I just returned from TEFAF (The European Fine Art Fair) in Maastricht Holland. One of the dealers chose to show up with a tiny booth… about 1/4 the size of their booth last year. (I don’t wish to mention their name because I mean no ill will). It created a buzz…. unfortunately it was gossip about how the gallery was experiencing serious financial trouble. It may or may not be true BUT in any case it sent the wrong message.

Roy Williams my marketing-author colleague once told me that "people remember you for the smallest thing you do, not the biggest. If you want to appear small you will be perceived as small."

Something to keep in mind if you’re doing art fairs in the future.

As CEO of a tech firm in  Silicon Valley I was charged with raising money on a regular basis. I ended up raising $18 million for my firm and was once asked by the local press what I did that made me successful at raising money. Of course what I’m about to tell you is a marketing principal as well.

I told them I was probably just lucky. But one thing I did do was approach every “pitch” with one thing in mind… Everything is a Cocktail Party Story. When I was at networking events I noticed that venture capitalists conversations went like this:

“Seen any good deals lately?”

“Yes, I just invested in a company which makes neutron converters and I think it will make us billions when we go public.”

That is a cocktail story. These people like to brag about their deals… something interesting and unique and something that makes them look smart and something which will be a good investment.

So at a recent art event the conversation I overhead was like this….

“Bought any good art lately?”

“Why yes, I just snagged a painting for a great price. This artist is going places and his work is selling for about $100,000 already.”

Bragging rights are important to buyers. Sometimes is subtle (which is better). Subtle is to have people walk into your home and see a Monet hanging in view of the door. Sometimes it’s brash (more often than not, sadly). “This guy is selling for $X”

People love to brag about the paintings they buy. If they walk into a gallery and love a painting and buy it for $10,000… and it hangs next to a giant one by the same artist which is selling for $50,000. More often than not they will find a way to tell you the artist is selling for $50,000… maybe so you think he paid $50,000.

How can you use this?

1. Talk up how hot the artist is and what is happening with values.
2. Look for key phrases you can share about the artist that is worthy of a brag. “This artist just won the national OPA award which mean’s he was voted by the best as their best” or “Steven Spielberg (insert name of collector) just added this artist to his collection.” I guarantee you this will come out once it hangs in the collector’s home.

People love to brag. Load their lips with things they can brag about. It will help them emotionally connect to the art and for those who need a justification the story will help sell the artwork.

Advertising can be frustrating to those of us on the "sell side". Frustrating because some advertisers get great results while others do not. Many elements impact results. Your brand and the level of awareness and trust, the economy, the product you are advertising, timing, positioning, frequency, etc. But the first place I start is with the advertisement.

Gallery marketing is a little different than other advertising because most galleries do exactly the same thing…. they show an image of a painting, put the name of the artist at the top of the ad and the name of the gallery at the bottom. It’s not terribly creative, but then again in most cases the name of the game is to sell THAT specific painting or artist.

The first principal of advertising is to ZIG when others ZAG. In other words don’t do the same thing everyone else does. Be different. But willing to be different and stand out may mean you have to think differently and that involves risk.

One advertiser recently told me his ads in another publication were not working. He said he had been advertising pretty much every issue for 20 years and he no longer got calls. He told me he was going to cancel his advertising and shift it to my publication. In spite of my urge to sell him advertising I told him not to cancel. He was shocked that I would not jump on his buying signal and the chance to take a shot at another magazine. I told him that indeed it was not their fault that he no longer got response. He had to assume responsibility. Twenty years is a long time… and a chance for people to be completely comfortable with the ads. What did I suggest? Though I meant this a little tongue in cheek… I told him "turn the upside down." The point is that people were so comfortable that he was always there, his ads had not changed (only the paintings) and people no longer responded therefore he needed to find a way to stand out. How? Do something different… different ad sizes, different design, and maybe even a non-traditional approach to the ads.

I’d like to see more galleries being creative, looking for interesting and entertaining ways to get their message across and sell paintings. It can still be done with taste but most of the ads in most of the publications are the same. Take a look at what QUESTROYAL did. Lou Selarno may be a genius. Many of his ads were two page spreads. On the left he had a giant antique photo of an artist and a bio on the artist. On the right was a painting from that artist and the gallery information. He was EDUCATING his reader, SELLING the historical value of the artist and therefore his ads looked different and stood out above the rest. Lou found a tasteful way to make fresh ads and be different.

What should every ad contain? Research indicates that people look at photos first. So the image of the painting and other photos are what get noticed. What do they look at second? Photo captions. EVERY PHOTO should have a caption and the caption should be informative and maybe even have a subtle sell message. Here’s an example of a photo caption: "This is the only painting of a ship known to have been painted by John Singer Sargent making it extremely rare and collectable." The sell message in this case is "rare and collectable."  Even the smallest photo should have a caption. If it is an interior shot it could be something like "XYZ gallery features 40,000 square feet showcasing over 500 pieces of art." That caption is inviting and a sell message and is a tool which most ads forget to use… a caption.

After the photo (or image of a painting) and the caption the next most important element is the headline. Your headline needs to give you a good reason to read the ad. It needs to be something I want to see as a reader. Most headlines in art gallery ads are the name of the artist. This is fine, but since every ad is the same it needs to be a powerful artist who will get attention… or a headline which is more compelling. For instance why not a headline about the artist like “The Rarest John Singer Sargent Painting." Or a headline about the benefits of the gallery like "Voted Best Gallery in

Boston

by Boston Magazine for 10 Consecutive Years."

What gets read after the headline? The SUB HEADLINE. This is a slightly larger block of copy which is over your main paragraph or begins your main paragraph. This should contain the SECOND most important message you want people to know.

I believe all ads should have a copy block. Because most of the focus in art ads is showing paintings you don’t have room for a lot of copy. But copy helps sell and is an opportunity to give some information about the artist, the painting and the benefit to the reader. It’s also a place to do some positioning of the gallery and a call to action.

Benefits are critical in advertising. What’s in it for me the reader? Look for ways to make the ads about THEM not about you. Meaning… what’s in it for them if they do business with you?

Call to action. Every ad should have one. Something as simple as "We welcome your phone calls or web site visits." By listing your phone we assume that is enough but there is evidence that an ad containing a call to action does increase response.

Logo and contact information need to be on everything. Logo biggest. Address and phone do not need to be too big. They eat valuable space and if people want that info it’s present but not obtrusive. The thought that people will call because the phone number is bigger is not proven. We do recommend that the web site and phone are easy to find so maybe slightly bigger type and bold. But no need to make these giant.

Type impacts ad results as well. Headlines should be dark colors on light backgrounds and light colors on dark. Contrast is important. Reversed type (White on a color) needs to be high contrast, a very easy to read font, and short copy blocks. Research indicates that about one paragraph with about five lines is the most anyone will read if the copy block is reversed. When using type make sure it’s big enough for your target audience. If it’s too big people won’t read it either. 9-12 point is about perfect.

Design the ad for the media you are using. The same ad will not work for all audiences. Every publication has a different audience. Though there is always some duplication each has a large number of unique readers and you need to make sure the ad reflects the readers. For instance well educated experienced art people are different that affluent people not educated in art. Or magazines that feature all contemporary art are different than those that feature only a style of art. All magazines have their own strengths but your ads need to be designed to fit their audience. Also keep age of audience in mind. Magazines with a lot of people over 50 need bigger type in the ads… and bigger still if the audience is 65 and above.

I believe every advertiser should have a description line under their logo. If people don’t know you this helps them understand what you are all about. Something like "19th Century European Art" or "Classic Bronze and Marble Sculpture."

Advertising is trial and error. Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not. Plus keep in mind that just because you don’t see instant feedback does not mean it’s not working. Each ad is an impression which builds awareness of your brand. Plus shelf life is an issue. We have had advertisers get calls from an issue over a year old.

Of course frequency of advertising and positions can impact ad results as well. People go through a process of adoption before they will do business with people. This is less true in some business categories and truer in others. People who buy art need to feel trust. If spending over $1000 they need to be able to know the business is established has a good reputation, can be trusted. After all they don’t want to buy frauds, copies or stolen works. Time and frequent impressions is the best way to overcome these issues. The more they see you the more they trust you.

It’s always advisable to get a second opinion. Show your ad to someone outside of your staff. Ask customers to evaluate the ad, ask the publications for their opinions. An advertiser recently asked me to evaluate his ads and I made about six major changes. He had not seen the problems until I pointed them out and once this was done it became clear.

There are many elements and any single element can impact results.

"I’m calling to discuss why my advertising did not work" said an advertiser on the phone. It’s a call I’ve had before and one every magazine person on earth gets once in a while.

Advertisers expect results and it’s our responsibility to help them get results. So a phone call like this from time to time is not unusual.

Frankly, it’s never fun to have this dialogue. The customer always wants to blame the media and rarely do they want to look at what they may have done to cause the problem. But, if it’s my fault I’m ready to take the blame.

So… why is it that I can have six advertisers in the magazine who call with RAVE results… lots of business generated from the ads and in the same issue I can have one or two who get no results?
Why, if all things are equal do some ads work and others do not?

First, all things are never equal in marketing. For instance one advertiser may be more established, have a stronger brand (translation awareness and trust), taste in what was advertised that appeals to the taste of the reader, have a more effective web site, a better ad, a better receptionist….

Let’s start with the receptionist. An advertiser phoned me and said I’m not getting any phone calls from your advertising. After our discussion I was curious, so I waited a couple of days and phoned the gallery. "XYZ Gallery. May I help you?" I answered, "Yes, I’m looking at and ad and I am curious about the painting by Gerome which is shown in the ad." Her reply, "OH that’s been sold." ….long pause. "OK", I said, "thank you." "You’re welcome sir, thanks for calling."
What’s wrong with this picture? She did not engage me? She did not ask my interests? She did not ask if I would be interested in seeing another painting from the same artist. She did not ask my name or contact information. She did not ask where I had seen the ad.
Poorly trained receptionists are frequently one of the reasons advertising does not work.

I recently asked my friend, who is a marketing and sales consultant to visit a gallery when he was in town. I good friend had work hanging in the gallery and had complained that they were not selling any of his work. I asked him to seek that artist on the wall, ask about him, and see how well they pushed it. So he entered the gallery… did what I asked. He said he had seen the ad for so and so… and wanted to see his work. She took him to two paintings on the wall. He asked, "What can you tell me about this artist" and she said, "He’s new, I don’t know anything about him." He persisted, "certainly you have something in writing." She said, "No sir, I don’t." He left. Later I told the gallery owner about this and he told me this was a "temp" who was filling in while someone was out. He was not happy that I was "spying" on him (I told him I was trying to find out what was wrong, why the artist was not selling). He told me nothing was wrong. Chances are if this "temp" was not trained, maybe others were not as well….

In another case where I heard from an advertiser that things were not working I asked how things were being tracked…he said "we track the incoming phone calls." So again I waited a few days and phoned. "I saw an ad and I want to find out about the painting," I said. She very kindly said, "Where did you see the ad sir." Rather than telling her, I wanted to see what would happen if I did not know, so I said, “I’m not sure. I ripped it out of one of the magazines I was reading." She said, "That’s ok sir, what was advertised?" I told her and she said, "well sir that was in XYZ publication. Thank you." She then answered questions about the painting. Well, it may have been in XYZ publication too… but it was also in mine. They got credit. I did not. Now I know this happens from time to time, I know I fold pages and rip them out to call on ads.

Recall studies are a good way to track things but they can also backfire. Why? Often when people are asked they say what is "top of mind." For instance they may have seen the ad in five different publications and said the one they remembered the most, maybe the one they had subscribed to the longest. Or, they may not have even seen it in that magazine and still said what was top of mind. I once had an advertiser tell me that a magazine scored high in the recall study and they had not even advertised there. This is normal. Quick name a fast food restaurant? Its human nature. SO it’s a great way to track top of mind awareness but not always actual recall.

One last mention… in one case I made a call and the receptionist asked where I had seen the ad… she gave me a list to choose from. My publication was not on the list.

The biggest issue about tracking phone calls with art ads these days is that people are not calling like they used to. If you call you have to deal with someone… and that takes time. A quick visit to a website can answer most of your questions. If the price is out of their range or if something answers their questions they may not call unless ready to buy. (This is often a good thing.)

I don’t want to sound defensive. Advertisers tell us all the time that they get calls… and buyers. But some don’t. It could be what people hear on the other end of the phone, it could be that they went to the web site, or it could be that the ad is not inviting… or the piece advertised is not resonating with the audience, or the brand does not have trust or awareness (or it does and people are aware of a reputation of being difficult, or expensive, or slick, or….). There is never a simple answer.

Rest In Peace… friends of mine just closed their gallery. It was a sad day watching them close the doors, return the artworks to their artists and let their creditors and landlord know that they were not going to get paid for a while.

What went wrong? I’m only guessing of course. This gallery was less than a year old, was based in a prominent art market with substantial art buying traffic.

Why did they fail? It’s never one thing, it’s always many things.

1. Unrealistic Expectations: They opened the doors thinking that their quality inventory, their contacts and location would make them successful. They had just enough capital to get them through about six months time. I think they expected too much too soon. One needs to play the what-if game when opening a new business… what if the market is off? What if it takes us 2x or 3x longer to succeed? What if the economy tanks? Etc. Bottom line: If you don’t have a banker willing to fund you for the ups and downs or if your capital is insufficient… you’re at risk.

2. Promotion: A new business is disadvantaged. The best way to overcome it is to promote like mad. You must tell the world you exist, keep telling them for about three years very consistently, and you must find unique reasons they should do business with you. What do you offer that is different? In the case of this gallery they had a USP (unique selling proposition) BUT…. they bought ads when they could afford them and therefore they were inconsistent. But ads are only part of the picture. You need openings, events, PR, mailings, emailing, etc. You have to assume a heavy presence until established.

3. Location: No amount of money can overcome a poor location. If your rent is 2x, 3x, 4x higher for a better location… probably even 10x…it’s worth it. Nothing is better than traffic and visibility. These people were off of a major street with high traffic. Maybe 1 in 50 people walking by the street glanced down and decided to make the effort to go inside.

4. Being there: If promoting… you need to be there when the phone rings. In this case I know of many days they were not open (to save money). No one was answering the phones or returning calls. The web site was not updated frequently AND they did not respond to emails generated from the web site. They did not seem to understand how important a website is in today’s world of art marketing.

5. Not using artists: They had high profile artists but I did not see the gallery leveraging the contacts of these artists to alert people of the new gallery handling their work. Use every tool you have.

6. Pricing: This may sound unnatural… I think their prices were too low. The artists were high quality but the prices were so low that I feel it sent the signal that the work was not quality. Their argument was that the work was lower priced than the rest of the market, which should give them an advantage. I think it backfired.

7. Margin: If you’ve got a lot of overhead…. lets say its $50,000 a month. You can sell 5 paintings at 10,000 or 10 at $5,000 or 20 at $2,500 or 50 at $1,000! How realistic is it to sell high volume unless you have high traffic. I’d rather have a mix but try to have at least 5 expensive paintings a month. But, that’s just me. And it depends on the market and the demographics visiting the market? It also depends on your mindset. You have to believe you can sell expensive paintings to sell them. Belief is everything.

I hate seeing good friends go out of business. These people are good folks and they worked very hard. They may have done all of these things and maybe I missed it. Sadly, I doubt it.

Two years ago I came to my staff with an idea for a new magazine. They listened politely but they were secretly rolling their eyes. "Here he goes on another harebrained adventure," is probably what they were thinking. I could feel it. I was way out there… and they were disinterested. Even my visionary top people were screaming on the inside while politely hearing me out.

Upon receiving everyone’s feedback I heard that my idea was a bad one, that it would kill the company, that it would be a wild goose chase. I almost took their advice. Yet my gut kept telling me I needed to move forward. So, I announced that we were indeed launching this new magazine. It was not widely supported. Some were mildly interested while others thought I was insane. After all, I’ve launched many things that did fail.

Almost two years and a whole lotta cash later I am initially vindicated. Wild success for the product is an understatement. In fact the success fell at a time when part of our other business was soft. The natural reaction is to "hunker down" and conserve cash, which of course we did… kind of. We hunkered down everywhere other than the new launch. Turns out it has become our cash cow, has brought in countless subscribers and advertisers and may surpass billing of some of our other business units.

Why share this? I’ve been glued to a CEO chair for more years than I would admit.  The majority of times I have had wild, harebrained ideas I rarely get support internally (and often externally). It’s critical to listen to your people because they are usually right… yet no one in the company has your perspective, your experience, your vision, and your gut. A CEO must follow his or her gut against all odds. As a sole business owner I live by my decisions and they impact my net worth one-way or the other.

I’m reminded that Abe Lincoln asked each of his cabinet members if he should enter into the Civil War and 100% advised against it. After loss of sleep for days Lincoln proceeded against the advice of his strongest advisors. Truman did the same when making the decision to drop the bomb. (Sadly in both cases lives were on the line where in my case the impact is not life or death).

The moral? Listen carefully. Follow your gut. Live with your decisions. Its not about being right or being popular, it’s just business.