In the Art Marketing Minute Podcast, you’ll learn how to sell your art, how to market your paintings, and everything else you need to know in order to have a successful art career. Each episode answers questions from artists by host Eric Rhoads, author of “Make More Money Selling Your Art,” publisher of several art magazines and newsletters, and author of ArtMarketing.com. 

In this Art Marketing Minute, Eric Rhoads answers the questions: Is direct mail still an effective way to reach buyers? And, how do you transition from a day job to being a full-time artist?

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 102 >

 

Submit Your Art Marketing Question:

What questions do you have about selling your art? Email Eric today at [email protected] (include your name and where you’re from) to hear your question answered on an upcoming Art Marketing Minute Podcast.

FULL TRANSCRIPT of the Art Marketing Minute:
DISCLAIMER: The following is the output of a transcription from an audio recording of the Art Marketing Minute. Although the transcription is mostly correct, in some cases it is slightly inaccurate due to the recording and/or software transcription.

Announcer:
This is the Art Marketing Minute with Eric Rhoads, author of the Amazon best selling book, “Make More Money Selling Your Art.” In the marketing minute we answer your questions to help your art career brought to you by artmarketing.com, the place to go to learn more about marketing. Now, here’s your host, arts magazine publisher, Eric Rhoads.

Eric Rhoads:

In the marketing minute I try to answer your questions you can of course send them to me anytime, [email protected]. Here’s a question from Christopher, in Avalon, California. Wow, that’s a beautiful place. Christopher says is direct mail still a good way to reach potential buyers, and if so what’s the best way to get started? Christopher, you’re onto something, you’re using your dog. And I appreciate that. Listen, everybody’s addicted to social media right now. And there’s good reason social media advertising is effective. But it’s not the only thing that’s effective. And one thing that happens is the prices are going up and up and up and up. And the cost of reaching people on social media, if you do it properly, is really getting expensive now, and the cost of direct mail is really hasn’t changed. The direct mail was one of those things that years ago, before the internet kind of took hold. Everybody sent everything by direct mail. And one thing nice about direct mail is you don’t have the open rate problem. You know, if you have a compelling envelope or compelling postcard, they’re gonna see it, you’re going to get some message across to them, chances are you’ve got a pretty likelihood of good likelihood of getting seen. So I you know, I think direct mail is very effective, I still do it. I don’t do it all the time. It’s not cheap, like email, you got to print and you got to mail. But you know, the cost of a customer, a good customer can be high. And you got to be willing to spend to get a customer now I created this program called Art marketing in a box. And there’s a whole section in there on direct mail and a whole series of campaigns on direct mail, I have a lady who told me I don’t know, a few months ago, maybe a year ago that she just did the direct mail portion didn’t do any of the emails didn’t do any of the newsletters didn’t do the other stuff. And she doubled her business. And she already had a pretty good business, direct mail campaigns work, but everything in all marketing, all marketing, same principles apply. It’s about media and message. What media are you using? What message are you sending? And how much frequency are you repeating that when I do a direct mail, I typically repeat it. I learned something a long time ago from one of my mentors, he said, take the same thing that you mail, wait three weeks, and mail it again, don’t change a word. And he said, see what happens. And he was right about as many people bought the first time, it’s the second time. So what that sometimes means is you know, you didn’t catch them at the right time, or maybe they were going to buy and then they forgot, this comes as a reminder. And then they buy. And also when you’re selling art, it’s not necessarily about buy this painting, you know, you’re you’re branding yourself, you’re getting them familiar with you, you’re inviting them to your studio to your open studio to your open house or whatever. And then over time, you know, as they’re thinking about, gee, I need a birthday, Christmas, Thanksgiving, whatever gift, then they might be thinking about you of course, you can put those ideas in their head with direct mail or email or anything else. So I think it’s powerful. I talked a lot about it in my book, too. And so you can have great success. But remember, everything boils down to you know, how strong is your copy? How strong is your message? How good are your graphics? You know, are you getting attention? Are you going to blend in a thing that I did in art marketing box, definitely doesn’t blend in. It’s designed to stand out. Some people don’t like that. And they kind of kind of come up with something a little bit more bland. And guess what? Bland results?

Next question comes from Cory in Phoenix, Arizona who says the what’s the best way to transition from my day job to becoming a full time artist? And how will I know when I’m ready? Well, Cory, it’s an easy answer. The best way to transition from your day job is to start your art job. And when you get your art job to the point where it’s equaling the income of your day job, then it’s time to start thinking about maybe quitting your day job. I wouldn’t do it right away, though, you want to make sure that you’ve got consistency, what I would do is I do it over three years, build it, take your time, be patient, and over three years, see if you can get to a higher income level or a matching income level as fast as possible. And that’s through marketing. And then make sure that you have a machine in place so that you’re continuing to get that kind of a level. Because if you can prove to yourself that you can get to maybe three years of income, not only will you have more income now because you’ve got your job and that but you also will have the confidence that okay, maybe it’s time to do Now a friend of mine did this. And what he did is he started his art business got his level of income up as high as he could get it, where he felt confident, then he said, Okay, I’m going to part time. And then he went part time for a year. And then he got his income higher. And then he went to even less part time and consulting. And then eventually, he just bailed out completely on them, he gave them plenty of notice, which is the right thing to do. And in the meantime, he built his career. So you know, you want to have the income crossing that is that income goes away, the other income is replacing it. That makes sense. I think that’s the best way to do it in terms of how will you know, when you’re ready. When you’re making money, quite frankly, I don’t recommend pull the plug on your job and you know, jump in the pool and just hope that it works. It takes time to learn these things. It takes practice and you know, you’ve got somebody else who’s funding the startup of your art business, by giving you a paycheck. Now, you’re going to work harder than you’ve ever worked in your life because you’re going to be working eight hours or 10 hours a day at your regular job and then six or eight hours a day at your art job for a while, maybe a couple three years. But then you know, once you’ve proven that income, you’re gonna have a lot more confidence, and then that’ll make you a lot happier because you know, you’ve got that income anyway.

Well, this has been the art marketing minute with me. Eric Rhoads. My goal in life is to eliminate the idea of the starving artists to help your dreams actually come true. So if you want to submit questions, simply email [email protected]. And to learn more about marketing ideas, you can visit Artmarketing.com. Thanks for listening.

How to Submit Your Art Marketing Questions: What questions do you have about selling your art? Email Eric today at [email protected] (include your name and where you’re from) to hear your question answered on an upcoming Art Marketing Minute Podcast.

> Visit EricRhoads.com (Publisher of ArtMarketing.com) to learn about opportunities for artists and art collectors, including:

  • Art retreats
  • International art trips
  • Art conventions
  • Art workshops (in person and online)
  • And more!