When you play a violin piece, you are a storyteller, and you’re telling a story.
You can replace the violin in that statement with a camera and it would still hold true.
A decade ago, The Washington Post did an unscientific social experiment where Joshua Bell, a well-known classical violinist, dressed in jeans, t-shirt and ball cap, performed incognito in a subway station. The newspaper wanted to see how many morning rush-hour commuters would stop to hear classical music being perfectly played.
On the morning of Friday January 12, 2007, Bell set up inside a Washington DC subway station and placed an open violin case on the ground for donations. The unannounced event was recorded by a hidden camera.
The Post was worried about huge mobs gathering and the possibility of needing police for crowd control. You can probably guess what happened.
Almost no one stopped to listen, just a handful of people tossed money into the open case and only one person recognized the violinist. Apparently this surprised The Washington Post.
The newspaper couldn’t understand why people didn’t stop to listen to “the beauty.” After all, he was a famous classical violinist playing classical music on an expensive violin. So what if it was a subway station during rush hour on a wintry Friday morning.
It was the most astonishing thing I’ve ever seen in Washington . . . Joshua Bell was standing there playing at rush hour, and people were not stopping, and not even looking . . .
– the one person who recognized Joshua Bell
The easy explanation was that passersby were too busy in their lives (i.e. getting to work on a Friday morning) to notice the violinist. Another explanation was that you can’t fully appreciate “beauty” unless you’re already open to it.
Joshua Bell “was, in short, art without a frame. Which, it turns out, may have a lot to do with what happened – or, more precisely, what didn’t happen . . . Context matters.”
– The Washington Post
The Post article suggested that, “It’s about failing to see the beauty of what’s plainly in front of your eyes” and perhaps having the wrong priorities in life.
Watching the video weeks later, Bell finds himself mystified by one thing only. He understands why he’s not drawing a crowd, in the rush of a morning workday. But: “I’m surprised at the number of people who don’t pay attention at all, as if I’m invisible. Because, you know what? I’m makin’ a lot of noise!”
– The Washington Post
This experiment, which was actually stacked against the musician, can be viewed in a completely different way, in terms of marketing:
1) Instead of classical music, what if pop music was played? Instead of Joshua Bell, what if it was someone like Taylor Swift?
Anyone can make noise. The public will ignore you if you’re just adding to the noise. But if you can “talk” to customers in their language about what matters to them, then they might stop to listen.
2) Instead of a subway station during rush hour, what if the violinist was in a hotel lobby, a restaurant or an upscale shopping mall? Instead of the morning rush to work, what if he played during the afternoon ride home?
Context matters. You can’t sell to a customer who has neither interest nor need for your product. You can only sell to the right customer, at the right time, with the right message. Customers make a buying decision when it suits them not you.
3) Instead of serving classical music in a subway station, what if they served coffee? How many people would’ve stopped?
You have to know your target audience. You might have the most beautiful portraits on your web site but that means nothing to a customer looking for a product photographer to shoot boxes of cereal.
4) Instead of jeans and t-shirt, what if the musician wore a tuxedo and didn’t have an open case asking for donations?
Your message has to match your business. You have to meet customer expectations. An upscale product needs an upscale business appearance and customer experience. Trying to tell people that you offer first-rate photography by advertising on Craigslist, Facebook or other free site is like wearing jeans and t-shirt to the symphony.
5) Instead of playing to random passersby, what if the musician played in the lobby of a music school or in a music store?
Know your market. This is slightly different than knowing your target audience.
When marketing your photography business, you can’t just fiddle around and hope for the best. Don’t expect customers to just walk up and give you their money.
Decide on who your target audience is and understand your market. Then tailor your message so that it’s music to their ears.
