Painting, music, and video: A Story in Three Parts
Silk painter Lee Zimmerman and improvisational cellist Kathy McTavish create a beautiful collaboration for the performance of the musical The Secret Garden. The event takes place at the Duluth Playhouse in Minnesota in early 2010.

The video came my way just yesterday.

It’s also a brilliant promotional piece for Zimmerman, McTavish and the theatre where they performed. It’s traveled to faraway places as well as through time to reach new people.

Conversation and connection make their own kind of music
Inkwell Boutique in Halifax, Canada connects online with Bespoke Letterpress Boutique in Brisbane, Australia. Bespoke Letterpress features images of the shop by photographer Daniel MacDonald. The potential audience for all of them is over 6000 people on Twitter alone—reaching people around the world.

When potential numbers are translated into more realistic figures, the message is still received by a significant number of the right people (who are in their respective cities, shop local, and who love things both handmade and beautiful), who can then re-share their content and revisit their websites.

Market without “marketing”
The possibilities for artist collaboration are as varied and exciting as the participants. The tools available to record and share these experiences are both affordable and flexible. They allow creatives to create promotional pieces that are works of art in themselves, that take the dusty, grey stuffing out of “marketing” and transform it into an exploration of both medium and message. They provide backstage passes and glimpses into galleries and studios around the world.

These are the kinds of collaborations that people want to share. A beautiful website, stunning photographs, an inspiring and fascinating video—the experience is something your audience wants to be part of.

Some artists have admitted to me they dislike technology so much they actively avoid it, in spite of understanding the benefits to their businesses. They don’t see it as a medium to discover, a new resource in their creative toolbox. They can’t begin to imagine the fascinating people they can meet and talk to, and share an audience—or project—with.

But you can.

About the author: Stacey Cornelius is a writer and professional butt-kicker. She helps empower artists, designers, writers and craftspeople to do their best work and show it to the world. Want more marketing info? Sign up for her free, jargon-busting foundation marketing email class right here. For high-speed inspiration, catch up with her on Twitter.

Where do your ideas begin?
I always look forward to Eric Noguchi’s “You know you’re a designer when…” tweets.  They’re quirky, imaginative, and bang on. Not that I’m a designer, but I definitely identify with the sentiments.

Yesterday’s gem sparked a flurry of Twitter conversation. Why napkins? Eric suggested, tongue in cheek, it’s because napkins are non-threatening and have no expectations.

Designer Gary Holmes then gave us a link to a napkin sketchbook. Nick Hammond wanted sticky notes instead, because you can’t lose them and they don’t tear as easily.

When the stakes are low you can stretch parameters
I decided linen napkins with matching push pins for the cork board would be the ideal thing. I was teasing a little, because Italian food expert Carmelita Caruana was part of the chat. Unsurprisingly, she wouldn’t be inclined to let us use hers, but she liked the idea of framed linen sketches.

Laura Merritt joined in with suggestions of alternative drawing media. Laura does tea stain sketches, among other wonderful things.

As the ideas sped past, I got to thinking: what happens when you switch from paper to linen? How does that affect your creative process? What happens when you need the good napkins, but lose your nerve and grab the paper ones instead?

Indulge the urge to play
As Gary pointed out, big ideas are more important than big budgets. If you’re focused on how much something costs, you can really jam up your creativity. You focus on the wrong thing. You get precious with it.

New ideas need room to flounder, to wander through the clover and play in mud puddles. You need to give yourself permission to go through as many paper napkins as necessary. The beauty of low stakes materials is you can be spontaneous and unselfconscious, like the way you are when you’re kicking around ideas and laughing with your friends, just for the hell of it.

Doodling isn’t just for making art
The same process holds true for your marketing. Don’t get hung up on the price of delivery, or what the final result has to look like, too soon. The ideas come first and your priority is simple: to delight your customer. If you do that, you’re well on your way to creating a memorable experience.

You can choose your tools later.

Or if you’re the type who thinks best with toys in hand, take your favourite one and let your imagination run before you decide to get down to real business.

And while you’re making the transition from play to serious business, remember: great marketing does not have to cost a fortune.

Show your work at its best—make your presentation
Once you’re past the brainstorm stage, have firmed up your ideas and are ready to dig in, you get to fancy it up. You’ve discarded what’s not working (and likely have a nice little stack of new ideas to pursue later from the best of that bunch).

This is the time to get the linen napkins, polish the silver and light the candles. Paper napkins aren’t needed here. You’re not doodling in your favourite coffee shop anymore, you’re ready to present your finished work for real.

Your customer deserves the good linen. So do you.

A craftsperson once told me a story about a couple who remarked how much fun her work must be. She replied, “Well it would be if someone actually bought something!”

The craftsperson was having a bad day.

The nice people went away.

There’s a school of thought that seems to suggest if you do something you’re passionate about, it must be all kinds of fun, all the time.

You know better.

There are days when you get a little frustrated. And there are those days when you want to throw in the towel, snap your paintbrush in two, pitch your computer out the window, or strike the word “creative” from the collective vocabulary until the end of time.

Okay, maybe that last one is just me. But whatever your frustrations are, they’re best expressed with discretion.

Listen carefully to bridge the gap
When you encounter someone who sees creative pursuits as fun, it might be because she considers your work a hobby. That person might be a lost cause. But it’s possible “work” in her world is something decidedly not fun. It doesn’t occur to her that artists, designers, writers and other creatives work as hard as anyone else.

She might think that way because she needs to believe it’s true. She needs to believe there’s something better that what she’s currently stuck with, and on that particular day, her “something better” is you.

So what do you do with that?

Our craftsperson could have said something like, “It’s not fun all the time. I have to do a lot of production, and that’s hard work. But as far as jobs go, this one is pretty great. What kind of work do you do?”

People like it when you show interest in them. Once you create a little rapport, you can steer the conversation back to what you have for sale.

At the very least, you can help one more person understand what you do for a living.

Watch for emotion and enhance the experience
Or you could follow those words to their source. When someone responds to your work, what she says simply reflects how she feels about it. “Doing this must be so much fun!” is pure emotion. It’s a mighty good feeling, too.

You can take that sentiment and turn it into an experience your potential customer wants to take home with her. You can chat with her a little, giving her a glimpse into your creative practice. That could be enough for her to decide she’d like to buy something.

If she doesn’t buy, she still leaves with a good impression of you and an interesting story to tell her friends—you did remember to tell her something interesting, yes? She might come back or one of her friends might come looking for you.

Get out of your own head and pay attention. If you do it right, what starts as a frustrating comment can end with a sale.

Share your opinion
What’s the best comment you ever got from a customer? What’s the worst comment you’ve ever heard? Have you ever turned a strange encounter into a great selling opportunity?

When was the last time you got a handwritten letter in the mail? We don’t see many handwritten letters anymore, or printed letters carefully laid out on beautiful stationery. It’s a treat when it happens. You get a little thrill when a package arrives in the mail, even if it’s something you bought and paid for yourself.

In my imagination, a new bank starts up. They send me a yo-yo, with the word “Steady…” engraved on the face. The introductory letter says something like, “We know how it feels, watching the ups and downs of the economy. We’re here to help you plan sensibly for a more secure future, so you can enjoy today.”

I know. A bank run by real people instead of profit-crazed bureaucrats. Fat chance. But a yo-yo, that would be cool. There is something truly magical about being in a state of Yo.

Imagine you receive a formal invitation to a tea party at an artist’s studio, printed on pristine white card stock, in flowing script, as if you were being invited to visit the Queen. Or a coupon for a new Asian restaurant, printed on the wrapper of a pair of chopsticks. Bring them in and get an appetizer for half price.

I may have an overdeveloped sense of fun, or maybe I like high-end gimmicks.

Or perhaps it’s a finely tuned sense of the tactile.

Kids interact with the world by touching things. It’s one of the ways they learn. Parents tell them not to touch, to keep them safe and to teach them about social norms. But we never outgrow our need for it. That’s why pet therapy is so effective. It’s one of the reasons wrapping your hands around your favourite coffee mug is so satisfying.

So what if you went old school and literally put something in the hands of a customer? Create a carefully crafted message that’s short, sweet, to the point and perfectly aligned with your personal style. Something sent to a chosen few.

Make a series of cartoons; number each one in the series. Each is part of a story that will be revealed when recipients bring their cartoon to a party. Or, if you and your customers are tech-savvy, arrange a private online event for everyone to upload the cartoon you sent them by email.

Engaging someone’s imagination, their sense of touch, their sense of fun, is a powerful way to connect. Treat their attention like a gift—because it is.

What kind of message would delight you?