Each week, Eric Rhoads answers two art marketing questions from listeners like you during the Marketing Minute Podcast. Browse the marketing minutes here to learn tips on how to sell more art.

Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 73

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: “I’ve heard you talk about strategy versus tactic when it comes to selling art. Is one better than the other?” and, “Is it okay to approach multiple galleries for representation?”

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 73 >

 

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:

Thank you and in the marketing minute I answer your art marketing questions you can email yours to me [email protected] By the way, that’s a great resource with lots of marketing content. just go to artmarketing.com. But you can find me there if you want to send in a question. This is a question from Grant Handkola. of Little Rock, Arkansas, who says I’ve heard you talk about strategy versus tactic. Can you speak to that in regards to selling my art? Is it better to have a strategy or a tactic? If I’m a beginner? Well, Grant, it’s both. Everybody needs both. You see, let me see if I can explain this for you. A strategy is how you present yourself and what your meaning is. Now let me use a different brand something it’s not our Walmart, what is Walmart’s strategy, Walmart’s strategy is you know behind the scenes, their strategy is probably selling a lot of volume meaning selling tons and tons of stuff because their strategy says they are always the lowest price as always right. So we know that the Walmart strategy is lowest prices. The tactic is something you do to reinforce what your strategy is like advertising. So you need to know how you’re going to present yourself What is the meaning of grant Hank law as an artist, right. So it might be let’s think about some painters that we know. Joseph, Miguel is one of you know, does some of the most incredible landscape paintings on earth or, or john Snowbird is known as a historic sailboat painter, or Chris blossom is known as a sailboat painter. That’s kind of what you want to be known as now, you could be known as a portrait painter, or you could be known as a mural painter or something else. And you might even have a, something you attach to it, you know, like, I’m known as a expensive portrait painter, you know, like Nelson Shanks, dressed in peace. You know, you knew that if you went to Nelson Shanks, you’re going to pay 80, or 100, or $150,000, for a portrait. So that’s part of your, your strategy. And now how you make your strategy happen as you need tactics, and the tactics are things like promotions, and advertising and newsletters, email blasts, those are tactics. So we all need both tactics, without strategy is not sending a consistent message. But when you have those tactics employed, then you need to always reinforce the strategy. So every time you see a Walmart ad, what do they say? lowest prices, always, always lowest prices always. Right? They every ad they do that reinforces that tactic. And so what you really have to do you know, you have to kind of, especially when you’re first starting yourself out, you kind of want to get branded as something. If you don’t get branded as something, then it’s going to confuse the audience. Yeah, I have a lot of painters who say, Well, you know, I do portraits, I do this, I do that. And that’s okay. But the problem is, you’re going to confuse people, so kind of get known for something. You know, Howard Terpening is known for doing paintings of Native Americans and cowboys. And, but if he started doing flower paintings, and early on in his career, you’d be confusing people. So he’s known for that. Now he can do anything he wants now, because he’s big and you can do anything you want when you’re big. But in the beginning, you want to get known for something. So we need those tactics and we need the strategy. You need to decide who you are, what you stand for what your brand stands for.

Now, the next question comes from Ray Adams in Chicago, Illinois. Ray says, I just got into my first gallery and I wonder if it’s okay to approach more galleries or if it’s better to stay loyal to just one Well, I have a lot of answers to that Ray. And let me start out by saying, I think that first off your gallery relationship is really Critical. And the goal of a good gallery relationship is for it to be one that is symbiotic. In other words, you want to be you in the gallery person need to be strategizing about your career. I just gave advice to a gallery to a person today. He’s in a very big, very well known gallery. And he’s only in that one gallery, and his entire income is based on that one gallery. And I said to him, you know, what happens if that go Art Gallery goes out of business. He said, Well, they’re big, they’re not going to go out of business. I said, Well, I’ve seen big galleries go out of business. So what happens? Well, I would have to get another gallery. And then well, it takes time to build up your career, it takes time to get you known to their collectors. So I said, you know, what I would do is I call your gallery and say, Listen, I don’t want all my eggs in one basket, I want to work with you. And I’d like to get into ideally about three galleries that way, I’ve got some balance in case somebody goes under it, I’ve got some, you know, I get spread out regionally, and so on. So call them up and have a discussion and say, Listen, I don’t want to compete with you. But I also want to be in some good galleries, can you recommend somebody that you feel is of the quality that is equal to your gallery, and then let’s work on that together. And then of course, they can make introductions and help you get in, which saves you a lot of time and trouble. But I think, you know, I like to have the idea of having things spread out among three galleries minimum, and you know, you might not be able to give them all a whole lot of work. And they may or may not like that. But ultimately, you’ve got to think about your career, and you got to think about what’s best for you. Because if somebody goes away suddenly, and we’ve watched that happen in bad economies, where I had artists friend who was in five galleries, three of them, three, I went bankrupt. And so what was he to do, you know, he had to get more galleries just in case the other two went under, because they weren’t selling much. So I think just the general thing, Ray is, you want to keep the quality, you want to be in the highest quality gallery you can be in and a lot of that has to do with your reputation, your strategy. It also has to do with how good you are. And sometimes we start out in a weaker gallery and move up to a stronger gallery certainly has been the case for me. So I think that it’s good. You don’t it’s not about being loyal. It’s about being loyal to yourself. And if you if you’re upfront about it, and you say you know listen, Charlie Charlie’s gallery, you know, how many paintings a year are you expecting to sell from me? And how many do you need? And Charlie says, okay, and the number is 12, or 15, or 20, whatever the number is, you say, Okay, I’m going to focus on giving you 12 really good paintings this year, or 20 or whatever. But I need to be able to also get some paintings in gallery be in Gallery See. And you know, maybe I’ll only give them five each or six each, but at least they’re establishing themselves for you. Getting you some collectors and then you’ve got a backup plan in the event something goes wrong. That’s my opinion on galleries.

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!
By |2021-05-12T14:08:03-04:00June 21st, 2021|Art Marketing Minute Podcast|0 Comments
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Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 72

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, “What should I do when people unsubscribe from my newsletter?” and “How important is it to have a painting framed at a plein air competition event?”

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 72 >

 

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:

That’d be a good book for you to own. Just saying, okay, and the marketing minute I answer your art marketing questions, email yours to me at [email protected] Now here’s a question from Vicki Haley in Montgomery, Alabama, who asks, What should I do when people unsubscribe from my newsletter? Well, I think the first thing you have to do Vicki is you have to ask yourself, why do they unsubscribe? People don’t unsubscribe unless they don’t find the content valuable. And there’s a whole lot of things you can do to make content valuable, which we’ll talk about in a minute. Now you can have a way that you can ask people, if you get a rash of unsubscribes, you could take in theory, take those emails, write a little note and say, Hey, I noticed you unsubscribe, can you give me some feedback? I wouldn’t do it too many times. I wouldn’t repeat the same people. But maybe you can find out why they’re not reading it. But it always boils down to the same thing. They’re not reading it because they’re not interested. And they’re not interested because it’s not interesting. All right, sorry. You know, the problem is that most most artists in their newsletters, make their newsletter about them. Right? It’s the news of Vicki Haley in Montgomery, Alabama. Hey, I’ve got a new painting out, hey, I did an art show. Hey, I’m cool. The problem with that, Vicki is that that’s not very interesting to other people. It’s only interesting to you, maybe to me. So what do we do about that? Well, the first thing we do is we try to make content that people want now in my art marketing in a box program, I developed a whole bunch of content for people that they could kind of have content to do this on a regular basis. But the bottom line is you want to make it interesting. So what would make it interesting? Well, maybe you teach something about art now may or may not be teaching art itself unless the people getting your newsletter our students, but otherwise, you know, you maybe you you have an interesting story about art that you opened with each time and then you introduce other things about the stuff about you, you know, your paintings and the things that you’ve been doing and the trips that you’ve been taking, but you know, as a guy who gets three or 400 of those a month and you know, think about some collectors probably do you know, they go around, they sign up for websites and then you know, they start realizing well I opened it I read it I don’t get anything out of it or I don’t like the work or whatever and so they go away. Now if they don’t like the work that’s a whole different problem. And that’s always about getting better but look for ways to make it entertaining. Everybody wants to be entertained, everybody wants to be get to the point fast. If it’s really really super, super long and wordy are they going to read it you Do you have really great photos? Do you open with something strong? Make it really good. That’ll make a big difference. So ask yourself why? and ask them why and then make it better.

All right. Now, here’s a question from Carrie Moore in Cheyenne, Wyoming who asks, How important is it to have a painting framed at a plein air competition event? I think carry I think it’s critical, I think it’s the standard, right now, you know, first off, you got to have that way to hang the painting in the show. And usually, that means it’s in a frame. Now, if you’re a painter who paints on these kinds of can buy canvases, which have the big thick square edges, and you paint around the edges, you know, kind of a modern look, then maybe you don’t need a frame. And some people will like that. But, you know, a frame really is there to make the painting stand out, you know, a beautiful frame makes it kind of enhanced. And that’s why we put our things in frames, because you’re making better and, and you know, the goal is you want to stand out, you want your painting to look great. And now I believe investing in great frames really makes a difference, you know, we we have a tendency to go cheap on our frames. And sometimes you can find inexpensive frames that are not cheap looking. And that’s okay. But if you you know, if you’re going into Walmart and getting a bunch of frames and just trying to put them in frames, they’re not gonna look right, typically, no, nothing against Walmart, or Michaels. But the idea is you want a really good high quality frame, you want something that’s going to really make the painting standout. And then you also need to kind of understand what are the trends of the market you’re going into like, if you’re going into a market that’s very traditional, then gold frames are probably more appropriate than dark frames, but dark frames tend to do really well and markets that tend to lean a little bit contemporary and you know, people will put paintings up that are not contemporary, but if the frames are contemporary makes it feel better anyway. So that’s my, my feeling about frames. I think frames are really critically important.

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!
By |2021-05-12T14:01:37-04:00June 14th, 2021|Art Marketing Minute Podcast|0 Comments
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Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 71

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: “Do frames add value when selling a painting?” and “What’s a good way to get into a coffee shop with your art?”

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 71 >

 

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:

And in the marketing minute I answer your art marketing questions you can email your questions to me [email protected] Here’s a question from David Bailey in Richmond, Kentucky who asked do frames add value. When selling a painting? Well, let me give you a story. I won’t mention names. But I was on the phone with a dealer. And this dealer told me the story about how he had this painting that had been sitting in the gallery for a year and it just hadn’t sold. He said it was a really good painting, I moved it around a lot. It still didn’t sell. And I was getting ready to I took it off the wall, I was getting ready to send it back to the artist. And I thought you know, it’s really too good of a painting. So he, he took it to his framer, he’s got a really high end framer, he said, I think the problem is the frame. So they put a really high quality frame on it. And he put it up on the wall, and he raised the price by triple, triple now it was an expensive frame, but he raised the price higher. And he said that painting sold in the first week now, do frames help. I mean, you know, when you’re driving down the road, and you see somebody at a Porsche 911 or a Bentley, you know, if they send a signal about that person, you know, maybe. So I think that, you know, you look at it at the environment frames do make a huge difference. We have a lot of great framers who advertise in plein air magazine, you can look in there for frame ideas. And you know, frames don’t necessarily have to be really expensive, some really expensive frames exist. And they’re, you know, they’re almost always worth it. But there are also some really beautiful frames that are not super expensive, but frames make a difference. And I like the idea of the artists controlling the framing, because you want to make sure that you are setting the experience properly. I mean, you spend all this time on a beautiful painting, and then you send it out to somebody and they slap it in a frame now if they want to change it later, but to help sell it, I think, you know, the frame matters. I have a beautiful framed painting from David Lafell. And he made the frame himself and it just is a perfect fit any other frame would have not fit. So I think framing is critical. David, I would put a lot of value into that. And a friend of mine was having an art show and he was kind of new at this and and he was struggling with the idea of expensive frames. And I said to him, Look, I you know, go for it, spend the money, you’ll never regret it. And I said and you’ll be able to get a higher price. And he said, you know, it’s really hard to do because I don’t have the money. And I said I get that. Well, he he did it. And he didn’t do it completely. But he did it. And the ones that had the better frames outsold the ones that didn’t have the better frames and he got a higher price for him. So just saying I think frames make a huge difference.

Now here’s a question from Mary Ann Carnes who asked I don’t know where she’s from. Make sure you tell us when you send in your email tell us where you’re from. Mary Ann says what’s a good way to get into a coffee shop with your art? And what’s a fair percentage split? Well, I think the question Maryann is, why do you want to be in a coffee shop? I mean, you know, we all go into coffee shops, and it’s not unusual to see art hanging in coffee shops, and art for sale hanging in coffee shops, and is that really the best place for you to be? Now, I like the idea of getting some experience. I like the idea of getting out there and trying something. But you know, a coffee shop, you’re battling a lot of other distractions. And you know, it’s kind of embarrassing, if there’s a painting the like you’re walking by it, but it’s over somebody’s booth, you’re not gonna walk up and get the information on it. And so, you know, it’s a tough environment. now. I’ll go ahead and answer that question. But I think you should also be considering, is there a better environment for my work? Maybe, maybe there is. And I would think, you know, as John Coleman was talking about, you know, being the best you can be and having the mindset of maybe you’re telling yourself a coffee shop is all you can get when in fact, you can get into a gallery that’s worth considering, ask yourself that question. But Maryann, if you want to get into a coffee shop, I just take a portfolio of your work and one or two originals. And what I would do, this is not what everybody would do. But I’d take a nice small painting and I’d, I’d call it I say I have a call the owner, I say have a gift for you. And I want to discuss your business proposition. And so you take a gift in and you give them a nice painting a small one, I wouldn’t give them a very expensive one. But just give them a small painting and say, Listen, I would love here’s a gift for me, thanks for taking the meeting. Here’s a you know, this is I’m a painter, here’s what I do, here’s some of my work and show them some of your work. And I would love to have a show in in your coffee shop or your restaurant because I think your people would like it. And it might help me a little bit. And of course, it’ll help you to please accept this gift. And you know, they’ll probably put you in, they’ll probably give you a show, instead of a coffee shop, what I would do is I would go for a high end restaurant, depending on the quality of your work. But I frame it up really nicely, I’d make sure by the lobby area, there’s kind of a listing of paintings. And there’s a way to get a brochure or something, but also a couple paintings right by the lobby area. And ask the owner if you can rotate them once a week or something because people go back to restaurants, if they’re in a high end restaurant, and they’re spending a couple 100 bucks for a meal, and they’ve had a couple of bottles of wine, you’ve got a really nice likelihood that they’re going to fall in love with your work. And then it just got to make you got to figure out a way to make it easy for them to buy. So one of the things you can do is you can put one of these little scan codes on each one and say scan this and it’ll tell you to bring up the painting. The other thing is to make an arrangement with the owner so that they can actually sell it right then and there. Because if people leave, and then they’re, you know, their enthusiasm wanes, you know, they might not call you they might not go to your website. So make it easy to say to the owner, look, I’m going to give you a percentage. And, you know, so what’s a fair percentage split, you know, in a typical gallery relationship, it’s about 50/50. Some artists, it’s 40/60. Because the galleries you know, if you’re a better more well known artists, galleries won’t take as much of a percentage. You know, what you’re trying to do here is to get some experience or trying to get good at this, I think 50/50 is very fair. And you know, the if it’s got to be worthwhile for the for the business owner, because if they say, Hey, I’m gonna make 500 extra bucks, you know, somebody’s painting, sell, you know, then make it easy for them. And it’s just but you’ve got to make sure they know how they know how to do this and how to how to make the paintings available. And you know, they can take them right there with them. And you know, that all that kind of stuff. So you just have to go through that with them.

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!
By |2021-05-12T13:55:40-04:00June 7th, 2021|Art Marketing Minute Podcast|0 Comments
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Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 70

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, “How do I get full mileage out of a social media campaign?” and “What are some ways I can start teaching art to a specific demographic?”

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 70 >

 

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 art marketing minute I try to answer your questions you can email yours to me [email protected] And I always love having your questions. As a matter of fact, that’s where I get my content. Here’s a question from Linda Finnstad of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, who says she has a series of sassy Angel drawings and has started a campaign where she posts an image a day on social media going for 365 days, 10 days into the project. She said she’s getting great feedback as well as sales on Amazon. So our question is, how do I get full mileage out of this campaign? Well, I think first you have First off, you have to Oh, she said, I would hate to look back and realize I missed a fabulous opportunity. Linda, it’s a good question. The first thing I always do is I try to define my goals. You know, what is? what is success to you? What do you want that to look like? Because it might be you know, maybe it’s about selling paintings, but maybe it’s about publicity, maybe it’s about branding, maybe it’s about something else. So try to define what is your 80% goal, what’s the one thing that if 80% of it happens, you’ve accomplished a goal, always start there with everything you do. I also would say that you really started a little prematurely in this in the sense that your planning should be done before you ever start. Because there are things you could do in your planning that will give you a better start, try to get your planning done in advance before you launch your program. But in this case, you can’t do that. So there’s a giant PR opportunity. First off, I would write a press release something as simple as that, write a press release about it, attach them images and put it on the internet through PR wire PR web, there are several services, you’re going to have to pay, you know, 50, probably 150 200 bucks, you’re gonna have to pay more if you show an image. But it’ll show up in Google search that way. And also, when you show up in Google search, you know, people will discover it by accident. And so you want to have your website and all that stuff in there. The other thing to do is to post it as a story on LinkedIn, because every story, unlike Facebook, and Instagram, and other social media, if you put a story on Instagram, it also shows up in search. And so oftentimes, you can find that story. And of course, that’ll link to you. I would also hand picked some dream stories that you want, for instance. So this is the kind of thing that people magazine would like. So I’d go on LinkedIn and get some names of some editors of People Magazine, I find you know, as many as you can find eight or 10 or 12 of them and send them all a personalized email with some photos and photos of you with the paintings and let them know that you have a high resolution images as well. And I would hire a professional because, you know, as an editor, we’re always looking for content. I have a friend who used to work at People Magazine. And you know, sometimes they would have dry spells where they just couldn’t come up with stories and they need filler. And they would grab filler, you know, somebody sends in a press release, and it’s got some great images, they don’t have time to send out a photographer. So they just grab that story, use the images. And so you want some fun images and some different images, I think that would be helpful. You want high res available to them. And so they know that because in printing if they have to print it up, and then of course, if you get a story, then you can tell everybody, you’ve got a story. And that kind of gets the momentum going one time, I went to a seminar and this lady said, you know, write your own press release, write your own story and send it off to magazines. And sometimes they’ll publish it. And I was on an airplane coming back from that seminar. So I wrote a story specifically for a magazine about myself. And I got home and I sent it in and they ended up running it and it was in a national magazine, and it was hardly changed at all. And they used my picture and everything else. So that was pretty cool. So you can do that too. I would send releases to 50 of your top dream story places you know People magazine or, or whatever magazine you think and of course these days it’s it’s about websites, it’s about magazines. The other thing you want to do is look for influencers right? So like there are Instagram influencers. And you could go to an Instagram and find somebody who’s got a million people or maybe Instagram or who does something on angels and say to them listen, I would love for you to do something on my thing and in exchange I’ll give you one of the drawings and next thing you know they put it up there for you and boom you know you’ve gotten seen by the potential of a million people however many so the other thing is I’d look for a chance to get a celebrity sale. Now influencers are a great way because then you can set Well, this influencer that influencer has my work. But what about a celebrity? You know, is there a celebrity that might have a fitting story about a guardian angel, you know, select, you know, Google the term celebrity, and guardian angel and see what comes up, maybe you’ll find a celebrity that has a guardian angel story. And then you say, Hey, I loved your story, I’m going to send you my painting, or my drawing, and then send it to them, get them to snap a picture and say, do you mind if I tell everybody about it, they want publicity. Everybody wants publicity, if you’re in celebrity world, and then you now have something else to talk about. So PR is a great way to go. Social media is great, but it’s limited to your presence. And so you’ve got to find ways to get others who have more presence to leverage you to get it, get it shared. Also, keeping something alive for a year is tough, you know, you want to ask yourself, is a year really appropriate? Or do I just really want what do I really want to accomplish? Can I accomplished that goal and, you know, in three months, so I would develop a plan and see if you can just jam it hard for three months, and then you know, maybe a year later, you can, you can get some more publicity. I also would say, try your local newspaper. Nobody thinks about local newspapers anymore. But there are demographics that read them, they’ll go to art gallery shows, and the best part about a local newspapers, they can get picked up and syndicated by other newspapers who are looking for content. I once had a story in 200 newspapers, because the Associated Press wrote a story about my book. And it they syndicated and I ended up in the LA Times, and the New York Times, and Chicago Tribune and a bunch of others. So that was pretty cool. So the other thing, ask yourself, who’s your target demo demographic? Who was it women, men? What age? What do they spend their time doing? You know, if they’re into gardening, then you know, figure out how to get a gardening publication to do a story how to do it, do a drawing of an angel in a garden and come up with a concept. The idea is to think outside of the I hate that term outside of the box, but interview your buyers, to the people who have bought something from you on Amazon, talk to them and find out what was it that appealed? And what is their story? And what does it mean to them, and maybe that’ll give you ideas, and you can learn things you had not anticipated. And maybe that’ll be helpful. Anyway, that’s, I hope that was helpful.

Linda Andrews from Concord, North Carolina says I would love to share my love of art and landscape painting with young people. What are some ways I can start teaching classes or workshops to this demographic? Well, I think it would be very welcome. Of course, COVID is going to be in the way right now. But it’ll be over one day. So I love I’ve got a goal of teaching a million people to paint and I’m really far along in that goal. But I, you know, I’ve got to hit that million. And then once I hit that million, I want to go to 2 million and 5 million and 10 million and so on. I love the idea of teaching people to paint because it gives them something more in their life, you know, people can be bored, I would first go to Plein Air Force calm. It’s website I put together. There’s a lot of ideas on there on how to speak to groups. I had high school assemblies. To make it easy. We have a documentary you can share. So the idea was that some people are not good speakers, but they could go to a school and say, Hey, I’m Eric. I’m a plein air painter. What does plein air painting Meanwhile, it’s about getting outdoors to paint, you know, and some of you don’t want to be an athlete. And some of you don’t want to be a musician. But some of you want to do something creative. And something that has a really fun potential career with it. Or maybe just a fun potential hobby. Well, plein air painting is getting outdoors, and painting what you see. And when you paint outdoors, you know, give them all the reasons you know, you’re, you’re meeting a lot of people you’re talking to people, you’re painting better color and shape and form and things like that. But then play the documentary, which goes about 20, 30 minutes. And then at the end of that documentary, you can say, hey, what questions do you have? So it makes it really easy to get them engaged. And then you could say, Well, listen, I’m I’m going to supply all the materials and I got a group setting up for plein air painting, and I have some, this is all free. But if you want to sign up for some lessons that’s available to you too, and and you’ll get you know, you’ll get two or three people and you might get 30 people you just never know. And I just start contacting the offices of all the different high schools and maybe even the middle schools and you know, get out there and talk to them and talk to the art teachers. They love somebody to come in and fill their day so they don’t have to teach sometimes, you know, and and get the kids excited, you know, so you can go in and talk to classes. They will welcome it. I would call the Laguna plein air painters association called call Rosemary Swimm. They’re asked for ideas. They bring in busloads of kids from the inner city and they teach them to paint. They have painters painting with them, they have materials, and they make it simple, and it’s really very successful so they can give you some clues. I would also consider right now maybe offering some zoom classes and invite students in for free, maybe, you know, call an art teacher and try it. Get some experience first and you know, just see what works. It’s going to be fine, you’re going to be great. You might want to come up with an incentive or something that makes it really fun for kids and do something to make it cool. Anyway, I think this is a great question. I think it helps. I hope that you can make that happen. I think all of us should be doing that. We should get everybody in every town doing this and we would change the world. Right? Well, anyway, that is this week’s art marketing minute.

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!
By |2021-04-29T07:24:12-04:00May 31st, 2021|Art Marketing Minute Podcast|0 Comments
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Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 69

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: “How do you price a commissioned painting?” and “What do you do if your painting is stolen?”

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 69 >

 

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 art marketing questions. And usually there are questions that kind of aren’t always aren’t marketing related, but sometimes they are. email your questions Eric at art marketing.com. Also check out Art marketing.com because it’s a really great place to get a lot of resources, a lot of articles there. I just wrote one on how to build email list in 2021. Go to artmarketing.com. for that. Here’s a question from Amanda Dodd in Montgomery, Alabama, who says, How do you come up with a price for commissioned painting? Well, pricing is the most confusing, often most misunderstood thing on earth for artists and probably pretty much everybody else. Picking prices, you know, if you were selling widgets, the way you would set your prices is you’d start out by saying okay, you know the cost of the metal is this much and the cost of the labor is this much. And the cost of the marketing is this much and the cost, you add up all of your costs. And let’s say your cost is $100. And then from that point forward, then you have to say okay, as somebody selling this for me, like if it’s if it were a retail store, then they’d say, Okay, well, then we got to add in that, that that amount of money, but you also have to add in your profit, you know, how much is it worth it to you? Now you have to be reasonable, you don’t want to be greedy. But let’s say you’ve got $100 in materials and you’d like to make it you know, some amount of money on it, you have to determine that it’s 10 bucks, 20 bucks, 50 bucks, 100 bucks, whatever. And then on top of that, you know, what is the market going to be able to bear? Well as painters, we’re not creating widgets, but there are some some clues that you can ask yourself first off, how much time do I have to spend on this and let’s just say that you had an average painting and your average painting took you five days and you could sell that average painting for $2,000. So okay, so you know, you know five days of your time is worth $2,000 and you’ve built in your materials and your frame and your canvas and all that stuff into it. Let’s say somebody says well I want you to do a commission and you start thinking about okay well Commission’s a little different, right, or it could be, let’s say they want you to paint their grandmother and their grandfather. Okay, now there’s two figures in it. And how much time is this going to take you? It’s going to take you potentially a lot more than what a typical landscape painting might take you, for instance, now if it’s a landscape painting commission, different story, but let’s say you said, right, alright, this guy is going to take me instead of 10 days is take me 20 days, well, if you know that, you’re normally going to get a couple $1,000 for that 10 days, and it’s going to take you $20,000, and maybe you charge a couple, it charged twice as much. I mean, that’s kind of how the thinking is, and, and I, I have done commissions and regretted them. I had a commission I did, it was double portrait, and I never realized how much extra time it was going to take me. And it was because I was less experienced in that area. But also, there was all this back and forth of gathering photos. And then I had to do sketches because the photos were no good. And so I had to do sketches, and then I had to kind of put my own light in and try to you know, try to make it right, you know, and then I’m touching base with the person all the time, I spent a lot of time on it. So when you when you start thinking about those things, first off, you got to try and anticipate how much time am I going to spend on how many iterations you know, if you’re doing a commission, usually there’s going to be a preliminary sketch, you know, I’m going to show you a sketch, you’re going to approve it at that point, you’re going to pay me a little bit more of the money you owe me, you’re going to start out by saying, Okay, what, you know, half upfront, and then I need another quarter, it’s a preliminary sketch, and then you got to pay the rest on the finished painting that kind of a thing. So, you know, figure out, you know, how much how much you need to create that piece. Now, on top of that, you’ve got what I call your brand value, you know, if you’re, let’s say, your Nelson Shanks, the late Nelson Shanks, who was getting, you know, 8090 $100,000 for a portrait, you know, he hits, you know, it’s not so much about his time as it is his reputation and the value that he brings, because, you know, it’s a status item to own a painting of his he did my portrait. And so I think the idea is, you got a base, you know, your time, the quality of your brand, you know, if people are highly aware of you, you’ve got a good brand you’re more sought after, then that’s going to increase your value. And you know, there are people out there who are getting that kind of money. But if if it were me, and I came out there, and I said, Hey, I want 80 or $100,000, for my portrait, people would laugh at me. Because I don’t have the reputation for doing that. And and so, I mean, you, you might be able to get it with the right person, but chances are, you know, you’re working through somebody else who knows the market, what the market will bear and so on. So, I know, I know, I didn’t really completely answer that. But that’s kind of how I would answer it if I were gonna go into that direction.

Now, here’s a question from Christopher sites in Phoenix, Arizona, whose question is, what do you do if your painting is stolen? Christopher, call the police. You know, there’s no more data in that question. I don’t know how it was stolen, what kind of painting it was, whether it was something he did, or something somebody else did, whether it was at an art show, you know, there’s a lot of different circumstances what to do. But, you know, you, you and and also, what’s that painting worth? You know? And is it going to be worth the time to pursue it? And and I can’t answer that question, only you can answer it. But, you know, I’ve heard stories of people going to art shows, you know, you’ve got a tent show where you’re, you’re showing things and people slip in and they steal something, and they run off, you know, you’re going to go call the police. And you’re going to go to the police at the Art Show. And you’re gonna say, hey, somebody ran off my painting, but you know, you’re not likely to have any video of it happening in big crowds, it’s gonna be hard to, to do much about it. And so, you know, you just have to, you have to build these things in you know, I have a friend that used to be in the software business. And he worked for one of the big software companies back when you know, software, you’d buy it in a box, and he said, you know, we built in theft into our pricing. So we, we knew that, you know, 10% or 20%, or whatever of our stuff was going to be stolen and copied. And, and so we just built that into our cost. And so that’s how they dealt with it, but you’re gonna you know, first thing called the police Now, also there is a thing called the art loss register. Now, that’s more about museum quality paintings that have been stolen from things like, you know, great museums and so on are collections. They and paintings always, almost always show up. And as a result when they show up, you know, a dealer, if it goes to art loss register, he says, You know, I got this painting for sale, I want to make sure it’s not stolen, you go through there and say, Oh, there it is. So I don’t know that they would do that for contemporary artists. And it would probably depend on the quality and the reputation of the artist and the value of the painting. You know, if it’s a big expensive painting, they might so I don’t know you probably We aren’t going to be able to make much progress on that unless you know more you have video or something like that. And then I think the other thing is, you know, it, it’s painful to have things stolen, I had a bunch of camera gear stolen at a, I was photographing at an event and I had all this stuff under the table when I wasn’t using it, and it disappeared, somebody saw me put it under there. Probably it was an inside job from the hotel or something. But anyway, you know it, you feel very violated, but not much at the end of the day, you might be able to turn it into your insurance company, if you have insurance on your paintings. And and I don’t really know anything about that, quite frankly. But I think that’s something to think about. Anyway, that this was kind of an unusual or not a bad question. Just an unusual question for our marketing minute. Oh, by the way, here’s something else I would do. I would say, Alright, I just lost a $2,000 painting because it was stolen. How can I get $2,000 worth of value out of that? I would turn it into a promotion, I would look for a way to you know, talk it up, put it on social media, you know, run ads, you know this, this painting was stolen. If you know anything about it, contact the artist Eric Rhoads in and you know, it’s just a roundabout way to get people to look at your work and to see something and to go to your website. And you know, it’s going to create some buzz and some talk and so, to turn everything into an opportunity. That’s that’s about the best you can do. Anyway, that is the marketing minute.

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!
By |2021-05-25T09:25:08-04:00May 24th, 2021|Art Marketing Minute Podcast|0 Comments
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Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 68

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 there a way to use a conferencing program to sell you art,” and “When do you know it’s time to copyright your art?”

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 68 >

 

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:

Okay, well in the marketing minute I answer your art marketing questions. At least I try. I usually have seen them cold. I read these before I started recording. So I actually read them but I haven’t thought about them yet. And email your questions to me [email protected], also go to artmarketing.com is a great resource for ideas on marketing. It’s free. Here’s a question from Al Harris in Wichita, Kansas, who asks, Is there a way to use a conferencing program like zoom or Google Hangouts to help sell my art? I think they closed down Google Hangouts they not they came up with a new name or they changed into something a platform like zoom. Well, anything is possible. And if you come up with something, let me know. I think the problem that I would see with this is that, first off, I’m not sure there’s a compelling reason that you can get a bunch of collectors together. If you’re thinking about collectors together. Now. You could send out an email blast or something you could say Listen, I’m going to hold a special sale on zoom. Try to try to raise a little money for this time of year or you know, you’re going to just get a hold a special sale and I’m inviting you guys to come and I’m going to review some of my works and maybe we’ll do a little bit of an auction or something you could try that I you know, I don’t know if I would attended or not I might but anything is possible. And the one thing I’ve learned over these massive amounts of decades that are piling up on my back, is that just when I think there’s an idea that won’t work, somebody comes up and does it. So I’d like to see you innovate that owl. And I don’t know the answer for you. But you know, zoom is a wonderful platform, I hold cocktail parties on zoom. Once every month or two, we paint along together, you know, it’s a great opportunity to communicate with people and just talk to people. And maybe, you know, if nothing else, you could just say, hey, I want to get together with some of my collectors and have you get to know each other. And you know, you don’t have to try to sell something, you know, they’re gonna appreciate you out of the goodness of your heart. So you try something like that. So you got to have a list of people that you’re going to invite, though. And that’s all about trying to build up your list. And I think that’s an important thing to be doing. List Building is probably the number one exercise that I recommend for every artist because it’s free. It doesn’t take any effort, it takes a little effort. And you know, if you get 10 or 20 names a month, you’re golden. I mean, if these are people who really are potential buyers, 10 or 20. I mean, he might not sell 10 or 20 paintings a year. So that’s a pretty cool, cool thing. So I would recommend starting with list building, and then once you’ve got a list, you know, you start getting to know your list, get them to know you and then maybe you invite them to something like this.

Here’s a question from Tom Florence in Atlanta. Would it be cool if it was Tom Florence in Florence? Anyway, I digress. Tom Florence in Atlanta, Georgia asks, When do you know it’s time to copyright your art? Well, you know, there’s, I am not a lawyer. And if you scroll back, and I can’t remember the name, but if you scroll back a year or so, maybe two years ago, there’s a copyright attorney that I interviewed on the podcast, and it says that it’s about copyright. And that would be a good thing to do. I don’t, I don’t want to give legal advice. But I will tell you this that most of the artists that I know, will put a copyright signal on the front of their paintings, not all of them. But at least if not there on the back of the painting. I have a rubber stamp, if you will, that basically. I don’t know if I could pull it out of the drawer doubt but yeah, I’ll try. Where is it? I got it right here. Okay, so I have this rubber stamp, I gotta get it updated, because it says 2020 but it says B. Eric Rhoads, artists, copyright 2020, all rights reserved by EricRhoads.com. Now, the reason I do that is I stamped the back. And I kind of want to put people on notice that all rights are reserved. In other words, they can’t just because they own my painting doesn’t mean they can reproduce it. And if I have that on there, that’s a really good starting point. Now you can go through a process of copyrighting each individual painting. And you can do that online. And there’s a fee associated with it. A lot of people do it. A lot of people don’t do it. The question is, what are you trying to prevent? And I think what you’re trying to prevent is somebody lifting your image and making money on it by selling it on calendars or other such things. Now, the reality is that protecting a copyright can be expensive. You getting a copyright, a good copyright attorney can be expensive, and but it can pay volumes in protecting you down the road. Now I had a buddy, we were walking through this mall, and there’s an art gallery there that he used to be in, I walked by, and I said, Hey, stone, that art gallery says no. I said, Well, they still get your work on the wall. He said, No, they don’t have any of my work. And I said, well, let’s go in and see. So there were like, 30 of his paintings on the wall. And I and he just was crying. I said, Tell me about the artists. They said, Oh, that’s so and so they mentioned his name. And I said, Well, this is this is the artist right here. I introduced him, oh, it’s nice to meet you. Blah, blah, blah. They didn’t have any idea. They were doing anything wrong. They had bought them out of a catalogue. They had been copied somebody had. Somebody had seen him online, they copied the paintings from the pictures online. They signed his name to them, but they sell them in a catalog. So you can buy any of these paintings in their quote unquote, originals. Well, he had no idea that of course, so he was kind of stuck in. And so that becomes a problem when there are countries that are not upholding copyrights. And that’s a whole nother issue. You know, some people have been successful in fighting that some people have not. I think the question is, what’s the likelihood of somebody copying one of your images, and you have to decide from there but I do put a copyright on every one of my paintings. I sometimes I signed the front and put, you know, see, and the year and my signature, but a lot of galleries don’t want the year on the front of the painting visit the painting doesn’t sell they don’t want it to appear old. So you’re gonna have to make that decision. Anyway, that’s my thoughts on copyrights.

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!
By |2021-04-29T07:23:24-04:00May 17th, 2021|Art Marketing Minute Podcast|0 Comments
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Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 67

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: “Should I frame my art before it’s sold?” and “Are online art competitions worth it?”

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 67 >

 

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 art marketing questions email yours to me, [email protected] and I don’t formulate answers before I read the questions. I take it off the top of my head sometimes I mess up so I apologize in advance. Here’s a question from amber Marie in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and she asks Should I frame my art before it’s sold? Well, I yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Amber and the reason is, why do people drive beautiful cars. Some people drive beautiful cars. And it to me it’s like a picture frame. You know, it makes you look good. A frame just really makes a picture look good. And if you’re from Aim it properly. If you learn to frame properly, you get a good looking frame, you get a high quality frame and you get the right color frame for the color of your painting. It’ll really stand out and I’m sitting here I’m in my studio, and I’ve got a lot of framed pictures around me. And the frames just really make them I’ve got a bunch of pictures sitting around that are not framed yet, when I put them in frames, it just makes them better. And though you’re going to spend some money on a frame, it’s probably going to bring the value of the overall package up higher people. All not all people are capable of envisioning what something might look like. And so if they can envision it framed great, but most people, you just put it in a frame, and of course that they don’t want that frame. They want a different color frame, train them up a frame or give them a better frame. I have a story. years ago, I was talking to an art dealer in North Carolina. I won’t mention names, but he he called me and we were chatting about a bunch of stuff. And he said, You know, I learned an interesting lesson today. I said, What’s that? He said, Well, about three weeks ago, he said I had this painting that was sitting in the gallery said that painting, it was a good painting. I always liked it. I never could understand why it didn’t sell. And it sat in the gallery unsold for about a year. He said I was getting ready to pack it up and send it back to the artist and I thought you know what, I think it’s the frame. So he said, I shipped it off to my frame maker. He said I put an expensive frame on it. Like a 20 $800 frame. He said I had this, this painting for sale for I don’t remember the numbers, I’ll make something up. But he said I had it for sale for like $2,000 and it didn’t sell. So I put it in a 20 $500 frame and I put the price up to $15,000. He said sold the first week. He said a frame really can make a difference. And so I think that probably is a great lesson Amber. And that is framing really makes a difference. Now most of us can’t afford to put 20 $500 frames on things. You can get some beautiful frames for 50 or 100 bucks. And it will make a difference just add the frame cost in two, the cost of the painting that is sold. I also I know this sounds a little creepy and weird. But I think that it’s a I think I like to show paintings on the website that are framed. Now I think it’s okay to show them unframed and framed but so they can get a feel for it. Some software allows you to click through and show different frames. So that’s pretty cool. Anyway, we have a lot of framers in Plein Air Magazine by the way.

Here’s a question from Cameron Esrock of Prominence Rhode Island who asks, Are online art competitions worth it? Well, Cameron, I got to tell you right up front, I have a conflict of interest in answering this question because I run an online art competition called the plein air salon. But let me tell you what I think about it and just know that my answers might be a little jaded, or maybe a little influenced by the fact that I have a competition. But one of the reasons I have a competition is I was talking to Peter Adams and Elaine Adams from the California art club. And they do the California art Club Gold Medal awards. And I was talking to them and they said, you know, when we implemented this Gold Medal Award, it started raising the quality of the artwork. Over time, when we first started it, things weren’t as good. But as people started realizing they were competing with other artists, they started getting better and better and better and better. And as a result, they’ve lifted the quality overall. And and the thing that I think is important about this is there’s something a switch that kind of clicks inside of you, when you put yourself into a competition, now you’re going to try a little bit harder, you’re not going to put something in that competition that isn’t isn’t your best work, you’re going to put your best foot forward. And so that kind of it’s kind of puts you into a, let’s say, a professional mode. Now, it’s nice to get that validation. You know, you always get compliments from your mother and your friends and things about what wonderful paintings you have. But the validation of knowing that a national celebrity judge, like a art gallery owner has picked your painting. That’s very, really a good feeling. But also, there’s a side benefit to that if you get picked into a competition, even if you’re a finalist, you have things to put on your resume things to talk about on your website, things your art dealer can talk about. And if you win the prize, that’s even more you can do press releases about it, you might be able to do a lot of press things based on that, you know, we highly recommend that take advantage of it. And there’s something that happens you know, whenever somebody has won the grand prize, or oftentimes even been finalists top two three in the plein air salon competition. These people are hearing from art galleries. Want to carry them? I’ve had people say they were able to upgrade to better art galleries. As a result, they started getting invited to events as a featured artist. And there’s a lot of other benefits like that. So I think it really helps your career. But the best part about it is it puts your head in the game and you want to have your head in the game. Anyway, I think that answers that particular question.

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!
By |2021-04-29T07:22:48-04:00May 10th, 2021|Art Marketing Minute Podcast|0 Comments
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Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 66

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 explains how to set reasonable art goals, and how to get more recognition as an artist.

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 66 >

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRNE–akTf8&feature=youtu.be

 

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 answer your marketing questions you can email yours to me at actually [email protected] So here’s a question from Jay Taylor in Arveda, Colorado, Jay says as we wrap up the year and look forward to the next I’d like to get some art goals. But I don’t know what they should be. What are some reasonable goals we can set as we look forward to next year? Well, Jay, I recommend everybody sequester themselves and set their goals between Christmas and New Years Take, take it seriously. If you actually want to hit goals, if you actually want to accomplish something, it takes planning, it’s not something you just go, Hey, here’s a couple of cool goals. And then you announce them on January 1, and then you’ve you’ve blown them by February 1, right? So you want to actually take some time and and all great goals are measurable. All right. measurable means you need to be able to know if you’ve accomplished them. And so you want to you want to do your goals in that way. So I can’t pick what are good goals for you. I can give you some general things that artists and others might be thinking about. I don’t know what your goals are going to be. And quite frankly, if they’re not your own goals, you’re not going to hit them. You got to believe in them. You got to think about them. You got to constantly monitor your goals. I talked a lot about this and Sunday coffee, my my blog and I also talked about it in art marketing comm a lot of goal setting is very important to me. I set my goals for 2021 back in September. I have big four days. have meetings with my team for goal setting, because that’s how important it is. And we monitor those goals every single week, we have a meeting as a team. And we go through the goals and we say, Okay, here are our goals for the quarter. How are we doing here are goals for the year? How are we doing? What are the steps, we make sub goals, steps, you know, they say the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time, right? So you’ve got to take that elephant and break it up into, you know, monthly goals, and then weekly goals and sometimes even daily goals. And you’ve got to pay attention to them. And you’ve got to take the steps. Because if you don’t take the steps, you won’t hit the goals. You can’t just say, Alright, I’m making 10,000 a year and I’m now I want to make 100,000 next year, you know, there’s a there’s positive thinking, and you can think positively about that all day long. But if you don’t have a system in place to hit those goals, you’re not likely to hit it. So here’s some things to think about. Where am I now? And where do I want to be? What is the gap? What you know, how do I get to where I want to be? What are the steps necessary to get there, and then break them down to weekly and monthly and daily and so on? Are my goals realistic and attainable? Are my goals measurable? In other words, measurable goals, let’s say an easy measurable goal is I want to make $100,000 a year. And let’s say $120,000 a year to make this easy. And that means Okay, now the monthly goal is I got to make $12,000 a month well now the weekly goal in that is, you know, you got it, let’s say we’re based on you know, four weeks in a month, it’s probably a little bit different 4.5 weeks or something but so now you got to say, all right, if I got to make $12,000 and I got to make $3,000 a week, well, how do I do that? Well, now I got to say, all right, I got to make how much per day to make 3000 a week. And if you have a monitoring system that you put in place, you know, what am I doing today, to reach that, you know, $500 or $1,000 in sales that I get to get for today or for this week, then you’re going to be thinking about those things. And so you want things measurable now, it’s not just measurable when it’s about money, you need to know other goals and how you hit them. So you might have a goal of buying a new car, while buying a new car might translate back to money. A trip might translate back to money, but some things don’t transfer back to money. For instance. Everybody needs different kinds of goals, like you need family goals. So a family goal might be I’m going to spend, I need to get closer to my kids. Well, how am I going to do that? Well, I’m going to spend one Saturday a month taking my each of my daughters to daddy daughter date or I’m going to spend I did that you know what are the different things that you’re going to do? And you need to break them into goals and monthlies and weeklies and so on, because you need to be able to measure those.

You also have to ask yourself, what are the sacrifices I’m willing to make? You know, because goals require sacrifices, things don’t just happen, you have to you know, if you have to work harder, you might have to paint more, you might have to do more things. And so you’ve got to ask yourself, Am I willing to make those sacrifices? are they worth it? You know, if I’m going to make $120,000 a year, but I’m going to have to work, you know, 10 hours a day in the studio, am I willing to do it Am I going to be you know, able to make the trips, the teaching trips, or whatever it is you’ve got to do. So every goal needs to also then be broken down to what if I hit them? What’s next? You know, what if I hit them early? What’s next? Will my life be better if my goals are accomplished? And do they really have a purpose? Because your goals need to have a purpose, right? If you just say, hey, I want to have a Gulfstream jet. Well, that’s nice, but unless you need it, unless you’re going to use it. If you say to yourself, Well, I’m going to the reason I want that is because I’m going to do these trips, and I need to have personal transportation and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know, then you, you might want to have purpose or you know, I do a goal. I want to hit a certain number financially every year because I know I’m going to take 10% of that money. And I want to be able to say look, I’m going to give X amount of dollars to this charity or that charity. So you need to be thinking in terms of that. Anyway, start picturing what your life should be. What is the ideal dream life for you? What do you want it to look like? And then you might not make it in a year, you know, it might take you 20 years, that’s okay, but you’ve just got to take it. So think about your ideal life and say, Okay, what can I accomplish this year and next year and so on, break it into goals that will help you a lot. I hope that’s been helpful for you. Thank you In terms of your dreams, and remember, think in terms of different kinds of goals like financial goals, spiritual goals, family goals, travel goals, painting goals, job goals, etc. You know, you might have a goal, like, I want to retire from my job in five years, and be making the same amount of money. Well, how do you do that? Well, you’ve got to back it up and say, well, you don’t just say, Okay, I’m going to leave in five years and then start my business. Instead, you say, I’m going to start my business and ramp it up over the course of the next five years. So by the time I am out of there, I’ve got the same income. Right? That’s the kind of thing I like to think about.

Here’s a question from Melissa Morris in Overland Park, Kansas. Melissa says, I’m not worried about selling my paintings, because I already have a steady income. But I’d like to get more recognition for my work. What are some ways other than sales that I can validate validate myself as an artist? Well, Melissa, I think that’s a very mature statement. You know, I got a, I do a thing called fall color week and one in the Adirondacks called publishers Invitational. And sometimes I’ll offer to coach people on their marketing during those events, and I remember we were up in Canada, it was snowing, we had a little more time on our hands, because a lot of people didn’t want to go out. And so I offered to do some coaching, one on one coaching, and two different people basically said to me, You know, I want to sell more paintings. And I would say, Well, why. And they started going into it. And I, you know, I identified in both of their cases, that they didn’t need the income, they had the income, they had jobs, so they had money, and they had retirement or whatever, and they didn’t really need. And I and they both, they both said, Well, I thought I was supposed to do that, well, there’s no supposed to the supposed to is you’ve got to do what’s right for you. And for your life. What we identified in both of their cases, is that it was really recognition they wanted, it wasn’t sales, they want it to be recognized. So you’re already on top of this, Melissa? And I think the way to think about it is how do I get recognition? Well, you have to ask yourself, what kind of recognition you want? What kind of recognition is important? And And who do you want it from? So for instance, if if I get recognition from let’s say, my mother, may she rest in peace? When I would, you know, she loved all my paintings, you know, but she loved even though crummy stuff that I did. And so, you know, she’s just always gonna love me and then love what I do. So yeah, it’s nice to have recognition from your mom. But who do you want recognition from? Well, you want recognition from people who are maybe your peers or people who matter to you like, for instance, I had Daniel spiric visiting here in Austin, recently. And Daniel came over to my studio. And you know, when somebody walks into your studio and starts looking around at your paintings, you see them differently through their eyes, because you wonder what they’re thinking. And I showed my self portrait that I did during COVID, first parts of COVID, to Daniel, and he was very complimentary. And I thought, well, that’s, you know, he’s just not making up stuff. Now. He, he saw some of my other work, and he was like, you know, not saying anything. So it’s like, Okay, well, I maybe I didn’t do very well for recognition in that area. But so who matters to you? What kind of recognition Do you want, I like to use my work for charity auctions and silent auctions and helping out at the school and things like that. And to me, if somebody’s bidding on it, and ending up owning it, even if I don’t get the money, that’s recognition, because if people like it, they’re signing up for they want it. I think that’s a great way to get recognition, you know, so think about charities, you can help. I have some rules in my book about if you’re giving things charities, especially if you’re marketing yourself, you you might want to look at that and say, Okay, what else do I want out of that? Do I want publicity? Do I want mail lists? Do I want introductions? You know, I have a set series of things in my book, making more money selling your art, and I talked about that a lot. I think charities are a great way to go whether you’re looking to make money or not. A lot of people don’t like to give up a painting. I’ll give them up all day long. I don’t mind because I use them as tools to help me in other areas. So think about that.

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!
By |2021-04-29T07:22:22-04:00May 3rd, 2021|Art Marketing Minute Podcast|0 Comments
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Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 65

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 shares ways to make your art website more visible, and get advice on photographing your paintings.

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 65 >

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaUWkUQ9FzY&feature=youtu.be

 

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:

All right, thanks, Jim. In the Marketing Minute I answer your art marketing questions, or at least I try. Sometimes I may fail. I don’t know. email your questions to me, [email protected] Here’s a question from Nick Sorenson. In New York, New York. Nick says I have a website. But how do I make it more visible? I’m assuming Nick, what you mean is by visible? How do you get more people to visit it? I’m guessing that’s the thing. You know, these days a website is kind of like having your name in the phone book. Yeah, if you remember the scene from the Jerk, Steve Martin movie, it was like all excited because his name was in the phonebook. And the reality is back in, if any of you remember phone books back in the day, I guess they still make them back in the day, the idea of having your name in the phone book wasn’t really a very big deal. Now, if you had your name, as a business in the yellow pages, and you were you know, you’re a dentist and people looking up dentist, well, then you’re going to be one of 200 or 300, or 500, or 1000 in there, depending on your city. So having your name in a phone book isn’t all that great. And so, website is just kind of like having your name and a phone book. So now what do you do? Well, everybody’s got a listing, everybody’s got a website. So if you want to be found, you have to find ways to invite people to visit your website. And that’s done through your various marketing efforts. I talked a lot about that stuff in my books, my courses, my videos, etc. And I think you want I think most of us want buyers there. We don’t want tire kickers, if we’re selling workshops, then we want other artists. And so you want to have an appropriate way to invite people now ads are a great way to invite people because ads, basically you can put a call to action in an ad you can show your work. And you can say something, a call to action on your ads is important. You want people to do something, if you don’t tell them to do something, they won’t do it surprisingly. So you’re just assuming they’re going to visit. So you want you want to say something like, visit EricRhoads.com, which you can do, by the way, it’s got a lot of cool stuff there. But if you can say visit Ericrhoads.com for to see, the 10 best paintings I’ve ever done. Or you can have what we call a lead magnet, which is a free, something like a free PDF, you could do like a visit my website to get my my free book on the 50 best paintings I’ve ever done. And, that can be an ebook or something you can put together and it gives people a reason to go. And of course, you want them there and you want them looking around. And the reason you want to do a lead magnet is that advertising is something that everybody needs to do. But you want to have an opportunity to talk to them more frequently. I like the idea of having my own medium, right. So I have my own medium. I have my own magazines, I have newsletters and things like that. But you can have your own newsletter, too. That way, you have a frequent way to talk to them above and beyond your advertising, because once you’ve got their email address, if they give you permission, then you can email them. And of course, that’s very important. You got to have their permission. And so, offering something up in your ads. You want to get people to come to your site and you want to remind them of yourself frequently. And by having their emails you can do that. So that’s a great way you can also drive people through blogs and doing interviews on podcasts. Local media and other things. And always you want your website to be real easy. And if you have a difficult name, it makes it tougher. Now my name isn’t really a difficult name, but everybody spells it differently. You know, some people would say, our h o. d ‘s, there’s no e in my name. And there, some people would say, our ad s and so in my website is our H O. Eric. He, of course, there’s different ways to spell Eric, so I probably should have, a different website name for mine. But, you want something that gives you something easy to access. And remember, and if your name is difficult name or hard to spell, or it pronounces differently than it spells, then you might want to think about a an easy entry, something that’s easy to remember, you know, in my case, it’s er IC r h OADS. With no e.com. And that’s probably something I should work on. They always say the plumber has a leaky faucet.

Anyway, here’s a question from Bruce Hunt in Phoenix, Arizona, who asked, Is it enough to use my own camera to photograph my paintings? Or should I pay someone to do it? And if so, how do I find such a service? I think I want to answer that in a couple of ways for you, Bruce. First off, if you’re a professional artist, you have to act like a professional. And professionals do things differently. And one of the things that they do is they have great photographs of their paintings, great high resolution photographs, well lit, no glare. And you want to have those for a lot of reasons, I judged a lot of contests, I was judging the Art Renewal Center contest recently. And you know, we get to click on images. So we can look at them in more depth than this one, the photograph of one of the paintings that I was looking at was so out of focus, I really didn’t get a good feel for it. And it’s just like, Okay, if the artist can’t really take the trouble to do a good painting, do they really deserve an award. Now, I try not to allow that to influence me. But you know, if it’s hard to see, or if it doesn’t look good, or if it’s got glare on it, and sometimes people put, have sending images that have glare on them, it just isn’t flattering to your image. Also, we all think that we are experts in Photoshop, and so on. But we have, we all have different monitors, and our monitors are calibrated differently. And when this happens to us, an artist will create an ad or they’ll send in an image and the image doesn’t look good to our art director because his his monitor is calibrated. And so they everybody calibrates their, their monitors to look good to them, but they’re not doing it the proper way. And as a result, you’re sending in a dark photo, when you think it’s a light photo or something like that. So having a pro is good, or having a pro teach you a little Art video.com has a there’s a video on there on how to photograph paintings. It’s an old one, but it’s still very valid. The key to photographing things, I photograph my own and and solely because I just don’t want to have to deal with having to take him out. But sometimes I’m getting to the point where I’m so busy, I probably will just have somebody come and pick them up and do them and do them in batches. The the pros, the people who do things like Princeton, g plays and things like that they do it one of two ways. They’ll use photographs, or they’ll use flatbed scanners and some of these companies have, there’s a company here in Austin that has a flatbed scanner, that’s about a you know, it’ll do a 60-60 inch painting. And they lay him down that way you’re not getting any kind of glare anything like that. And of course you have to be dry. And the key to paintings, you know there’s photographing of paintings is different. A lot of people will photograph them before they varnish them because varnish it adds glare. If you’re photographing a painting properly, you’re using two lights from the sides and they both have polarizing filters on them. And then you have a camera on a tripod that has a polarizing filter. And then you take what’s called bracketed shots, which means you’re you’re trying lots of different lighting, you want to have the aperture closed down as much as possible because that makes things sharper, and you’ve got to make sure that you’re using you know, if you even touch the camera and you’re not using a shutter release, then what’s happening is that you’re actually creating movement, the camera and you get a little light movement in there and it’ll show up. So there’s a lot of things that you can do you what I would consider doing is going to a pro. If that doesn’t work higher pro given A couple 100 bucks for a couple hours of their time and say, teach me how to do this teach me how to set it up and, and do it properly or you can, for probably a few few bucks, you can get a video on that. But I think you know galleries need excellent photos. And someday when you become famous, you’re going to wish you had photos of everything and be able to put them in a book, I have hundreds of photos of paintings that I’ve done over the years. And some of them were done with crummy cameras and iPhones and iPhones are pretty good cameras these days, especially the new iPhone 12, which has a bigger sensor, but that sensor is still small compared to my professional, I use Sony cameras. And, they have a one inch sensor where the iPhone is probably like an eighth of an inch or something. And so you know, you get a lot more quality in that. So I think professional photography is really important. So check that out. And yes, I think it’s important. How do you find it? You know, how do you find anything anymore? You Google it? Right? Okay, well, I think that probably answers those questions.

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.

By |2021-04-29T07:20:44-04:00April 26th, 2021|Art Marketing Minute Podcast|0 Comments
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Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 64

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 explains how considering your goals will help you plan a successful art unveiling; and how to break into a new market, such as interior design, to sell your paintings.

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 64 >

 

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:
Here’s a question from Melissa Umbach. You got to get that hard German sound I don’t know if that’s a German name or not into Watson, British Columbia, who says I’m currently working on painting the largest commission, kind of largest in terms of size and income that I’ve ever done. You’ve mentioned that it’s a smart thing to make an unveiling into a marketing or promotional event. What’s your suggestion for doing this virtually right now? Well, I’m glad you asked. I think I talked about that in the book a little bit. Everything you’re considering always starts with your goals. What do you want to accomplish? What if you had to pick one goal? What would that one goal? Well, I would think in a case like this, the one goal would be getting more commissions. If you’ve got someone who is paid you a lot of money to do a commission. And it’s good piece, chances are it’s a showcase piece. And their friends are going to learn about it. And you want to get those friends to do Commission’s with you book up all your commissions, right. And so I think that’s the one goal. But there’s lots of other things like, it’s a good branding opportunity. As an artist, it’s an excuse to get in front of others and to make people aware of you for the first time, a chance to collect email addresses and develop those people into clients later, it’s a chance for the buyer to look good in front of their friends. And of course, they then do invitations to their friends, which brings them into your virtual event, you want to use your virtual event as an opportunity to collect email addresses if you possibly can. And that might be through the invitation just put in your email address. And then you know the invitations coming to you but your clients going to have to have something to do with that, I would suggest picking a prominent venue, it might cost you a couple 100 bucks, probably not more. I mean, these places are empty anyway. So find a very prominent local venue a movie theater hotel, a beautiful mansion, private home, maybe the home of the person who is obviously doing it, they might want to have a private cocktail party or something. Although with COVID, that’s probably tough. But the idea is that you want to have two or three prominent people there. And you want to have your painting with a velvet and a gold cord over it so that when you pull that gold cord down, it pulls development down, you want to use red velvet, it really is very effective. And the gold cord really makes it look elegant. And you would I would suggest like if it’s a prominent person, they probably know some prominent people. And so maybe they know the governor or the mayor or you know, movie star or somebody like that, and ask them to invite that known VIP for the unveiling. And that way it just makes it more exciting. And of course it’s going to make people watch because if you can say, hey, the governor is going to be there. It makes it important, right? And so you create a ceremony of sorts, where the owner kind of talks about why they commissioned the work and why it was important. to them and then you do you have the governor do the unveiling and then they asked the you the artists to come up and talk a little bit about it in the process and what you went through and of course you have the ability to subtly sell others by making some statements and comments like you know when people call me for Commission’s These are the questions that they usually have. And he had the same questions and here’s how I answered them right now they know that you you do Commission’s didn’t just magically happen then follow up your event with a thank you add an email and an image of the painting and also a replay because not everybody got to attend. Also take that replay, put it out on social media so that other people get a chance to see it, tag people in it. And that will really work well. And of course you put it on your website and find ways to get your website information in their hands. You don’t need to do a pitch. You don’t need to ask them to buy anything. You’re credible just because of the event. So though that’s a very great question and a very effective thing you can do.

Now here’s a question from Andrew Clemens in New Albany, Ohio, who asks, How can I break into the interior design market and sell my paintings to designers? Andrew, it’s a really good time to be asking that question because in spite of COVID people are spending more time at home. And as a result wanting to remodel their homes, they’re spending money now they’re repainting, they’re putting new decor in, they’re buying new couches, they’re buying new paintings, but a lot of paintings moving off the shelf. They’re the lots of building and remodeling. And designers are called into high end homes typically. And high end homes are dealt in on by people with money. And that’s of course, I always say stand in the river where the money is flowing. Right? So I’d start out by finding out who are the top five designers in town and you could call some of the local magazines and, and media people and, just kind of ask around, you’ll find out the names that come up all the time, I would call them and say I’d be perfectly up front and offer to pay them they may or may not want you to but say Listen, my name is Eric Rhoads. And I, I’m an artist, and I would like to get some advice from you could I buy an hour of your time? And just let me know what your hourly rate is. And I’ll pay you that hourly rate. Now, some people will say no, no, no need for that, I’d be happy to give you advice. Some people might say, send me 100 bucks or something, it’ll be worth it. Tell them when you get the meeting. First off, try to do it in person or was zoom but try to do it in person with mask of course, tell them that you’re really looking how to, you want to know how to get to designers, how to get them to recommend your work to buy your work, how does it work, ask lots of questions, get them to be honest with you and and even about your work, and say, Listen, you can tell me if it’s not ready. Or if it’s not the quality that you’re looking for, find out how you can help them make money, they’re there to make money. So there’s two ways of working with designers, Mark designers either Mark things up and pass that along. So like if you buy a couch for the client and you you pay $10,000 for that couch, you might be able to buy it, you’re buying it wholesale, and you might be able to sell it to them for $20,000. And you make the money on it. Some designers are on a retainer and they just pass along the the discounts and, and they don’t need to be paid on it. But you need to find that out. And you can even ask for an opportunity to, how could I become the favorite artist, one way to become a favorite artist is to pay higher commission rates. And that’s okay, there’s nothing wrong with that, you know, just raise your prices so that you can, pay a higher commission rate and still get the same amount of money. But the idea is getting them involved and telling you exactly what to do offer to do a showcase of your work in one of their showcase homes, and invite clients and potential clients for a cocktail party. Now you can’t do that right now during COVID. But maybe later, but also make sure they know they’re going to make a hefty commission and that it’s a benefit for them in some way or another. Also tell them the way that you approach things that you want to find out about how they want you to approach their clients how you know if they want you doing Commission’s and things like that. And then once you have talked to three, four or five of those top people, you’ll have all the answers the answers are going to be different but do them all and do what they tell you to do and follow what they say it will work now that’s always going to the market is to get your answers is usually where the answers lie and you’ll find that things will work when you do that. Now send that designer a small painting. It could be a big one if you want as a gift. Here’s the way I would do it. You know, what they what you pick for them, they may hate. I just gave a gift to someone who helped me and I, he waived his consulting fee for me. So I grabbed a painting off the shelf that I thought he would like. And I sent it to him, I framed it up. And I sent it to him. And he was very thankful whether or not he liked it. I don’t know, he said that he liked it, and said that it reminded them of a vacation, they went to that particular place. So that was kind of cool, but he might not have liked it. But if, if I could have said to him, listen, go to my website, I go to this section of my website, and you could talk them through it say, Listen, I want you to look at there’s 10 paintings there. They’re all in the, XYZ range. And I would like you to pick one of those 10 paintings and tell me which one you want. And then I’m going to send it to you as a thank you gift. Now, why do you want to do that? Well, I think there’s a couple of reasons. The first reason is that you want them to find something that they’re actually going to like. Secondly, they may find something that they’re going to offer to a client. And now they’ve got a free painting and they can get paid for it. That’s okay, you don’t mind that. But most importantly is it’s forcing them to look at, eight or 10 paintings to choose the one they want. And you want them to be seeing your other work and on your website. That’s a great way to do that. It’s not manipulative at all, but it is a great opportunity to kind of show what you’re all about. Now, of course, if you have a portfolio, you can show them and if you can show them original paintings and in frames and so on, pull a couple into your meeting, that’s even better. Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for you today. I hope that’s been helpful for you.

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.

By |2021-03-19T12:00:30-04:00April 19th, 2021|Art Marketing Minute Podcast|0 Comments
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