Selling is an art!
Selling art in the times of platform
I was overwhelmed by your love and care following my last post. I am blessed to have you in my life. I am still getting back to responding to the messages so my apologies if you have not heard back from me yet. Please feel free to reach out for anything.
Each day brings new hope but also heart breaking news. It has become overwhelming to even the strongest of us. Please take care of yourself and your loved ones.
Perhaps we must find purpose in others’ welfare.
In Feb 2021 Sai Manoj had introduced me to MindMate - a 100 day mindfulness workbook for mental well being. I am so grateful to him for this gift especially now when everything seems to be collapsing around us.
They are on a mission to make mental health resources more accessible to everyone by creating easy to use workbooks that can be inculcated to our daily routine and hold a major impact on our mental well-being. More power to the MindMate Team in their endeavour.
DTW
During the Week, Twitter released a new Tip Jar feature for sending money to your favourite creator accounts.
In another world, Apple pushed iOS 14.5 to its billion devices and made serious inroads into dismantling the ad driven social media platforms. According to a tracker run by flurry, about 96 % of iPhone users have opted out of app tracking.
Chance discovery of artists on multiple media platforms constitute fairy tales that keep users and scouts flocking to them to get the next star. We have seen and heard stories of how people who follow their passion ultimately get discovered and shine like bright stars thanks to the myriad platforms. The key message is that the current art discovery platforms are performing an important function in the march of humanity.
The two tweets discussed above point to two significant changes in the art/artist ecosystem. First, direct transfers to artists are now possible through micro-payments aggregated over hundreds of fans and Second, ad supported business models would come strain in near to mid term.
Direct or subscription based platforms have already shown value to artists who would like to have a direct connect with their fans/patrons. While it makes sense for artists to be on Facebook and Instagram to their makes art accessible to a wider audience but the algorithmic bias can be really detrimental in mid and long term. I have written about Good, Bad and Ugly about brands and platforms relationship in an earlier newsletter.
Key for a thriving art business still seems to be distribution and that’s where platform can be of real help. For example, Trice Community helps artists connect with their neighbours in gated community.
On the other hand, Platforms like Substack on which this newsletter is also published allows writers/thought leaders to build an audience without depending on social media platform as an intermediary. In fact, the old guard is not sitting idle and there are developments like Twitter announcing their acquisition of the newsletter platform Revue as well as rumours of Facebook working on a Substack-like tool designed to support independent writers.
Art discovery problem has been solved and now the time is to think of monetisation for artist. A starving artist might make a good story but …..
OTW
Over the Weekend, I caught up with many old friends during MountainSpeak with Jignesh Patel. We had wide ranging discussions on his journey from engineering to a failed HR consulting to IBS Hyderabad to Maruti Suzuki to CfHE- IIT Hyderabad to his health health care start up. Jignesh’s start up VaccineOnWheels is India's 1st Doctor based Mobile Vaccination Clinic. Watch the full conversation with Jignesh in this video.
VOW has scaled up their operations and drive has already been launched at Pune’s PCMC where VaccineOnWheels is introducing 5 units. The 1st unit was rolled out on 17th April at PCMC and so far this unit has immunized more than 2000 people at an average of more than 200 immunizations per day. They are also looking to hire more people to grow exponentially (More details in the OTM). More power to Jignesh Patel and His VaccineOnWheels Team.
Stay Safe. Get Vaccinated ASAP.
I Love You
Shailendra
PS- Do share your feedback on the newsletter if you have not done it yet. I would be sharing the NPS updates in the newsletter. In case, you are wondering about Net Promotor Score (NPS), please refer to the guides from SurveyMonkey and Qualtrics
To summarise, respondents give a rating between 0 (not at all likely) and 10 (extremely likely) and, depending on their response, customers fall into one of 3 categories to establish an NPS score:
Promoters respond with a score of 9 or 10 and are typically loyal and enthusiastic customers.
Passives respond with a score of 7 or 8. They are satisfied with your service but not happy enough to be considered promoters.
Detractors respond with a score of 0 to 6. These are unhappy customers who are unlikely to buy from you again, and may even discourage others from buying from you.
Current NPS Score of Running Platform Marketing Life newsletter is 47.
Also, thanks to an anonymous concerned user for the following feedback and a score of 3/10. Keep them coming.
OTM
Opportunities through MountainSpeak are available with VaccineOnWheels.com – India’s 1st Doctor based Mobile Vaccination Clinic is serving India’s Pune city with Covid Immunization under Public Private Partnership by partnering with local government and very soon will serve top 10 cities in India. VOW is expanding exponentially and has started hiring managers at multiple levels having experience in HR, Operations, Sales, Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain. In case you are interested to join VaccineOnWheels , drop a comment below.
For the foreseeable future, the art community, like many others, would be forced to migrate online. Many who are surviving the pandemic all have one thing in common: they are digital natives. One of the most significant advantages of going online is that it introduces you to new markets and, as a result, new collectors. Another advantage of doing business online is Analytics that gives deeper insights.
And if we talk about monetization for artists, one of the platforms that I have vividly heard is Patreon, a very popular crowdfunding website. While it is a well-developed platform with several resources to assist creators, there are no ways to promote an artist's account across the platform. The site takes a 5% share of all the money artists earn (once a month). International payment companies such as PayPal and Stripe also have payment plugins that one can use on their website. It's an unobtrusive way to ask ones followers for donations.
Sad to hear about the loss, Sir. Hope you are doing OK :)
I would love to know about your experience with Mindmate. Thinking of ordering it for myself and further gifting it to dear ones.