Art Marketing Tips have changed since 2007!

OUT WITH THE OLD MARKETING TIPS OF 2007

2012 UPDATEd art marketing tips...

Social Media has become a primary way of marketing art and

sharing your art with the world. Artists now have their portfolios

on their Smart phones, have art websites, art blogs, fan pages and

online artist communities as well as a LinkedIN, Facebook, Google+,

Twitter, FourSquare, and many other community art pages and

social sites and a few have even hung on with myspace. There are

even art marketing places online, and so many more opportunities

exist. I'm not talking about ebay or etsy... I am talking about

being able to share you art with the world of fine art collectors and

buyers and being able to find your market... and sell your fine art through out the world. Think.... Google search...

In the past 5 years, we have seen a huge revolution... ARTISTS

are talking to each to each other all over the world... creating

wonderful new events many of them online. We have streaming video,

YouTube, Vimeo, and so much more; the world is literally at OUR fingertips! Being an artist is no longer a solitary event.

There isn't as much mystery for the artists of today, almost every

gallery in the world is online and the museums are too. ARTISTS

are no longer limited to the state they live in... they can easily

find galleries, museums and artists groups in any area they want

to be in!

So dream big... you might as well... and get on your keyboard and

start visiting galleries and museums and art communities all over the world. YOU can find your market!

Most people know this, but for those that don't... there is one

CARDINAL RULE among Art Directors and Curators ....

DO NOT EVER SHOW UP UNANNOUNCED WITH YOUR PORTFOLIO

IN HAND EXPECTING AN ART DIRECTOR TO TAKE A LOOK SEE AT YOUR WORK... and don't just randomly start emailing out jpegs to them either.

You must read their website details, almost all have an area where

they list artist submission guidelines. Not only that, you must look at

the art and artists they show and see if your work would "fit in"

with what they are showing. This tells you what their collectors and viewers are interested in. If there isn't anything there that is like yours, don't waste their time or yours.

It's easy to get bogged down with showing all over your state and not find time to do your marketing analysis of the galleries and museums

of

the world. It's easy to go from show to show with your fellow artists. It's fun and you need to do some of that, but that cannot be your only

avenue for getting where you want to be.

When I was teaching art marketing... I often recommended artists spend as much time marketing as they do creating. AND NOW... I would say that's even more important.

I hope I have inspired you to look for your fine art collectors.

Just for laughs...here is 2007 tips. Don't get me wrong some of

these are still good... but they do seem so basic... compared to

what we have at our fingertips now!

GO FOR IT!

A Few Art Marketing Tips from Jean Bourque 2007

Create happy customers and they will tell others about how wonderful you are.

Things you can do when someone is not quite sure- Offer to deliver and hang the work at their location;
Let them test it for a few days with their décor! You can offer extras; mat or frame exchange, build the value.
If the piece has won any awards make sure the client knows that.If you have just won an award, got into a

major gallery or in a new show let your potential client know. Do not be shy; they are interested in you

and your art.

I do not recommend reducing prices; it makes it seem like a bargain basement piece. Remember Fine Art

is valuable and should never be treated like a long sleeve shirt on clearance sale in the middle of the summer.

Fine art is an investment!

Wear name tags at shows so people will know who you are. Always carry business cards and have a portfolio

in your car; You never know when you will need it. When you make a sale and have the clients name and address;

send them a thank you and let them know what else you have going on or other work that is similar to what they purchased; offer to hang it. You can offer to hang it, so you can get a photo of the art in their home.

Create a website or gather materials that would be suitable for your web page As an artist; you are missing opportunities if you are not using the web. If you do not know how to do a website;

YOU CAN GET SOMEONE TO DO ONE FOR YOU! OR YOU Or you CAN CREATE A BLOG... THESE

ARE REALLY EASY AND THE SITE WILL WALK YOU THROUGH SET UP ... THE KEY THING IS TO MAKE

SURE YOU WRITE ON IT REGULARLY (or at least add photos) ... IF YOU DON'T YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO

BUILD A FOLLOWING with it! If you continue it .... you will find you have created a history of your art career.

After you have been showing and selling art for over ten years or so, you will be glad to have written it

somewhere! It gets hard to remember them all!

Yours truly;
Jeanee

Social Media, Blogs and Google+ Invitation

There was a time, (not so long ago) before my artistic friends became regular Facebook users when I would tell people about my blog and I would have to explain what a blog was and what I was offering on my blog. I can remember being at an art league meeting and telling other artists about it and no one had ever read a blog and many people didn't even know what one was.

When I first got on Myspace, LinkedIn, Youtube, twitter and Facebook hardly any of my personal artists friends were on any of these sites and didn't understand why it would be such a great asset as an artist to be active on social media. About a year after I joined Facebook, I sent out invites to everyone in my email contacts and to all the art league members, with very little immediate response. When I went to the various art league meetings the following months people would ask me about it and one of the main questions I got was; are you selling art from it. The answer (at that time) was no, that is not the purpose of it.

Within three months of my major email send out of invites to other artists; at least 25% of them had joined Facebook. Within 6 months at least 50% of the artists had opened a Facebook account. Even so, very few were active on it, some didn't even have a photo uploaded until months after they set up their accounts. Whenever I would run into any of the artists, they would want to know more about using Facebook or they would say they opened a Facebook account and didn't understand what the big deal was. I continued to explore social media and joined many sites. (some are now defunct) Eventually the art community came to embrace Facebook and continued to tell me how much they enjoyed reading my blog. One of the great features for an artist, musician, writer or other entrepreneurs is the ability to create pages and develop fans such as I did with my art and blog.

Fast forward....

Now, almost all the artists I know are on Facebook and there is a better understanding of how we as artists can benefit by being on Facebook. We can post our artwork to the world, on a site that gets considerable more traffic than a solo website without having to know html or hire expensive designers. We can keep track of the people we meet and the events we hear about and get invited to. We now have easier access to each other, galleries, museums, art opportunities and the person that makes the decisions, then we ever did. You can actually get to know a gallery before deciding if you want to work with them and they can get to know you as well.

There has been a lot of buzz about Myspace being dead and artists have tended to flock to Facebook much faster and in larger quantities then Myspace. However, back in the days before Facebook; Myspace gave us a glimpse of what could be and showed us how we could create a space uniquely our own and get the word out about anything we wanted to share. It also gave us the opportunity to be anonymous and took down the barriers of connecting with other artists through out the world. It opened the world up for artists with all it's possibilities. I still have a presence there as a large part of my artwork is created with musicians. MySpace has a system for sharing and promoting your music which is easy to use and better than most other social media other than Social networks created specifically for Music, such as ReverbNation and NoDepression, and a multitude of other such sites.

There have been many social media sites, some created specifically for artists, that have been here and are now gone. Youtube has added a social networking aspect to their site and I have enjoyed using that. They also allow you to share videos, to other social media accounts.

Two going strong forms of social media are twitter and LinkedIn. Both have a different twist to how they work and an emphasis on different areas that can be applied to an artist's life. If you are busy but want to say something briefly, you can make a 140 character statement on twitter and anyone that follows you will get it. You can also follow other artists, galleries, museums and various news media. It offers a quick way to scan the news and to share your news. LinkedIn and BranchOut have a primary focus on the business side. LinkedIn also has art and other groups you can join; which can lead to discussions, jobs, sales, promoting events and increasing contacts.

I have been writing this blog for over 4 years and in that time, I have seen many artists starting their own blogs. Many of the artists' art blogs focus on the artwork they are creating and their target audience is usually slanted toward creating awareness of their own art creations. Artists come to social media and blogging with a wide array of styles and various skill levels. This reminds me of one rule I learned in a creative writing class; "write about what you know." Perhaps, your art teacher said something similar; "paint what you know."

Google has now created Google+. It is the latest social media tool and you cannot just join it; you have to be invited. Right now it is in beta testing mode and pretty basic in it's overall look, really easy to learn. I have been a member almost as soon as I heard about it. One of the best features it has; as you invite people or as people connect with you; you can add them to various circles. You create the names for the circles yourself, so when you are sending messages out you can target the groups that would be most interested in whatever you are posting. It also is easier to keep track of who you already have shared with, than other social media. This in itself makes it a great marketing tool.

I am allowed to invite only 150 people I want to tell you about it here and if you are interested in receiving one of the invitations, email me (click on it, to do so) with your email and I will email it to you. Because it is a Google based product, if you have multiple emails (like I do) your best option is to use it with your gmail account.

Yours Truly,

Jean Bourque

Local and Global; My Art World Commentary

hi there...

you may have noticed artsails1 has pretty much been off the blog radar since mid April. You could call it being in major super learning mode...through self educating and much time, research and effort on the web the past few months, I have learned a lot. I created an art website for another artist, I developed a blog for another company and have done art on white boards in video games and have a video game art presence. So...here I am a little less burned out after a vacation in NYC. The world is filled with so many creative people!

The newspapers have let departments go and long time staff writers, no longer enjoy a steady paycheck with a (formerly) major employer. A print magazine with features of local artists was developed a couple years ago and I agreed to an ongoing paid writing assignment online. The print media is about to become extinct...as far as the arts scene goes. As many retailers and businesses struggled to keep their doors open; the bottom literally fell out of print advertising. The world no longer reads the daily paper or even the weekly....people are doing everything online not just news and research but even event planning, socializing, making friends and many are reconnecting with people from their past as well as creating a future with a vast array of contacts from all over the world.

When I started my blog...it wasn't a new thing for the world but many of my friends had no idea what a blog was or why I would write one when I already had a website for over 10 years. Much to my surprise, it was one of the first art blogs in my area. Today, I am happy to report that more local artists are online creating blogs and posting their paintings and if they don't actually have their very own website, they are at least on Facebook and/or Myspace and some are even in the professional site of LinkedIn and a few are even on Twitter. While some have found facebook and myspace applications a great way to connect with people by using games such as Small World, Yoville and Second Life. Artists are creating online art communities and demonstrating their own version of an actually made in application, digital art gallery. Yours truly has hand created 12 paintings in Yoville and these are all part of my online presence, as an artist. (My Yoville is a Facebook app)

With an entry to any of these worlds; be it your own blog, website and /or social networking; you are here to stay... you are stating your relevance. You are sharing your art, people want to know about you and your art. They want to feel that you are accessible. I am accessible; talk to me, connect with me, sign up to be my friend or follow my blog or tweets ... I'll be seeing you again soon.
Yours Truly,
Jeanee