I haven’t done Monday Marketing since sometime this spring, as I have been so busy with school. Now I feel like I can get back to my Monday schedule and plan my marketing for the week. These suggestions are from Art Marketing 101, in an email a while back.

1. Continually contact people
Make it an aim to call four people a day—whether they be new prospects or current clients. It’s guaranteed that not only will you become quite good and efficient on the phone, but your business will flourish. Clients are the mainstay of any business. To call four people a day could take 15 minutes. Don’t make them long conversations; in fact, they should be short, with a specific aim in mind. You could ask for referrals, invite the person to visit a future opening or exhibit, invite him to your studio to see your new series of work, thank her for a recent purchase. Be creative!
Add to this list four post cards and you have eight contacts a day to get a total of 40 contacts a week! If you try this for two months, you will be amazed at how your sales increase.

So I have a four-year-old mailing list from our website, and we have decided to reactivate the site and sales off the site when we get back to business the end of June. In the meantime, I had marketing postcards made so that as we visit galleries on our trip, we can leave information. The business cards will get added to our mailing list.
2. Follow-up
Not only do successful artists follow up after they send out a portfolio, but they follow up even if they receive a rejection. This means that they send out a postcard with one of their images on it, photo print, announcement of an exhibition, whatever it is—at least every 6-12 months to all prospective clients and galleries and to former purchasers. The rule in direct marketing is: you must contact people three times before they respond! As an artist you won’t have a huge mailing list; it will be quite intimate, perhaps 100-400, so the cost to do a mailing is not overwhelming.

And…we re taking our portfolio with us, along with fabric, something we have not done in the past. In this way, we can also get business cards, as well as make some potential contacts.
3. Use innovative marketing
Successful artists are always thinking of innovative ways to market. They are willing to take a risk if they feel a new idea might work. For instance, new places to exhibit—an orchid show, an interior designer show, a real estate show, a music conference, a sci-fi convention—whatever they think might work for them! Presentation is always consistent and top-notch, of course.

One of the reasons we go gallery-hopping it to get ideas for display, innovative approaches, unique ideas, as well as talk to other working artists, especially now about the economy. And I am amazed at how many times I see something that I could apply to the marbling.
4. Press coverage
Successful artists consistently receive press coverage. Although she might not get direct sales from this press coverage, a successful artist knows that in the long run it means many people see her name, artwork and progression over the years. This means a lot to potential buyers. It also means that the newspaper/magazine approves of you. Name recognition is of the greatest importance in any business.

I need to look at this in July and send some press releases. I have a couple of ideas I need to pursue. so we’ll see…
5. Long-term goals
All the successful artists I know have had long-term goals. This means they did not make it overnight. They planned and strategized and suffered to get where they are today in the marketplace. They never gave up. They knew their aim, and they knew there would be down periods, as in all businesses. Aims and goals are the mainstay of any business. You are in business, and you must have a business attitude to win at marketing!

I do have several pages of goals, and even with full-time teaching, I have been able to chip away at them. I’ve been saying if I could have a couple of weeks and spend four-five hours a day, I could see some good success with the business. This is happening.

I’m interested in your feedback. What are you doing to increase your marketing lists and contacts? What risks are you taking? How are you managing your goals?

Art Marketing 101