Maritime Marketing

Not long ago Kris Vire posted on the TOC Blog about how awful many non-profit arts organizations are at marketing.

I had just started playing around with Twitter and got hooked after the ensuing conversation sparked by the article among other things. The funny thing is I don't know anyone who disagreed with Kris that I spoke to on or offline. Marketing is telling a story, so we should be pretty good at marketing a storytelling art form. We' not.

So it was serendipitous that the same day, in the break room at the day job, I came across a recent issue of Marketing Power magazine. Its cover story, The Persuasive Power of Story. One section especially grabbed me.

2. Do your research, know your facts. This is the transcript of a radio communication between a U.S. naval ship and Canadian maritime agency off the coast of Newfoundland:

Americans: “Please divert your course 15 degrees north to avoid a collision.”

Canadians: “Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees south to avoid collision.”

Americans: “This is the captain of a U.S. Navy ship; I say again divert your course.”

Canadians: “I say again, you divert your course.”

Americans: “This is a United States aircraft carrier. We are accompanied by three destroyers, three cruisers, and numerous support vessels. I strongly request that you change your course15 degrees north, that’s one five degrees north, or we will be forced to make counter-measures to ensure the safety of this ship.”

Canadians: “We are a lighthouse; you make the call.”

Today, Adam had a good post up. "That's what smart marketing is, describing your art in a way that makes people want to know more about it. Basically it's a magnet that you use to draw people closer. The words you use are a vital component of that."

Now here is a snag for a lot of arts organizations. As a whole we don't like to talk about our work. We also don't like to analyze our work too much, or talk about meaning etc.. But we do want people to come and see it. How do we bridge that gap? How do we describe our work so that folks will want to come and see it, if we avoid talking about it in concrete terms in the first place?

When you talk (hopefully passionately) about your work, are you the ship or the lighthouse?