M03.06-Meanswhereby Marketing Part II: The Second Place

Place. When I work with actors, Place is one of the first things I bring to their creative attention. In the mode of existence we live, it is impossible to do anything without being in a Place. An actor must creatively manufacture that Place so it becomes a powerful environmental influence on his mood and character. Actors reverse engineer the Place of a character. A real person has it all that. An actor must imagine it. If the character is contemporary - matching many of the Place experiences of the actor - that work is mostly done. However, if the character is a Russian Princess living two centuries ago, the job is much harder. New Places need to be created and experienced. Place is an obvious missing ingredient between mediocre and outstanding performance. How many speeches do actors make without an inkling of what surrounds them? It staggers me to see this, yet I know from my own experience as an actor how easy it is to leave it out. Thinking of "Places" this way, you can start wondering "What are the kinds of places I want people to go?" If you are like the contemporary actor, and you know the behaviour of your potential students, then you can easily guess what kind of website/studio they like – it is the kind you like. Or did you choose a niche for which you have no experience? Viktoria, a Basic Full Member is currently working through my month of postings on Niche and making lots of comments about her process (read them below the niche posts). I sure many of you are going through similar processes. The Worksheets, for those Full and Pro Members who have access to them, are full of suggested actions you can take… But I digress. The Place you choose for your niched student wants to be a welcoming place: an emotionally empathetic environment where your deeper fears, concerns, wants and desires are answered both unconsciously and consciously. When you know your niche, it is easy to create this Place. You just may not have the money. Money is important too. Sometimes the metaphor of theatre is a good cover for what sometimes feels contrived and artificial. I think Alexander's comment fits here: "…every single thing we are doing in the Work is exactly 
what is being done in Nature where the conditions are right, the difference being that we are learning to do it consciously." Transposed to building the environment of your Place(s), this comment reads; "…every, single thing we are [creating in our Place], is exactly 
what is being done in [our Niche] where the conditions are right, the difference being that we are learning to do it consciously." So this starts with things like: location, colours, use of space, convenience, artwork, presentation. Trainees yet to have a studio, can be visualizing it now. How big it is? Where is it? What colours will it have? What ambience? What is the user experience as they walk into your Studio? What do you have for them to read? to watch? to talk with? to do? Be them, and build your journey to You. How many Places do they pass through? What is the experience of each Place (email, website, flyer, event, interview) for them? Human beings have this unique ability to imagine how things feel for another other person. Now is a good time to use that ability.