Successful Art Business, Planning and Marketing Tools and Techniques You Can Use

Having a vibrant arts and cultural community can help attract businesses and make it easier for them to recruit and retain employees. One way to develop an arts community is to create an arts district or “magnet” for an area’s creative talent. Colorado has recently enacted legislation that encourages local communities to create cultural districts as a tool in economic development. Funding these districts and ensuring their sustainability are two of the major challenges that need to be overcome.

Read more here in:  Building with the Arts – Local economies benefit from cultural districts

When one thinks of business and the arts it is typical to think of how business needs to be a good community citizen and support the arts. They may support the arts because it is the right thing to do, their executives need some form of community service or they may really like art.

Businesses act in their own self interest and this is a simple fact. Now there is a reason to combine their self interest and support for art and culture. It can be summed up in three simple words. To discover these words check out my new article in ColoradoBiz:  How to get business to support the arts – It all comes down to three little words

Creatives and Business is about helping artists and other creative professionals become more successful in the world of business.  I will provide you with tools and techniques to help make your creative enterprise more successful and sustainable.  I will also let you know about new ideas and resources in the creative business sector so you can learn about what other successful creatives are doing.

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There are some changes going on in the economy and the creative sector seems to be the future of many economies. As an artist you are a part of this sector and for many of you this will provide great opportunities and business growth.

In his book, The Rise Of The Creative Class, author Richard Florida describes why this sector is important. Read more about the creative class here in my new article in ColoradoBiz Magazine: The Creative Class – The Lessons of Richard Florida.

In Colorado our creative sector is fifth largest part of our economy in terms of employment. Many of us who support the creative economy are involved in efforts to increase awareness of the State’s creative talents and help this important sector grow.

Two of the companies in our local area that are helping to promote our creative sector are denverarts.org and Modern In Denver magazine. Their efforts may give you some ideas on how you can promote the creative sector in your area. To read more check out the article – “The book end of the creative sector”

I am a supporter of the Creative Economy and feel that business has an important role to play.  Artists and other creative professionals need business skills and the help and support of the business community.  Likewise the business community needs the creative economy to help in its economic development efforts, make our communities more enjoyable and viable and to provide a source of creativity.  Here is a recent article which appeared in several venues in the Denver area.

Neil McKenzie Pounding the Creatives and Business Drum

In Colorado, the creative sector is the fifth largest part of our economy in terms of employment.  The South Metro Chamber of Commerce where I am a member is starting an initiative to help promote the creative sector in our part of the Denver Metro Area.  As chief instigator of the the effort I have been fortunate to be able to talk to our community’s top political, business and arts leaders to garner support.  In a recent article for Colorado Biz Magazine I discussed the difference two organizations are making in our local economy.  I encourage you to start a similar effort in your part of the world.

Read more of the article: The creative economy in bloom

Click here to listen to the interview

I was a recent guest on Your Brand Radio talking with hosts David Sandusky and Mark Crowley about the “creativity crisis”.  This crisis presents an opportunity for artists and other creative people to learn business and apply these skills in their own business or in the workforce.  It also presents opportunities for people in business to learn something from the creative community to grow our economy with innovative ideas.

One thing that came out of the discussion was that if you are currently looking for a job, make sure you have the words “creative, creativity and creative problem solving” plastered all over your resume.

As I background I wrote the recent article “Creatives Wanted – The Creative Problem Solving Opportunity” which I encourage you to check out.   You can listen to the interview here: Your Brand Radio – Creatives and Business

The other day I received a phone call from a number I did not recognize – where did all these extra digits come from? The woman on the phone asked if I used Photoshop for my photography business.

Her company was offering a service where I could upload my digital images, have them processed or manipulated and they would be ready for me the next day to download. She offered to let me try their service for free. I explained to her that when I need to use Photoshop I send my images to my local graphic designer.

The caller ID number was starting to bug me. What was it with all of those extra digits – maybe some kind of new internet phone service? The woman spoke great English but I could tell it was not your basic midwestern accent. I had to ask, “Where are you calling me from?” She responded, “I am calling from Switzerland and my company is based in Germany, may I send you some information?”

Read the complete article here on cobizmag.com :  How To Grow Our Creative Economy

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As was mentioned in the first part of this article Business Plan Basics SWOT (Part I) – Strengths & Weaknesses, a basic part creating your business and marketing plan is conducting what is called a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis.  The second part of conducting a SWOT analysis is doing an inventory of the opportunities and threats facing your creative business.

As we did with analyzing Strengths and Weaknesses the first place to start by taking a piece of paper and draw a vertical line so you have two columns – one labeled Opportunities and the other labeled Threats, you can take it even further by adding a third column labeled Neither or Neutral.

When we looked at our strengths and weaknesses we were analyzing factors that were internal to our creative business – opportunities and threats are factors that are external to our business.  Typically these are called “environmental” factors – not necessarily the green kind but this type is becoming increasingly important.

Why do I need to look at Opportunities and Threats?

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