For Art Marketing Success, Grow Where You Are Planted
This post is Part Four of an ongoing series on art careers and art marketing. Here are links to the first three posts:
- Making Successful Art Careers Happen | Part One
- Successful Art Careers | How to Make Yours Happen | Part Two
- Successful Art Careers | Marketing Art Effectively | Part Three
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Do all your friends and family know you are an artist with work to sell? Have you supplied them with postcards, sales sheets, or other art marketing materials to give to others? In your professional circle, how many contacts have bought your art?
How many professionals do you use in your life? Do your doctor, your lawyer, your CPA, and bookkeeper own your art? Have you shown them your art? Do your friends, family or professional relationships regularly refer prospects to you?
You have people all around you who might buy your art, or they might know someone who will buy your art. If you practice, you can learn genuinely to ask these potential buyers and centers of influence to buy your art or refer you to prospects that will.
Grassroots Selling Creates an Incredibly Strong Buyer Base
If you learn to be effective at the local/regional level, you will create a solid foundation to help fund more extensive marketing efforts. Grassroots marketing does not require a large budget. It requires you learn to be pleasantly persistent in seeking buyers and selling your art. If you are proud of your work, nothing should stop you from professionally presenting yourself everywhere you go.
Ditch Your Business Cards
Business cards are useless 20th Century appendages. They are a classic way for someone to blow you off. Stop using them. Never provide any material that does not have a call to action. Use postcards, sale sheets or brochures with a reason to contact you. It could be for commission work, or for free shipping, free local delivery and hanging, a special price or discounted framing.
Never Rely on Your Prospects to Call You
When you give your art marketing material to someone, ask for a commitment for when you can follow up to talk further. Keep your promises and follow up on schedule. Send thank you notes with a reminder after the meeting. At the very least, make sure you get their postal mailing and email addresses with their permission to use them.
If you cringe at the idea of doing routine art marketing tasks such as these you need either to find someone who is comfortable and capable of doing them for you, or to learn to get over your feelings about performing necessary tasks to build your successful art career.
Most often the difference in wealth between two equally talented artists is one runs circles around the other when it comes to marketing and selling. Do not let fear, misperceptions or inaction sabotage your future.
Luck is when hard work and preparation meet opportunity.
Obviously, there is more to art marketing than selling locally. Nevertheless, as the saying goes, "You have to walk before you run", applies to art marketing.
When you master how to capture sales at your local level, you will have more money and more confidence to help you successfully tackle more complex art marketing tasks. Plus, those first gained local buyers are most likely to be your most ardent and long-lived fans.
Salt Lake City Art Marketing Workshop Date Announced
If you want to get in-depth on the marketing ideas in this series, join me at a live workshop. I am bringing my "How to Get Your Artwork Seen and Sold Art Marketing Roadshow" to Utah.
Salt Lake City - Saturday, July 14 - 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Country Inn & Suites by Carlson
3422 South Decker Lake , West Valley City, UT 84119
Seating is limited and the workshop will sell out - reserve your space today
hello dear sir and welcom : i am so verry delaighted for to been so repported from you as an arts works colector from usa. in fact all that you say is the best suggestion i need inlocal earya . but mesinfortunie the matter worth be tooken on all charges such i can so be able for to sel my arts works in usa. a presentelly i think that the beter to do is so reccording or ake downe so all my refferences till i recontacte you for to passe to arts business that we are interested on
with all regards and depth greetings have my all best hoope to you mrs barney davey
your s trully artist painter behaz toufik
Posted by: artist behaz toufik | July 09, 2012 at 01:13 PM