by Dr Steve Popkin
At a recent art show, I could not help but notice that not everyone's day was
going as well as mine! As I experienced a constant stream of people flooding
into my booth and buying my artwork, my neighbors were sitting idle and waiting.
Not only did I have people buzzing in and around my booth, but after they
purchased my artwork, they told their friends to come to my booth and buy from
me!
I had experienced too many art shows from the other side of the fence. I knew
then that I needed to share my successful art show strategies with my fellow
artists.
First, get rid of your director's chair. Artists that avoid perspective
customers always amaze me. You've spent so much time creating your art to sell.
You've spent the time and money to exhibit at the show. Why hide? If you want to
sell your work, you must interact with the public.
Put yourself out there! It's very simple - you create additional value to your
artwork when you interact with a perspective customer. Explain to them what
makes your art work unique. Tell them how you came about conceiving and
producing your artwork. Tell them the story, people are interested, and when
they buy the piece they now own additional information about the piece to share
with their friends.
It's important to give a reason for someone to stop at your booth. Utilize a
main focus piece on an easel or pedestal in order to draw interest from the
crowd.
Using signage is an easy way to give someone a reason to stop at your booth.
With signage, you can give suggestions for alternative uses of the artwork. For
example, many of my sushi dishes sold as candle displays, soap holders, bread
plates, etc.
Run a show special and use signage to promote the details. It's important to
give an added incentive to purchase something from you that day. Take one of
your lower end products and create an easy way for people to purchase more of
them - buy 2, get 1 free for example.
Invite people to sign up for a free drawing to win a piece of your artwork. This
last step allows you to capture their name and email for future marketing
purposes.
Finally, take a good look at your booth. The success of your next art show will
increase when you create the successful booth. View your booth from the
customer's vantage point. Is it inviting? Does it create the "I gotta have
that piece!" mindset? Attend an art show yourself. Go from booth to booth
and see what draws you in to look further. See which booths the people flow to.
What about those booths caused you to walk in? Keep notes, assemble that
information, and apply it to your booth when you set up for your shows.
Keep your booth fresh throughout the entire show. Remember every time someone
walks into your booth they are a customer meeting you for the first time and you
always want to make a great first impression.
I'd like to give a special thanks to Dr Steve Popkin
for allowing me to share this article with you. If
you enjoyed the article, please stop by Steve's website and check out his
Advanced Art Marketing Course
Dr. Steve Popkin is a veteran glass artist who put an Art Marketing course together to help artists of all mediums who are struggling with not being able to sell their art effectively.
Some of the best wire artists struggle because they do not have a good plan on how to market their jewelry.
Click Here to Learn Secrets to Selling Your Art
I purchased his Advanced Art Marketing Course myself and found that it had several ideas I had not thought of before. After listening to it, I felt inspired and anxious to try some of the techniques mentioned. This is a huge course covering many topics. Although it covers a broad spectrum of arts and is not specifically developed for Jewelry Artists, I felt that well over 80% of it was applicable to Wire Jewelry Artists.
I am a firm believer that if you want to have a successful Wire Jewelry Business you have to learn as much about art marketing as you do about art creating.