit my portfolio, AdamEisenstat.com and LinkedIn profile.