A minute of your time from my business person's hat.....
I attended a fine art show yesterday with a lot of great vendors and artists present. I had fun looking over the new and innovative business concepts there.
One vendor I visited had been in business for 5 years and when I asked where their guestbook was so I could sign up for their mailing list, he gave me a blank look and said “Gosh, we don’t have one!”. Since it was the first day of a 3 day show, I suggested he get out some paper right now and start collecting names, and I was the first one on that list because I really liked his product.
I cannot stress how important keeping a list of contacts is and to add to that list continually and persistently. Even if people don’t buy something from you today, if they stopped to see you whether it’s online or in person- there was some sort of interest and they could very well buy something from you in the future.
My 10 plus years experience in consulting small businesses has shown me that if you persistently and consistently promote to existing publics (meaning people who have purchased anything from you in the past no matter how small), as well as constantly add new names of new publics and promote to them- you will get a return. The average good return is 1-2% from my experience, so if you want to get 20-40 reaches a month then you’d better have a list of at least 2000 names and keep the list maintained and consistently promote to it.
My motto this month is in fact “WE ALL NEED BIGGER LISTS!”
So, let’s all get out there and promote and flourish as business people who are artisans!
Michele Ross / Artist and Artist Advocate
Hi Michele, I just subscibed to follow your blog and want to frop a line to say thay I like your artworks very much, I love Frangipani flower and expecially its sweet parfume.
ReplyDeleteI wish to see more and more of your artworks, and thanks for the tips on business, living in Italy you could think that art is well considered, but it's not like this I have many problems in showing my art here and USA is certainly a better place to show off. Here to be considered an artist you must be mad or a tramp or in drugs. Cheers!
Dear Loredana,
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by and for your kind words. Frangipani (It is called Plumeria in Hawaii)is nearly my favorite flower. I was in Italy 20 years ago and I see what you mean, the country is so filled with art new and old, but artists aren't always well thought of by the average citizen. Never give up- artists are what make this world a better place to be! We are all enhanced by one another's creativity! Just keep adding names to your lists and keep promoting and creating. Never worry about someone who doesn't like your work- just move on to the next person. I did look at your blog and it's very nice and well organized. I'm actually much newer to blogging than you it seems, and your work is lovely. If I can ever help in any way, please let me know.
Where else could I get that kind of info written in such an ideal approach?
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