Art Marketing Buzz

What I am talking about here is the perfect buying environment. One of the many hats all small business people have to wear is that of “salesman”. Now don’t get all scratchy on me because I am not politically correct and saying salesperson. Gag. Of course I mean man or women. I choose to use salesman using a conjugation, sales and of humankind. Ok there. (WOW the ole’ ADD gene has bite me in the rear today, sorry) Must be a hotspot for me.

Alright back to the issue a hand….Salesmanship gives me a stomach ache. I just want to create. I don wanna sale, wah. Well I hope you like lentils and rice then because somebody somewhere has to sell. Perhaps you have made it to the level that you never have to sell because your rep or galleries do it all for you. Ok, well you still have to sell them. Maybe you are the less than 1% who are accomplished enough that galleries are beating down your doors, you have an unlisted number and taken down your website. Cool. But if that is so you wouldn’t be reading this, and even if that is so if you are taking commissions, check this out.

Creating the perfect buying environment. Where is the best environment? It is in the environment best suited for the selling activity. That is vague. Well look at this example from copywriting genius and teacher Joe Silverman.

The Honolulu Experience
i was in Honolulu after a trip to the Far East. I usually stop at Honolulu to recover after traveling so long and so far and over so many time zones. As I was walking down one of the main streets in Waikiki, I stopped to look into and art gallery and saw a painting of scenes from outer space. Since JS&A was known for selling space age products, I thought the painting would fit very nicely in my office. I walked into the gallery noticing how very elegant it looked and saw the paintings neatly displayed on the wall. The gallery look like it sold expensive paintings. (he expected it to be expensive. emphasis Tim) In short, I expected it to be expensive.
It didn’t take to long before a well-dressed saleswoman noticed me, walked over and asked if I needed assistance. “Beautiful Painting, isn’t it?” she asked. (a better question so its not yes or no would have been…what do you like best about the painting?) “Very nice,” I nodded. “It really looks great.” At that point the lady said, “Please follow me,” as she lifted the painting off the wall and walked towards the back of the large gallery. I followed.

We entered a large room, carpeted from floor to ceiling. In the middle of the room were three very comfortable easy chairs all facing the front of the room where the saleslady mounted the painting on the wall. She then went back to the entrance of the room, turned up the classical music being piped in through load speakers and dimmed the lights leaving two spotlights focused on the painting. The Painting Looked Incredible.
I must admit the painting looked incredible. the vibrant colors, the quality of the art, and the nice feeling I experienced from hearing the classical music put me in such a buying mood that I was ready to reach into my pocket and pull out my credit card and buy the painting.———-

Joe Silverman did end up buying the painting and over time 49 others from this artist. He also eventually sponsored the artist and sold his paintings and prints through JS&A. What we should take away from this is that we want to set up a buying environment and we need to do it from the beginning with branding, advertising and sales copy all the way through to the packaging our clients receive the canvas, print or whatever in.

You have total control over the appearance. If we were selling a nice upper end and expensive piece we would present ourselves in an environment that showed class and refinement-one that exuded confidence and trust. If we have a niche that is more “bargain” orientated we would have a much different environment to piece together.

In the next piece I will walk you through one way that we attempt to control the buying environment for a commissioned piece. Until then, Live, Love, Laugh.

tim

Angel Grady is a digital painting that I will be using in an experiment in social networking. The basic jest of this experiment will be to build a mailing list from scratch over a 3 month period. Then with this list sell some prints from a limited edition piece I have that has not been on the market. I have not put all the details together yet but I know it will be called “Project Angel” and I know the piece I will be selling. There will be some other goodies with it. It will be fun and informative. The image profiled was produced with Adobe photoshop, Corel Painter and the idea is to use web 2.0 or social media marketing to sell this piece of digital art. Stay tune!

Here is an excerpt from a very successful marketer

in another industry. Her name is Ann Sieg. She runs

a very prosperous company that teaches marketing and

lead generation to network marketers. Aaaaugggh!

Not that!, Yeah, I know many people are MLM-phobic.  But

here is the deal.  I have made it a point to study

successful people and techniques from many different
industries.  I have found that most of the strategies

and techniques work across a variety of platforms.

So use the shopping cart method here.  Use what you

find helpful and leave the rest on the shelf.  So here

ya go, article by Ann Sieg.

No matter what stage you're at in your business,
when you're trying to breakthrough to the next
level, it's essential that you not only spend your
time efficiently, but also that you only spend it
on HIGH-VALUE activities.

This concept that I want to share with you is one
of the most important I've ever learned for
achieving massive productivity and making
quantum leaps forward in your business (in much
less time than it takes most people), and, like me,
you may just find yourself using this as "the
ultimate measuring stick" for nearly every decision
you make about how to spend your time.

It's SO important in fact, that Warren Buffet - the
world's richest and most successful investor - has
said that he considers this one factor above ALL
others when deciding how to invest his money.

Any guess as to what it is?

Strength of the company?

Price of the stock?

High profit margins?

ROI (Return On Investment)?

Nope.

According to Warren Buffet, none of these, not even
ROI, is the most important thing to consider when
making an investment. 

What is?

----------------
OPPORTUNITY COST
----------------

What does that mean and how does it apply to us?

Well, opportunity cost means: What else could you
be doing with that money?

What other, possibly more important, opportunities
are being missed (the cost) because your resources
are tied up with another investment? 

This same concept of opportunity cost applies to
time and energy because whenever you spend your
time on something, you're making an investment.

And if there's one thing you'll find that all highly
successful marketers or business owners have in
common, it's that...

-----------------------------------
THEY ALL VALUE THEIR TIME MORE THAN
ANYTHING ELSE.
-----------------------------------

When most people think of "assets," things like
real estate, precious metals, bonds and stock
portfolios come to mind. Time is usually left
completely out of the picture.

But the truth is, time is more valuable than all of
these and smart business owners are more careful
and selective about how they spend this asset than
anything else! 

Why?

Because it's the ONE thing you can't get any more
of. 

Unlike money and other "physical" assets which
can literally be had in any quantity once you learn
HOW to invest your time and WHAT to invest it in. 

Now the reason this idea of "opportunity cost" is so
significant is because when you choose to do
something, by default, that means you choose NOT
to do something else. 

And if the stuff that you choose to do falls under
the category of low value activities, you've got a
serious problem. 

Not only is your time being spent on things that do
little or nothing to advance your business, but it
also means you have that much LESS time to spend
on the things that do.

This is what keeps people in the rat race. 

Have you ever had a day where you literally did
2,001 things and yet when you looked back on
it, you had absolutely no idea what you got
done?

This is called being busy without being productive
and its a result of not knowing what the core
money-making activities of your business are. 

If this hits a nerve with you, don't worry...

---------------------------
I HAVE A CONFESSION TO MAKE
(I totally relate to this...I am the poster

child for Adults with ADD-Tim)
---------------------------

I'm probably more guilty of this than anyone!

I think I'm more prone to getting distracted and
taken off course by little projects and detours than
anyone I know and it's something I constantly
struggle with.

Certain family members and close friends have
even referred to this natural "handicap" of mine as
"squirrel in the road syndrome."

Very flattering. 

However, it just goes to show that if I can succeed
in spite of it, so can you. 

Here's a great tip for you I learned that virtually
guarantees every single day you have is highly
productive:

Always take care of the high value activities FIRST
THING every day - or as close to first thing as you
can get - no matter what. 

That way, regardless of what else you do after that,
it's already been a good day.

If you don't take care of the most important things
right off the bat... life will get in the way. 

Guaranteed. 

The world will conspire to throw a wrench in your
spokes and keep you from getting ahead. 

The dishwasher will break down... the dog will get
sick... a friend you haven't seen in five years will
be in town... the post office is going to close in
thirty minutes... and before you know it, the day
is gone. 

Due to the inherent craziness of life, it's inevitable
that some things aren't going to get done. 

It's your job to make sure that when you do run out
of time in the day, the core money-making activities
are not on the list of things that got pushed off until
tomorrow.

Okay, so what ARE the high value activities you
should be focused on?

Here's how I've broken things down for my business:

Zero/Negative Value Activities
------------------------------
     Worry

     Figuring out excuses/"reasons" why something
     won't work

     Idle chatter 

     Surfing the internet

     Checking email (did you know they've done
     studies and have found that the impulsive,
     never-ending cycle of checking emails/
     messages/etc is an addiction similar to doing
     cocaine? It's true)

     Instant messaging

Low Value Activities
--------------------
     Prospecting

     Cold-calling

     Attending "same old" company trainings and
     meetings that are little more than social events 

     Team call, after team call, after team call...
     (these kind of meetings can be high value, but
     can also very easily be overdone and give you a
     false sense of progress)

     Errands for business 

     Repetitive/Administrative work

High Value Activities
---------------------
     Positioning yourself so that people seek you out

     Setting up sales and marketing systems that
     automate the grunt work for you and weed out
     all but the best prospects

     Setting up automated follow up systems that
     build relationships with prospects and customers

     Developing relationships with mentors and
     people you can learn from

     Studying copywriting and direct response
     marketing 

You'll notice I have prospecting under low value
activities. Why? 

The reason is because prospecting is one of - if not
THE most un-leveraged methods for acquiring new
customers/business builders there is.

When your entire marketing process is dependent on
you physically approaching someone or calling
them on the phone, your results are strictly limited
to the amount of hours you can put in - just like
working a job.  

If you talked to people non-stop (assuming you
don't run out of people to talk to) and you're
REALLY lucky, you might be able to book one
appointment a day, which is roughly 30 a month.

However, if you take weekends and holidays
off, you're probably looking at a number closer
to 20. This comes out to about 240 a year. 

Maybe.

And all these appointments are is showing your
opportunity/product to someone who reluctantly
agreed to meet with you. 

These aren't even people who raised their hand
and asked for information themselves. 

However...

When you combine copywriting with direct
response marketing, you can attract thousands of
qualified prospects through virtually any type of
media...

Internet

T.V.

Radio

Mail

Newspapers

Magazines

E-mail

...in the same amount of time it takes to physically
approach one UNqualified one! 

And perhaps best of all, these other methods for
getting your message across to someone don't
require you to personally be there in order for them
to continue to work for you.

Imagine getting more prospecting done while you
sleep than you previously could all year doing it
one at a time!

It's easy to see why some people make $60,000/mo
in network marketing... and some people make
$60/mo.

Learning how to do this type of marketing ("selling
long distance") is, without a doubt, the highest use
of your time. 

But please don't take my word for it...

-------------------------------------------

In Dan Kennedy's 'No B.S. Time Management'
book he says" 

"If you're looking for the answer that turns your
time into the most money and wealth possible, then
turn your attention to marketing.

Get free of as many other parts of your business as
you can, get passionately interested in and good at
marketing, and invest your time there... 

Marketing is the highest paid profession and MOST
VALUABLE PART of a business. The person who
can create systems for acquiring customers, clients,
or patients effectively and profitably is the "money
person." He is the equivalent of a "high impact" or
"franchise" player in sports."

------------------------------------------

This is awesome information from Ann.  For the past

couple of years I have been on that path.I personally

 followed this advice to a T. Most of us spend the

 bulk of our time and money on learning the new

technique or mastering a new brush or whatever.

 Thats fun!!!  Marketing is a drag...boring.  True

for some but, if you want to separate yourself from

 the masses, do something totally different.  Study

 and apply marketing techniques.  Believe me there

 is a thrill in seeing leads of people coming to your

 site that want to buy your work.  it truly is almost

 as much fun as producing a new image.
I developed myself and am becaming master at
marketing and salesmanship by studying a plethora
of real-world, marketing and copywriting geniuses
(both past and present). I literally "dove in" and
completely immersed myself in the wisdom each
one offered.

And let me tell you...

---------------------------------
IT WAS THE BEST INVESTMENT I EVER
MADE!
---------------------------------
 There will be a ton of great information coming

 to this site specific to marketing art. If  there

 is something specific you want to see just email

 me or leave a comment.  Chances are I have

researched it already and have some content ready

 to put up.  If not I can dive in and do some research.

Glad to have you along for the ride!

What if you could take your passion for art, or writing, or singing or any other hobby and turn it into a money making business? Give yourself a moment to reflect on the things you love and ask yourself this one important question: Why am I not doing this already? Hacking it out in the work a day 8-5 world may seem the norm as that is what we grew up with. You know the whole get good grades so you can go to college and get a good job. But what if there is real merit in taking stock of your lifestyle and re-arranging priorities so you can find what you love in your life and turn it into a profitable business. I am in fact a known contrarian so I think that is exactly what we should do. Jones’ smones’s. I have been in so many crazy businesses at 100 hour weeks its sick. Why? Money it seems. The lack of proper planning. Not realizing what really is impportant.

Who has a 9-5 and hates getting up in the morning and getting ready for work? I know a lot of people like that and I bet you do too, if you’re not one of those people yourself. I always ask them why they’re not doing something different. I try to impart this into friends and family all the time when they see that I am on my own, doing what I love to do, answering to no one, and making money at it. (Speaking this into existence because as of this date I am just starting that journey again). Now, I want to give you some thoughts to take with you today on turning your passion into profit and hopefully I will spark the fire inside of at least one my readers here.

Let me tell you a short story. I have told it many times and for various reasons. The reason I share it here is that was the catalyst of awakening for me.

As this is a new blog not many of you know me. I have four kids. My oldest son Josh, who at this writing is 20, had a serious accident 4 years ago. He was coming home from his basketball game on a cold January night and hit a cow. Broke his neck and put a tiny nick in his spinal cord. C-5 quad. We don’t need sympathy because life is good. See, Josh is a winner….as well as the rest of the family. Josh graduated with his very supportive class on time. He went on to college locally for the first two years and is heading to University of Arizona in the fall to finish the last couple years. But here is the thing. That type of thing happens…it has obvious financial consequences. As I have struggled to get on top of things and provide like I have it struck me that having jobs the last few years has made me crabby. I am not a job guy. I went back to the work force for money and “good benefits” what a joke. I sold out. I was afraid to “trade down” or do whatever we needed to do do I could stay self employed. So iI miss being self employed and will bet there again within a year. The real kicker is I am quite sure that as I transition into this I will be making more money on less time…..oh and a small serendipity I wont be such a bear.

So why not brainstorm your life a bit and see what you really want. Money is only the tool so dig deeper. What can that do for you? Buy time so you can spend it with your young children or parents? Help your parents with escalating medical bills? How about taking your kids to Europe…for three months in the summer, with a homeschool agenda. Whatever it is find out.

As you are doing this break down everything in your life and figure out exactly what it is you love to do. Maybe you love writing stories or blogging about your life. You might also love music or sports. Some people I know love to cook. What stirs your emotions? Regardless of what it is, take out a sheet of paper and write down everything you love to do. Don’t worry about making it in order or neat and clean yet, you know the drill just brainstorm, freeform.

Once you have a list completed of the things you love, then figure out what about these things really makes emotional. What emotion? Why? If you chose sports as something you love, you could break it down and put that you love the competition of the game, the strength you need or endurance and skill. Maybe you just like the lifestyle these players have. The object here is to fill out your sheet with as many ideas as possible. The messier the better, just get things on paper.

This is where it will get really fun. We’re working on getting you outside of the cubicle and doing what you love! You may be like Allison, my wife, she loves her job and is doing exactly what she wants and gets paid well to do it. It works for her. Very Cool. But if your like me, seemingly stuck, sit down with that paper and give yourself 5-10 minutes for each topic you wrote down. Really think about any ideas that could make money. From big to small, anything goes. These ideas might spark some other thoughts or profitable ideas, so don’t let any of them go unnoticed.

Alright next, go through everything you’ve written down and format the list in a good order so it’s easier to read and follow. Now, once you have the list done, step back and look at it for a minute; you’ve just written up the foundation of your new life! Regardless of what others might tell you, having the beginning thought about an action you’re wanting to take is the most fundamental thing you can do have when building your business, and you just did it. I’m sure out of your list you can find 1 thing that really doesn’t seem very hard to create as far as manual labor, pricing and marketing costs right?

Well lets look at some other things here as well. How about the PROS of doing what you love?

1. You’re doing what you love
2. You’re working for yourself
3. You’re creating a life changing product
4. You’re freeing yourself from dependency on the cubicle
5. Potential profits are endless
6. You have passion for your business

The CONS of doing what you love

1. Finances aren’t promised; at first
2. People will think you’re crazy, although this is changing

I doubt you can come up with many more cons to doing what you love! In my opinion, there are many other additions you can add to either of these lists, but I believe these sum up the basics of them and really show you what you should could be doing with your life on either side of the fence. There is one last thing you have to ask yourself to make this whole process complete; Do I want to spend the rest of my life fulfilling someone else’s dreams or is it time to chase my own?

Day by the hour….life by a vision.

If you have not read David Bayles and Ted Orlands book, Art and Fear, Observations On The Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking) you should. This book will take you on an introspective journey. It will ask you questions that matter. What is your art really about? Where is it going? What stands in the way of getting it there? Here is a what is written on the back of the jacket.

These are questions that matter, questions that recur at each stage of artistic development-and they are the source for this volume of wonderfully written incisive commentary.