Last month Ciara Pressler had a great post on the Fractured Atlas blog about changing the way you talk about what your offering so the focus is on the potential audience and not the art organization.

Your marketing is not a mirror, it’s a window. Rather than reflecting on you, any pitching of your product or production must explain to the potential patron why their hard-earned money or precious time should be spent here when there are so many other options out there.

We have heard this sort of thing before, but Pressler offers some fun examples of how you shift the focus to audiences without constantly saying, “You will love this” or “audiences love this.” (I apologize in advance for the amount I include here, I just like so many of her examples.)

“We’re #1! (reference unavailable)

It’s about you: Amazing Jewelry is the most amazing jewelry.

(PASS: At that price, it better be amazing. Know what I think is amazing? That jewelry I saw at the mall the other day on sale. At least I’ve heard of that brand before.)

It’s about them: Amazing Jewelry is dedicated to creative design for creative people.

(MASS: Dedication, how admirable! I am pretty creative… I’ll click on this link and check out their designs, which I will find creative because a creative person like me recognizes creativity, and will value it accordingly.)

Non-Editorial Process Disclosure, aka, Oz Was Behind a Curtain for a Reason

It’s about you: After one year of development, we present: Our Show.

(PASS: Why did it take so long? How long is it supposed to take? Man, if I took a year to do something at my job, I wouldn’t have a job. Just sayin’.)

It’s about them: Be the first to see Our Show in its limited Our City engagement.

(MASS: Oh yeah, I’m an early adopter. Just check out my iPad! I can’t wait to tweet this to all my followers while I check in on Foursquare. I hope I can still get tickets.)

No One Puts Baby in a Corner

It’s about you: Unsigned Indie Band is completely original, no-genre music!

(PASS: Eh, this clip sounds like something else I heard once but I don’t have the available brain space to connect it to anything I already like. Next.)

It’s about them: The progressive orchestration of Arcade Fire meets the ethereal vocals of Florence and the Machine – with a beat you can dance to.

(MASS: Who are these guys, my perfect Pandora station? It’s about time someone mashed up two bands I’ve heard of with an activity I’d like the option to take part in.)

While Ciara is right in noting that people do need a reference point when evaluating something new, I am a little wary about making comparisons to other people/groups because so many people are promoted as the (different age/gender/generation) version of a person or as the next (insert popular entity here.) You can suffer when fans of the existing entity don’t feel the new version measures up. People who read fantasy novels roll their eyes at claims that a writer is the next J.R.R. Tolkien because it happen so often. I once read a book review where the writer proclaimed his joy that there was finally another writer in the genre good enough that comparing people to Tolkien was no longer necessary.

A number of years ago I linked to a series of posts by Greg Sandow who gave examples of poorly written press releases that cited musicians winning awards and competitions that might as well been made up for all the significance it had to most audience members. Ciara Pressler’s post reminded me of that because that sort of approach focuses so heavily on the artist and doesn’t provide as much time letting the audience know what they will receive from the experience that they wouldn’t with some other soloist. If there is no significant difference, then best not spend so much focus on that person when you could be focusing on the value to the potential audience.

The first reaction I had to Ciara’s “audience comment” that “Man, if I took a year to do something at my job, I wouldn’t have a job,” was that it took a lot longer than that to get Spiderman up on Broadway and people still want to see it despite all the weak reports. But then again, most of us ain’t putting up something with the cachet and hype to endure development delays and technical difficulties.

By the way, did this post title make you want to read it?