5 Ways to Communicate Your Story with Your Customer Through Your Work

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Did you know there are 5 influential factors when you market or sell? Without connecting to the buyer with one of these factors, you will not have a sale.

fear guilt pride greed love


Photo By: Jen Kahn
www.jenniferkahnjewelry.com

Most companies focus on the first four factors. Scare the potential customer into wondering if they will die, feel unloved, look ugly, be broke, fat or be miserable without your product or service.

I’ve always preferred to go with “love”. Love them as if they are your best friend, your mom, or your brother.

What if you bowled them over with love and pleasure? How would it make them feel to wear your jewelry, to own your piece of art, to read your words, and to listen to your music. What if you seduced them with the love of being blessed with your blessing?

We connect on the human level through our emotions and feelings. It is all about the energy and how we pass that along to others.

Your creativity is energy from your deepest source. Your work absorbs and becomes that energy which is passed along to your customer. This is your story…of you and your work.

If your work is about technique, perfection and execution, what story does that tell and does it connect to anyone? Reach down deep and incorporate this “story” into your work, your website, your brand, and your selling technique.

 

5 Ways to Communicate Your Story with Your Customer Through Your Work:

    1. Think of your art as your best friend. Look at her and admire her strengths and beauty. Realize that she has faults and embrace her crooked teeth and warts. There is no need to perfect her. Let her shine as you created her.

 

    1. Don’t plan out your design to the nth degree. Allow for impulse and to be inspired by the materials, shape, texture, line, etc. Ask yourself why did you chose that material or pattern? What does it say to you and how can you tell a story with it as your voice?

 

    1. Set an intention before commencing on a project. Focus on the intention and then release it. Be free to wander in your artwork.

 

    1. Envision a time and place that your piece would be worn. Dream about the laughter and joy of the moment it is worn or given as a gift. Embrace that loving energy and let it envelope you as you create.

 

  1. Trust in yourself as the artist. Know that you will create the art just as it needs to be. Allow it to be done, and to speak for you. Your creative process and outcome is perfect when you let yourself be free when creating it. Think of it as imperfect perfection!

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24 Responses to 5 Ways to Communicate Your Story with Your Customer Through Your Work

  1. I really love the idea of using love as a way to sell or find a new home for my jewelry. What a wonderful way to increase sales and pleasure at the same time.

  2. This was very powerful Tonya, thank you! What a wonderful perspective. I am always drawn to anything that can help me to stay positive. Your work should always be about love; if you love what you do, your piece will show it. A less than positive emotion or occurrence in your life can be a catalyst for a piece of art. If that is the case, that creativity helped you to heal!

  3. Wow… thanks for putting into words what I sometimes do when I create. It really makes me feel like I am on the right track with my work. I love what I do and I hope that when I sell at shows people feel that in the pieces they purchase. Many of the most amazing pieces I have done use “mistakes” in ways that was not the original idea.

  4. You speak from your heart to our hearts. You are doing exactly what you were mean’t to be doing. Take joy in your new ventures. I look forward to more insights from you.

  6. Gee, those first four factors don’t sound like much fun at all. Unless “pride” means that the buyer will be proud to wear my piece. I could get behind that! But I’d feel better if the buyer loved my work.

  7. Absolutley love….and imbued with passion! I would wish for my customers to feel all of that in my pieces. While I do well in sales in the galleries that carry my jewellery, selling face to face in craft shows is the best way for me to convey the passion I feel about creating each piece.

  9. I love the idea of allowing love to flow into my jewelry! great insight into the 5 factors of selling i did not realize… of course it’s about letting the love flow! thank you!

  10. Love is the key. We all live with too much fear; guilt consumes too much energy; pride overwhelms creativity; and greed destroys all. Thanks, Tanya, for unlocking doors.

  11. Tonya I want to thank you not only for your wonderful information and insight as my mentor, (which shows your passion for what you do), but also conveying the love we put in an art piece we create. I feel as though a little part of myself goes in each piece I create. When I’m creating, I am totally absorbed in my passion!

  12. This really hit me. I get lost in the creative process but this brings me more into focus about purpose. I make jewelry because I enjoy it and you are so right, it doesn’t need to be perfect. I usually end up ruining a piece because I keep trying to get it more and more perfect. Thanks Tonya

  13. That;s why it takes me so long to make a piece! I can’t turn it loose until it is perfect, but perfection is not in this world. I finally reach a point that I can’t tweak with it any longer so I set it aside and hope it speaks to someone. Perhaps if I listen to it more closely, it will tell me when it is ready.

  14. Thanks again, Tonya for wonderful inspiration. You always remind me that this life is about love and why would anyone want it any other way?

  15. It is great to have symbolic meaning in your designs. I think customers relate to those ideas. Even if it is very simple, such as a butterfly representing renewing your relationship with Jesus…or it could also mean…gently soaring to new heights in your personal world. Taking time to create a design that has meaning is key. Allowing the piece to ‘speak’ to you (with changes) is as well! Just gotta decide what you want your piece to ‘say’. Thanks, Tonya, for all you do.

  16. this is such an exciting concept, but also very basic. When I created my very first PMC piece which was an affirmation pendant, I used so much love and symbolism in it, that is represents me 100%. I know I need to capture that same feeling for every other piece I create…..and I do, whether it is a bookmark worth a few dolllars that I am giving away as a prize or something using silver I create each piece as if I was making it for myself.

  17. Very insightful. Have not thought of my jewelry in that way. I make it with love, and pray for the person who will wear it, but had not thought of selling with love. Will have to think about ways to present and sell the love.

  18. Thanks for all the feedback everyone! I really appreciate hearing your thoughts and ideas.

    I’d love it if you’d share the link to the article with your friends, students, etc if you think they will also get value from it. My goal is to meet as many artists as I can!

    Create something amazing today, even if it’s just a card of gratitude, a home-cooked meal, or an incredible hug….and of course, include love as an ingredient in the creation 😉

    Much love to all of you! Muah!

  19. I agree that love is the key. I love the way jewelry makes me look and feel when I’m wearing it. It exudes my style and level of confidence. That is what I want to offer my customers. So there is lots of love that goes into each piece that I create and fabricate so that each of my customers can share in the love.

  20. What a great piece of advice! In my very limited expience I have found love ( excitement ) over my product, whatever that product is to be a very powerful tool.

  23. I find that the pieces I make, where I am feeling happy, calm and collected are quite often, my favorite work…they are the pieces that always ‘go’ first and I am saddest to see them leave, but happy knowing that they are going away with the people who are meant to have them. They are the people that can see everything that has gone into the work, and they are the people who get the most OUT of my work. It’s very fulfilling and powerful stuff when someone loves what you do enough to spend their hard earned money on it because it gives them joy. I try to incorporate love into everything I do…sometimes it’s hard when there are things going on in life that aren’t nice or pleasant but I try to let my work ,and my love of making jewelry, carry me above the negative. I don’t want any of that in my work and I don’t want it passed along to my customers because I do believe that vibes carry through like ripples in a pond.

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