Marketing Jigsaw

This drawing is a metaphor or illustration of how I see & regard the Bible Cartoons as a multi-faceted project. It shows the various pieces of the metaphorical “jigsaw puzzle” like money, time, skills, etc, all in place. It is convenient for me to imagine each aspect of the project as a seperate piece of the “puzzle”, but it is also useful to see how they fit together to make up the whole “picture” of Bible Cartoons. The design came to me when my wife & I were on holiday in South Wales, in August 2012. It’s taken me this long to draw the picture & write the blog about it!

 

The pieces already in the “jigsaw puzzle”.
The pieces I have identified, which we have in place, in no particular order of importance or preference, are:

1) Faith - My Christian belief is important, as it provides the subject material for the Bible Cartoons. It has long been important for me to do something important & significant with my life, involving my faith. Graphic design, science fiction/fantasy illustration, & pretty much everything else I’ve tried didn’t “hit the spot” because they didn’t include my Christian faith in the “mix”.The Bible Cartoons Project does include it, & so I feel I have found my artistic & life’s niche. My faith also produces the drive to be creative & to keep going, even when things are not going so well!

2) Skills - all of the creative, imaginative & artistic skills that I have, which allow me to draw & colour the artwork. Also includes my interests in science, writing, organising information & the desire to research the Holy Land.

3) Love & Support - Here I am acknowledging the love of my wife, family & friends, which provides the support necessary for me to pursue this project. Without them I would probably not be able to carry on doing what I do. I also acknowledge the love of God as being of central, prime importance to me. I need to feel comfortable, secure & (reasonably) confident that things will work out OK, in order to continuously turn my attention to the artwork.

4) Desire - Without the drive & desire to keep drawing & producing cartoons, I wouldn’t get anything done! The desire, drive & self-motivation to succeed is of vital importance when you’re essentially a one-man band!

5) Technology & Equipment - Without my trusty PC & particularly the internet, it wouldn’t be possible for me to display & sell Bible Cartoons all over the world. 10-15 years ago this Bible Cartoons project wouldn’t have been possible, because the internet was in its infancy. I rely on the internet for the vast majority of my Bible research answers to; without that it would be much, much harder to produce the quality cartoons that I draw.

6) Money - Without the loving support of my wife, Bible Cartoons couldn’t have even begun. Now it is generating enough money to keep the website on-line, & we hope & pray for increased sales, which will allow this to continue for a l-o-n-g time to come!

7) Time - I recognise that the Bible Cartoons project is my full-time occupation, job, career, mission, ministry & vocation. If I had to pursue another paid, part or full-time job, then I wouldn’t be able to draw these cartoons. I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to devote my time & life to the Bible Cartoons project.

8) Ideas - I seem to have an endless supply of imaginative concepts, ideas & pictures in my mind, which are the basis of my cartoons. One of the many ways God has uniquely blessed me is with a highly inventive & constructive imagination.

These are the 8 key pieces of the jigsaw which I have identified as being of prime importance. No doubt I could identify many other aspects or pieces which could also be included in the jigsaw puzzle.

What about the missing piece?
Notice there is a missing piece in the centre of the jigsaw puzzle, which I have identified as being...

9) Marketing & Promotion.

We have more customers this year than we had last year. New people are finding my cartoons via the internet every day. Customers regularly return & view/buy additional cartoons. For this we are extremely grateful. We have done little in the way of marketing & promotion, so really our thanks & gratitude is rightly directed towards the Lord God, who has brought us the customers we have. Having said that, we also believe that it is right & appropriate to take responsibility for the Marketing & Promotion of Bible Cartoons. It would be madness to simply sit back & hope that people will find our website & buy the cartoons. We need to be far more pro-active than that! That is why, in the illustration above, the marketing piece is missing - I feel that we are lacking the proper promotional piece(s) to complete the project mix.

Whilst I research marketing strategies on line & read books about it often, I still feel unsure of the best way to “get the word out” that Bible Cartoons exists. I send individual churches emails to make them aware of us, but that is a laborious process... there must be a better, more efficient, more cost effective way to reach many more church leaders, Sunday school teachers & interested parties than that! But that method eludes me... at the moment!

There simply doesn’t seem to be one sure-fire, all-encompassing method to reach all the customers we would like. I frequently write Twitter & Facebook articles, add new Blog articles (like this one) & we get referrals from these sources, which is great. But despite these efforts, we still haven’t got masses of Christian church leaders, teachers, youth workers, Evangelists, etc beating on Bible Cartoon’s cyber-doors!

Perhaps this situation is a reflection of every small (& large?!) businesses’ dilemma: it’s all well & good producing the most spectacular product in the world, but if no-one knows about it, you can’t sell it!

So the missing piece, as far as I am concerned is identifying & implementing a decent, growing, artistic, successful marketing campaign. If you are a marketeer who would like to suggest ways we can increase public awareness of this Bible Cartoons Project, then please contact me on email, I’d love to hear your ideas.

Insomnia & the meaning of life!

I couldn’t sleep 3 nights ago, possibly due to a strong filter coffee at lunchtime! We visited Beckworth Emporium for lunch, which was most welcome, but the coffee (though delicious!) probably overdosed me on caffeine. Even though earlier in the day we went for our longest road run ever ( 6.9 miles) & we had a busy day’s activities, I went to bed expecting to sleep easily all night... but it was not to be, for me at least.

Regarding Beckworth Emporium... I’m always impressed with the staff (number of, & friendliness) & the whole experience of visiting this garden centre & cafe/restaurant. There isn’t really anywhere quite like it around here. What often stands out to me is the clever marketing & branding going one quietly & surely in the background. I like a place that “knows itself”; what it is, what it isn’t, what it strives for, what it’s brand message is, who its customers are, & who it serves. There seems to be shrewd, inventive, decisive, clear branding & marketing going on behind the Beckworth Emporium centre, which stands out. I think I aspire to that same level of certainty in regards to my own efforts at marketing & branding Bible Cartoons. Certainly I strive to figure out how to “reach” more potential customers, whilst trying to figure out what those customers want from me. Currently I am trying to determine my blog “voice” style & how to “be myself” in the blog, which is all about authenticity, whilst keeping the fun, light-heated tone. Quite a balancing act! If only I could find the definitive way to reach more customers & provide what they want.

Anyway... back to the story... 3 nights ago I lay awake thinking about life & found my mind turning towards God, which happens a lot at night, when all is still... except my mind. My conclusion was that the cross of Jesus is everything. I’ve read before that it even splits history (in B.C. & A.D.) which a pretty cool way to suggest the essential & unavoidable influence of the cross on every aspect of... well, pretty much everything!

One of the things I concluded in my musings was that many, many things which God provides for our good, can & are counterfeited by Satan, to harm or enslave us. For example, God gives us technology to help us & Satan corrupts it, intending to make us slaves to it, like over-dosing on the internet, TV, smartphone use, etc. God gives us medicines to cure our diseases & Satan manages to get people addicted to it (drug-taking.) God provides us with relationships to encourage & comfort us & Satan turns some of them into co-dependence, abuse, etc.

But there is one thing which Satan can not corrupt, change, mutate or counterfeit for his evil uses & that is the cross of Jesus. That’s because, at the cross, Jesus sacrificed his life for each & every one of us. That sacrifice paid for our sins & opened up the way for us to have meaningful, intimate, eternal relationship with God the Father once more. That open & wholesome relationship with God is something which sin always damages & prevents. Sacrifice for the sake of others is something Satan would never want to be involved in. I doubt whether he even understands it, & certainly Satan’s self-centred, prideful nature would never aspire to self-sacrifice for the benefit of others. That is why Satan can not do anything about the cross of Jesus: it is outside his knowledge, experience, strategy & purpose.

I’m not one of those Christians who “bashes” Satan either. I believe Satan was created (by God) with the same free-will we humans possess. That means Satan had the same opportunity to either serve God (as he did originally) or to serve himself, which he is eternally engaged in now. In deciding to serve himself, Satan now tries to get people to change their worship away from God & towards himself. But even in doing that, I believe Satan is merely doing what God knew he would do. God is not surprised by anything! Now Satan does an important job: he provides us with a legitimate alternative to following God. Truly we have freedom of will: we can choose to follow God or follow Satan. Some people would say that they don’t follow anyone, or else they follow themselves, but I believe that this is actually the same thing. Unless you are actively following & worshipping God, then any alternative pursuit (though it may not seem like it to the person in question) is actually a matter of following Satan. I believe it really is as black-and-white as that.

The great news is, we all have the chance, at any point in our lives, to turn away from pursuing our own goals (which is really the same thing as following Satan) & choosing instead to become a follower & worshipper of God. Right up until the moment we die, we have that choice before us... how great is that?! We are never beyond hope.

For me (& countless other millions of Christians) it is GREAT & VERY reassuring to know that we have already made our choice & we are actively following God. It was, & is, at the cross of Jesus the Christ that I found the true meaning of life. At the cross I came to realise my need of a personal saviour, & I have not been disappointed. Now I am saved, & I have an eternal destiny to fulfil. When I die, I know I will be going to live eternally with Jesus the Christ in heaven. There is amazing peace & security in that.

And anyone, at any point in their life, can have exactly the same security & certainty that I possess now. All they have to do is confess their sin, repent of it (turn away from it) & accept their need of a saviour. Then pray a simple prayer & ask Jesus into your life. That’s it... then you are a Christian, with exactly the same certain hope, & privileges of sonship that I have. Cool!

Holiday, coast paths & roaming freedom

My wife & I spent a very enjoyable week’s holiday with her parents in Cornwall. We stayed in a cottage overlooking Portmellon & Mevagissey, which is a very pretty part of the county. The cottage had a large lounge, with wide sliding doors leading out onto a patio, which overlooked the sea. The owners even supplied a small telescope which brought the coastline, sea & small fishing boats closer for our inspection!

We were really blessed by God regarding the weather - it was sunny, but not too hot, which allowed us to make good progress on our walks, & it rained at night - very considerate!
My wife cooked some yummy food, as per usual. After a long, tiring walk it was great to have a lovely meal to look forward too! We also had access to an indoor swimming pool next door, which we used every evening.

We walked the local coastline on several days, which was wonderful, dramatic & ever-changing. I took some photo's of wonderful winding coast paths which we walked in the sunshine. I love pathways, especially coast paths. They could lead anywhere - very evocative of roaming freedom. They make me want to see what’s just around the corner, or over the next hill! Maybe I need to introduce some winding pathways into my Bible Cartoons!? What do you think?

I feel well rested now, & ready to return to work.

View from our cottage over Portmellon, Cornwall - very inspiring!