How to Share Your Craft
Art is a skill resulting from study and practice. Craft is an exercised art. Sharing is the wedge that will elevate your craft in the mind of others. At the tip of that wedge is the overarching purpose of the brand you are creating. Following that purpose, your craft becomes another symbol for your brand. If you have not defined that idea, you will need to review the steps written in How to Communicate Your Purpose before beginning to share your craft. When you have defined your purpose, you can begin to effectively share your craft.
Lead with the Purpose
Your purpose is the ambassador for your craft. If your audience believes in your purpose, they are likely to believe in your craft. To begin marketing your craft using your purpose:
- Know and Angle Your Idea
- Answer: What is my purpose and how is it currently relevant to my audience? Or in other words, what is their problem that your idea could solve?
- Connect the Craft to the Purpose
- Answer: How does the purpose become a solution using the craft as a tool?
Put the Craft in Context
Sharing your craft is a process of communicating and selling your purpose while connecting your craft to that idea. To do this:
- Use the Purpose as a Filter
- Every aspect of the craft should fit within the limitations of the creator's purpose. Answer: Does everything about the craft align with the overarching purpose?
- Align the Craft With the Purpose
- If there are aspects that do not align, align them. Everything that is a part of the process and presentation should become a symbol for your purpose.
- Design the Story
- With the audience in mind and using the symbols defined in the steps of How to Communicate Your Purpose, construct a story that connects the craft to the purpose.
- Share the Story and Market the Craft
- In support of the narrative, design the experience of the communication.