Recent Posts
How to Destroy a Fifth-Generation Gallery: A story of near tragedy
From Eric Rhoads, Publisher of Fine Art Connoisseur Robert was a fifth-generation gallery owner. (His name has been changed to avoid embarrassment, but if you've been around the gallery business you'll probably recognize this story.) Robert's great-grandfather became an art dealer by accident: When his wealthy friends saw his personal art collection, they began craving paintings from the artists hanging on his walls. Because of his friendship with the artists, he was able to broker paintings for the artists to the patrons. Over time, he realized there was a business to be built, so he started buying up all the paintings he could find from the best painters. Robert was very choosy about the artists he represented and very protective of his reputation with his wealthy customers, many of whom started out as friends.Advice for the Next GenerationAs Robert's son (Robert II) came of age and completed his education, he was given large sums of cash and sent to Europe to befriend artists and purchase paintings. The collection continued to grow. Robert II eventually took over the business. His father's advice to him was this: "If people believe you're successful, your business will grow. Always choose the best neighborhoods and offer the finest art and framing; and even when times are soft, your customers must never feel that your business is suffering. You must always appear more successful [...]
Why Shelf Life Matters to the Subconscious Mind
Many powerful advertising options exist today, which include websites and email marketing, twitter/facebook/myspace/friendfeed, etc. Though these are effective tools for branding and immediacy, we must not forget that all advertising is not rooted in immediacy.Many galleries desire instant gratification. They want their ad to sell a painting right away. You cannot blame them for thinking this way, yet decades of evidence prove that most advertising does not generate immediate results unless a foundation of awareness has been built in advance. In other words an advertiser who has been consistently advertising will usually have better success pushing something for an instant sale than an advertiser with whom the audience is not aware. Imagine that someone you have known for years calls you and asks you to do a favor. You know and trust this person (or not) and can easily make a decision based on their request and your level of trust. On the other hand, a stranger rings your door bell, introduces herself and asks for the same favor. You have no "history" with that person and therefore your defenses trigger fears. Its no different in advertising. If you do a good job of marketing you build trust over time by your mere presence. If they don't know you the viewer may ask themselves questions like Do I know this gallery? Can I trust them? Is their quality [...]
7 Ideas for Galleries to Increase Summer Art Sales
To help your gallery sell more artwork this summer, I've put together these 7 ideas.1. Remember the Basics: Because we are all very close to our businesses, we assume people know what we do, who we are, and what is featured in our galleries — but this is simply not true. Though you should continue to "work" your customer list, also develop a strategy to attract new faces and new customers. People are moving all the time, and out-of-towners are visiting.Your outreach program should tell your story in fresh ways that will bring in the new people and reinvigorate those who have not been in for a while. 2. Traditions Can Become Tired Have you been doing the same things year after year? Though tradition breeds comfort, it also breeds complacency. Have people stopped attending your openings or events because they have become too predictable? Shake things up. Invite interesting people or VIPs to create buzz. Though a fresh artist or a new show is often enough, it can't hurt to use a hot caterer, promote a celebrity guest, or feature an intriguing speaker. 3. People Love to Watch and Participate People are fascinated by watching sculptors and painters work. Set up guest artists weekly and find ways to spread the word though the community. Host something fresh every week or two throughout the summer. [...]
The Story of a Business
This comes from our director of sales Jim GustafsonAt the corner of 52nd Street and Fifth in New York City, there is a gentleman named Vinnie who sells newspapers. From sun up until late at night, Vinnie has toiled on the corner for years. Each day he sells his newspapers. Over the years, he has come to know the names of his customers and they all know Vinnie. He has never missed a day of business. People count on Vinnie to be there with his papers. He has never let them down. His customers are loyal. They have always bought their newspapers from him. Being very busy all day long, Vinnie never has time to read the newspapers he sells.A few weeks ago, the manager of Cartier's jewelry store, a regular customer, said, "Vinnie, watch your business. With all the lay-offs and closings on Wall Street, business is really going to slow down." Vinnie asked the Cartier's manager, "What are you going to do about?" She answered, " We're going to buy less jewelry, because we will be selling less jewelry." All day long, Vinnie thought about what Cartier's manager had said. When it came time to order papers for the next day, Vinnie decided he would be smart. He cut back on the number of papers he ordered.The next day, in the middle of the afternoon rush, Vinnie ran out of [...]
Brand Building With Size
A couple of weeks ago a new gallery asked me what I would suggest they do to build their brand quickly. When I asked "who do you most want to be perceived like (competitor) and what do you want to be perceived as," the owner told me of a major gallery he hoped to model. He said that he hoped that in 10 or 20 years he would be considered as important. Of course I asked, "Do you have 20 years?" His answer was, "no, we have three years to make it or break it." "What if I showed you a strategy to build your brand and prestige quickly and overcome the 20 years?" He was all ears. I started out saying that nothing can overcome time and heritage, however branding is a gradual process which not only requires repetition and a powerful message (ad design, copy, headline, artwork). But I can help you leap several years forward with this strategy. Advertise frequently, advertise bigger than your targeted competitor, and advertise deeply (more places) but only if you can afford to dominate in each publication to get noticed. I believe author, marketing expert and dear friend Roy Williams will tell you that the small sends a small message, big sends a big message, giant sends a giant message. People who want to be perceived as giants need to [...]
Changes in Our Business
Its three AM. I awaken and my mind is racing. Things to do, business to conduct. In the old days I'd awaken, make my list and return to sleep because I could not implement my work until morning. Today I awaken, delegate some projects by email and return to bed. Sometimes I use this time to focus on things I need to do, which I cannot accomplish during the day. On-line travel, purchases, etc. A few weeks ago I was told of a product I wanted to purchase. I went to the website, which said "download a pdf of our catalog." They did not have an on-line catalog to view the products, they did not have an interactive pdf so I could click to purchase. The site said, "Once you determine the items you wish to purchase call our 800 number and we'll take your order. CLICK. I'm gone. Sorry to be so impatient. Weeks have passed and I have not purchased the product. Once I returned to the web in hopes something had changed. It had not. Of course I Googled the product in hopes of finding it elsewhere, but I did not. If I wanted this product I was forced to buy from them... by picking up the phone. No such luck. Time passed, I forgot. I'm sorry to admit I have become impatient with anyone [...]
Trust Me?
Imagine being a collector, seeing a painting on ebay for $100,000 and bidding on it. In spite of the documentation demonstrated on the ebay page you find out that you've been sold a fraud. Though web marketing is a powerful tool, which increases your reach and potential customer base, there are pitfalls. Trust is the biggest pitfall. A collector spending a high price (or not a high price in many cases) needs to feel comfortable that they are dealing with a legitimate, known art dealer who will not sell them a fake, and who will stand behind a purchase. This is true whether buying in person, by phone or on the Internet. TRUST is a critical factor with buyers. If a potential buyer sees your advertisement of a painting she wants to own she will not respond to the advertisement to buy the painting unless she is convinced you can be trusted. Its not unlike family and friends. You would not meet someone new and ask them to babysit your kids until you got to know them. It is not until several meetings and interactions that you form a bond of trust with an individual. To some extent the same is true with the collector-dealer relationship. Trust is built through multiple impressions. If they have seen you multiple times trust begins to build. A SOLID BRAND mostly represents [...]
What Ever Happened to Response?
A funny thing happened in my life. The Internet. I have become spoiled rotten by the Internet and as a result my behavior has changed. If I hear about something, I make a note and go to the web site or I try to remember the name and I do a Google search. When I go to a site I look through their product line and if there is nothing there for me...I move on. I may return another time to search for something new... or not. I do comparative shopping on line too. Oh, and if the website does not answer my questions and have a solution to anything I can think of that I want to know... I am annoyed. AND I am really irritated if the site MAKES me have a human interaction like "call for price." Guess what. I won't. I want to see the price, I want to make a purchase decision at that moment, and if I cannot click to buy it I will try to find somewhere else that does have a price and purchase engine. Of course in the gallery world you have UNIQUE pieces of art (unless you're selling prints). Many gallery folks I know refuse to put the price on their site because they want to force someone to call... so they can up sell them or use [...]
Why Advertising Is Not Intutitive
Most people, including most business owners, do not spend their lives in advertising. So when faced with a need to increase business they often decide to try advertising. After a career in the advertising industry I've encountered these business owners numerous times. I'll get the call... "Yes, Eric, I'd like to try some advertising. How much is an ad?" When the conversation continues, it goes something like this... "We would like to try your magazine, so we thought we would place an ad." When I ask what their expectations are they typically say something like... "Well, we're not sure, but I assume it will sell some paintings for us." "How many paintings do you expect it to sell? What price point on the paintings?." I ask. DEAD SILENCE. "We'll we're not sure." When possible I try to direct an inquiry like this to a discussion about needs, objectives and goals. Most people have not thought about the outcome other than "selling some paintings" or boosting business. But different goals require different strategy. I once ran an ad in a magazine. My goal was to build subscriptions. So, I placed an ad in a magazine, which reached people who were potential subscribers. I even inserted a subscription card. They had a circulation of 80,000. The result? We sold 12 subscriptions costing me $600+ to get each. Why did the [...]
Advertising When There is a Content Match
We hear it all the time, "I'd like to advertise when there is a feature on an artist we sell, a style we sell, or a special feature that relates to our artwork." We encourage this, of course. But there is an upside and a down side. Upside: If there is an article on an artist, a movement, a style that very artice can create interest from a reader in owning one of those works. It's not uncommon for a gallery who has paintings by a particular artist to want to have their ad appear in that issue. Often people will pick up the phone, go to the web site and in some way respond to that ad. It often works. Sometimes it does not. Why it sometimes does not work: Many things inpact the results of an ad. The image advertised might be an artist they love but might not be a painting they love. The ad design may not appeal to the particular reader, may not get their attention. Perhaps some element of the ad does not motivate the buyer to call. (OF course these days calls are more rare. People browse the website and if nothing interests them, you'll never know they visited.) One of the big issues hampering immediate response to an ad tied to editorial... they don't know you.Trust is a critical part [...]
