Forum

Art Fair Postcards

Posted by Kristy Guenther on May 4, 2018 at 8:09am in Marketing & Sales of Your Art and Crafts

This summer will be my first time exhibiting in art fairs.

Some of the shows I'm in give each artist postcards to advertise the show. I am wondering if anyone has any creative ways to distribute these. I don't have a mailing list yet, but even if I did I doubt it would include physical mailing addresses. I would most likely just get emails. Do any of you participate in shows that give out postcards? If so, what do you do with them?

Thanks!

You need to be a member of Art Fair Insiders to add comments!

Join Art Fair Insiders

★
★
★
★
★
Votes: 0
Email me when people reply –
Follow

Replies

  • Alisa Butts May 10, 2018 at 8:49am
    Yes, without a mailing list it's difficult but I advise getting a physical as well as email address for each customer. When someone purchases from me with a credit card, I ask them to write their name and address on a receipt book while I run the card. I tell them it gives me information I need if there's a problem with the charge transaction (which is true). Very rarely does anyone balk at this.
    I track every purchase at each show from year to year by the persons name and information. Those generous repeat customers receive a show postcard with a handwritten note on it.
    Let me tell you, they tell me how much they appreciate that card. I reference their past purchase item, tell them what new items I have and give my booth number. It's just a special way to acknowledge those who have been quite supportive.
    I also send a MailChimp postcard with pictures of my work to all.
  • Chris Gug May 8, 2018 at 8:49am
    I’m sure mailed physical tree-made postcards might have been valuable back in the 1800’s, but unless your client demographic is 140+, postcards a complete waste. Getting a mailing address is 100x harder than getting an email address or SM handle, and when done *right*, digital is faaaaar more effective anyway (even to the 60+ demographic). Dave Hinde’s idea of scanning the postcard and using it digitally is very smart, but even smarter, would be for the art show to provide the “postcard file” for use in artist’s marketing. I’m sure there are a few artists out there right now saying, “oh, but I don’t understand that digital stuff....”, and to that, I say, 1) well, your customers don’t understand “that postcard stuff”, and 2) skip the rerun of Rosanne or the 11:00 news tonight and educate yourself for 30 min and watch the results roll in!
    • Larry Berman > Chris Gug May 8, 2018 at 9:11am

      I've never used postcards provided by a show because I didn't see the point of sending a customer a picture of artwork I didn't create.

      Larry Berman

      • Judy Christian > Larry Berman May 8, 2018 at 9:46am

        There is a show that I do every year and really like.

        Last year they emailed me a file of a postcard for their show with a large photo of a piece of MY work on it, dates and time for show, etc.

        They sent EVERY EXHIBITOR the same thing- a file of a postcard for the show- with a photo of the artist's work.  Perfect!  My husband printed a bunch of the postcards off at his work, and I happily distributed them at my other shows.  

        I'm sure this took more work on the show's part, but it had to be effective!

        • Kathleen J. Clausen > Judy Christian May 8, 2018 at 5:44pm

          I kept a list of buyers and sent out postcards prior to the shows.  I offered a small gift, usually a small jewelry cleaning cloth to anyone who brought the postcard or mentioned having received it.  After some 7+ years of doing so, I now let people know if they have been a customer in the past, just to mention it and I give the gift, plus a small discount.

          It has been very successful, lots of people come by to say hello, and we have frequent sales to repeat customers.

  • Julie K Koleszar May 4, 2018 at 10:59pm
    Please dont throw them away!! That is very expensive garbage! Place them at your church. Have your spouse take some to work. Leave some at your grocery store community news board. Leave them here and there. Take them into any small business you frequent. Get them in front of people to help promote the show and your own business!! We need to work with show promoters to make them sucessful!!
  • Dave Hinde May 4, 2018 at 1:22pm

    Scan in the card and email it to your email list.  Post it on your facebook page.  Stick the cards on community  bulletin boards. 

  • Linnea Lahlum May 4, 2018 at 12:43pm

    When I have a show in that same area I put out the cards on the table next to my show list. I think it can work if you do more than one show in the same area. I seldom do, so that has not been very useful for me. If you are just starting out, you probably have most of your shows in your home area. In that event, that is how I would use the cards.

     

    I know many people have mailing lists and seem to make them work.  I don’t have a mailing list, I tried, but people did not want to sign up for it. When I did mail out cards, I found little return on them. I would offer a certain % off for people who came as a result of the card and mentioned it. No one ever did.

     

    I also tried having people give me their emails, but again, people didn’t want to, likely fearing spam or that you might sell their email address to spammers. When you use square you have their email address, to send the receipt to, so that would be a good source for that. I use a different point of sale system, which does not use people’s email addresses.

    • Kristy Guenther > Linnea Lahlum May 4, 2018 at 12:50pm

      Oh that will work, all of my shows are in the same area- so it will make sense to display cards about my upcoming shows. Thank you!

This reply was deleted.