So here we go--all of you who have good ideas to share with the promoters, here is your chance. It's time to stop talking to one another. Tell him here. What do you think would help bring customers to an indoor art fair? What are the best things you have seen implemented at other events? Let's hear from you.
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Once again, I totally agree with Munks. Let it fail, OR .... let it compete. This is America, land of the free market opportunities.
If they want to make this the second best show in Michigan (AB & E being the best, or soon to be the best), hire me. I'm looking for a situation where I can move back to the Detroit Metro Area to be with my family and life-long friends. I've done this for 30 years from every aspect of our industry AND I grew up in Detroit and know the metro area very well. I see some advantages this show could have over other events. They need to identify their "competitive advantage" and implement their positives to have a successful event.
It starts with an excellent website that is very inclusive. This is an excellent show with heart stopping price points and there was much sticker shock the first year of the show. You will notice the first tab on the website is titled "crafts under $100". The show has a program that has a discreet sign that the exhibitor can place in their booth that indicates an item for sale under $100. Usually the exhibitor places it near or next that item. While the Society of Arts and Crafts absolutely will not back down from juring a show of the finest quality possible they also did not want it to be so elitist that it would scare off attendance with fears that there was nothing they could afford to purchase so they purposely promote that there is also "affordable" works for sale.
The second tab is the show artists, you can actually click through and see each jury image when you click on an individual artist. More visual feast to whet the potential attendees appetite.
Another thing that CraftBoston does is have invited artists. Not a lot of them but a few. It is part of the ongoing effort of bring quality exhibitors to the venue.
They also have an international outreach project and try to have a section of exhibitors from another country as part of their educational mission. It is always interesting and informative to see what people outside the U.S. are doing with the same materials in such a different way.
Another idea I've had is relatively simple and cheap. There's a saying that it takes seven repetitions of an advertisement before it registers in the viewers awareness. That's a lot of advertising dollars to spend. The one thing all we artist have or should have are color postcards of our work. These postcards could be put to work promoting the show by us. How? Bombard local media (TV, radio, magazine, newspapers, etc.) with these postcards from exhibitors, receiving over 100 fantastic images in the mail over the course of a week is a powerful visual statement and also really says EVENT coming up. And no I don't mean that the promoter should do this, the exhibitors should. The promoter has to do the front end work, gather all the names of editors, producers, news announcers, anchors, etc. and addresses of the media they work for and compile it into a PDF file formatted for address labels along with a PDF of a announcement label (if you don't already have one) that is sent to the artist so they can print it out to slap on their postcard and mail them. The cost to the artist is postcard postage, a page or two of labels and maybe 30 minutes of time, minimal cost for what might prove to be a lot of reward in terms of potential free publicity. Who knows, it may just attract the local major news network to want to do a story for the evening news because the producer was seduced by all those beautiful images.
martha
I wanted to introduce myself, I am in the new Event Manager for the Great Lakes Art Fair. I have been working with Connie & Blair to make this show bigger & better than ever. We did reach out to each of the artists in the show and ask for what they feel has worked in other shows they have participated in. To our surprise, a lot of people suggested traditional media, which in the past, we have not had much success at.
We have come up with what we feel is a solid plan for this year, incorporating many of their suggestions, and I would be happy to share the details with anyone that wants them. I have informed the artists attending the show of the plan and they are quite pleased with what we have come up with. We are also asking them to each help out with the social marketing aspect of this and "friending" us on Facebook, linking their images to our Flickr group, following our Tweets, etc. This is in hope that their followers will start following us as well.
I did want to post on here that traditional advertising is not cheap. Just as an example, we did a trade for a sponsorship with a local TV station for a value of $5000. That gained us 12 commercials, none of which were in prime time.
Unfortunately, lowering booth fees will not get people thru the door, thus is not considered a marketing tactic in our plan. Plus, if we did that, we would not have the money to spend on the things that will get people in the door. The thought to lower the booth fees by cutting out the artist reception is also a good one, but it would only lower booth fees by $4 each. We do not count on revenue from booth fees for this, it is one of the ways that we can thank each artist for coming and giving our show a shot, and it comes out of a different budget.
My background is in both event planning and marketing/advertising and I would be happy to answer questions about this if you have them. I have spent many phone calls with the artists participating in our show talking thru their own personal marketing plans and suggesting items that may help them attract new customers.
Thank you,
Kristina Jones
Munks said:
Based on my limited personal experiences, I have found my gallery shop does 8 to 10 times better during the tourist season. Tourist dollars are, more often than not, considered spending money by the tourists. Dollars set aside for the trip, not dollars that would otherwise be spent on life's essentials or stock market etc. During my travels through Michigan in 2009, my sales were, in general, better than expected in a state hit hardest by economic conditions. But.... (there is always a but) I tended to do art fairs or events in heavily traveled tourist destinations. Even the smallest art fair in relatively small metropolitan areas provided me with higher dollar sales and produced income far exceeding expenses. Perhaps limiting marketing advertising dollars in the Detroit metro area to "proven" advertisers (I have no idea who they would be, but perhaps you have statistics) and do some marketing aimed at tourist type locations or travelers (again....I have no clue, but perhaps you know those areas).
I have also had to step back in the last couple of years to get to the basics of marketing. What motivates them to attend an art show? What turns lookers into sellers? What is the motivation that has them reaching into their pockets? Yes, of course number one is the art piece itself. It moves them and in the past that outstanding artwork that cought their eye became a "must have". But even those with money, persons still employed, persons who lost big time in the market.... have adjusted their spending habits, become resistant to impulse purchases.
Again Connie - only relating to what has worked for me locally, and unsure if would be even feasible for GLAF.....
During the "non tourist" months of December thru March I have had to devise some marketing plan to get my locals into the shop and spend some dollars. Granted, it's always a struggle after Christmas, but I've always made enough during those months to do better than just meet operating expenses. I typically never offer "sale" prices on my work (a few exceptions). I have found that, locally at least, the heart is a powerful motivator. In past years I have offered various "incentives" to my locals. Most have related to a local charity but this year I am in the process of working with the Red Cross (always need approval) to work out a Haiti promotional. It's a win/win as it brings the buying public in the door, the charity receives a donation and I receive a tax break. I set it up so for every $50 spent on my artwork, I donate "x" amount goes to the charity (this year it will be Red Cross for Haiti). I'm also looking into this approach on my website as I personally in the past have spent higher dollars on a particular website that gave a percent of the proceeds to some cause (Katrina, Humane Society etc).
This would all depend on GLAF marketing budget, but perhaps it's something to consider. Knowing Detroit is suffering and the dollars would be better used locally, I'm sure you could find a local charity that touches the heart of many. End result is heartfelt motivation to purchase for those having the money to spend (and they ARE out there).
Actually, I was complimenting Ron! Wow. The "yawn" was my frustration with these issues continuing to spin in our business.
I suggest you go back and read the Code of Conduct. Criticism to me is always welcome - but pick an issue for crying out loud!
Sheeesh!
Munks
BTW I am not cynical. . .
Holly Olinger said:
Ron Mellott said:
Ron Mellott said:
Here's what you just wrote:
They had an advertising firm from the beginning, Ron. They turned over every stone! They worked very hard, hired lots of personnel and had what they thought was a good plan in place. They were not pleased with the results any more than you were. So now they are working on a new strategy, and looking for ideas from you.
As their consultant, Connie, do you think that regardless of how many people worked however hard (seems like a lot of money was spent on personnel and hours working hard!) .... they had the right ideas? Did their advertising and promotion strategy makes sense to you? From what you write, it wasn't the effort that lacked .... was it the ideas? From your experience promoting and knowledge of the area, can you see what they need to do differently to bring in more people?
Surely it cannot seem so strange that some, perhaps many of us have fundamental reservations about the shows and how that translates into should we risk our money and time to attend again, or for the first time? Not just from the advertising and promotion aspect. Can it actually work at an indoor facility in Novi in April and in October in good weather and with football games in the fall? Can we realistically expect to make an acceptable profit given our costs to attend? What will be different in promoting the show in 2010 that we can not just believe in but invest in?
If you say the economic conditions are "a reality", then it is also a reality Michigan is one of the hardest hit states in the country, especially the Detroit area and surrounding communities. If we have to hope for bad weather in April and October to hope for people to attend and hope those that attend are not, as Peter pointed out, just going indoors for something to do at those times of year and hope that there aren't a lot of home football games in the area as Linda pointed out and hope that they came because it was an art show and hope they have money they can afford to spend ... whew!.... we will pay a lot of money for those 'hopes' to be realized. And if they are not realized, our chances of failure go up substantially which few of us can afford these days. This isn't said to knock the staff or their event Connie, or the effort any of them put in. It is simply our reality as artists. The farther we travel and more expenses we incur, the more compelling these issues become in this "new reality". The reality of the 2009 fall show Connie was that most all the artists were from 3 states: Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. And of that, most from Michigan. So it is mostly, under these economic conditions anyway, a 'local' show. Also, I think you'd find many of us would say a fair number of artists that were juried in should not have been, based on what they were selling, their body of work and their presentation. Another 'reality' in this economy is that many shows may not have the luxury or exhibit the foresight of turning away very many artists, especially those that do not meet their 'standards' if they want to fill their spaces and either make their ends meet or their target of profit. That is an awkward position to be in, Connie, if the goal is to grow a quality art show.
Getting new ideas and approaches is a great idea Connie. Obviously, many of us based on our postings on Art Fair Insiders are on the same page with this concept, and will contribute ideas. Specifically though for the Novi shows, I believe one of the best "ideas" we can offer up, which several have already on this thread, is that the event staff with your input needs to fundamentally rethink their shows, if nothing else their timing and whether two shows are viable. Yes, keep soliciting new ideas and strategies. Tap the artist community for insight. However, the event and its promotion has to be fundamentally sound as an art show, not just an event to fill a room in their facility. Going forward, it seems they now may have to do a good job, practice if you will, of promoting their event to us, as artists.
The date thing is hard to pin down -- to have good attendance indoors in Michigan, spring or fall, requires some bad weather outdoors. I felt we really got slammed with the beautiful weather last Spring. In the fall we have to watch out for the football games -- and hope for rain too. I'd like to have the Spring show earlier in the Spring because of the weather factor and in the fall a little later, as you suggested, maybe to run closer to the holidays.
Make no mistake about this, I do not want a Sugarloaf look-alike! Sugarloaf has their strengths, but never "got" the spirit of Midwest art fairs -- my hope is that this will be more of a fine art/fine craft event - Winterfair is a good model.
Peter William Katke said:
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