Gear Up for the Holidays

Retail is gearing up for the holidays, and so should you.  Now the stores are filled with candy and orange-colored decorations, but lurking in the wings is the green and red lights, sparkling tinsel and the obligatory fruitcake.  Radio, TV, and online advertising is cranking up, trying to get the nation up off the couch and into stores this fall.

Hey, if they can get us off the couch, maybe we can shake up a few art enthusiasts enough to buy some art during the holidays. Here are a few suggestions for promoting your art without even getting out of the house:

Join an online group — Facebook, MySpace, or LinkedIn  and POST YOUR WORK. Use these networks to increase the number of people looking at your art. Your long lost grammar school friends could be your next buyers.
Use social bookmarking to promote your art business e.g. del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
Write an Article — Increase exposure and establish yourself as an expert in your field by writing an article about your niche of art. There are a variety of e-zines available for submission, e.g. About.com, Wikihow.com, Howto.com. Also consider creating a “lens” on Squidoo. 
Ebay — it works for lots of artists and it’s worth testing your art on it too.
CraigsList  — a local classified listing that may be worth testing out with your art.  Beware of copyright infringers so be sure to watermark every image you post there.
Use print-on-demand sites like RedBubble, Zazzle, and Cafepress to promote your art via T-shirts, greeting cards and various sundry items.

These are just a few of the online opportunities available.  I’d love to hear what you’ve tried and what level success you’ve had with any online promotions. 

Next post: some promotional activities artists can do in person.

Have You Sent Your Thank You Cards Yet?

To those of you who sold artwork at this year’s open studios, congratulations! Not only did you sell your work, make some money, and create a little space in your studio, you’ve just started a new relationship. So nurture it like you would a new friendship. Reach out and contact them with a simple thank you note.

But, you say, they only bought a small print! Hey, we’re all on a budget this year, but they enjoyed your art enough to take home a piece. The point is if you collected their addresses and emails in your guest book, you can send them a note to thank them and foster a relationship.

As a rule of thumb, it takes 7 times the effort to find a new customer as it does to sell again to an existing customer. Your guest list is a veritable seed packet of potential customers waiting to be cultivated. But most of all, don’t underestimate those new buyers. With the right TLC, they may grow to be your biggest collector.

What’s in the card? Keep it simple. The only elements needed are
• an image of your art and
• a personally handwritten note

Don’t worry that you don’t have some interesting new project, series, or exhibit to tell them about. Think long term and save that for your next email or card. For now, we can be thankful that we’ve got new beginnings with new art lovers.

Setting Your Sights on Next Goals

For many wine country artists, open studios have just ended, and a sense of relief is in the air. A lot of creative energy, hard work and resourcefulness went into pulling it together, but now it’s over. Artists sold their works, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. But generally, there’s a sense of satisfaction, exhaustion, and calm for artists in the valley.

So what’s next? Pack it up, kick your feet up, and wait for next year? No! It’s time to create your next set of goals. But where to start?

Step 1: Dream. Dream about why you create art and where you want to go with it. Some artists travel the world, paint in exotic places, teach at prestigious universities, or exhibit their works in museums.
Where do you want to go with your art? Don’t be afraid to dream big and think about stretching yourself.

Step 2: Set your short-term goals. This is not a self-actualization exercise or a dissertation, it’s a simple sentence that focuses on what you can realistically attain. Here are some possibilities:
• I want to sell $1,000 worth of my art in galleries or retail shops in the next ___ months.
• I want to create items with my art on them and sell 100 pieces at this year’s holiday show.
• I am going to create more traffic to my web site to generate 20% more sales than last year.
Whatever your goals are, be specific about quantity and timeframe. That way you’ll know when you’ve achieved them.

Step 3: Stay organized and focused on the goals. Write your goals out and keep them in a place where can see them. Remind yourself at least once a day where you’re headed, how far you’ve come, and what your next step is.

Lastly, surround yourself with people who support your goals. They’ll help keep you balanced, remind you of your passion, and assist you in achieving your dreams.

Open Studio Pricing, Negotiating, and Selling

Gearing up for your open studio? Have you considered your pricing and your discount policy? Here are some pointers to help you sell with confidence and enjoy the process of selling your artwork.

o Establish your retail price. Many art buyers are under the mistaken impression that getting art from the artist’s studio means getting a 50% discount. You have your overhead and marketing expenses just as a gallery does, and you are entitled to a profit margin as well, so keep the same retail price the same no matter where you sell your art.

o Be ready to negotiate if someone asks for a discount. Tongue-tied slip-ups that reveal an artist’s insecurities can be taken advantage of, so be ready to state your discount policy. If you don’t have one, create one beforehand. For example, “if you buy more than one piece, I’d be happy to give you a 10% discount on each piece.” Or, “since you bought that piece from me last year, I could extend a 10% discount on a piece this year.” Preparation helps you negotiate with confidence.

o Your lowest price limit should be based on what it costs you in materials and time, the market value based on your research on similar works, and your experience and exposure as an artist. That being said, in an economically challenging time, you may want more than ever before to sell your art and move it out of your studio. Set your prices according to your needs and move on. Don’t let it be an existential crisis; it’s just business, not a reflection of your self worth.

Prepare for negotiating and selling like a professional and you may actually enjoy the act of transferring ownership of your art to someone who likes it enough to pay for it.

Showcase Your Work with Professional Looking Email Newsletters

If you have the names of more than 20 guests, buyers or potential buyers, and you want your artwork to be highlighted in the email with descriptive text, you’re talking about sending an email newsletter.

Instead of sending an email from your personal account, e.g. yahoo, why not consider one of the business email providers such as Constant Contact or Vertical Response? (There are many other providers, just google “email newsletter.”)

Pros:
• Easy to Use Templates: All you do is add text and images.
• Professional Look: Your artwork is highlighted and you can describe the piece or your process. No more file attachments for your readers to download and open.
• Tracking: You can see who opened your email and who clicked through to your web site to see more.

Cons:
• Learning Curve: You will have to spend some time and effort getting to know the online software, setting up your template, and working with your text and images.
• Fees: Each provider varies, but fees start around $15 per month, and increase depending on the number of your subscribers and frequency of email blasts.
• Templates are not Custom: Templates have design limitations.

Need Help? How to balance all the email addresses, writing the email, taking photos, prepping your photos for email, attaching files and sending the email while you are finishing your artwork, framing, and hanging for public exhibition? Contact Wine Country Art Marketing – we can help!

Stay tuned for more info on email lists, tips on photo uploading, and more.

Born to Drive image provided by Nicolas Cann.