Does Compelling Art Sell?

A picture is worth 1,000 words, but not dollars

by Jason Falls · August 27, 20127 comments

Watching the promotional video for a friend’s new product recently, I found myself really engaged. It was a beautiful piece with vibrant imagery. Whomever produced the video worked hard and the finished product was well worth watching. It was compelling, visually. It was a piece of art.

Great art alone never sold anything

But nothing in the piece told me what the product was, why I might use it or how I can even buy it.

Great art serves a purpose. But great art alone never sold anything. For that, you need great copy.

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About Jason Falls

Jason Falls

Jason Falls is the founder and chief instigator for Social Media Explorer's blog and signature Explore events. He is a leading thinker, speaker and strategist in the world of digital marketing and is co-author of two books, No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide To Social Media Marketing and The Rebel's Guide To Email Marketing. By day, he leads digital strategy for CafePress, one of the world's largest online retailers. His opinions are his, not necessarily theirs. Follow him on Twitter (@JasonFalls).

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Tagged as: advertising copy, art and copy, art vs. copy, copywriting, promotional copywriting, successful advertising, Writing

Comments & Reactions

Comments Policy

Comments on Social Media Explorer are open to anyone. However, I will remove any comment that is disrespectful and not in the spirit of intelligent discourse. You are welcome to leave links to content relevant to the conversation, but I reserve the right to remove it if I don't see the relevancy. Be nice, have fun. Fair?

  • Ilana Rabinowitz

    I agree, Jason.  Great art can move you emotionally but it takes the right words to make you act.

  • http://twitter.com/gesikowski Cezary Gesikowski

    Great art is offered to you for free … and your reaction is wanting to know how to buy it? Uhm… not sure how to react to that without getting into a the quicksand of ‘what is art’ debate. ART is not a product just as ZEN is not a religion, if you will. Not to say you can’t monetize ZEN or ART, but profit is not their main goal. 

    Perhaps, instead of asking this rhetorical question, you could post a link to this great work of art, and propose how you would monetize it. Or better, ask others how they would propose to monetize this fantastic creation…

    • http://www.secretsushi.com/ Adam Helweh

      I’m guessing you didn’t actually read the post that starts off by saying he was watching a “promotional video for a friend’s new product “. Sounds like the intent of the video was to persuade you to buy said product.

  • http://twitter.com/AaronMarshall Aaron Marshall

    Was it mine? Please tell me it was mine, I won’t be hurt! 

  • http://crazydreamersdo.com/ Susan Daniels

    A short article but direct and to the point. I agree, a call to action is necessary and we need to be crystal clear about our intentions. Have a wonderful day. Warmly, Susan

  • http://twitter.com/itsRobynwithay Robyn Davis Sekula

    Thank you, thank you, thank you. I couldn’t agree more.

  • http://coryhuff.com/blog Cory Huff

    Amen. Even Social Media Explorer knows how to sell art better than most artists do…

– Category – Advertising

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