This week, I’m challenging you to stop telling the boring facts and start sharing your story. I’m John Paul Fischbach. I’m the CEO and Chief Alchemist here at the Auspicious Arts Incubator.

You know, the biggest mistake that most of us make is that we think that our prospective customers care about the facts. So this is the situation, right? You’re at the gallery, you’re seeing some work that’s really exciting, you’re curious, and you go and read that little panel there and it says, you know, “127 by 37 acrylic,” on canvas. Those are the facts, but that’s kind of boring. It didn’t help me, right? You’re at the performance and you see this amazing person on stage that’s really incredible. And you look at the bio and it says, “They performed this role, and this role and this role and this role and this role.”

I don’t know anything, okay? But we, for some reason, think that thosefacts are what our customer wants, right? But when your prospective customer for life is experiencing your art, they’re curious. They’re curious about you, and they’re curious about your art. So you have a golden opportunity to share a story because stories sell. So you’regonna share stories about that artwork or stories about yourself or the process of creating that art. Any of those things would be really valuable and would bring that fan to be a potential customer. Bring that customer to be a customer for life, because of the story.

So here’s three things that I want to encourage you to share. Who are you? Why did you create this? And how can they get the most out of this? So those are the three stories that I think you should create. Who are you, why did you create this thing, and how can they get more out of this experience? You’re gonna meet their need for curiosity to know you, right? They’re interested, they’re curious, so just help them. Well, how? It’s in text, it’s in a photo. Use a QR code or a snap tag, right? These technologies take them to richer information, right? They can take them to a website, a page that is dedicated to that artwork, a diary of creation. Most importantly, to the top of your sales funnel where they can sign up to your list. And the benefit is because the customer feels closer to you, the artist. You know, they have more knowledge about the art.

So here’s some more help for what to share, right? Share what this piece means to you. Why did you choose this object? Where were you when this got created or got started? What did you learn as you created it? Are there any artistic challenges to realizing this work? Right? If you expand on any of those ideas and you tell your story, your fan is going to become connected to you. And you know what? People give to people, people buy from people, people want relationships with people, right? Look, they might want your work because it’s really specky, but really, if you want that customer for life, it’s about forming a relationship. So please, do not waste. You visual artists, do not waste that little didactic label with saying, “98 centimeters by 100 centimeters.” Please, please, don’t do that anymore, put a QR code. Put a snap tag in there,share a story. That’s your action this week, share a story. Now, I’m going to go into greater depth about what you could do with this in the ASAP program. But please, start sharing the story, not the facts. See you next week.