A Site for Emerging Artists
Posts tagged Business of art
Email Marketing for Artists – Part 1
Apr 4th
By Carolyn Edlund
Want to build website traffic, and have more opportunities to get in front of potential customers? Building and using an email database of your contacts is crucial to maximize your exposure and create repeat sales of your work.
Email subscriptions are “permission marketing”, which means that the people on your list agreed to receive communications from you. Sending newsletters to people who didn’t give permission is spam, and is illegal. Here are nine basics for setting up and creating an email subscription offering and newsletter:
- Subscription Opt-In. Every artist needs a good website. An email subscription sign-up box should be “above the fold” on your site.
- Providers. You can create email newsletters for your subscribers through inexpensive or free services such as Constant Contact, AWeber or Mail Chimp. They provide an easy, customizable template and many other advantages.
- Branding. Customize your newsletters by branding them with the same look as your website, business card, and other promotional materials. This consistency looks more professional, and makes your business communications more memorable.
- Visuals. Incorporate images into your newsletter – use your personal photo (that’s important!) and your art, of course, including your most recent work. This is a great way to keep your collectors updated on new items they may want to buy from you.
- Timing. Newsletters should be sent out on a consistent basis, but not too frequently, to avoid subscribers “opting out”. Monthly or every six weeks is a good rule of thumb.
- Drive Traffic. Use your newsletter to incorporate multiple links back to your website, to increase traffic and get potential buyers to check out what’s new. The more they are exposed to your work, the more likely visitors are to make a purchase.
- Manage. Use the tracking tools and reports available on your email marketing service to manage your list and analyze effectiveness. You will see who opened your email, and when, and who clicked links to visit your website. You will also see which recipients unsubscribed from your list.
- Experiment. Use “split-testing” to find out how to make a more effective newsletter. Choose one factor, such as a subject line, headline, or image that you want to vary. Send one version to half your list, and the other version to the other half. Your analytics will show which was more effective in getting opens and click-throughs. Use this information to tailor further communications for better results.
- Content. What do your subscribers want to know? Make sure your newsletter content is of value. Create compelling “teaser” intro paragraphs that link back to pages on your website. These might show you creating in the studio, announce upcoming events, or feature new work. Make it interesting, using headlines that grab attention so that your readers want to know more.
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Are Your Prices Unrealistic?
Mar 26th
By Carolyn Edlund
Overpricing
Many years ago, a certain art professor showed his portfolio slides to a class I attended, as a sample of how to put together a body of work for presentation. His beautiful ceramic perfume bottles were quite impressive and skillfully made. Along with the images were prices for each item, which averaged in the range of $600 each, which was his example of pricing to the class.
Not long ago, I happened to speak with an artist who by chance got the same talk from the same art professor with the same slides. She, however, had the presence of mind to raise her hand and ask “How many of these perfume bottles have you sold?” The answer: Zero.
Underpricing
In contrast, I once exhibited at a retail fair where the craftswoman in an adjacent booth was selling handmade jewelry using polymer material. Customers were swarming her booth, snapping up unbelievable deals on handmade work. Her prices were too good to be true, and it was baffling whether she was sneaking into a craft fair with imported buy/sell merchandise or just didn’t know how to price.
Curious, I befriended her and asked her frankly how she could afford to sell her work at such low prices. She confessed she wanted so badly to sell her jewelry that she charged almost nothing for her time.
Constant orders for her underpriced goods were overwhelming her, and she had developed severe physical problems from repetitive motion. In fact, her arms were often numb from overuse, and she had to sleep in a recliner just to avoid being in constant pain.
This craftswoman was obviously making very little money, suffering from overwork, and hurting other exhibitors who were pricing their work reasonably. Had she given thought to the realities of the marketplace and the costs involved in doing business, she would have raised her prices significantly and made a better profit on less work.
Likewise, the art professor had no idea of what the market would bear for his work. Perhaps he didn’t worry about making sales due to his teaching position, but had he been a production potter, he quickly would have adjusted his prices to be more reasonable.
Both overpricing and underpricing your art or craft work is a losing proposition. If you are just starting out, you may be unclear on how to price your work. Avoid pricing from an emotional perspective. Do your homework on what similar goods are selling for to get a rough idea. Then carefully evaluate your materials cost, hours involved and the per hour rate you need to make. Don’t forget costs such as taxes, shipping, administrative time and transportation costs. Then – add in a healthy increase, because running a business is always more expensive than you think.
You will quickly find when crunching the numbers if your pricing structure is working for you. Even though less experienced artists and craftspeople will usually make less income, don’t sell yourself short or rationalize why you are working for almost nothing. Likewise, avoid charging exorbitant prices that will ensure your sales are almost non-existent. Both situations can take all the fun out of running your art or craft business.
Have you experienced the consequences of over or under-pricing your work? What’s your story?
How’s Your Follow-Through?
Feb 10th
By Carolyn Edlund
- Courtesy Moshe Mikanovsky
You work hard to find opportunities. Are you making the most of them once they come your way?
I’ve had some recent experiences that illustrate just how stark the contrast is between businesspeople who follow through and those who do not. During the past few months, I’ve had the occasion to employ tradesmen to help repair a relative’s home and put it on the market. The results of my experience were not surprising:
- The house painter who returned phone calls promptly (every time), and had an estimate waiting in my inbox when I got home, got the job. The one who took two weeks to follow up got left behind.
- The plumber who showed up on time, came back (for free!) to deal with a problem and charged fair prices will get my future business. I don’t even remember the name of the plumber who never called back.
- The heating & air conditioning repairman who gave a vague estimate with a $1,000.00 range and never submitted anything in writing, is now history. His competitor, who emailed and snail-mailed a written estimate including several possible scenarios, got hired. They are more expensive, but worth it.
- The impeccably-dressed realtor who bent over backwards to make sure everything went smoothly, returned every call promptly, volunteered to meet installers at the house, and made fantastic suggestions on how to increase the value of the property with inexpensive adjustments, has my eternal gratitude and every referral I can send to him.
What does this have to do with you? Do an honest self-evaluation. How many times have you said you would call and failed to do so? Are you dependable to be on time, deliver as promised and give a totally professional experience to your customers? How do you deal with situations when things don’t go as planned, and you need to “fix” them?
You have many competitors out there who would love to have the same clients you want. A lot of them don’t have their act together, which gives you a huge opportunity to shine. When you raise your professionalism to a higher level, give impressive service, follow up and go above and beyond expectations, it will be noticed.
When you fail to live up to expectations, however, that gets noticed too. Bad news travels further than good, so you need to maintain high standards to keep your good reputation and get those valuable business referrals – not only from clients, but from your peers as well. That impeccably-dressed realtor was a personal referral from another realtor who respected him and was happy to give his name. Now both of them have earned my admiration and I won’t forget their service.
How’s your follow-through? Are your customers so happy that they can’t wait to refer you? The good news is that it’s never too late to step up and start providing an excellent experience for your clients and contacts – and reap the benefits!
See more of Moshe Mikanovsky's artwork by visiting his website.
Selling Out
Feb 6th
By Carolyn Edlund
If you want to create art that speaks from your soul, art for art’s sake, that expresses your observations, feelings, visions, and dreams, go right ahead. You won’t have to worry if it appeals to the marketplace. There is a great place for this type of work in the art world. I applaud these artists, and enjoy their work.
Courtesy April Metternich
If you want to sell art and make a living at it, you must realize that your work then becomes a product which is tailored to your audience. I’ve seen discussions in online groups where some artists are horrified that they would need to change or “compromise” their work in any way. They rail against the almighty dollar as cheapening their artistic expression. They feel that would be “selling out”.
Ann Rea, in her wonderful blog “Artists Who Thrive” expresses it this way:
If you want to sell your art, ultimately it’s not about you. It has to be about the unique value you offer to a specific target market.
Get clear on what it is you want to accomplish, and you won’t be disappointed if you get something different as a result. If you want to make art, make art. If you want to make art to sell, make art geared to appeal to buyers. It’s a choice. Both are valid.
April Metternich is a designer, illustrator, photographer, author and craftsperson. See more about her work here.
How to Define Your Dream and Plan Goals
Feb 2nd
By Carolyn Edlund
Here is some good advice I heard the other day at a womens networking breakfast, which is valuable for entrepreneurs launching their businesses, or just dreaming of making a successful career. That is to define, or quantify your dream to set concrete goals and make them achievable.
Do you have a dream such as “selling more work” “making lots of money” or “being a full-time artist”? That’s all good, but in order to actually make this happen, you need to understand what those dreams look like. Visualize yourself and your situation when it’s complete. See yourself winning the race, not just running it. How does it feel? You can get as detailed as you like, as you imagine yourself having completed your goal, enjoying the fruits of your labor.
Then, put some numbers on it. How much work do you want to sell? Five paintings a month? $1,000 worth of jewelry per week? $100,000 worth of artwork this year? Thirty percent more than last year?
Likewise, if you want to show your work in exhibitions, define how many and on what level you plan to do this. If you are looking for freelance jobs, how many per week or month do you want? If you are planning a body of work, how many pieces are in it? How many hours would this take?
Make sure your goals are achievable. Setting goals that are unrealistic will just lead to frustration. Break down your plan into a quarterly, or even monthly basis.
Then work backwards. What needs to happen this month? What do you need to complete by the end of this week? What can you do today to work on your goal?
I’ve always found that last part to be very important. Start your efforts now. Even if all you can do today is make a detailed list, or a couple of phone calls, it gives you momentum to work on your goal, and follow through. Each day do more work toward achieving it. Measure your progress. You can make adjustments if things take longer or go more quickly than planned.
Knowing that you have started working on your dream, and that you know what the results look like are very motivating. Stay focused and see what you can achieve this month!
Featured Artist Leah Jay
