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Many Ways to Market
by Lynda Sappington
Marketing is as much art as science. Getting creative with your marketing ideas can not only enhance your business image, but also bring in new customers and make current customers remember you when they want to order something else. Theresa Brown's series on marketing is giving us an in-depth look at many ways to market. My own studio's recent 5th anniversary had me thinking of other aspects of marketing, which I thought I'd share with you.
Attention grabbers are great, and anniversaries should be celebrated. They show you're serious about staying in business and have succeeded for however many years. For my business' fifth anniversary, I ordered "Whimsy Hill Studio Fifth Anniversary 1996-2001" stickers which I'm using on all mailed items. These stickers will also be attached to posters I'll be creating of some of my sculptures, as well as on customers' receipts. (I ordered them from Stephen Fossler Company, Inc., 439 South Dartmoor Drive, Crystal Lake IL 60014, phone 1-800-762-0030. They offer lots more "celebratory" stuff than stickers -- contact them for more info and ideas.)
Advertising in magazines is a good way to build your name, but studies show you need to run the same ad three times in a row in the same magazine for people to really notice and remember it. Sometimes advertising results in sales, other times it just builds your name and reputation. But if people have learned your name and think you have a respectable reputation, when they are ready to buy your kind of product, guess who they'll remember! Just make sure you research the magazines first to find the ones that best target your audience. There's no sense in wasting your advertising dollars by putting an ad in a magazine for those who have no interest in your product!
I'm designing a new display for my booth shows, one which is different from those of other artists at the trade fairs I do. This display will be elegant and appropriate to my work, but will also make my booth more memorable to those who see it, thus easier to find when they decide to come back and order that sculpture they were drooling on earlier.
My customers receive a newsletter either in the mail or online whenever I have a new piece to offer or have other news to announce (such as the museum show I was invited to be in this past year). These newsletters go out no more than four times a year, so they aren't getting inundated with mail from me, but they are being reminded about what I have available. An email I recently sent to customers resulted in a sale of a new bronze the day after I sent the e.
Some of my art is wearable, since I make jewelry as well as sculpture. When I'm out of town or out ON the town, I'm wearing some of my jewelry. And I always carry a purse-sized photo album with photos of my work inside. I also keep my business card case in this photo album, so while I'm reaching for my card, the potential customer "just happens" to see my pictures. I've sold a lot of work with these simple practices, and even gotten into galleries this way, which is not the normal (or recommended) way to do it.
Marketing should take a good percentage of your time if you're in a sales or product-oriented business -- and artists need to realize we are in a sales or product-oriented business if they want to break out of "starving artist" status. It's rough to take the time away from producing the product (in this case, art), but marketing can be a creative activity in itself. Learn to enjoy it and your business will grow!
Editor of ARTVoices, Lynda Sappington is an accomplished equestrian sculptor. Her works can be found at www.TheSculptedHorse.com