The Church of You
Reflection #73: Marketing Art should look more like a religion than Amazon.com
“Do you think human creativity matters? Most people don't spend a lot of time thinking about poetry. They have a life to live, and they're not really that concerned with Allen Ginsberg's poems, or anybody's poems, until their father dies, they go to a funeral, they lose a child, somebody breaks your heart, they don't love you anymore, and all of a sudden, you're desperate for making sense out of this life, and [wonder] Has anybody ever felt this bad before?" … Or the inverse - something great. You meet somebody and your heart explodes. You love them so much you can't see straight...”Did anybody feel like this before? What is happening to me?" And that's when art's not a luxury, it's actually sustenance. We need it.”
— Ethan Hawke
A human experiences (at least) three levels of desire - material needs (food, water, shelter), material wants (nearly all products), and spiritual needs (spiritual practices, religion, the arts). Nearly all modern marketers are experienced at selling products that meet material wants.
But Art, for the most part, is not a material want, but a spiritual need. That means that marketing art needs to look more like what religions do, and less like what Amazon does. And yet most marketing advisers, coaches, and gurus try to convince the artists of the world that they should market their art, a spiritual need, like the common, material want products of the world.
Your efforts to market and sell art will fail, or, at least, fall short, if you don’t internalize this idea. The artist, like the mystic, taps into The Mystery, a realm of the divine unknowable, a symbolic realm that transcends language, a terrifying realm of death, and a realm of the transcendent beauty of life. It is this mysterious realm from which The Muse communicates to us.
The artist taps into a Resonance and attempts to capture it. We, the Artists, are attempting to communicate a sort of energetic vibe from this spiritual realm. The vibration of the spiritual realm is at a much higher energy level than the material needs and wants realm. And it's critical that the artist maintain a high level of authenticity that is in alignment with this higher level.
You aren't selling food. And you aren't selling wants. You must authentically love what you're doing; and everything you do must radiate that love and authenticity. You must attract the right kind of people with the whole aura around you.
Now, think about how religions and churches stay at a high level. The people who run them (in true religions) are true believers. They do not cheapen the energy level with mundane and pedestrian techniques.
Imagine it for a moment: “A time limited offer to save your soul for 50% off before Friday (new believers only)!” (Note to webmaster: Use a pop up to stick this in all believers' faces as soon as they get to our website!)
What you are looking for is believers in you. Patrons. True Fans. True believers. Yet many marketers tell you to insult them! Not overtly, of course. But we all hate popups. We all hate obvious and manipulative techniques. And using them is a non-verbal insult.
When you market that way, your prospects and customers may not know why, but they will know, deep down, that you are marketing on the material wants plane while they are searching for a spiritual experience and it…and you...will feel.....wrong. It will feel a bit like you’ve “sold out,” to use an old hippie term. It will feel yucky.
To them, due to the spiritual nature of art combined with the in-your-face, sometimes crass nature of marketing material wants, it will feel like this:
I realize that what I am saying feels a bit "woo woo." I guess it is. I don't know what to tell you. You don't have to truly believe in energy fields or vibes or whatever, you can simply believe it's all non-verbal communication since 90% of communication is non-verbal, emotional, and intuitive. Even the most hard core materialists believe this.
In any case, you must truly love what you do, love your fans, create the best art you can for the love of it, and be authentic.
If any of this is off, it will all be off.
But if you remain authentic and come from a place of love, slowly, but surely, love will attract those that resonate with your vision and with your art, and those that come are the true faithful, the believers in the church of you.
“Every genuine artistic intuition goes beyond what the senses perceive and,
reaching beneath reality's surface, strives to interpret its hidden mystery.
The intuition itself springs from the depths of the human soul,
where the desire to give meaning to one's own life i
s joined by the fleeting vision of beauty
and of the mysterious unity of things.”
— Pope John Paul II
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This reflection explores themes addressed in my forthcoming book, The Sovereign Artist.
Inside of each of us lies a divine force - The Sovereign Artist Within - a remarkable force which brings joy, peace, creativity and love back into our lives. This approach to the creative process saved me, and it can save you too, perhaps it can save us all. Connecting with The Sovereign Artist manifests as an explosion of creativity, peace, and quiet inner joy. It transforms the artist into a reflection of itself - sovereign, free, joyful and loving. If that is of interest, please click the button below to join the book’s waitlist.
Other Referenced or Related Posts:
The Mystery
“I’m not sure who you are channeling but it is true and I’m being enriched by your work. You are a wise soul and I appreciate you.” — Ed Penniman
The Muse
“Lovely view of your morning and you and your muse. They are so persnickety sometimes.” — Jeanne S
Resonance
“Your words have inspired me today. For a while I’ve known that being an artist means being true to myself and my art. It’s one thing to get that idea and quite another thing to put it into practice. Thanks for the encouragement!” — Susan Thompson
The Sovereign Artist
“This is the most amazing writing I've read on creativity and being an artist…and I've read a lot.” — Kohlene Hendrickson
Embrace The Dragon
“Such BIG Truths veiled behind psychological concepts.” -- Louanne Headrick
Everything written in this post (and all my posts) is written 100% by me, Clint “Clintavo” Watson, a flesh and blood human seeking to grow my soul and come home my truest self; for that is the essence of creativity. I do not use AI to assist me with writing — that would deny me the very growth of my world through writing that I seek.
Thank you for an awesome article. I must be a "woo-woo" artist, because it totally resonated.