Outdoor Art Shows and Festivals

Participating in outdoor shows and festivals really can EXPAND your world as an artist. For many artists in can in fact be the only avenue they’ll ever need to pursue in order to promote and sell their art. This in turn makes it easier for an artist to focus, organise their time and ultimately get their artwork in front of people on a consistent basis.

Exhibiting your art for sale at outdoor shows and festivals allows art buyers to see your artwork in flesh. They get to admire your work on a deeper level because they can view it directly up close.

As the artist you get to personally interact with people and explain your work, which helps to add significant value to your artwork. Art buyers get to see your artwork for what it truly is. They get the experience the ENERGY of your art –something that is difficult to achieve through promoting your art for sale on the Internet.

Art shows and festivals are like giant marketing laboratories for an artist – you are constantly exposed to genuine feedback, you can establish who your customer is, and you can test your marketing plan as much as you want until you begin to experience the results you want.

You also get to network with other artists. Networking with other artists will provide you with a wealth of information, great tips, advice and encouragement. There simply is no better resource than learning from the very people who are out there on the front line exhibiting their work for sale regularly.

Participating in Outdoor art shows and festivals provide what you ultimately need… a targeted market of buyers. The greatest benefit of being amongst a targeted market of buyers is being able to sell your art.

You can exhibit your art to impulse buyers, and both novice and experienced art collectors. You can create your own collector base. This can mean repeat sales through building customer/client relationships, and you can generally build a reputation within in the art industry.

One major challenge a lot of artist face is the on going costs involved with buying materials to maintain an inventory of work. If you are regularly participating in art shows and festivals, and selling your art, this of course means you can afford to keep creating your art because you are continuously generating a cash flow.

Expand your world as an artist and participate in Outdoor shows and festivals. It just may be the very course of action you needed to take to get things really rolling for you as an artist.

Some helpful words of advice…

Enter the outdoor show and festival circuit with the attitude to work and apply everything you learn along the way. Try to keep your foot off the accelerator and enjoy the experience – you’ll be far more receptive to what is going on and what you’ll need to apply in order to make things work for you, if you avoid going in with too many high hopes.

Most of all, enjoy the journey.

Watch the Get Your Art Out There Video

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Get Your Art Out There

Book Launch Date Is Sunday 11th April 12pm CDT If you are not already one of my “Anatomy Of An Artist” Newsletter subscribers, and you would like to be notified as soon as Get Your Art Out There is released, simply enter your details in the box to the right.

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Diversify

If you discover in the beginning that you are not getting the financial results you want from your art…

Or if nobody is buying from your niche…

Then diversify.

Listen… if you are happy to get along with NOT selling what you love to create, then that’s great.

After all you got into this game for the self-fulfilment huh.

Yeah

But…

If you are looking to receive a few cookies for your efforts (of course you are), then put what you do to the side NOW AND THEN and do this…

Create What People Want

“Egad! What is you saying man? Isn’t that like…SELLING OUT? OH MY… I think I hear the “purist” stampede approaching!”

But seriously…

I have received many emails from artists who have struggled to sell art in their niche.

If it is your desire to make some sales in the beginning, then one factor you may want to consider is being prepared to be a little flexible.

During some of my very first exhibits I had people approach me and tell me they loved my subject matter and texture, but didn’t really desire my use of colour.

How could I take their dislike for my use of colour personally when one particular lady was wearing a lime midriff jumper, purple corduroy pants and blue thongs (flip-flops). “What the…?”

But I digress…

So I then asked them questions about what colours they do like… or what kind of themes they like etc.

Through this type of conversation we often managed to meet somewhere in the middle.

And a result I often produced some work for them that didn’t go too much out of my creative category and yet suited what the buyer was looking for.

This is kind of like doing commission work.

Remember the key is not to go TOO far outside of your creative ward and into an area that doesn’t stimulate you.

But try to be flexible.

At the end of the day you are looking for your bread and butter…

The “cash flow” to get you moving.

So be a little diverse with your work to accommodate more people. The same goes with your pricing. Have some low cost entry pieces available. Make your art accessible to everyone without making it free (wink).

Later as you develop your craft, develop a following and build a reputation you can concentrate solely on your chosen niche.

But until then “diversify” a little.

For example…

If you only use charcoal to draw birds…try using some oil colours instead.

If you only do abstract textural paintings…try incorporating a subject theme.

If you paint water colour on board seascapes…try using oil colours on canvas and incorporating people (activity) on the beach.

If you paint portraits of celebrities…try painting everyday people who can actually sit for you.

Whatever you do, try to be diverse.

It’s worth exploring anyway.

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Bitter With Twitter?

Many artists are hesitant about using Twitter because they feel there is no real value in using it as a marketing tool to generate interest in their artwork.

“Just a lot of people waffling on,” as one artist put it.

The most effective way to make the most out of twitter is to point your followers to new content on your blog.

Keep it simple.

Many artists looking to get some momentum are not creating content that supports their work. So my suggestion is to create a running dialogue (regular blog posts) that intrigues, informs and inspires your visitor.

The whole idea of your site or blog, aside from showcasing your work, is to create content that SUPPORTS the curiosity your website visitor has in you and your work.

Twitter is merely a tool to re-direct additional traffic towards that content.

So create content to create a gathering…

Create content in order to EXCITE your suspect…

And then use twitter to direct traffic to that content.

In all honesty… you don’t need to purchase any twitter products (there are many available now to help you use twitter to its full potential) unless you are very keen to master twitter for serious marketing purposes.

But check out my twitter marketing link below. It will give you are very solid understanding as to what twitter is all about and how it may of good use to you.

Read this post on artists using twitter for marketing:

http://www.caku-art.com/twitter-marketing.html

At the end of the day, building legitimate relationships online is where the power is in terms of bringing attention to your artwork. Social media is a handy tool, but it really comes down to developing proper relationships with people.

Power to you and your art!

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Where’s The Artist?

I am amazed at how many artist websites and blogs I have seen and there is not even one picture of the artist. Not one photograph.

For me personally… it feels as though the artist is hiding behind his or her website. I can appreciate that many people are not always comfortable in front of the camera.

But if you are in the business of promoting and selling your art, you have to come out from behind the curtain at some stage.

“But people are buying my art, not a picture of me!”

That is true. But the Internet is a funny beast. The more transparent you can be, the more confident and trusting your potential buyers will be of you.

Being transparent doesn’t mean you have to go to extremes… it doesn’t mean you have to post your school reports on your blog or tell your readers how many times you have been arrested. But just one photo of you will help to provide the human aspect to your site.

One thing to remember is that your website visitor is asking questions about you from the moment they land on your site. So along with your artist bio information, provide a picture of yourself to make their evaluation of you a little more comforting.

Having a picture of yourself is the quickest way for people to read who you are.

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Lasting Impression Marketing

When I give out my business card to people, it’s merely as a follow up. It’s kind of like a small personal policy of mine to at least have had a conversation with the person in question before I hand over a business card.

I don’t see the point in handing out business cards indiscriminately.

A lot of people will simply take your card for the sake of taking it  – kind of similar to clicking the button that says “do you want to become my facebook friend?” – they do it so they wont offend you.

The whole purpose of a business card is to give the person you are dealing with a reference to contact you.

Chances are; they could have already taken a few business cards from other people within your industry.

So if you are going to use a business card then aim at making your mark. Make your business card stick out.

I like to create and use my own quotes on my cards. In my opinion, I don’t see the point in stipulating that I am an artist because people will pick up on that from having seen my art… and/or it would have been mentioned in our conversation. As I mentioned before, I don’t like giving out my cards for the sake of handing them out.

My motto is: if you are going to use a business card, then at least use one to get a giggle, a frown or a tear. Use it to get a response. Use it so your prospect will remember you.

As an artist, I don’t rely on using a business card to generate business. People either like your art or they don’t. A business card won’t really make a scrap of difference when it comes to making sales – In other words I don’t see it as a uselful promotional tool.  I see a business card in my industry as nothing more than a “stick-it-note”. It’s so the person who is genuinely interested in purchasing some of your work will have something on paper to remind them on how to go about contacting you.

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Where To Start Selling Your Art

When I first began selling my art publicly, I contacted local community councils.

They always had some form of festival market or art fair going on at regular intervals. This way I could show case my art to people looking to buy art in my local area.

I was not interested in “exposure” for the sake of exposure. I had done the whole “exposure” thing putting paintings in cafes etc – but realised after some time it really was a waste of time and energy. It’s a consistently inconsistent way to sell art.

What a lot of artists fail to realise is that “Art is not bought – Art has to be sold”

What that statement really means is that you have to “sell yourself” and represent your art by interacting with people.

You have to “Stand in front of your art”.

This is particularly true if you have not established yourself as “well known” in your state, province or country for that matter, and don’t have anybody representing your art for you.

It’s these festivals and art fair events that I honed my selling skills.

The biggest tip I can give is… talk to people about them.

Additionally, while people are buying something they ultimately like (i.e. your art) what they are really buying is a piece of you – a feeling, something that will make them “feel good” about themselves and their surroundings.

That is all successful selling really is – an exchange of energy, emotion, feeling, trust and well being.

So with all that said, in order to get your art out there, YOU have to get out there.

You have to talk to people. You have to interact. You have to wear your bulletproof “criticism” suit and mingle… with art in hand.

Another thing some artists failed to realise (and I saw this a few times) is that they would organise a stall at an art fair to try and sell their art, and sit on a stool for most of the day… then feel rejected because they didn’t sell anything.

It’s not hard to realise why.

They didn’t interact – they failed to express interest in other people.

If you express genuine interest in people I can fairly much guarantee that you are going to sell your art at these types of art fairs and festivals.

Don’t try to sell your most expensive pieces of art. Its more than likely that people don’t know who you are so keep your prices at the popular “impulse buyer” range and under – Approx $400.

Wait until you gather some speed then what you will find… is that people who have bought your lower priced art will often come back and buy more expensive pieces.

This is why I really emphasise to my newsletter subscribers to “take names” and develop a relationship with potential buyers through direct mail, email or social media. But provide some form of value to them while they are not buying your art – sounds kinda counterproductive but it really does work.

Marketing Material

Have some business cards made up for these types of art functions.

Make sure EVERYBODY you talk to leaves with something that has your name on it regardless if they bought a painting from you or not. But make sure it is only people you talk to because…

A lot of people who are just passing through will use the “have you got a business card” as a way to escape your stall. It’s their polite way of saying “I’m not really interested”.

So the point is, don’t waste your marketing material on people unless you have had some genuine interaction with them.

If you shared a conversation with somebody, make sure they leave with either a business card (you can get cards made up and shipped to you quite inexpensively through Vista Print – www.vistaprint.com.au) or some form of marketing material.

As you begin to gain some momentum doing these types of shows, start to incorporate other forms of marketing material if it is in your budget.

For example…

Got a video camera? Film yourself producing one of your paintings. Put some music to it and get 20 copies made onto DVD (easy to do on your own computer) to hand out to people who visit your art stall.

Keep the video short – no longer than 4 minutes. Don’t bore people – inspire them. Give them just enough to want to know more about you and want to contact you.

Tell people you do commission work.

Doing commission art can really help to develop your disipline as an artist, because it inspires you to work to deadlines.

Don’t be spooked by commission work. Don’t rely on it but don’t be afraid to do it when you are just starting out. After all, what is the worst thing that can happen? If the buyer doesn’t like it, don’t take his money and sell it to somebody who does at your next art fair meeting.

I’ve had this happen on just one occasion and ended up selling the painting for more (but only just a bit more) at an exhibit. It wasn’t that the original buyer didn’t like the end result; there was merely a breakdown in communication half way through the project.

I’ve written a report based on my experiences with doing commission work – if you want to know more you can grab a free copy at…

http://www.caku-art.com/commission-art.html

Promoting Locally

If you want to promote and let people know where you will be showing your art…

Contact your local community newspaper or lifestyle magazine and tell them you want them to do an article on you and your art.

Don’t think you have enough to say?

Tell them what inspires you to paint. Tell them your views on your community and express some of your thoughts about the people who live there. People will read it and think “What a groovy person, great community spirit – lets go look at her art… oh it says here at the bottom of the article….”

Get the picture?

Make sure the article has something at the bottom that directs people to either…

A: your next art fair showing

B: A web site or a blog.

C: An exhibit you have arranged in your community on a particular time and date.

In regards to galleries, consider visiting my site and reading the post about approaching an art gallery. It is a bit too long for this post.

But anyway, back to this…

Just remember to talk to as many people as you can – interact.

You’ll do well if you get yourself out in the public and listen to people. It may sound like a real odd thing to do or unfamiliar way to sell art, but believe me it really works.

And the best part is… if you like yourself and you like people, it really is quite easy to do – and you’ll sell some art as a result.

Hope that helps you out…

Power to you and your art!

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Selling Art On The Internet – “Your Website”

I often receive emails from fellow artists with a request to critique their website design and layout along with questions about the best way to go about selling art on the internet through their site.

In regards to critiquing websites, I can only really offer suggestions from a marketing point of view. Although I am an artist myself, I don’t really classify myself as much of a judge when it comes to good design. My motto is to keep it “simple” and make it easy for your visitor to navigate.

In essence, I think your artwork has to do a lot of the talking. Therefore, you shouldn’t need to put too much time and effort into creating a website to impress.

The Internet is essentially an information resource. A website is nothing more than a tool to help you operate your business. Your website is your online real estate and it’s main purpose is to communicate to your target audience.

If you have a website with flashing lights and over creative “hard to read” font, it’s really no different to having a bricks and mortar business and welcoming your potential buyer dressed in a clown suit.

So the real success behind having a web site is in how well you generate targeted traffic, how well you communicate to your visitor, and then how well you can build a relationship with them.

I always suggest that each artist should have a website that showcases their work, then a separate blog that allows them to add lots of content. The idea with a blog is to keep a running dialogue of content that helps to summarize who you are and how you do what you do.

When it comes to keeping a blog – just be yourself. That is what people really want to see and hear.

At the end of the day, your art will be bought because someone likes it. Most people won’t want to know about you and your life on an intimate level. But for those people who are interested in your artwork, they will be more inclined to hang around your site and blog if you provide interesting content – not to mention good artwork.

When it comes to selling art on the internet from your website; if people are not familiar with you or your work, then you need to help build their trust and confidence in you before they even consider purchasing any of your work.

Consider creating your own newsletter for your site. That way you can send out updates on a monthly basis and build a relationship with your subscribers.

Don’t feel restricted to sending out just text emails either. Use video and audio to show more of your personality and your artwork.

So when it comes to building a website for selling art on the internet, focus on your ability to communicate to your audience. Don’t get caught up in trying to build a site to impress.

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Selling Yourself

A few years ago I spent a few weeks selling my work in an open-air exhibit in the city.

Each week as I was setting up, I would watch one artist put a few sold stickers on his work – at 8am before the crowd started arriving.

Why?

To indicate that he was a successful selling artist.

The sold stickers would help to persuade the public to perhaps consider buying his work because he was successful.

Sneaky?

Perhaps.

I have to admit that it was something I could never do, nor did I need to because I did quite well for the time I was exhibiting my work there.

By putting a sold sticker on a couple of paintings, that had not actually sold, was in his eyes a good selling point. He did sell some art each week. But I am not sure if it was because of the sold stickers.

Sometimes I would sell a painting before 9am. What I would do then is ask my buyer for permission to hold the painting for the rest of the day, and whack a sold sticker on it and leave it hung.

If the buyer lived locally I would even offer to deliver the painting as a thanks for leaving it on display – particularly if they did not want to hang around all day to wait for their painting.

The point I am trying to make in this post is there are many ways you can encourage the public to buy your art. One is through just being yourself and producing quality art.

The second is to “invite” people for conversation. I spend so much time talking to people about “them” at exhibits. I sell paintings as a result. I even sold a painting to a guy who’s wife whispered to me, “This is the first piece of art he has ever bought, he is totally not into art so you have done something right.”

It might have been because I spoke to him about him for half an hour while his wife wandered around the exhibit. Not to mention that my art is quite alluring (wink).

But the point is, you don’t really need to be tricky (i.e: using sold stickers before your painting is sold – regardless if it actually works) you just need to be “you” and people will respond.

Power to you and your art!

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Are You Sick Of Giving Your Art Away For Free?

Right from the beginning I have always tried to portray high value on my work.

When I first started out I was selling my work for $100 or less and sometimes more.

But even then I always portrayed a sense of value. By doing this I never really had the concerns of friends and family wanting a discount or even some of my work for free.

Don’t get me wrong; I have given a few of my paintings to family members as gifts. But I did this willingly without being “asked” for a freebie.

Value Your Work

By portraying a high value on my work, it helps to give the impression that it would be rude to ask for a free painting or even a discount.

Let’s face it, we love our friends and family and we would do anything to help them out. But that isn’t any reason why you should be at a loss (cost of materials, time and energy) just because dear old Auntie Martha is your auntie and would love it if you could give her one of your new paintings at no cost when you didn’t really want to.

I have a family member who has actually purchased 3 of my paintings, which of course now hang on the walls of his home.

The people who visit his home know that he paid for those paintings and a result this has made my work even more appealing.

I once had a painting that was hot off the easel (so to speak) and I sent a letter out to my collectors before the paint was even dry.

Within hours I had generated some interest from the people of my collector list and some very keen to buy the painting. At the time I happened to be on the phone to a family member and mentioned the interest I was having in this very painting.

She asked to see it. So I sent her my website link.

She rang me back within 2 minutes and told me NOT to sell that painting to anyone. She loved it, wanted it and was going to pay full price for it or even more if she had to in order own it.

Present Your Art Well

While I personally think I produce great art, I also “let people know that I produce great art” in the manner that I talk about and present my art (Confident? Arrogant? Perhaps. But you have to be a self- promoter in this industry).

This adds considerable intangible value to it. I make sure that family are aware of the value of my art. I’m not rude or arrogant about it, but I make it known.

Additionally, I never say things like “Gosh that painting didn’t turn out like I wanted it to. Oh well, I’ll have to try again” – at least not publicly (wink).

If you are prone to doing this you are essentially openly devaluing your work. Remember what rolls off your lips becomes your reality.

So if you are really disappointed by a piece of work, don’t just hand it over a family member for free if you don’t really want to. Paint over it and try again because if you do hand it over for free they’ll never really get to appreciate the value of your work.

Paying The asking Price

There are a couple of ways that you can begin to end the whole hassle of dealing with family asking you for a free painting.

Once way to address this issue is to tell them you are trying to build up a collection for when you have an exhibit.

However, tell them that if they are prepared to pay you for the painting, they will be essentially be helping you out with the costs associated to setting up an exhibit – therefore you can afford to be a painting short for your exhibit because now you have some money to cover to initial set up costs.

If for some reason they don’t see the same value in your work as you do and therefore do not want to pay your asking price, then explain the value they will be contributing towards your exhibit and how many people will potentially coming to view your work.

This could well give them sense of pride, especially if they love you, as they should.

So the big points to be remember here are…

Talk about your work in manner that adds perceived value to it. This will help your friends and family attach a monetary figure to your work.

Avoid giving your work away if you do not feel comfortable doing it. There is nothing wrong with giving a family member a gift in the form of a painting. But if a family member or friend asked for a free one, say yeah no problem, I’ll give it to you for free if you buy me the equivalent value in paint materials or a contribution towards some promotion or exhibit costs.

Also, hang your art proudly in your home.

If your art requires frames, then have them framed and hang them in your home. Some artists struggle with this because they constantly want to make adjustments to their work because they are looking at it so much.

By hanging your art in your own home you are essentially telling people that your work has significant value.

Be Your Own Fan

Avoid being an amateur commentator of your work also. If people say, “Oh that is a nice painting,” don’t say things like, “yeah its okay, I would have liked it to be a bit better in parts but it turned out okay”.

Tell them you agree with them and it was such a joy to paint, I can’t wait to get it out into the public’s eye.

By doing that you have added significant value to your artwork.

At times you can feel a little vulnerable because you have not yet “completely” established that reference value in your work.

So one point to consider is to keep busy with exhibiting your work. You’ll remove a bit of the domestic interest and expectation in your artwork and be able to focus more on the buying public.

It will get easier to say no when you have experienced some  sales. The reason for this is that you will have firm proof of the value of your work because the general public are  paying you for it.

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