Publicity for Artists Archives - Art Marketing with Eric Rhoads

Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 3

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, you’ll learn keys to selling art on Facebook on Instagram and how to get exposure through your local media outlets.

Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 3

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: 0:02
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 art marketing. com, the place to go to learn more about marketing. Now, here’s your host, arts magazine publisher, Eric Rhoads.

Eric Rhoads 0:23
Thank you, Jim kipping. And thank you for joining us today. I am here. My goal is to eliminate the idea of the starving artists. So let’s get right to today’s questions. So here’s a question from Cindy P. of Phoenix, Arizona. Cindy says, What’s the key to selling artwork on Instagram? or Facebook?

Well, that’s a big one. Well, first, I think it’s important to understand that we all think that we have an instant market if we have a big number of followers, let’s say got 5000 followers, and we think that every time we do a post, everybody’s gonna see everything we do. It’s not true Facebook owns Instagram, Instagram and Facebook are the same company. And they’re trying to force people to buy ads for exposure. So the algorithm that they use is only pushing out 2% of what you push out to your followers. That means very small number of your followers ever see what you post and it seems to be the same ones over and over and over again, the ones that interact with you the most, don’t assume people are seeing it. Secondly, though, we hear all these great stories about selling paintings. As we examine some of these stories, some are true. Others have other linkage to other things that have gone on that just happened to be kind of implemented through Instagram or Facebook, though there are people who are selling on Facebook, Instagram, the ones who sell well tend to have huge numbers, hundred 200,000 followers. There are exceptions to that but yet large numbers that increase your odds. I’ll be doing a lot on Instagram and Facebook at the Art marketing bootcamp sessions with the planner convention but a couple of things to think about First off, don’t try to sell to turn off people are there For content, so for every time you ask for something, you need 10 times you’re not doing any asking, you’re just doing content, so 10 to one ratio. So positive post lots and lots of content, spread it out. Not all at the same time I was on Instagram or Facebook or something the other day and it’s like 10 things in a row from the same guy. It’s like I defended him, I just didn’t want to see all that. So spread it out. Spread it out throughout the day, different people look at different times. And so you want to make sure that you spread it out. Secondly, repeat content. Just because it’s been out there one time doesn’t mean you can’t repeat it. You can look for a different way to say it. But the same people aren’t always seeing it so it’s good time to repeat things. Secondly, comment often commenting and interacting with people builds your feed exposure, look for ways to comment on other people’s posts. If you look smart people will wonder who you are and they’ll visit your page. And if they find good content, they will friend you and stays good way to build but also the interactive is really good for your algorithm. So they’re looking for people who are interactive. If somebody’s commenting a lot, now you have to be careful about click bait. Gotta be careful about saying, you know, click here if you think this or whatever, because they’re looking for people who do that and you will get penalized. Next, keep in mind that birds of a feather tend to flock together. Most artists follow other artists, it’s probably rare for a collector to follow you. It does happen, of course, but we’re learning that artists are buying lots of art, so that’s okay, too. So when you put it out there look for subtle ways of saying it’s available, like, you know, thinking of sending this to my gallery, if it doesn’t sell here, the next 24 hours, they’re going to get the drift. You don’t have to say, if you’re interested by here, you want to be creative about this stuff.

Here’s another question from Larry K. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He says I’m constantly seeing stories about other artists and local media. How do I get some of that action? Well, Larry’s squeaky wheel gets the grease, most of those people that get stories didn’t just have happened to randomly get discovered. They made phone calls, they put out press releases, they were talking to people. You want to assume that frequency is important at all marketing. One time doesn’t get you anything one time advertising one time on of Instagram posts one time on anything doesn’t help. You want frequency repetition, repetition, repetition. So call editors, meet them over the phone, tell them your story. Send pre written stories because editors get into binds Oh no, they’ve got a story they got to put in tomorrow in the end, the thing fell through, send them lots of photographs and things that are going to get their interest.

So pre written stories can help because if they’re in a bind, you can hire a PR firm, but that’s expensive, but that’s just what they do. They just call people. They get to know people and they know them and they call them and say here’s a tip. I’ve got this thing about this artist. You could do that but it’s going to cost you a lot of money and that’s okay. That’s what they do and they’re good at it sometimes and sometimes Not, but it’s really just about getting to know people. Now the other thing is, don’t tell us this I have, I can’t tell you how many times I get this into such a frustrating thing. They’ll send them a note and they’ll say, you know, here’s I’d like you to do a story on me. And by the way, I was just featured in this magazine, this magazine, this magazine. Well, the last thing I want to do is put something in that everybody else has done, I try to be unique. I don’t want to be putting things in that everybody else has done. So when you tell me that, I don’t want to hear it. So if it has happened, first off, if you’ve just been in five other magazines, I do a story about you and I find out about it. It’s not going to make me happy, but I’m going to feel burned. But if you’ve got something unique, you know, pick out somebody and say hey, I want you to do a story on this. I’d like you to consider this be nice about it and say you know you’ve got the exclusive on this. I’m not going to give it to anybody else. If you pick it up and then that gives you an opportunity to go up here. Here’s something unique and interesting.

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

Remember to Submit Your 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.

Fuel Your Art Career

Anyone can change the entire direction of their career in just 90 days. I've seen it happen many times. To do it, you need FUEL.

FAST: Something that will build exposure fast
UNIQUE: Find ways you can stand out
EXCELLENCE: Improve the way you appear to others
LARGE: Build your career in a big way

FUEL comes from deliberate actions that create opportunity. Though there is often luck involved, we all know many people make their own luck. For instance, you won't get publicity because someone just happened to discover you. You have to make sure editors hear from you and know about your work. You don't get blog posts, TV appearances, and newspaper articles by wishing for it to happen. You need to be proactive and make them aware.

Two things that will fuel your career more than anything else are publicity and winning awards (which of course gives you publicity). Have you ever seen someone become an overnight sensation because they were discovered by the media? Well placed publicity is like rocket fuel to take you to the next level fast.

Here's a little secret from a lifetime in the media: Publicity does not just happen. People don't just get discovered for TV shows, articles, etc. Someone is working to make editors aware.

An artist friend of mine recently had articles in several art magazines at about the same time. I later learned it happened because he called the editors, told them his story, and showed them his artwork. Suddenly he appeared in three magazines three months in a row. It happened because he was working it.

Of course, editors won't just drop everything and do a story unless you have a story to tell. Editors are looking for something that's happened in your career — something unique, like an interesting painting trip, an event surrounding your art, an exhibition, etc. Even then, it doesn't always work. But in the publishing world, a dirty little secret is that we all have slow editorial moments, so we're always on the lookout for a story. One thing we all keep an eye on is who is winning awards. Sometimes publicity will follow just because an editor has noticed a trend of winning competitions, winning show awards, etc. In fact, we selected artist Ulrich Gleiter to do one of our videos because he has a streak of winning Best of Show awards. It also resulted in an article. And suddenly his career is on fire.

Two recent examples of FUEL occurred because the artists kept entering art competitions. Though the odds were stacked against them, Shelby Keefe and Eleinne Basa were the winners of the last two annual PleinAir Salon competitions, presented by my magazine PleinAir. Each received her $15,000 cash prize at that year's Plein Air Convention. The result of winning and having their paintings on the cover of PleinAir magazine has FUELed each of their careers, fast. Plus, having their image spread by our Salon marketing ads has created more awareness, and more career FUEL.

What I like about entering competitions is that if you win, it results in lots of exposure — exposure that tends to be ongoing, especially if you win the big annual prize. Promotion can continue for a year or more. Both Eleinne's and Shelby's pictures have appeared in dozens of ads, e-mails, newsletter ads, etc. This FUEL created fast momentum and large amounts of publicity for each artist, and as a result, their careers are soaring.

What can you do to get FUEL in your career?

Most FUEL comes when you least expect it, but it comes because you are trying to generate it. You should be watching for opportunities to FUEL your career by getting your name in front of the press frequently (local and national) for stories, announcements, awards won, commissions received, charity events, etc. Seek every opportunity. Contests are a great way to FUEL your career because they give you something to talk about with the press when you win.

That's why successful artists I know enter everything they can that could give them prestige if they win. They enter every month. I know of one artist who kept entering our contest every other month with the same painting and ended up winning because the judges change with every contest, and what one judge doesn't like, another judge may love. Everyone has a chance to win, and most people who win thought they never had a chance. Plus the price of entry is low compared to the publicity received if you win.

Keep your eyes open to FUEL your career. Here are the actions you should take:

Ask yourself what would FUEL your career the fastest.
Make a list of local and national publicity opportunities and start contacting editors. (Don't be a pest, but never give up. Every editor needs an easy story from time to time.)
Enter every contest you can find that will give you major credibility and bring you publicity.
Participate in local events that have publicity attached (for example, charity events). If you play a major role, you'll get some publicity.
Know this is an ongoing effort that may not pan out immediately, but will eventually.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The worst thing you can do is try to leverage advertising buys in exchange for editorial coverage. CREDIBLE publications will not only reject you, they will avoid you in the future because they know their readers know the difference and they consider an ad for an article as a bribe. As you know credible people shy away from people who offer bribes. If approached by publications selling ads in exchange for the promise of editorial coverage RUN FAST! Though it seems like a good idea because you are getting coverage, their readers know the difference and this will hurt your reputation as fast as a legitimate article will help it. Typically publications selling editorial are desperate. Readers who see stories issue after issue about the same artists tend to stop reading those publications and stop taking those artists and artists in those publications seriously. The other problem with this is that SUBSTANDARD artists get stories because they have the money to spend, which hurts the credibility of any artist appearing in those publications. Is it tempting? Yes. Will it hurt your credibility as an artist? Absolutely. Quality publications hire quality editors. Readers trust those editors and know that if they actually cover an artist for their merits, it means that artist is editorial worthy. If an editor ever allowed advertising to influence content in my publications I'd fire them immediately because our credibility with readers is more important than anything. Selling editorial in exchange for advertising is simply prostitution. You would not offer a bribe in other parts of your business and you would not go to a prostitute, why would you want to be associated with publications who accept bribes for advertising when its a bad reflection on you.

FUEL is acquired by people who are always on the lookout for an opportunity. Most people miss opportunity because they are not looking for it. Professionals are always seeking ways to get someone to give them press and exposure and are always entering in hopes of winning.

Eric Rhoads

PS: FUEL for today – I should mention that our PleinAir Salon deadline to enter is TOMORROW, Friday, January 31. Now is your chance. All you have to do is take a photo of your best work and enter it online, and you could be the winner of the $15,000 cash prize and your winning work on the cover of the magazine, or you could win other prizes ($21,000 in cash prizes all together. Enter at www.pleinairsalon.com).