Can We Talk... About Your Art?

by Kate Dardine

So you’ve got a website, and you are using social media to drive people to your site. You have your url listed on your business card, and you have a link to it as part of your email signature.  Fantastic! Now, how do you turn lookers into buyers?

According to Clint Watson, creator of the Fine Art Studio Online websites, the only way you sell art is through “connecting with real people and having conversations with them.” (Clint worked in a high-end gallery for many years before starting his own company – so he knows a bit about selling art.) “Well,” you may wonder, “how am I going to have conversations with people when I can’t see them – and am not even sure they are out there?”

You know the old saying – when there is a will, there is a way? Assuming you have the will, here are a few ways to engage in “conversation” with the viewers on your website (and, gasp! – in person).

Tell stories about your work.
I know, some of you are saying, “my art speaks for itself.” Trust me. It doesn’t. Now before you think I’m dissing your artwork (heck, I haven’t even SEEN it!) let me explain. Yes, the image has to speak for itself to attract the viewer. The subject matter, color, composition, values and style have got to first grab the viewer’s attention, enticing them to take a closer look. But on a website, unlike a gallery, there is no gallerist to walk over and start a conversation with the viewer. You’ll have to do that with your written word. You don’t have to write a dissertation – in fact, you’ll want to keep it short. But you’ll want the words to tell a story that leaves the reader intrigued and wanting to know more.

For example, I have a painting called “Released: This Lucky Night is All There Is”. This is one of my current series that originate from a time in my life where I was forced to re-examine the things I took for granted. I had to let go of my preconceived notions, let go of my need to control, let go of the fear, the anger, the hurt and become like a leaf released from the safety of its mother tree to ride the wind. Fight it or go with the flow - no matter, there is change.”

Send out an email newsletter to your list on a regular basis.
I generally try to send an email newsletter out once a month. I keep the letter short, but provide insights into my creative life. I include a images of the latest paintings I’ve completed, and usually try to tie my “story” in to the work I am showing.

I also put “newsy” items in the newsletter – paintings that have sold, shows I’ve been accepted in to, awards I’ve won, etc. And every once in a while I offer a special discount to my newsletter readers – and let them know they are the only ones getting the discount. I also, with the client’s permission, put in testimonials from people who have purchased a painting. I might give a short review of a book I’ve read or a movie I’ve seen. And I provide a short intro and link to my latest blog…

Start a blog!
My website through FASO has one built in, but there are plenty of free blog hosting sites out there. This blog is hosted by Blogger, and Wordpress is a popular blog site. . There are a number of good sites out there that can help you get started writing a blog, and so I won’t go into detail here. Here's two to get you started. “The 12 Do’s and Don’ts of Writing a Blog”,  and “How to Create an Art Blog that Makes Collector’s Swoon”.  Really, you want to think of your blog as another touch point, another place to start a conversation.

And the Scariest…

Learn to Talk About Your Art. Face to Face. In Person. 

Believe me, I know how scary this is. I am the Queen of the Tongue-tied when it comes to talking about my work.  But, I am getting better.  How?  By facing my fear and putting myself in situations where I actually have to talk to people. About. My. Work. I have come up with an “elevator speech” so I can describe what I do in a few words.  “I create intuitive pieces that explore spirituality, the connection between humans and animals,  and the wisdom of the subconscious mind.”  If someone wants to know more about how I physically create the paintings, I add that I mostly work in acrylic on canvas, for the immediacy of the medium, and the ability to create layers of color and pattern – which aids me in keeping fresh and spontaneous.  If they want to know more about what inspires me, I have stories about how I came to paint the way I do (you can listen to a short interview with me here.)  And then I listen – and ask questions of them – “Do you paint?”  “Do you have any original art in your home?”  “What is it about this painting that drew you in?”  Yes, that’s right… have a conversation!!

 Kate Dardine has been helping photographers and artists market their prints for over 25 years. She is currently Marketing Director at Fine Print Imaging, as well as a professional artist selling original paintings and prints. Need one on one advice?  Call 970-484-9650 or email info@fineprintimaging.com to learn about our marketing consultation service.

A Look Back

by Kate Dardine

As many of you know, I’ve been a part of Fine Print Imaging for a long time. I started out in 1989 as a part-time “spotter.”  These were in the days before digital printing, when we printed from negatives.  Instead of printing onto sheets of photo paper, we utilized large rolls of 11”, 20” and 30” wide paper.  After being exposed and wet processed, the rolls came through the dryer and had to be caught up on a cardboard core and rolled.  Then the individual prints had to be trimmed off the roll, counted and spotted.  When printing from negatives, sometimes dust falls onto the negative during exposure, which results in white spots on the print. The “spotters” would use Kodak photo retouch dyes to paint in the spots, making them disappear. It was painstaking, sometimes grueling – but FUN work (at least for me)!

Along with catching, trimming, counting and spotting prints, my job also entailed packaging print orders and shipping. After a few years, I moved into customer service, where I took in and scheduled orders, organized negatives and guide prints and started our monthly newsletter.  Fast forward a few more years to the late ‘90’s and my job changed again as I concentrated on bringing in new customers, following up with current customers and teaching our customers about marketing their work and about that new-fangled technology, digital printing.  At that time we started using the IRIS printer and dye-based inks.  Not long after that, we bought our first Chromira digital photo printer and the ICG drum scanner.  As the technology for ink printing improved, we up-graded to the Roland printer, and now print with Epson wide-format ink printers.  We no longer print from negatives – having closed up the last of our darkrooms a few years ago.

Even the way our customers can order has undergone metamorphosis. “Back in the day” customers could mail in orders, or phone them in. Then we got a new-fangled machine and we could accept FAXed orders! A little while later, email orders. Now fine folks can mail, phone, email, use our online order form or utilize our completely online ordering system, Fine Print Express!
 

The point to all this being, that over the years, there have been lots of changes as Fine Print grows and integrates new technologies – but one of the things that hasn’t changed is our company-wide  dedication to bringing you the very best, archival reproductions at the very best price. And to give you the very best customer service while doing it.  Many of us have been here for over 20 years.  At 26-1/2 years, I’ve been here the longest, and have probably assumed more “hats” than anyone else – with the exception of Mark Lukes – Fine Print’s Maintenance Engineer, IT Specialist and President/CEO.

And the point to THAT is…I have decided to reduce my hours at Fine Print to part time in order to pursue my other love – painting.  I am grateful for Fine Print’s support as I take this step into what will eventually be a full-time business.  I hope you will follow along with my progress in my monthly blog posts, and I hope I can impart some of what I learn to help those of you considering making the leap. (Of course, my leap is more like walking up to my belly in the waters of full-time painting!) 

Kate Dardine has been helping artists and photographers with their art businesses for over 26 years. She is now transitioning to full-time art and invites you to follow along on the journey. www.katedardine.com    www.fineprintimaging.com

Yes You Can!

by Kate Dardine

Can you really sell art on the internet?
The answer is yes…IF.

One of the biggest misconceptions artists (for the sake of this article, photographers and other 2-D artists will be lumped together under the umbrella term “artist.”) have is that by having a website, or joining an “online gallery” such as Art for Conservation or other online galleries, that sales will just “happen.” There seems to be a thought process that goes something like, “I put my images ‘out there’ – now all I have to do is sit back and wait for the buyers to buy!” You could be waiting a long time. With all the images “out there” on the internet, what is going to make a potential purchaser find YOUR art?

For those of you who have read my posts before, you know my mantra. The internet is not a magic bullet. Tried and true marketing techniques still come into play. And as much as all of us would like to be able to just create and let “someone else” handle the marketing aspect, the truth is that it is up to you, the artist, to create the buzz about your work that will lead to sales.

So how do you create a buzz? The easiest way is to use social networking sites such as Facebook. I recommend having a “personal” profile for posting events about your life that are NOT necessarily related to art and a professional fan page where you can promote your art. One of the biggest benefits of posting your images on Facebook is the immediate feedback you get from comments and “likes” – you know pretty quickly which images resonate with your fan base and which don’t. In my earlier post, Marketing Your Art With Social Networking, I cover this subject in detail.

The second part of creating a buzz is to get your fans involved. Have a “name this image” contest or post a “daily painting.” Two artists I know have had great success with their daily painting series – check out Kimberly Kelly Santini’s “Painting A Dog A Day” blog and Deborah Flood’s “Painting A Child A Day” blog. Both these artists have done a great job creating buzz and getting fans and friends involved by asking for photo references to paint from. In addition, Kimberly goes one step further by aligning herself with animal welfare organizations and donating proceeds from the sales of her Dog A Day paintings.

Partnering with established non-profits is one of the best ways to get your work in front of buying eyes. For instance, the Art for Conservation online gallery requires all artists to donate a percentage of proceeds from sales of prints to a conservation or social justice organization.
Those who are having the most success on the site donate a substantial amount and make sure the organization who is benefiting is aware of what the artist is doing. They ask the organization to link to their work on the site, and to promote the fact that buying art benefits the organization.

For example, a few years ago, artist John Fawcett created two stunning paintings of the racehorse Barbaro. All proceeds from the sale of prints went to the Thoroughbred Charities of America. Did TCA promote John’s work? You bet they did!

Selling prints of your art through an online gallery site is perhaps one of the safest ways to promote and sell your work on the Internet. Most require purchasers to pay with credit cards, and most, like AFC, will do the printing without charging the artist upfront – their fees, commission and material costs are taken out of the sale price of the print.

Selling original art or photography from your own website can be a little trickier. First, you don’t have the luxury of lots and lots of people finding – or stumbling upon – your work (at least not at first). Second, there is the risk associated with payment. I have a paypal shopping cart attached to my website, and handle most payment that way. Sometimes buyers would rather send a check – and I let them. However, I don’t send out the painting until the check arrives and clears.

My first sale from my website (which I have through Fine Art Studio Online) came about three months after I first put my site up. The funny thing is, I didn’t even know I’d made a sale. I saw the sold button had popped up on a painting, but didn’t have my paypal account set up to send me notification when someone purchased from me. I thought something was wrong with my site! The poor guy waited 3 months before writing me an email inquiring when, if ever, I was going to send his painting. Of course I did right away! Strangely, that is the only sale of an original that I have made from my website that I can’t trace to my own marketing efforts. He truly did just stumble upon my website when he was trawling the artist websites on the FASO website.

So the bottom line is this - whether you are selling your art through your own website or through an online gallery site, the same principals of marketing apply. You must use all your marketing tools to drive potential buyers to your work. When adding new work to my website, I make sure to add in relevant keywords and phrases that someone might use in a search. I use Facebook, my blog, a weekly e-letter, Twitter and occasionally "snail mail" to keep my name and images in front of potential buyers. I also promote my work on two "daily painters" blogs. In addition, I regularly donate reproductions to non-profit organizations.

During the month of January, I turned what is normally a pretty slow sales month for me into one of my best sales months ever - by promoting my studio sale of older works, studies, and slightly damaged paintings. I am also promoting my Painting A Day project - 52 small (up to 6x8") studies in roughly 52 days. Since I know a good portion of my fan base is struggling in this economy, I am keeping the price of these paintings under $60. My fans are happy - they can get an original piece of art, and I am happy having a cash and energy flow!

Lest you think that all I do all day is paint and promote my work, think again - I do all of this AND work 32 hours a week at Fine Print Imaging. If I can do it...so can you.

Market Your Art with Social Networking

by Kate Dardine

The basic premise of marketing your art using social networking is building relationships. Since many artists and photographers are rather solitary creatures, spending hours in the studio, in the field or in the darkroom (digital or actual), online social networking provides an opportunity to connect with people – people from your past, family, friends, colleagues, your friend’s friends, your family’s friends, and so on. And in this mix of people there are people who will be struck by your work when it pops up on their computer screen and some of those people will be motivated to find out more and to purchase.

True story: I put up my personal Facebook page a few weeks ago and posted a few images and a link to my website. I connected with some old friends from my hometown in Connecticut, and with some of my friends here in Colorado and a few other folks. Within 48 hours of putting up my page, I sold a painting – as a direct result of my Facebook page. Talk about instant affirmation: I was onto something.

I don’t claim to know everything there is about using social networking sites to market Art. But I can tell you what has worked for me. And I don’t mean to imply that you can just use social networking alone to market your art. This is just one more cog in the Marketing Wheel.

1. If you haven’t already, get over your fear of social networking sites and set up a (free!) account Facebook. Yes, there are lots of other social networking sites out there, including a bunch that are geared toward artists. But for the purpose of creating a buzz about your work and connecting with people who might buy your work, Facebook will give you the most bang for your time invested.

2. If you haven’t already, get a website! This is where you are going to drive traffic TO from Facebook. If you have a website, make sure it is up-to-date, professional looking, and easy to navigate. I have my website (which includes my personal art blog) hosted by Fine Art Studio Online, and give them the highest recommendations for ease of use for both the artist and the viewer. Bonus tip: If you don’t have a website and just want a way to get your images online, go to Blogger.com and set up a free account and post images to your personal blog that you set up.

3. You’ll also want to open a PayPal account if you don’t already have one. That way you can sell paintings and photographs directly from your website or your blog (PayPal will give you a link to embed in your website’s or blog’s html coding.)

4. Plan on devoting an hour a day, five days a week to social networking. Sounds crazy, I know. But it takes time to upload images and content.

5. If you already have a Facebook profile, you are ahead of the game. The rest of you can catch up by opening an account with Facebook and creating a personal profile. Next you need to add some friends. Facebook makes it easy. You can search for people who graduated from high school the same year you did. Or college. You can search for people by name. At any rate, spend some time searching for people you know and “friending” them.

Want the next five tips? Click here!

Marketing Giclee Reproductions of Artwork

In my capacity as a marketing advisor for a fine art giclée printing company, I am often contacted by artists wanting to get giclées made of their original artwork. My first question to them is this: What are you going to do with the giclées?

Now you might think that’s a strange question, but there’s a good reason for it. And the reason is this: Producing and marketing giclées is not an inexpensive venture. You have to have a plan - IF you want to be successful. The successful self-published artists with whom I have worked over the past twenty years have a few things in common:

1. They have a unique and consistent style of painting.

2. Either the demand for their paintings outpaces their ability to produce them or

3. They want to keep the price of their original work at a certain level and want a lower-priced alternative to offer buyers.

4. They have researched their market. They know which paintings have the most appeal to the broadest audience, or, conversely, which paintings have the most appeal to a targeted niche market.

5. They have a plan in place for making and selling the prints.

6. They’ve secured a gallery or store who will sell giclées for them, or

7. They are selling at outdoor art festivals or holiday fairs.

8. They have a professionally designed website and well designed business cards, brochures and postcards for mass mailings.

9. They advertise in magazines or newspapers.

10. They don’t scrimp when it comes to the quality of their giclée prints. They have their paintings professionally shot to ensure proper lighting, sharpness, color fidelity and file integrity. If they are not proficient with digital imaging software, they hire an experienced technician to color-work their digital files. Their giclées are printed on archival materials with archival inks on a professional grade inkjet printer. In other words, they make sure they have the very best product to market.

I’ve seen many artists jump into the print market before they have done their homework.
They end up discouraged and dismayed because they didn’t know it was going to cost so much, they thought having prints available would magically manifest in sales, they didn’t understand the difference between those who buy reproductions and those who buy original art.

Giclée prints CAN be a wonderful and lucrative way to increase your sales, but like in any business, you had better learn what all the instruments are for before you fire up the engine and head down the runway.

Kate Dardine has been helping artists and photographers market their prints for nearly 20 years. A professional artist herself, Kate understands the obstacles artists face when trying to sell their work.

© 2008 Fine Print Imaging.
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