Be "Annoying"

So many artists are crippled by fear. Fear that we will "annoy" our followers through self-promotion. Fear of imposition. Imposter syndrome. Fear, ultimately, that we won't be able to make a living for ourselves and our loved ones through our art. It is so emotionally exhausting!

Here's a lens that has made marketing much less exhausting for me, because it takes the spotlight off of me, and throws it back onto my listeners:

Instead of talking constantly about what you do in your marketing, talk constantly about your customers' problems and frustrations.

It's never annoying to me when someone understands and empathizes with my external or internal problems. I want to take better photos of my kids, but don't know how. I want to know how to get better sound quality on my videos, but those darn pops and puffs drive me insane! I want to be more present, but have to constantly fight distractions around me. I want fewer meetings at work. 😅

Dancer and writer Marlee Grace reminds us that as artists, we are sharing way too little. We need to lean into a more aggressive sharing practice. Even to the point of being annoying. But it's not annoying to the interested followers, the ones with the problems that you can help with. It's only annoying to those followers who would never engage with you in the first place.

Once you've captured the attention of a person with a problem you can solve, it's natural to share with them how they can engage with it (call to action). In fact, it would be doing them a disservice if you don't share with them how they can take action and get on with having a better life.

So next time you hesitate about sharing "what you do" with others because you don't want to annoy them, consider starting with a vivid expression of the problem that "what you do" can solve for your customer. Then sharing will feel less salesy and more natural.