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3.1 Defining Your Products and Services

What are the factors that influence consumer preferences?

Translation: How do people decide what art to buy? What show to see? What poetry to read? 

In many worlds of creative professions, the work, or at least the idea for the work, comes before we ever get to the question of who will buy or pay for it. As difficult as it may seem, developing a "product line" does not have to be exclusive of artistic integrity. For example, can your scale your work? Can you sell copies of the originals? Can you license your work to an organization for their own marketing? How can you utilize your creative process skills in a different context or business setting? You are tailoring your existing vision only in it's physical state or practice, not it's intent. Each product within the line then, is based on where, when, how and by whom it will be experienced.

What is a Product Line?

Introduction to Marketing: The Product Mix (Alanis Business Academy)

 

Artist Specific Product Line Examples  

Product Mix Examples

Define Your Product Lines

Download the worksheet below to fill in and organize your own work.

Your Product Mix

Reflection Questions

  1. Do you offer more than one type of art?
    1. If so, are they directly related, or completely separate endeavors
  2. What is unique about your work compared to other artists or businesses in your market? How specialized is the type of work you do?
  3. What audiences tend to be drawn to your art work, whether it's film, poetry, dance, performance, etc.?
  4. Why are they interested?
  5. Are there other people who share that same interest–for a different reason or in a different context perhaps–that you aren't reaching?
  6. How can you modify an aspect of your existing body of work to better appeal to those art markets, without changing the nature and intent of your work?

BONUS: Can you isolate the unique qualities you have as a creator and apply them in a different way? For example, a theatre artist consulting with sales representatives on presenting skills, or a writer who consults with mass-media firms on how to tell compelling stories.

Additional Resources

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