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40 Questions Blog Series – Question 23 How can I promote my craft/art business when not at shows?

I get this question a lot, not to mention see it a lot on message boards within the art/craft community. We all have to promote our work, it is just the nature of the beast. While the best way to do so is “in your face” through doing shows – people can see, touch and experience your work, but what else can a craft artist do to promote your work and/or business? The following are my top 10 ways to promote your business – for FREE!

Question #23 – How can I promote my craft/art business when I am not at shows?

1. Sign your E-mails, notes, message board posts, etc. with your name, business name, and website site address. Whether it is Emailing a promoters inquiring about a show application or giving your 2 cents on a topic on a message board you'll get people wanting to learn more about you and what you do. It is easy, completely free, and works.

2. Donate a piece to an auction or charitable function. While not all can do this or want to, it is still a good way to get your name out to people who may not get to see you at a show. It is also a tax write off too.

3. Get business cards made and give them out. It surprises me that so many artists do not have a business card or understand the benefits of having one. I can't tell you how many times I meet someone at a check out or party and exchange info and happen to learn I am an artist too. Don't forget to put a few in your local coffee shop, grocery store, etc. - I have had promoters find me that way.

4. Start a Facebook Page. The power of Internet social networking is growing by leaps and bounds . It is a major form of communication - linking up with others with similar interests and sharing that info with others. Starting a page takes about 4-5 minutes and again, its free.

5. Start a Blog. If you are an artist you must have some knowledge about your medium – share it with others! A blog could be about your works in progress, how your work is a form of therapy that helped you get over an illness, or a comical play by play of stories you have encountered in your journey of being an artist and business owner. Doing a blog is fun, a way to relieve stress and help others in your field, not to mention help spread the word of your business.

6. Network on art/craft websites or sites regarding your medium. You can't run your own business and do art alone - learning from others as well as sharing your opinions are a great way to connect with others. You never know when a fellow artist comes across a customer looking for something you do and shares your name with others. Another great form of word of mouth advertising.

7. Join an art guild or art council. There is at least one art guild or art council in every city or county. Get involved – learn more about what is going on in your community, and more specifically your art community and you never know what doors this can open.

8. Ask a local business if you can do a trunk show in their shop/gallery. Businesses are hurting, but showing that you can create a buzz and draw customers into the store may make store owners' ears perk up. Ask if you can come in on a weekend to sell some of your work in person – the owner can get a cut of your sales (better than paying for a space at a show sometimes). To boot, if you are willing to be there to autograph pieces, give a talk about your medium and offer some light refreshments – it can be a win win for you and the store owner. Depending on the trunk shows success you could be asked to come back again or the owner may ask to sell some of your work in the stores.

9. Create a press kit. Although this will be a future topic for the 40 Question Blog Series, working up a press kit can be an excellent way to get people to learn about your work. A typical press kit includes a photo of yourself, a few photos of your work, a short biography, business card, and a typed article about something you want your community, county, state, etc. to know about. Newspapers and the like are always looking for articles that highlight people in the community who have received an award, promoting a new or successful business in the community, or highlight an artist at an upcoming art show. Submit a press kit directly to the press as well as offer one to the promoter of upcoming shows, everyone who reads the article will want to immediately visit your website or be the first to your booth at the next show you do.

10. Lastly, tell your friends! Your best fans will come from the people you know – your co-workers, members of your church, your kids (or grandkids teachers), close friends, hair stylist, relatives and their friends, and more. From just mentioning what you do (not to be confused with bragging) and eventually showing these people your work, you may find some real gems who will then say, “my friend Tom loves wood working – and I know he and his wife are looking for some furniture to complete a newly remodeled room they have, I'll have to have them contact you.”

When it comes to your business, if you aren't promoting yourself who will? Seriously! If you are not talking about your business at least 2 times a day, no one will. I get it, money is tight – I know this very well, so while you can, exhaust your “free” resources first. It is after this then you can work your way up and try things like Goggle ads, mailing lists, and so on. I use all of these 10 ideas and they are still working because things change from month to month and season to season that I am always finding new people who are interested in what I create.

What do you do to promote yourself? Do you have an idea that you want to share with others that I haven't mentioned? Post away! Michelle Sholund, www.quickcraftartisttips.blogspot.com. Check out my business website www.bythebaybotanicals.com and become a fan of By the Bay Botanicals on facebook.com .

I also returned to Royal Oak, MI this year for my second time in this show and had one of my best shows yet! My family and I came in Friday night and stayed where they had a group discount for us. This show is decently organized, although there is always room for improvement. It does get a little hectic and crowded during loading and unloading time, but we always get it done without a lot of complaints.

I had my best sales of all of my shows, which is not many yet. I still consider myself a rookie in the field. The weather was humid, but I guess we can't help that much. We were lucky not to have any storms though! This is such an enjoyable show with great music, restaurants, tons of people and traffic (throughout most of the day, less on Sunday), and great dog watching! Join next year if you're a user of any of the included mediums.

Deb

June 2010: I repeated this show from last year (local show for me and a nice break from travels). This was a good solid show for me, grossed 3.5k (surprising results for a small show in the eastern suburbs of Cleveland). Weather was spotty, rain intermittently on Sat and Sun. Strong buyers came out Saturday morning and I sold in all my price points $55 - $500. Got to meet RC Fulwiler, who seemed to be having a decent show himself. This show is well managed, though with a little hiccup at the Saturday pizza dinner ... they tried to repeat the miracle of the fish and loaves only with four large pizzas and 150 artists... oops...good the free beer kept flowing. Cheers!

June 2009: Art by the Fall, Chagrin Falls: OK, here's a small peek into last weekend's Art by the Falls in Chagrin Falls, OH. I had been on the road for the last four weekends, so I decided to do a local show before heading out for the Boardwalk at Virginia Beach. Chagrin Falls is an affluent little community on the eastern side of Cleveland. Being relatively new to Northeastern Ohio, I had never visited before and I was impressed. Very picturesque little community with means. The show, Art by the Falls, has been in existence for about 26 years and it is a well oiled machine sponsored by the Valley Art Center in the community.

About 120 artists participated this year and the quality of work was generally good, though I find it capricious to see a hammer dulcimer player selling CDs at a fine art show. Unfortunately, there were far too many photographers at the show, I counted 19 -- 6 of the photographers in close proximity.

The weather was gorgeous and the community came out in strong numbers to walk the show, but not many came to buy. When all was done, I grossed 2K, though my net was OK since this was a local show with minimum expenses. I wouldn't recommend driving too far for this show, but it's OK for a local show. A few of the artists had an outstanding show. An acrylic painter directly across from me did marvelous (maybe 10k). Her work was traditional, pretty landscape of vibrant colors... and at the end of the show she was riding on cloud 9, good for her! On the other extreme, a photographer also across from me, did about $600 for the two days.

I do think the organizers did an outstanding job, bravo! The show has some nice amenities: Saturday dinner of pizza and beer, booth sitters, muffins and coffee each morning and a place to drop your trailer. Artist parking is some distance from the show and requires a shuttle service to and from.

Cheers,
Leo

This was my first year attending this art fair. My medium in Photography. I'll always try for art fairs on any of our Great Lakes. 100 artists participated in what appeared to me to be a well judged event. No schlep artists in the bunch. Wonderful artwork in all mediums and nicely balanced. Returning Artists from all over the midwest (WI, IL, MN, IA) and one each from Florida and Arizona participated.

The Organization - $15 jury fee and $200 show fee. All entry forms and images are submitted on paper via USPS. When checking out this art fair, I had a difficult time finding information about it, although it is billed as one of Wisconsin's oldest and most respected art events. Show runs from 10 to 5 on Saturday and 10 to 4 on Sunday. Setup went easily on Friday night with some setting up on Saturday morning. Drive up to covered area for both set up and tear down. Artist parking provided but there is a parking ramp right across the street we took advantage of for $1.50 per day. Friday evening during setup artists gathered in the "Artist Center" for tons of pizza, fruit, drinks & goodies. This was great as we finished setting up around 6 and I was starving. All volunteers were great, checking in frequently for breaks etc. Each artist was provided with "Gift Drawing" coupons. Any patron purchasing an item was entered in a drawing (3 per day) and the winner was awarded with a fine art piece. Great idea. Both Saturday and Sunday the "Artist Center" was open for water, Racine Kringle etc. An entertainment area hosted a wonderful guitarist that could be heard throughout the show.

The layout - Located on the water in lovely Festival Park. The majority of the booths are either under permanent "car port" type of structures or a huge commercial tent. I was inside the tent along the back row. While it was not what I would normally consider a favorable location, all booths are laid out for a comfortable patron flow and there was no doubt in my mind that the crowd filtered through each area equally. The artists are limited to a 10x10 space with other artists tightly along the back and each side. No overflow or storage space. As I was under the large commercial tent, I did not put up my personal tent. Glad I brought my lights as the overcast day combined with being under the large tent structure made lights necessary. Electricity provided for all.

The weather - Wind was no problem but overcast skies gave way to showers on Saturday. Many wore jackets most of Saturday. Overcast again on Sunday, but the rain held off until 3:30

The crowd - Not having attended before, I'm not sure if the crowd was typical for this show. I found it thin. Perhaps many were attending the Blue Angels program at the Milwaukee Lakefront both days. I did notice there were many area graduation parties. This area has a few well developed condos that are filled with folks from all over the states. There were quite a few attendees from other areas (Madison, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Arizona, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan etc) and the sailing crowd appeared on Sunday.

Methinks there needs to be an award for BEST PATRON. Our great friend Geri Wenger drove up from Illinois again to check it all out. Geri, I was thrilled to see you again. You are the best ever. I'd be interested in your comments of the artists present.

The $$$$ - I did just okay and a bit less than the smaller Montisori School Lakefront Art Fair in the same area on May 1st. Made my expenses by noon on Saturday and the rest was a trickle all weekend. No high end sales were made, altho great interest and may get some after show sales from that - happens frequently for me with the sailing crowds. Not sure how others did but those around me did about the same except for one stained glass guy - he was selling quite well both days.

Food - other than the above for the artists, food vendors included Uncle Ed's BBQ, Uncle Harry's Ice Cream/Frozen Custard, Chippy's Kettle Corn and JC's Dough Jo.....

I also had the pleasure of briefly meeting another artfairinsider artist from Madison - Lisa Berry. We only talked briefly on Sunday as we needed to pack up a little early for the upcoming storm. What a sweetie and very talented artist.

You Tube Video of Show and Layout

First of all the show was technically in Flossmore.....and at a nice venue......near downtown at Sterling Road and Flossmore Avenue. And next to the Flossmore train station....so trains arrived every hour or so...the trains were quiet and very zippy...the old style Train station was on a small hill behind the art fair....very cool.

This was the second year at this venue.....formerly the fair was at Irwin Park but when it rained, artists and the public all got muddy hoofies. This one was on the street with great drainage because of the nice slope.

Many houses nearby were decidedly upscale.....there were also some condo's, apartments and solid middle class. And the downtown where the show was held was storybook and cutsey wootsey and bricky with a lot of character.

There were 48 artists...quality stuff.....but a lot of painters, photographers and jewelers (so what else is new...lol)..with a $125 entry fee....no jury fee.....Id have to rate attendance as low.....but the people who came bought stuff and I did very well.....

There were several quick downpours and we all had to do the flaps down fire drill about 5 times.....but the Chamber who ran the show kept us informed when cells were approaching. And one time someone said, "Warning, Warning, Will Robinson"; and it really help me .....and my prints (paper) did not get real wet.....just a few naughty rouge drops on the plastic envelopes of the prints.

The chamber was also helpful and several of the people from the Chamber and their children helped with unloading and loading.....and you could drive your car/truck right up to your booth before and right after the show.....

I paint pictures.....sold lots of prints of sports art....and some landscapes too.

I d give this show 3 (out of 5) DAVEY's. By the way, I sign all my art, DAVEY....in case you wonder how I came up with the DAVEY rating system.....lol......I know, I know....you dont care how I came up with the rating system.....but hey, you get the idea.

thanks to all that have repled to us all of are works are one of kind we have been doing powwows here in florida but it seem that the powwows is growing in the number of powwows and their are alot of new vendors getting on wagon to sell but they mostly buy and resale not hand make like us so we have thinking about going to art fairs with hope of doing betterthats why iam asking so many questions about are work we are also thinking of go to ebay and try our luck there again thanks for the input best wishes to all

blue deer