Art Print Issues by Barney Davey

Marketing Art Online Using Twitter

In the Art Business, Social Media Simply Is an Effective Marketing Tool to Sell More Art.

Regular readers know I am a proponent of artists using social media to grow awareness for their work and sell more art.

While I have a solid understanding of Twitter, I've always known there was more to it, if I just had the right information and tools.

Recently, I found a jewel of an e-book, The Art of Marketing Art Online, by Icelandic visual artist, Heidi Bjork.

At Only $7.99, This Affordable Art Marketing Online E-book Is a Steal!

You can order for your Kindle, or as a digital download e-book from the Payloadz site.You will find it offers great value as it is loaded with deep insight and practical advice for visual artists on how to effectively use Twitter to promote themselves and sell their work.

It is obvious Heidi has given lots of thought on how artists can use Twitter in their art marketing efforts. That she is a successful professional artist herself who has used the same steps she outlines in the book helps to validate her credentials and solid marketing art online advice.

Readers Will Learn the Key Elements to Creating a Powerful Art Marketing Brand Using Twitter

1. Username
2. Profile Picture
3. Professional Background
4. Follower count

You will learn new ways get more from Twitter by effectively using TwitPic, #hashtags and ReTweets, and how to turn "power searches" into a powerful art marketing tool. Building traffic is a key component of achieving success on Twitter, and you will find useful ideas on how to make that happen for you.

When it comes to social media, you can see from the YouTube video below that Heidi walks the talk in using available tools to promote her book.

 

Facebook Has a Click Through Rate of 287%. Twitter's Click Through Rate is a Staggering 1904%.

That head turning statistic alone ought to be enough to help you move towards fully incorporating Twitter into your art marketing arsenal. Here are some other key items that will help you use Twitter to maket your art marketing more robust:

• Why choosing to use the right URL shortener is marketing genius
• How to grow your followers and why you need a large group of followers
• Learn about Twitter Karma and how to use it to your advantage
• How employing automated Twitter marketing tools can make your job easier and your results more dramatic
• How to stay on top of your Twitter marketing by using the TweetDeck platform
• Learn what is the best tool to streamline your Twitter account management, so you can track and easily know who to follow and how to safely unfollow in the right way to avoid account suspension
• The best way to make use of promotional tweets
• How to effectively get the best results and not over do it, which can lead to a reputation for spamming
• How to use RSS to syndicate your Twitter feed

The book is an easy quick read, well worth every penny you pay for it. It will give you a whole new perspective on how using Twitter can be a most effective online art marketing tool for visual artists. Learn from Heidi's practical advice, which is born from her personal experience, and you are sure to find new succes marketing your art online.

You follow Heidi on her blog at: http://heidibjork.com/ or on Twitter @Heidi_Art.

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10 Questions about EBSQ Art ~ the Online Community for Self-representing Visual Artists

Having always been a strong supporter of visual artists being independent as possible, I became an instant fan of EBSQ Art upon learning about it years ago.

In Internet time, ideas, companies and online communities come and go in the blink of an eye. If you think back about how much has changed since 2000, EBSQ Art's longevity is simply amazing. It truly is a testament to its ability to evolve and add value to its members.

I recently had the opportunity to pose ten questions to Amie Gillingham, the site's CEO and guiding force behind its great success story. If you are an visual artist and not already part of this vibrant valuable community, I urge you to consider joining.

1.            What is EBSQ Art and where did it get the name?

EBSQ is an online artist community geared towards artists who sell or otherwise promote their work directly to the public. A lot of people wonder the heck what our acronym could possibly stand for. But actually, our name is a derivation of e-Basquiats which was what our earliest members were dubbed when they were selling on eBay at the turn of the century. EBSQ as a keyword became their calling card. Our artistic sensibilities have greatly expanded since our founding in 2000, but the name stuck.

2.            What is the mix of art available on your site?

Our site leans heavily toward traditional fine art, but we also have a nice smattering of digital artists, photographers, jewelers, glass artists, and all manner of artisans. You'll find everything from realism to contemporary cubism to fantasy and steampunk to Pysanky eggs!

3.            Creating and selling art is an obvious part of the community. How well are your members doing using the site to get their work to market?

EBSQ isn't a traditional e-commerce site. We're actually more of a hub for an artist's total online marketing strategy. We do allow members to make items available for sale either by providing contact information for the buyer or by using their preferred payment gateway on individual items, but we don't have a site-wide payment system in place. So a lot of our metrics come from what our customers have reported to us.

Back in November 2010, we upgraded a lot of our site code and our Certificate of Authenticity systems was temporarily unavailable. We were actually surprised by how many artists were coming to us, desperate for COAs because they had a backlog of sold artwork to ship to their customers. While we're quite sorry folks had to wait for us to get this feature back online, it was gratifying to know that both the service was so much in demand and how many artists were doing better sale-wise than they were the year before. Folks that are just starting out might have a rough time of it at first, but artists that have hung in there during the recession are seeing at least a small rebound in sales above and beyond the expected uptick during the holiday season.

We do see a shift in where our artists are making items available for sale beyond our website. EBSQ traffic has moved from being largely at eBay to largely at Etsy. Imagekind and CafePress have fallen out of favour and Zazzle has become the POD vendor of choice. And a lot of members are marketing their work directly on their blogs and Facebook pages. Our goal is to provide as much support as we can for our artists, regardless of their venue of choice.

4.            Besides having an established online venue to showcase their work, what other benefits do artists enjoy with their participation?

EBSQ has a lot of the tools you'd expect from an art site in this day and age: bulk uploads, unlimited portfolios, Google Analytics-powered stats, social sharing tools, and the like. One rather unique feature is our digital Certificate of Authenticity. Artists have the option to print or email our COAs to buyers, who are then able to "lock" their COA. They can even transfer COAs if the work is resold and the provenance of the work travels with it.

Our community is the biggest unexpected benefit cited by our members. Not every member makes it to our forums, but those that do tend to stick around and get a lot more out of their membership than those that don't. Especially in a down economy, it's helpful to stay immersed in an artistic environment.

Another benefit unique to EBSQ is our extensive exhibition schedule. Currently, we run 3 exhibits every month. This year includes several juried exhibits as well as our annual benefit for the Susan G Komen Foundation. Shows are a great way to get involved, challenge yourself, and get your work seen. You can check out our 2011 exhibition calendar here:

http://blog.ebsqart.com/2011/01/05/announcing-our-2011-exhibition-schedule/

5.            Do your members volunteer to help keep the site functioning? Are they compensated for their efforts, or is it pro bono for the good of the site?

Our site is a mixture of paid staff and volunteer members. Our handful of volunteers serve as topic hosts/moderators on our forums where they're already active participants and were already acting as unofficial community leaders. In some cases, we've had members serve as bloggers in exchange for membership. We think the knowledge and skill they bring to our blog is a huge asset and we're lucky to have them!

6.            How has online marketing changed since EBSQ Art was launched?

Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, YouTube, and blogging going mainstream have completely changed the rules of the game. Five years ago, these were optional venues an artist could use to gain a massive edge over the competition. Now, they're practically a requirement in the self-representing artist market if you want to stay in the game.

7.            How well do artists selling digital fine art reproductions do on the market?

I've found that artists who are well-established and sell their originals at a higher price point do MUCH better in the print market. When you can't afford or otherwise lost out on a sought-after original, the reproduction becomes more desirable.

That said, artists who actively and aggressively market their reproductions do much better than artists who simply post work for sale at sites like Imagekind and RedBubble and wait for something to happen. But more about that later!

8.            It has been a rocky road for many artists in the recent past, what is your vision or how do you feel about what will happen next?

I truly don't have a clue what the future holds. And that's kind of exciting! But I do know that artists who stay the course and keep creating and actively marketing their work through the bad times will have a leg up on those who packed in their dreams until it's no longer a rainy day. Carpe diem

9.            What advice do you give to artists for getting the most from their participation with EBSQ Art?

While this advice is true for EBSQ, I believe it also holds true for most, if not all, online venues, including personal websites. Don't post and pray. Be active. Participate and update regularly. Engage with your peers and potential customers. And above all, don't stop creating and posting new work.

Looking at stats for individual members, those that see the most traffic are active. They enter shows regularly. They're chatty on the forums. They're constantly on the front page because they're always creating and adding new work. When we added Google Analytics to our toolbox for artists, members were stunned to see how much of their traffic was a direct result of their activity, particularly show entries.

I've had artists leave EBSQ, complaining that the site didn't "work" for them. But more often than not, when I look at their portfolios, I see a lot of self-sabotage. In many cases, the artist uploaded a handful of pieces on their first day, didn't bother to give them titles, dates, or statements, didn't enter any shows, didn't even fully complete their profile, and never engaged with the site in any way. Of course they're not going to see success! It would be foolish to think otherwise. I don't care how amazing your artwork is. Post. And. Pray. Doesn't. Work. Period.

10.          What is your elevator speech for why artists should join EBSQ Art?

EBSQ is an online community for artists who want to take control of their own art careers. We're a hub where you can house your full portfolio, link to all of your online venues, easily establish the provenance of your work with our Digital Certificate of Authenticity tools, and connect with a global art community. We've been here for a decade, we've stayed small and kept a passionate focus on serving our community, and we still answer our own email. Our mantra remains the same since our founding in 2000: Support Living Artists!

-Amie Gillingham
CEO, EBSQ
web: http://www.ebsqart.com
blog: http://blog.ebsqart.com
twitter: http://twitter.com/ebsq
Get out of the vacuum and express yourself!

How to Protect Your Rights and Know Your Responsibilites on the Internet

Long before the advent of social media, and the 800-pound gorilla that Facebook has become in that patch, artists, art publishers and art marketers already had moved towards establishing some sort of dominion on the World Wide Web. Since you are reading this blog post, the probability is you have grabbed some digital online real estate yourself, or you are on the verge of doing so.

Statistics show roughly 45% of Americans generate their own online content including videos, podcasts, blogs, Facebook and MySpace pages and online profiles. If you are operating a website, publishing a blog or email newsletter, or offering original content online you need to be aware of how Internet laws apply to you.

You need to know your rights and responsibilities on the Internet

Joy Butler is a Washington, D.C. based Harvard-educated attorney and author. She has written what perhaps is the best legal primer you will ever need to help you fully understand your rights and responsibilities when staking your claim on the Internet. Her new book is  The Cyber Citizen's Guide Through the Legal Jungle: Internet Law for Your Professional Online Presence .

The books covers, in easy-to-understand language, how you can protect your online content, select protectable domain names, and comply with privacy obligations to online visitors. You will find copyright, trademark, defamation, patent and privacy are among the laws discussed.

There are certain resources that should be indispensable, this book is one of them. It should be "must" reading for anyone who wants to know to protect their interests and avoid potential problems and serious consequences due to operating in the dark. I read this book after receiving a complimentary review copy. I found it most useful and informative and gladly would pay to have this practical resource on my bookshelf.

Become informed, make better decisions and save money on legal fees

Lawyers will charge you large hourly fees to explain what you find here for a pittance by comparison. That's not to say it replaces genuine legal advice when needed, but if you don't have to pay to get the basic understanding of Internet laws, then you come in educated and saving yourself billable hours by learning beforehand what this comprehensive book offers.

Butler also is the author of a book previously recommended here. It is titled The Permission Seeker's Guide Through the Legal Jungle: Clearing Copyrights, Trademarks and Other Rights for Entertainment and Media Productions . It provides detailed guidance for obtaining permission to use quotes, music, artwork, names trademarks, film clips, and other protected materials. As with the book featured here, I read and reviewed this book after receiving a complimentary copy. And, likewise, I believe the invaluable information it provides makes it an easy decision to pay to add to any resource library.

Visual Artist's Perceptions & Selling More Art with Partners

When it comes to visual art, the finished product is all about the artist's perception. You fashion your work based on your reaction to how you see, feel and think about your subject matter. Those things mattered as much to Marcel Duchamp and his famously recycled porcelain sculpture, i.e. Toliet 'ready-made', as they did to Jackson Pollock methodically and randomly dripping and splaying paint, or Picasso rendering his exquisite Still-life with a Pitcher and Apples.

Are you an artist, or you an entrepreneur or a small business person? Your perceptions about yourself are equally as important to your art career as your artistic vision is to your creativity. What you take in, how you fell about your business, how you react to the changes and challenges to your business and how you present yourself are all part of your perceptions about yourself.

The point is if you want your art and your business both to be taken seriously by those who matter most. That list is comprised of your patrons, your partners and your pushers. Often times, the lines between these types is blurred. For instance, you may likely find your best pushers, i.e. those who work at promoting you, among your patrons and your partners.

If what you are passionate about in your art carries over to the rest of your life, it will immeasurably boost your art career. Obviously, you want your collectors to have the best impression about your talent and vision. You want them to buy into your story because if they do they are likely to become a repeat buyer, which is a key to your long term success as a visual artist.Your mission with your patrons is to have them hold you in the highest esteem possible as an artist.

Pushers are those people and companies that champion your art for you, whether paid or out of passion, or both, these invaluable resources can impart a near magical exponential effect on your career. You will come by some naturally. In other cases, it is incumbent upon you to actively form relationships with centers of infuence who just happen to love your work.

When it comes to the business side of your career, having great partners can be a huge help. Partners can be anyone or any company that assists you in some way to get your work created, or get it to market. Although there are many, two fine examples of companies that work with artists and offer ancillary services to help them market their art are Digital Arts Studio, a digital fine art printmaking studio in Atlanta, GA, and FASO, Fine Art Studio Online, a web developer and hosting company in San Antonio, TX that specializes in building websites for artists.

In both cases, these companies have created online galleries for their artist clients to use to help promote their art. Digital Arts Studio has created the Fine Art Marketplace for the exclusive use of its artists to have an online venue to present and sell their fine art giclee prints. FASO uses a complete directory of artists on its main site. Both serve the same multiple purposes. They help the painters get online recognition, it helps the partners get the same, and increases the odds of everyone involved succeeding at higher levels. What's not to like about that?

Take a minute to do a personal assessment to discover how you perceive yourself. If you already think in terms of being a successful entrepreneur, or artrepreneur if you will, good for you. If you don't, you only need to begin to act and think like you are to change your perception -- and your results. When it comes to partners, assess what are they doing to help you. It won't hurt to think about what you are doing to help them. This is especially true when it comes to your gallery partners.

 

Using SlideShare to Promote Your Fine Art

These days, actually any days in the art business, you need as much promotion and exposure as you can muster. Fortunately, you have many unique opportunities to promote your fine art to galleries and collectors.

In a recent post, I told you about printing your own four-color magazine from MagCloud. Long time readers may recall I posted about the power of SlideShare by linking to a most impressive presentation titled Shift Happens. Today, I want to reacquaint you with SlideShare by introducing you to a wonderful presentation of fantasy art by Rebeka Rodosek.She is a talented visual artist from Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Fantasy Art By Rebeka Rodosek

I found Rebeka the same way I am sure many other have, which was by searching the Internet. An email from SlideShare about new features prompted me to revisit the site. I had not been there in quite a while, but my good intentions to do so needed a reminder.

When I searched the site for "art," I found Rebeka's palette and subject matter jumping out at me. She is in the print market, as a Google search shows her with work on Imagekind, among other online art sites. I am certain I would have also found her Facebook fan page sooner or later as well.

Email marketing works to promote art

By keeping in touch with me, SlideShare has managed to maintain my interest to the point that I am touting it to you once again. Repeated exposure has worked for it. If you are not using email marketing, you are letting an important and powerful tool go to waste. There will be more on email marketing in a future post. For now, let your imagination run wild and brainstorm on how many ways you can use SlideShare.

Blending marketing elements enhances how you sell art

If you sense there is a thread running through this post, you are right. We talked about how with MagCloud you can create your own four-color magazine. Then we moved onto SlideShare and also mentioned email marketing. Finally, we mentioned Imagekind, an online fine art print gallery site that will sell your art, print it and fulfill it for you.

Your art marketing plan should be to combine powerful elements, such as these, into a cohesive plan to reach and influence your best art collector prospects, dealers and customers. In doing so, you will leverage each component to lift the other and thereby greatly raise awareness for you and your art.

In my humble opinion, this is how to sell art using affordable tools that are readily available and easy to use. Weave them with your Website, blog and social media presence to generate buzz and increase your income.

Art Co-op, Right Idea, Right Time to Sell Art

As I have watched the traditional ways artists have gotten to market become battered by forces beyond their control, (witness the cancelation of both the Artexpo Las Vegas and Decor Expo Atlanta 2009 shows as prime examples), I have repeatedly voiced an opinion artists need to do whatever they can to take as much control as possible over the distribution of their art.

Whether it is through sales onlne, direct to consumer sales at shows, owning a gallery, joining a co-op, or other creative means to generate their own sales doesn't matter. What matters is artists find ways that work for them to manifest their own destiny. I'm not advocating abandoning trade media or tradeshows, or brick and mortar galleries. These venues will always have an important role to play. But now, because so much has changed and so much is possible, it is the right time to take control and own the distribution wherever possible.

Good Ideas Are Catching

Have you ever noticed the coincidence of different people hitting on similar themes to solve problems without any interaction between them. It's happened here in the art patch recently. I've had a note to blog about Indy Hall for some time because I think the artist co-op model it uses is right for many artists today. Independents Hall is a co-working space and community in Philadelphia. It includes designers, developers, writers, artists, entrepreneurs, scientists, educators, small business owners, telecommuters, marketers, videographers, game developers. You will soon hear more about it in a future blog post here.

Yesterday, Tony Moffitt's blog post was titled Do Co-operative Galleries Run by Artists Work? It was not an examination, but more a question thrown out to the readers. It has 13 replies to date, which indicates a good level of interest in artist run co-ops.

Today, I was notified I'd been tagged in a note by a Facebook friend named Tom Davidson. He had posted in his Notes section on the site these thoughts, which I publish here with his permission, in a piece titled Art Co-op. He is offering suggestions for Florida-based artists to come together. Obviously, they can be implemented anywhere artists band together to help each other.

Art Co-op by Tom Davidson

I have been spending a lot of time wondering how I can create more and still promote and do business. My original career is marketing and business. I come from the large corporate world, before I walked away to become a starving artist, lol. Anyways I propose to all of my art online friends and associates to review and contact me if you are willing to work smarter not harder. Let me know at least what you think of my idea. I appreciate all artists who are concentrating on creating, there is room for us in this world and we do help make it a better place, that is a sign of a good industry!!

1.Artists write art reviews of other artists, submit to media
2.Galleries and artists work together to promote exhibits more effectively
3. Provide a networking resource for Daytona - Orlando Area artists, sharing info and pooling talents, resources and information to create a stronger art market. I was suggested we develop a mission statement based in values like integrity, loyalty, trust and mutual benefit.
4.Look to other cities for effective models
5.Artists at every level in their careers take on the responsibility to give back to the community as part of their marketing plan.
6.Artists take responsibility for controlling the flow/availability of work (taking into account the basic laws of supply and demand).
7.Galleries develop exclusive relationships with artists so they can effectively promote their careers, locally and nationally.
8.Galleries co-op advertising in National Publications
9.Invite art schools, agencies and other arts entities to play a larger role in educating fine artists and venues about proven marketing practices
10.Establish a forum to determine how each of us can play a role in a healthy art market.
11.Create an annual Central Florida Art Expo,put on by the artist group presenting top artists and galleries to regional art buyers.
12.Artists establish consistent retail prices.
13.Explore methods of developing emerging collectors. Reach out and encourage the younger "arty party" scene by promoting/educating them about collecting fine art - not just getting drunk in front of it and hoping they will buy.
14.Artists offer a wide (but consistent) price range of artwork at exhibitions (from reproductions to large scale works).
15.Artists leverage their influence by working together
16. Utilize Facebook to inform,communicate,educate,and build a better bigger art industry in the state.

You can friend artist Tom Davidson on Facebook and make your own comments on his Notes page there. Or, contact him through his website: http://www.portraitspetsanpeople.com

I added this comment:

Tom, I'm in complete agreement with your thinking. Given the indiviualist nature of most artists, I have no delusions that your suggestions will be difficult to implement. But, I don't believe there are many better solutions either. You have my full support for your thoughts and suggestions as they closely mirror my own.

Cheers, Barney

Art-Exchange.com Brouhaha Still Brewing

A four-year running discussion about Art-Exchange.com and its business practices has been raging on Wet Canvas, which is the largest artist discussion board on the Internet. A search for the term "art-exchange" there returns 21 results of different threads or discussions. Nearly all are started by artists asking for help, opinion and firsthand experience with the company.

The primary thread with "Art-Exchange.com...any opinions?" was started in June, 2005 and has more than 100 replies and 7500 views. This is an enormous amount of response and that it continues to stay lively nearly 4 years later shows the amount of interest and angst generated by the company's business tactics. The near universal response has been outrage and anger from the Wet Canvas art community. Discussion boards such as Wet Canvas serve a great need. The work as a communal watering hole where like-minded folks can gather and share their experiences, knowledge and shared interests.

The latest round of posts were started when a poster named David Miller, who introduced himself as the new president of Art-Exchange.com came on to try to defend the company. He was rightly disturbed by a comment that the employees there should be shot. We all know such talk is meaningless hyperbole attempting to portray the level of anger towards the company and its aggressive sales staff. But, on this point I think he has a right to be disturbed. Not so much, or not at all on reasoned explanations of how artists were treated and solicited by his sales staff.

Needless to say, the response was not pleasant to Mr. Miller's post. A request was put to him to provide artists who would come forth and tell about their positive experience with the company. A suspicious first-time newbie poster named Bill joined the conversation with a kind of passive-aggressive defense of the company. When challenged to prove he was not a shill by providing a Website or some evidence of a real art career, he lamely says he hasn't joined the 2000s yet and has no Internet exposure. He further says he is contemplating working with Art-Exchange.com. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

The discussion of this company is not isolated to just Wet Canvas. You can find strongly held opinions on www.artspan.com and www.artscuttlebutt.com. The later has unfortunately lost many of its older posts when its forum was hit with a hacker attack. It contained some lengthy posts and replies all pointing to artists who had poor experiences dealing with Art-Exchange.com.

There are lessons here. For artists, take the time to perform due diligence when being asked to put up front money for marketing assistance. For companies who have vocal constituents, don't wait years to try and correct a negative perception about the company. In this case for Art-Exchange.com, the ship has sailed and the cow left the barn. Perhaps Mr. Miller can turn the company around, but it will take a long time with an ongoing effort by the company to change its image with the artist community, especially those who participate regularly on discussion boards.

The final lesson is no matter how small or large your company may be, don't take for granted that customer satisfaction is paramount to your long term success. Caveat emptor.

No Time to Create - a Facebook Group Topic

Some readers here may recall I have blogged about the artist Valentina and her very successful Val's Art Diary Web site replete with regularly updated and always entertaining vlogs. Surf her site and you will also find useful information for artists in a section called Val's Art Tips.

Val's latest efforts to help artists and create a little buzz for herself in the process involves Facebook. She has started a group there called Artists who refuse to starve. Creative people share their business secrets. It has quickly grown to more than 1,300 members. It is just another example of the viral power of social marketing and how Facebook has become a dominant force in it.

It looks as if my November 2007 post titled Bet on Facebook -- It Could Be the One was accurate. It's not too late to get on Facebook now. Get on board, don't forget to friend me and join some groups like the one Val has started. Or start your own like artist Maya Green with her Art of Maya Green group.

Spend some time on the discussion boards on groups such as Val's mentioned above. You will make friends and admirers and learn some things too. I couldn't resist adding my thoughts to the "No Time to Create" topic started by Dan Monroe. He is lamenting there are so many sites and not enough time to join them all and participate in them. I couldn't agree more and offered this commentary to topic:

Pick something more than just the next big thing

This conversation strikes a chord with me. I believe there are plenty of reasons to have angst over not having enough time to do enough of the things that are truly important. It is quite easy to get carried away on the next best new thing to do. One can literally twitter (pun intended) away their time till nothing gets done.

FB offers promise, as do other online sites that can help get an artist gain awareness. I've always thought the best approach is a planned one. It seems the art that stands the test of time was rarely if ever impulsively put together. Same has to be true of great marketing.

Well executed smart moves make the most sense

Sure random strokes of genius can propel a piece or an artist, but it is the years of experience and raw talent that give the artist the ability to translate the lightning flash into real genius. Often the first stroke is carefully reworked until perfection. And, in retrospect, one can nearly always see it, the stroke of genius that is, actually is the culmination of hard work, dedication and talent and not just dumb luck.

Making a career work successfully is not unlike planning to create your best work. You wouldn't sit down with a willy nilly idea and think the result is going to a museum, or will quickly sell tons as a print. Likewise, it's hard to take seriously that a few blog posts or building a ginormous FB friend list, who mostly just want to see their own friends number climb, will make a big impact on a career.

Online communities are the bomb

Don't get me wrong. I think online communities are the bomb. We are just beginning to see the groundswell of where this is going. As such, I support anyone's efforts to make dent in the FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, FriendFeed, etc. world. I just think it needs to be done as part of a much larger overall plan for nothing short of world domination. Well, okay, a little hyperbole there. But, at the very least, a marketing plan to become huge in your world.

Your world can be being a star artist in your local community. It can be being well known in your state or region. It can be wanting nothing short of national and international recognition. None of those things just happen. Yes, some incredibly lucky people get monster breaks that propel their careers that in comparison just seems downright unfair to a hard working artist who is doing every thing right.

You can create your own luck

The thing is, one can't prepare for their future by banking on getting lucky. Might as well buy lottery tickets because the odds are about the same and will take much less work. So, the alternative is to construct the very best, most robust, most creative overall marketing strategy you can devise. It is an organic thing that will grow and morph on a regular basis, but having such a thing in place is the way to best create one's own luck.

Part of creating such a thing requires taking a brutally honest assessment of what one wants, really wants, and what one will do to get what they want. One thing you will find in virtually every successful person is ambition. It's a certainty without it one will fail. This assessment includes being as clear as possible where one wants to take a career and then realistically evaluating what resources are available to follow a plausible plan of action.

Look at the fearless leader of this pack, Val. She makes doing what she does seem effortless. It would be hard not to be more than a little jealous of her. She is photogenic, charismatic, self-deprecating, talented and funny. Those traits belie the fact she is driven to succeed.

Ambition will where talent will not

What Val does makes for a great presentation. But, guess what, there are tons of other artists who have all this going on and don't have her success. I'd say her desire to be successful is the fuel that makes her successful. Naturally, she has to produce work her collectors will willingly repeatedly buy, but it is the other things she does that gives her the channel or path that leads to those collectors.

Her collectors only found her because she set out to whatever she could to disrupt their lives and make them aware of her and her art. And, now today, she has a growing FB audience to add to her list of accomplishments. One should not be surprised at this at all. Kudos to her for her success here and with her art career. She finds the time to work the business and be creative. proving it can be done

I'll close this unexpectedly long missive by saying I think besides talent and ambition, the thing that makes the difference is a good plan that works all the angles, including publicity, advertising, shows, galleries, online presence, blogs and so forth. Don't just hang out online and hope for the best. Plot out what you can do. Work on creating systematic approach that strikes a balance between those long term things that seem somewhat frivolous now but show signs of future potential and those urgent important things that can impact a career now will both pay dividends. The result will be to lower the angst over feeling like there is not enough time and allow you one to avoid feeling guilty by enjoying some fun with new and old friends on FB and elsewhere. When discipline, desire and details intersect with talent and ambition, success ensues. 

Making time for and making money online requires an ongoing effort. But, let's face it, there has never been an easy quick way to building a business as an artist or for any small business. Customers and collectors are won one at a time. If you can spare a little time getting the hang of how having a Facebook following can help you, I think it will be worth the effort in the long run. It offers global exposure and great potential to help you reach and influence the right people.

Art Marketing Today - Making Sense of the Bits

Artists are seekers. I've never known one that wasn't seeking something with his or her art. Once bitten by the potent urge to create and make something of the talent, it's hard, if not impossible, to put the quest down. Put it off for expediency and steady currency yes, but forget about it -- never.

Here are a collection of disparate bits (links) I found to be interesting and compelling on their own. And, I also find a common thread running through them. Let me see if I can thread the needle for you.

Meet the boss

We'll start with the boss. That would be the formidable Katherine Tyrrell, the unparalleled blogger of Making a Mark. I call her the boss because she has put together a authoritative world class series of artist information Squidoo lenses to go along with her widely read blog. How she finds time for it all and manages to paint marvels me. It rivals the likes of the creative informative output of Robert Genn with his famous Twice-weekly Letter.

Katherine's post today is about something on every artist's mind, or ought to be. That would be how can I learn more about and get better at selling art online? She has decided it is enough of a big subject itself she is breaking if from her information rich Art Business - Resources for Artist Squidoo Lens. She is calling for your help. If you know of other sites where artists can sell their work not listed on her Art Business lens, please forward them to her.

High-end art market tanking...duh!

Bloomberg News had this headline today: Art Market May Take 3-5 Years to Recover, Survey Company Says. Go figure. Who would have known? I surmise it woud be just about every lucid person on the planet. But, somebody paid to prove the obvious. The article was based on research by an outfit called Art Tactic, Ltd. Granted, the article is what is happening at the top-tier "art as investment" fine art auction scene. However, what happens at the top trickles down. That is, it's hard for lower priced work to take big leaps up when prices of the most highly valued pieces are being depressed. The lesson here is it is another reason to be figuring out how to sell your art online, or any where else where willing buyers can be found for that matter. Perhaps the message is to work in a style that suits your local area in a way that will help insulate you from the larger push down on art prices.

Would have Picasso sold giclees?

This brings us to an article published by artist Henry Bateman. He's made a living as an artist for a long time and is an astute observer of the market from both a personal perspective and from a more macro look over time and circumstances. He published this online article, Are Giclee Prints Collectible? In it, he makes the case that Picasso would have embraced the giclee medium. He concludes that those prints that are remarqued with a bit of "graffiti" as he calls on it are the ones that will be collectible. He could be right. Another way to look at it would be sequentially numbered, but open edition pieces, might see the lower numbers become more collectible than higher numbers.

What is just as interesting about this article is where he published it. That is, the Home Improvements Directory.com. A very good place to be promoting himself as a knowledgeable art insider who just happens to be an artist himself. Nice bit of self-promoting to a targeted audience. Kudos to Henry. He's thinking outside the box on how to up his visibility online and potentially with some of his best prospects.

How to hook new customers and great publcity

Joan Ambrose-Bibbo is a multi-talented artist with a unique story. One that begs for publicity that practically writes itself. Son of a gun if that isn't exactly what happened. She was recently covered in a hometown paper, The Mercury, which serves Pottsdown, PA and surrounding counties. The story is titled, Hooked on Art. It details her career as a graphic artist (A familiar tale about paying the bills.) 

Her real passion is making hooked rugs. With her artistic talents, she has come up with great designs and an in-demand product. So much so, she's turned to making giclee prints of the work and has a new source of revenue with the pieces selling in local galleries. She obviously has a look that ties in to the design themes and interests of her regional locale. Finding more and new ways to stretch your talent and reach a willing market is more crucial now than any previous time. There is lots to be learned here. Follow your passion, be creative about how to make your work, be unique and look for opportunities to let the media blow your horn with stellar priceless publicity.

Living your dream in the 2000s

Lastly, we'll look at Katie Davis. Like Henry Bateman, she has taken up pen to write articles online. This format gives her a boost in awareness while promoting a point of view and a subtle, but nonetheless obvious, agenda to help her sell her art. And, she has a great message for artists, or anyone else for that matter. In her article, How to Live Your Dream, she narrates navigating an interesting and changing career and life path that I'm sure many reading this can relate to in some fashion.

The path has taken her from starting out with a fine art degree and gravitating painting sets for movies and television. The tour takes her through creating greeting and notecards sold in local galleries. Where it gets interesting is how she has morphed that interest and talent into her own online e-card company at www.KatiesCards.com. The business allows her to unleash her creativity, learn new skills and enjoy a growing business where she works from home allowing her to be there for her kids. Nicely done Katie.

Seek and ye shall find

If you see a pattern of entrepreneurship, of not following the beaten path, of using the Internet in unique ways, then you have followed the thread. The artists mentioned here all are finding the time to do things to help themselves, to promote themselves, away from the easel. They have each embraced the Internet in their own way. Let them be an inspiration to you to try new things and to not convince yourself there is not enough time. If it's important, there is always time. Nurturing your career is as crucial as building your body of work and growing as an artist and as a seeker.

Phony Prosperity Plummets - Chinese Oil Painting Biz Hits the Skids

Thomas Friedman, the Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and bestselling author of Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America had an December 20 Op-Ed piece in the NY Times that caught my eye. In China to the Rescue? Not!", he discusses how China is not in a position to stimulate its domestic demand and thus help lift the rest of the world's economies out of their collective downward spiral. In a nutshell, it's not going to happen. 

Phony Prosperity Too Good To Be True

In the phony prosperity propped up in great part due to our partnership with China, where we bought ever cheaper stuff we thought we needed, but really didn't, while they bought our deepening debt, it worked until it didn't. That's where we are today. Now Chinese workers are feeling the same pinch as are those in U.S.

Chinese Oil Painting Suppliers Feeling Economic Pinch

To illustrate his point, Friedman used the example of how the art village of Dafen, the world’s leading center for mass-produced artwork and knockoffs of masterpieces — had been devastated by the bursting of the U.S. housing bubble. Apparently what used to be said about our neighbors to the North and South is now a global phenomenon. That is, when the U.S. sneezes, they would catch a cold.

Art Business Has Sex Appeal

Friedman could have picked from any of thousands of other industries where low cost Chinese manufacturing has knocked the pins from under them. It proves that although relatively small by comparison to giant businesses making furniture, machinery, etc., the art market is intriguing. It will good to remember on the days when you have second thought about painting for a living you are in a sexy intriguing business. The kind a well known columnist will showcase in an Op-Ed piece.

Sex appeal aside, you have to instinctively realize that this news from China is as much a cause for concern as it is an opportunity to look up the meaning of schadenfreude. So, take a moment to feel some glee for knowing your knockoff nemesis has hit a very rough patch. Then take a breath and realize there is little upside for you in their downfall. 

Holiday Sales Hit Retail Businesses Hard

The news today on retail sales is it is alarmingly abominable. The deepest discounts and desperate bundling techniques failed to shake dollars from consumers wallets. Considering that we are in a business providing a product that is to most a completely dispensable luxury, none of this is good news.  

There has been a slew of articles from business pundits, art and otherwise, offering untold guidance on how to survive the current downturn. It ranges from the practical to plain pollyanish. There seems to be so much that if one were to digest and act upon all of it they would soon find themselves enveloped in a paroxysm of paralysis induced by a potent combination of overexposure to bad news and bland advice. Undaunted, yours truly weighs in with observation and opinion.

Consumers Have Spoken - Make Sure You Are Listening

The consumers have spoken; they get it. They are scared and not buying things they don't need any longer. Keeping up with Joneses has given way to keeping up with the mortgage. This puts artists in a bad position, especially those who have not yet developed both a strong dealer and collector base.

Anyone who would seek to soothe you now offering advice laced with few bars of "Everything's gonna be alright," or "Don't worry, be happy" is be taken skeptically. While it's not time to get a gun and head to the hills, it's surely not time to be laying out grand plans for major expenditures either. Certainly, it's not a time to take lightly that economic conditions are eroded nearly beyond comprehension or to be persuaded a turnaround will be measured in months. Here is the unvarnished truth. It's going to take years to fix the problems we are dealing with now. And, that is if we don't take more unexpected shocks on the economic, war or terrorism fronts.

What Can You Do?

Watts Wacker, the brilliant futurist, a subject of a previous post here, who along with co-author Jim Taylor wrote the 1997 international bestseller, The 500 Year Delta: What Happens After What Comes Next . Here is part of a review of it from the InnovationWatch.com Web site:

The 500-Year Delta ultimately is about the shifts of perception needed to prosper in a future that is fundamentally, unrecognizably different. It is about surviving and thriving in an economy inhabited by two kinds of workers: owners and temps -- in a marketplace where customers must literally be bought, one at a time, and where mass merchandising utterly ceases to exist. It is a world, in short, where borders -- political, economic, and technological -- simply disappear.

Desire for Authentic Unique Goods On the Rise

Considering the book and review are a decade old, it is interesting how both now seem quite prescient in describing our current condition.  A point made in the book that to me is yet more poignant today, one that carries a lesson and offers a path for visual artists in this most difficult time is this: In an age where nearly everything is mass produced there will be a very strong yearning for products that are authentic. You may feel it yourself. Sites like Etsy, EBSQArt and The Artful Home and publications such as NEET Magazine all respond to this yearning. These are just a few of many serving the market as conduits between independent artists and consumers.

As a visual artist, you are in luck.

You have more control over what you produce and how. You have ways to easily stretch what you do and how you offer it. A recent segment on the Oprah program was titled Wallpaper Makes a Comeback. Hand-painted wallpaper is an example and inspiration of how you might stretch yourself and fill that need for an authentic one-of-a-kind product. Can you make wallpaper? Are their other ways to utilize your talent and training? I'm betting there are once you put your mind to what is possible.

You don't have to paint wallpaper to make authentic products. You don't have offer originals only either, although there is a movement for that notion with the painting-a-day phenomenon as one example. There are plenty of other ways to stretch yourself and find niches for your creativity.

Tap the Knowledge of Your Giclee Printer and Other Suppliers

Talk with your giclee printer, they see way more than you do. Ask what you can do to collaborate to use the technology to create reproductions of your original that are each unique in some demonstrable way. Consider everything including substrates, sizes, colors and graphic wraps, etc. Challenge yourself to think of what you can do. Test your theories about what you would never do. There are certain to be things among them that upon second review might just offer a new opportunity.

You Don't Have Make Your Own Canvas To Be Authentic

Authentic doesn't mean it has to be made from scratch. If you bake a pie with pumpkin filling you scrape from the pumpkin and use a store bought crust, is it enough to say made from scratch? Or would a purist say you had to grow the pumpkin, wheat and sugar cane to make it authentic? You already know the answer.

The point is consumers have become fickle and not inclined to buy stuff right now as the dismal Christmas retail season bears witness. What they are inclined to buy are things that offer meaning to them in their lives and that bear the mark of authenticity. Your challenge is to find ways to connect your images to your audience, to provide them with work that goes beyond decor. Work that resonates with them so they want to live with it in their home. That mission is really the same as it always has been. It's just today your focus needs to be more intense and in tune with your art buying public.

Slow Down, Produce Less, Make It Authentically Right, Charge More?

If might just be the time to make less, make what you make more pricey and more unique. Doing so could be an antidote to trying to mount a marketing scheme aimed at production run sales. In other words, just because the Chinese artists in Dafen are getting clobbered, it is still not a good time to attempt to go after their market share.