Developing An Anchor Product

Developing an anchor product

Now that we know our audience, it’s time to focus on the product.

This is actually my favorite part of this marketing journey. Coming up with a product lets me use my creative superpowers to develop something that will engage my audience and hopefully sell.

Tip: I find that it is easier to develop a new product rather than try to fit a preexisting product to a customer persona. We often fall in love with our product and lose sight of our customers.

If you are an artist, you probably already have a product you provide. You may be a painter or sculptor and already have an item you need to sell. Remember that those are our support and bridge products. We are creating an anchor product.

I would like you to ask yourself why someone needs this product. How will it help the customer? Remember that helping the customer may be an emotional response to your artwork, which can be considered a need.

Then, consider who that person is and see if they meet your customer persona. I need you to be realistic about who they are and go back through the Customer Persona and refine it.

How can you use your artistic style to make your product meet the needs or wants of the customer?

Be honest with yourself about the reality of that customer. Will they buy your product? Will they be interested in your anchor product? Don’t talk yourself into something that is wishful thinking. If the answer is no, they won’t buy your product, then what can you do to improve the product or better focus on the ideal customer? 

If you are having trouble, go back to the list of “What are their?

  1. Needs – What are they missing or in need of? 
  2. Age – What is their age? Where are they in their spending cycle of life?
  3. Pain Points or Barriers – What is stopping them from purchasing your product? Pain Points or Barriers could be many things: cost of the product, justifying it to their family, wants versus needs, and personal expenses. They could be a mental or financial block or anything in between. It would be best if you found out what those barriers are. Finding obstacles is done by talking to them rather than selling to them. This information will be used to inform you of your ideal customer, not to manipulate someone into a sale. That will backfire if you are trying to build a business around your artwork.
  4. Location – Where do they live? Are they in the city or country, traveling from one place to another? Location is a huge one when you are selling artwork. Where do they live? What state, what town, type of neighborhood?
  5. Action Threshold – How comfortable is your prospect with making a purchase? How hard or easy is it to sell them?
  6. Education – High school, higher education, self-taught?
  7. Hobbies – What do they like to do in their free time? What are they interested in?

We will be using this information to research our customers online to find out where we can reach customers who will be interested and buy our products. We are going to get into the development of our products now so, please stay with me. I will come full circle and tie all this back together for you.

Coming at things from the other direction, developing a new product.

You can use your customer persona to create art that speaks to them. The more you connect with the ideal customer, the better your chances of selling your artwork. 

I understand that there may be artists who would reject this type of plan and that they make art from the heart. That is fine. But if you are reading this, you probably need to sell your work for an income. I would answer this conflict by saying you can do both. 

The successful artist has to make this compromise, along with everyone else who has to earn an income on earth. Some have to do things they genuinely don’t like to earn money to have time to do what they love. You are lucky enough to be able to make art of your choosing for your audience.

You can develop a product that is true to your artistic integrity and focused on your customer’s needs and wants. Make that part of your business successful, and then you can also focus your time on other projects. In time, your brand will grow, and your passions may start supporting your business. 

These types of products are Anchor Products. Anchor products build a solid foundation for your artist business. They will support you by giving you a steady income to finance your other work. You will see these items in many stores and galleries. They may be a nature painting or a type of earring. These items can speak to a specific demographic at a price that allows them to purchase your artwork. An anchor product creates a bond between you as an artist and them. They will remember your artwork and be proud to share it with others. Some of my most minor sales have later become my largest. Give the audience a chance to be part of your world by connecting with them. 

In conclusion, develop an anchor product that can reach a target market. These products will help build a following so that you can introduce new artwork in the future. Remember, people buy through emotion. If you can connect with them on an emotional level, then they will be your supporters. 

Getting started with your anchor product

Alright, you have an idea of who your customer is, and you are ready to create your product. 

I’m going to give you some ideas on how you can use your artwork to develop new products based on the potential consumers. 

I have found that focusing on people’s hobbies is the easiest way to succeed. I like the hobbies category as a starting point because it is relatively easy to find this information about people online using Google, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. These are a few ways to determine how many people are interested in these popular hobbies. 

Below is a list of popular hobbies, and each hobby can have many subcategories. Use this list to identify what hobbies might identify with your customer. 

Hobbies:

  • Reading
  • Gardening
  • Traveling
  • Cooking and Baking
  • Outdoor Activities (Hiking, Camping, etc.)
  • Pets and Animal Care
  • Fitness and Exercise
  • Art and Drawing
  • Crafting (DIY, Handmade Crafts)
  • Music (Playing Instruments, Listening, Collecting)
  • Photography
  • Technology and Gadgets
  • Gaming (Video Games, Board Games)
  • Yoga and Meditation
  • Fashion and Style
  • Collecting (Stamps, Coins, Memorabilia)
  • DIY Home Decor
  • Writing and Journaling
  • Science and Nature Exploration
  • Vintage and Retro Enthusiasts
  • Sports and Athletics
  • Film and Cinema
  • Social Media and Blogging
  • Fishing
  • Woodworking
  • Volunteering
  • Language Learning
  • Cycling
  • Dancing
  • Painting and Art Appreciation

Hopefully, you see a hobby that you can use to create your anchor product.

Next, Here are some general ideas for art products based on this list.

Please check out the button for the full list of product ideas. These ideas are meant to spark your imagination for your own products.

 
Product Idea List

Here are three examples of product ideas to build your anchor product around.

Reading:

    • Bookmarks with artistic designs
    • Book-themed tote bags
    • Literary quote prints
    • Custom book covers or dust jackets
    • Reading nook wall art
    • Personalized bookplates
    • Book-inspired greeting cards
    • Illustrated bookshelf posters
    • Cozy reading-themed blankets
    • Book club stickers

Gardening:

    • Botanical art prints
    • Gardening tool decals or stickers
    • Customized plant markers
    • Illustrated seed packets
    • Garden-themed greeting cards
    • Flower-patterned tote bags
    • Gardener’s journal or planner
    • Plant-themed enamel pins
    • Gardening calendar with seasonal tips
    • Succulent-themed phone cases

Traveling:

    • Travel destination postcards
    • World map art prints
    • Customizable travel journals
    • Adventure-themed enamel pins
    • Travel-inspired phone cases
    • Illustrated luggage tags
    • Vintage travel poster replicas
    • Cityscape prints of favorite destinations
    • Travel quote wall decals
    • Custom travel-themed mugs

Discovering an anchor product

Here is my story about an anchor product that I developed. I had a product that I was making, and the market became completely saturated.

They were being produced for almost nothing in other countries. Hobbyists were making them and didn’t care how much they sold them for. There were Thousands of websites dedicated to selling them. And I needed to sell this item. So what was it?

The product was cabochons made from gemstones and jaspers. I had over a thousand pounds of this rough jasper, agate, petrified dinosaur bone, and no market. I tried making interesting cut stones, but I would need more time to compete. Everyone was happy to undercut me on price.

At the time, I wanted to quit and throw all those rocks into the river. As I was moping around, I reminded myself to step away from the problem and look at it from a different perspective, a perspective of fun instead of stress. Sometimes, that is harder said than done.

I had been taking guitar lessons from a friend, picked up my guitar in my shop, and started practicing scales. As I played, I noticed a stone I had cut looked like a guitar pick. I polished it up a little and tried it out. It wasn’t my finest work but the coolest-looking pick I had seen. 

I would love to say everything worked out great and that I started selling thousands and was able to buy that villa in Spain. 

Nope, nothing happened. I showed the guitar picks to people, and they laughed. I tried marketing them to musicians, but the price was too high. So no sales there either.

I kept making them and started giving them to friends. Then I noticed something: Most of the guitar picks were gifts for guys who played guitar. 

Some of their partners told me how hard it was to buy gifts for them. Then it hit me: don’t market to musicians and penny pinchers. Make an expensive guitar pick and sell it to the girlfriends. I sold thousands of these picks.

To bounce back to the beginning. A cabochon stone may cost $2 – $25 at the average high-end. I could repackage the stones as guitar picks and sell them for $65 to $300. No kidding! I had something now. I had leather holders made, and we called them pickpockets. 

My point is this. I had to stop banging my head against a wall. I was trying to sell to a market that would not buy. I had to find a new market that would. This is why the research part of marketing is so important. There was a market. It’s just not what I thought it was going to be. 

I also learned that most of my sales came from nearby medical facilities, and many customers were nurses. Why is that important? Because nurses have a steady income and tend to work near hospitals, urgent care, and other medical facilities, it is relatively easy to target these areas on Facebook, Instagram, and Google ads using their location and professions.

You can’t change a market, but you can market elsewhere. If you find yourself in this spot, stop and step back and look for a new market. Go around the obstacle, not through it.

Up next, Is to make a list of keywords that describe your product.

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