Marketing What They Really Want

When we market our art, what are we marketing? The look of it? The feel of it? The materials? Maybe all of the above? What do people really want when they buy one of my paintings? I should not only be selling art, but I should be selling the result and benefits of owning my art.
     I was looking over the stats of this blog, and I noticed that someone found it by searching "marketing a nonprofit". I thought about this phrase for a minute. I've been working with the Marquette Symphony Orchestra's Marketing/Communications/Public Relations committee for over two years, and I've never actually tried to market a nonprofit organization. I've tried to market the exhilarating experience of a live orchestra performing familiar and new works of musical art. That's the result of paying $27 to go to the symphony.
   Zig Ziglar wrote in his great book Secrets of Closing the Sale that when a person goes to the hardware store to buy a quarter-inch drill bit, they don't really want a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole.
   Ladies don't want a bag of make-up. They want to look nice. They don't want bottles of shampoo and conditioner. They want nice hair. 
   A friend of mine thinks that grocery stores should install full length mirrors in the snack aisles. I'm sure the diet companies would love this, and I'm betting health professionals would like to see it too. But candy companies would hate it!
   How can we market the results and benefits of our owning our art? If you craft and sell jewelry, do you have mirrors available so customers can see how pretty they look wearing your creation? Candle makers have it made; people can smell their candles before they buy. They see and feel the results of what they're about to buy.
   With this in mind, I'm trying to make my tent at the Outback (on July 30th and 31st) feel like a home. I have nice 'walls' to hang my paintings on. I have an outdoor carpet to put on the ground. I want to bring a comfortable chair. I would like to keep things open, airy, and relaxing. 
   I'm hoping people will be able to 'see' my art in their own homes, hanging on their walls, brightening their rooms and their lives.
   That would be a nice result!