Wanna Buy A Hat?

…otherwise known as “marketing with both eight barrels.”

Rachel Lyra Hospodar is a ridiculously talented artist across a number of media: paintings, prints, clothing, hats, you name it, she does it.

She creates.

One of the challenges in making a living being truly creative, however, is that if you are creating something that is novel, no-one knows to look for it. If the world has never envisioned “an emotionally informative and yet strangely accurate street and transit map of San Francisco and its environs,” no one will ever Google it. That’s where the “getting the word out” part of the process needs to begin.

So, what’s Rachel doing? How about…

• The website
• The blog
• The mailing list
• The online store
• The in-person event series
• The trade media
• The television media
• The use of smart partnering
• …and the list goes on

Are you using all the tools at your disposal to get the word out about the cool stuff that you’re doing? You could be. None of the tools and techniques that are being used as part of the Medium Reality global microbrand are expensive, or difficult to do. None of them require any arcane knowledge. They just require a dollop of commitment, week in and week out.

Now, go buy a hat.

Bonus scene:

Nigel Tufnel: [on what he would do if he couldn’t be a rock star] Well, I suppose I could, uh, work in a shop of some kind, or… or do, uh, freelance, uh, selling of some sort of, uh, product. You know…

Marty DiBergi: A salesman?

Nigel Tufnel: A salesman, like maybe in a, uh, haberdasher, or maybe like a, uh, um… a chapeau shop or something. You know, like, “Would you… what size do you wear, sir?” And then you answer me.

Marty DiBergi: Uh… seven and a quarter.

Nigel Tufnel: “I think we have that.” See, something like that I could do.

Marty DiBergi: Yeah… you think you’d be happy doing something like-…

Nigel Tufnel: “No; we’re all out. Do you wear black?” See, that sort of thing I think I could probably… muster up.

Marty DiBergi: Do you think you’d be happy doing that?

Nigel Tufnel: Well, I don’t know – wh-wh-… what’re the hours?

source: IMDB