lasting impressing

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="05bfd5a3.jpg"> <div> <B>Marketing Articles</B></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="05cd2043.jpg"> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mike Albin.Com "><U>Mike Albin.Com </U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="wd.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Web design"><U>Web design</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="ma.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Marketing Articles"><U>Marketing Articles</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="sr.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Show Reviews"><U>Show Reviews</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="mt.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Marketing Tools"><U>Marketing Tools</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="l.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U>Links</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#777777" TEXT="#080000"> <div> How to convey</div> <div> a lasting impression</div> <div> of artistic value</div> <div> (Mike’s byline and photo here)<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> Patty and I have really had to take our sales efforts to a whole new level these past six months or so. It seems like almost every sale we make is like pulling teeth. The extra effort of delivering pictures, helping hang them and offering incentives to purchase immediately has been paying off, though. We’ve started off 2008 with some really successful shows, and now we’re trying to keep the momentum going. </div> <div> Our focus is not just to work harder but to work smarter, to be more productive at selling and to not let those almost-sales slip through our fingers and turn into be-backs who never come back. I’m exploring better sales tools that we can use to make our time and effort at shows more productive. Several tools we’re started using include: full-color brochures; full-color catalogs; CDs with PowerPoint presentations or with JPEG images of work; and appraisals. </div> <div> We’ve been passing out our cards and bios at shows since we started doing the circuit almost nine years ago. We’ve passed out well over 20,000 business cards over the years, and I think I can still count on one hand the number of pieces we’ve sold to people who called us more than a week after a show. We’ve had 500 bios printed up at a time, and those usually lasted us for three or four shows. I’ve rewritten the bio every single time I’ve had it printed it up, changing it to see if I could make it inspire more people to purchase after shows, whether they call us on the phone or order directly from our Web site. I track every sale we make to see where it came from, and I make notes on how we got the sale. But because our bios and cards have just not been producing enough after-show sales, we’ve decided to scrap the bios entirely and go with full-color, tri-fold brochures. After all, potential clients are already familiar with our work and like it enough to ask for a card. So there’s got to be something I can hand them (other than cards) that they will hold onto and that will move them to purchase at a later date. That’s my theory, anyway! </div> <div> There are a couple of things to keep in mind when designing your brochure. The most important thing is to make the main focus what you can do for the customer. The mistake most people make is having the contents all about themselves. Listing the benefits for the customer is kind of tough to do with artwork, but, as always, be creative. I list things like: </div> <div> - We can custom make one of our pictures in any size you need.</div> <div> - Your new artwork will be a great conversation starter.</div> <div> - Our artwork is made to last for years and will increase in value over time. It will become one of your family’s treasured heirlooms, handed down to your children and their children.</div> <div> Mention that you ship your artwork and insure it to make sure it arrives safely. Also mention your phone number and Web address, and give them a reason to call, such as, “We promise to make your day by designing a custom piece of artwork to hang in your home.” Be sure to include pictures of your work and of your work hanging in homes. Make one small part of your brochure about you and your artwork, but make the rest of it about what you can do for them. </div> <div> My last advice on this topic is DO NOT get too wordy. Use lots of pictures and as few words as possible. Most people will simply skim over a lot of text! We get brochures in the mail, at conventions and in e-mails. Take a look at the next few brochures you come across. Observe how your eyes scan the page, and notice what words and phrases capture your attention. Create the same kinds of phrases for your brochure. Some of the brochures that companies give you are designed by million-dollar ad agencies — use the same techniques for your brochure. </div> <div> If you do not feel comfortable designing your own brochure, there are plenty of companies that can help. I used the same company that’s been printing our cards, MediaFX (813-839-7823, <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="ITC-NewBaskerville" ><U>www.mediafxmarketing.com</U></FONT>) in Tampa, Florida. They listened very well to what we wanted and what our objectives were and designed around that. I sent them JPEG images of us and of our work and gave them general ideas as to what we wanted, and their design team did the rest. I checked with three other companies I had found through Google (search for “color brochures”), and MediaFX had the most reasonable prices.</div> <div> We’ve had lots of people at shows ask us if we have catalogs, but we have never found a company that could print one up for under $1,000 — way too much to spend on something that will be out of date in six months, as we produce new work. I have just found Picaboo (<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="ITC-NewBaskerville" ><U>www.picaboo.com</U></FONT>), a company that will print and ship you a catalog you’ve designed of your work, and the best news is that they do it for under $40 a catalog. That’s not a misprint! There’s no minimum purchase; you can order one catalog at a time if you like, and they occasionally offer two-for-one specials. You download their software onto your computer, which takes only a few minutes, install it, and then you can design your own photo albums or catalogs. </div> <div> We plan on having several made and taking them to shows with us. If someone is really interested in purchasing one of our pictures, we’ll offer to sell them a catalog for $40. Inside, we’ll have a certificate that’s good for $40 off their purchase so that when they purchase from us, the catalog won’t cost them anything. That’s a big incentive to purchase, and only someone who’s really interested in purchasing would bother to spend $40 on a catalog. </div> <div> I’ve also started handing out CDs to potential customers. Even if you aren’t really computer savvy, there are plenty of people around now who can make a PowerPoint presentation of your work for you and save it on a disk. You can have them duplicate it for you, or you can duplicate it on your home computer, and then you can hand the CDs out at shows. You can also design your own labels and print them using your home printer. </div> <div> If a PowerPoint presentation is too difficult, it’s very easy to make a photo CD. Create a folder on your computer and add JPEG images of your work and your work hanging in homes, restaurants, etc., to the folder. If you’re handy with Photoshop, you can even add text to your photos with the same types of statements that are in your brochure. Don’t get too flashy with lots of graphics. Keep it simple, and don’t use a lot of text. Have no more than two sentences per slide, and make your sentences short. Also add a picture or two of you in your studio making your work. When your folder has all the pictures in it that you want, click on the tab that says “copy all items to CD,” then just follow the prompts on your computer.</div> <div> A quick note here about making your CD: Try to make all of your pictures roughly the same size in pixel dimensions. You don’t want images of different sizes popping up all over the screen. It’s too distracting. I used 750x850 pixels for vertical pictures and 1100x850 pixels for my horizontal pictures. And make your images fairly low resolution, approx 500KB to 600KB each, so they will load quickly and not slow the computer down. (And for those of you worried about people stealing and reproducing your images from the CD, making your images low-res will discourage that.)</div> <div> One advantage to a photo CD is that most DVD players will now play photo CDs. Hand them out and tell people to pop them in their DVD player at home to see examples of your work. You can even add music in the background to add to your presentation. Remember to put your phone number and Web address on the label so that when they decide to purchase, they can easily find your information. </div> <div> This last item veers in a whole new direction, but I think it can really help give credibility to you and your artwork. Appraisals can be used for the sale and promotion of your work, for insurance purposes, gallery submissions and more. If a prospective client is standing in your booth trying to decide whether to purchase one of your pieces of artwork, how handy would it be to show him a certificate of appraisal that says that piece of art has been appraised for $9,000? How much credibility would it add to you and your artwork? It can help you close the sale.</div> <div> I found an art organization, Art Services International (561-542-1983, <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="ITC-NewBaskerville" ><U>www.artservicesint.com</U></FONT>), that provides artists with low-cost access to a licensed appraiser and the option to receive internationally recognized certificates of appraisal for specific pieces of artwork. Once an artist’s application is juried and accepted, the artist or the artist’s customers can have an appraisal made for that artist’s work. Also, as your work continues to increase in value over time (you are reading my articles and raising your prices every year, right?), you and your customers can get updated appraisals for your work. </div> <div> A couple of past customers came to our booth at an art show in Atlanta last year. They told us their home had caught fire and one of the pieces they had bought from us about five years prior had been destroyed. They had paid $450 for the piece and had come to the show with their $450 in insurance money to replace it. The only problem was that that same picture was now selling for $1,000. I printed them a little receipt stating that the cost of the picture had gone up; if they had had replacement-cost guarantee insurance, it would have paid the difference. But if we had been able to given them an appraisal certificate stating the picture was valued at $1,000, the couple could have taken that to their insurance company and been reimbursed regardless. </div> <div> I’d like to end on a general note about my past advice. In my articles, I write about sales tools and techniques that Patty and I personally use while we are at art shows. Patty and I sell high-end, 2-D artwork, and if something works for us and we become more successful by using these tools and techniques, I share them with you, my fellow artists. If your artwork is in a different medium or price range than ours, these techniques may or may not be as effective for you. Please be aware that not every tool or technique will work 100 percent of the time on 100 percent of your prospective clients. If you do not feel comfortable using a particular technique that I have written about, please don’t use it, especially if your work is selling successfully with what you are doing. By all means, keep doing what you are doing. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it!</div> <div> However, if you get tired of be-backs not coming back or watching those sales that are soooo close to being made slip away, maybe it’s time to try something a little different, step outside your comfort zone and really start selling. Selling is just taking an active roll to overcome objections your potential clients have to purchasing. You don’t have to become a used-car salesman; you’re just selling your artwork.</div> <div> At every show, there are people in your booth, right in front of you, who are interested in purchasing from you. If they are thinking, “I love this piece of art, but I don’t know how we are ever going to get it home,” they probably won’t tell you that. They’ll simply say they’re going to think about it, and then they’ll leave your booth. While walking around, they’ll get a phone call from one of their kids and start talking about other things and forget about your work entirely and never come back. Imagine if you had asked them, “So what’s holding you back from purchasing this picture?” After they told you, you could have asked them where they lived, told them you were happy to deliver it after the show, and made a sale! All you have to do to become a better salesperson is ask questions and listen, really listen, to what the prospective customers are saying, and help them get what they want.</div> <div> Good luck out there. Remember, my marketing articles and show reviews are archived at <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="ITC-NewBaskerville" ><U>www.sunshineartist.com</U></FONT> and also on my own Web site, <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="ITC-NewBaskerville" ><U>www.mikealbin.com</U></FONT>. If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me at <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="ITC-NewBaskerville" ><U>mike@mikealbin.com</U></FONT>.</div> <bR> <div> 6260 N.W. 19 Street, Sunrise, Fl. 33313 Toll Free 1-877-512-3333    Email: <A HREF="mailto:mike@mikealbin.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:mike@mikealbin.com"><U>mike@mikealbin.com</U></A></div> </td> </tr></table></body>