I have been employed in the marketing and public relations sector since 2001, developed and implemented my own marketing strategies by 2004 for my own company, Qwelxana - Dust Dancer Productions (www.qwelxana.com) and after attending the National Aboriginal Professional Artist Training at the En'owkin Centre I moved on to pursue technical training at the Centre for Arts and Technology Okanagan in 2007 and received my diploma in Digital Film (Media) in 2009.
The technical training I received at CATO allows me to apply my skills in digital video, computer graphics, web design and photography to support Aboriginal artists, businesses and communities. Something I love to do... because even if everything I do is the same, every project and client is different making every experience different and it provides me the opportunity to give back to community by sharing my skills and services with those artist, organizations, businesses and communities who utilize my services.
I've used my technical skills to produce promotional videos for organizations and music videos for artists and to take photos of a client, their work or while they worked to use in their marketing or reporting materials. I created, updated or managed websites and mentored non-profit organizations in web design so they could manage their own websites in house and I created logos, posters, flyers, electronic press kits, and assisted in social media campaigns. The reason I share all of this with you, isn't to toot my own horn, but to share with you the experience that i have that lead me to develop this Indigenized marketing strategy.
Everything I learned about marketing I learned from experience and not from a text book. I say this not to discredit scholarly approaches, but to help you understand where my perspectives are coming from- in the event what I am sharing differs from what you've been taught or what you have learned!
Marketing combines the use of visuals and words to appease or evoke the senses from its intended audience about a person, place, thing or entity. It says "come try this.... taste this.... buy this.... come visit or see this...".
Marketing is a concept developed with the intent to sell something and creates avenues meant to convince potential customers or clients to: buy something, sell something, share something, do something, stop doing something, believe something, not believe something or to even vote for or against something. By definition marketing is the promotion or selling of products or services.
Marketing is about looks, presentation and most importantly Marketing is about rules! Rules involving colour theory, typography, beauty... On the other side are the darker rules of marketing. Rules allowing or encouraging magazines or companies to manipulate and edit images using design tools to alter an image completely changing it from the original thus directly and indirectly encouraging corporations and companies to push boundaries and morals. I acknowledge this is slowly becoming more and more unacceptable world wide by groups/ organizations but it is still the industry norm in MOST cases and to be honest... these concepts don't sit well with Native communities.
Marketing is a concept developed with the intent to sell something and creates avenues meant to convince potential customers or clients to: buy something, sell something, share something, do something, stop doing something, believe something, not believe something or to even vote for or against something. By definition marketing is the promotion or selling of products or services.
Marketing is about looks, presentation and most importantly Marketing is about rules! Rules involving colour theory, typography, beauty... On the other side are the darker rules of marketing. Rules allowing or encouraging magazines or companies to manipulate and edit images using design tools to alter an image completely changing it from the original thus directly and indirectly encouraging corporations and companies to push boundaries and morals. I acknowledge this is slowly becoming more and more unacceptable world wide by groups/ organizations but it is still the industry norm in MOST cases and to be honest... these concepts don't sit well with Native communities.
Indigenous people just have different views on image or presentation and the bottom line and to clarify before you choose to disagree I am not saying image isn't important or profit doesn't matter to Indigenous peoples, communities or businesses. I am saying the way we view the buying or selling of things is different. As a marketing specialist I had to create and develop a strategy that worked for Indigenous peoples, communities and businesses or their customers, clients and guests based on these views. In this process I learned when it comes to developing Indigenized Marketing strategies, image is not the same to First Nations communities or Aboriginal Business owners and entrepreneurs as it is to the general public.
I have learned the bottom dollar is important to Aboriginal Business developers and small business owners but it's not THE MOST important thing. This is why elders purchase rap CD's with the last of their money even though they don't listen to or even like rap and why a majority of community members attend an event in the community that was advertised with only a poster using text and perhaps a border that was made at the last minute in microsoft word by someone who's not very tech savvy that was taped to the door of their local rez store of band office.
In my opinion based on my experiences, this is what makes marketing and business difficult for Indigenous peoples and this is why I developed an Indigenized Marketing strategy! This strategy is what I use when I am dealing with Non-Indigenous clients seeking indigenous clients (ie: Art Galleries looking for Artists and artworks, Festivals looking for musicians and artisans, etc...) or Indigenous clients looking to get into the business of business, self employment or entrepreneurism. If someone wants to market Indigenous businesses or to go into business with First Nations communities they need an Indigenized Marketing and Business Concept!
What is Indigenized Marketing?
Indigenized Marketing is first and foremost learning, sharing and stories
Secondly, it is opportunity, direction, experiencing and building
Secondly, it is opportunity, direction, experiencing and building
Followed by connecting and relating;
and lastly... it's price or profit and presentation!
If you understand these, you are on your way to understanding Indigenized Marketing!
Attempts to implement marketing strategies on First Nations communities or in Aboriginal businesses the same way you would for the general public generally won't work! Unless Your marketing follows a model similar to an Indigenized Marketing model.
Photoshopping people, places or things in a way that its no longer identifiable to the original won't really be considered, even if we don't realize its photoshopped. Neither will campaigns or strategies focusing on image or profit alone! Our minds just don't work that way! When we want to market ourself as an Indigenous artist or artisan, Aboriginal business or first nations developer we won't use or resort to those other marketing rules or strategies that work with the general public even if we are marketing to the general public!
We as people, all want the same thing. We all want to get up in the morning, do something we enjoy for work and make enough money to sustain and support our family!
So let's do that!
Attempts to implement marketing strategies on First Nations communities or in Aboriginal businesses the same way you would for the general public generally won't work! Unless Your marketing follows a model similar to an Indigenized Marketing model.
Photoshopping people, places or things in a way that its no longer identifiable to the original won't really be considered, even if we don't realize its photoshopped. Neither will campaigns or strategies focusing on image or profit alone! Our minds just don't work that way! When we want to market ourself as an Indigenous artist or artisan, Aboriginal business or first nations developer we won't use or resort to those other marketing rules or strategies that work with the general public even if we are marketing to the general public!
We as people, all want the same thing. We all want to get up in the morning, do something we enjoy for work and make enough money to sustain and support our family!
So let's do that!
If you would like to know more about Victoria's Indigenized Marketing strategy please feel free to connect and if you would like to book Victoria to come to your event, venue, business or organization please contact her via email to make your request.
Email: info[at]thestartingpointbc[dot]com
Facebook: thestartingpointBC
Twitter: StartingPointBC
Website (under construction): www.thestartingpointbc.com
Comments
Post a Comment