There are many ways to build your brand while marketing your art.  As fine artists we have a difficult time, like many others, trying to stand apart from everyone else.  Vocal artists have it even tougher…small acappella groups tougher even yet. I mean how do you separate yourself when you have the same music and the same parts to sing, or the same canvas and palette?  That is what makes an  artist an artist.  Check out this uber cool vid.  The vocalist do a great job of branding while adding some visual entertainment to a “audio” piece of art.

Voca People, A Lesson in Branding Art
 

let me know what you think.

There are a ton of things we can do that will build our brand.  Outlined below are a few basics that should be a given but truly are not that common.

1-Thank-you cards.  Yep, I know very boring.  But the bottom line is very few people do this.   Think for just a minute when was the last time you were sent a thank-you card for a purchase? So I have found the best way to do this is to send a thank-you about a week after you deliver your product or service. Handwritten is best.

Then a few days later follow up with a phone call.  Yep old fashioned talk-on-the phone communication. Thank-your client again and ask if everything arrived in good order (if you had to ship it).  If you hand delivered your masterpiece for a local or regional client ask if they are still happy with the placement of their piece.

A month after that follow up with another courtesy call making sure everything is ok and that there are no quality challenges.

These follow up touches are not a pitch fest to pimp your product or backend sales.  Do that through your regular content driven ezine, newsletter or blog.

Finally make sure you use permission base marketing to keep your client informed of upcoming projects and work in progress.

2-Elevator speech.  I have harped on this before as is it critical yet few people take advantage of this simple process.  When you have the opportunity to meet new people, a well thought out 30 second speech can speak volumes in presenting yourself as an artist.   Even in the professional high end sales ranks it amazes me how few people actually do this. So, write it, edit it, finalize it, practice it and present it.

Until next time.

Live-Love-Laugh

Kenny Kim has always been fascinated by the visual arts – and especially the connection between art & photography. His passion ?rst led to the study of graphic design at the University of Illinois, where he also became a skilled web designer and eventually opened up his own design studio in 2003. It was during this period, he began to realize that the greatest outlet for his artistic expression and technical skills would be through his passion for photography. Incorporating his own vision into the technical elements of photography, Kenny’s goal with each photo he takes is to present each moment he captures with a subtle artistry that enhances the feel of the moment. With the launch of Kenny Kim Photography in 2005, Kenny’s vision for a photographer’s work instantly resonated with his audience and within a short period of time, Kenny Kim Photography has now grown into a nationally recognized studio. In just 3 short years, Kenny has been commissioned for over 100 weddings in locations throughout the United States and the Caribbean. He was also retained to shoot for the University of Illinois Men?s Basketball & Tennis teams along with various celebrity events featuring David Foster, Andrea Bocelli, John Legend, Three Doors Down, Chris Tomlin, Michael W. Smith, and many others. Kenny currently resides in Chicago, Illinois. He is thankful to call his passion in life, his profession as well.

Kenny has made incredibly quick inroads to success in a very competitive area.  Find out about Kenny when we podcast…maybe we can pry some of the secrets out of him. Get his views on social media marketing, social networking, digital painting and a host of other fun questions.  If you have specific questions for any of our podcast interviews you can leave a comment with the question and we will get them answered. We will publish his interview in 7-12 days. Coming up next will be Marilyn Sholin on Thurs or Friday next week.

OK I know. We visually creative folk may shudder at the thought of boooring stuff like copy-writing.  It will be a common theme sung here though. We have got to get in the habit of self-education when it comes to marketing and copy-writing is a biggie.  Here is a piece written by a friend and expert marketer Ann Sieg.   I certainly cant communicate it better and I do subscribe to  the blog that is profiled.  AWESOME! So here is another free tool for you presented by Ann.

… Here’s a little secret for you: While investing money to expand your business and sales know-how is a necessary part of success that can’t be bypassed…

…it is actually possible to get a million dollar education
by consuming a lot of the free stuff that’s out there.

In fact, some expert’s free content and material is so good that it’s literally worth ten times what you would pay for others people’s products.

Which begs the question: If that’s the case, then why even bother buying any-one’s product anyway?

Well, there are some things that you’ll never learn for free. The stuff you have to pay for will always be more complete and more advanced. It gives you the whole story whereas often times the free stuff leaves a lot of blank spaces that need to be filled in. And if someone’s free content is really good, it means their actual products are that much more valuable to you. Plus, they’re usually laid out in a way that’s easier to follow and in a more “paint by numbers” fashion. As opposed to free content where you may have to go through a lot more of it to find the diamonds in the rough.

I can tell you though that many of the strategies I’ve used that have been crucial to my success were obtained directly from free resources. I’ve gleaned ideas, “light bulb” type inspirations and core concepts from these resources that have without a doubt been worth a fortune to me.

The right free content can provide you with much of the groundwork and building blocks with which to build your business.

And here’s why this is true: As more competition develops in any given niche, it means that in order for people to stay ahead, they have to give away more and more info that they may have previously been charging for.

That’s the beauty of competition. It forces people to stay sharp and on their toes. And the end winner of it all is the consumer who gets a better product.

As Marlon Sanders says – If you really want to have a killer offer, just take what your competitor is selling and give it away as a free bonus!

Anyways, one of these free resources that has been absolutely invaluable to me is Clayton Makepeace’s free e-letter ‘The Total Package.’ You can check it out at: The Total Package.

Clayton is known as the highest paid copywriter in America and every Monday he sends out an e-letter issue that’s crammed with some of the best marketing and sales advice you’ll ever read.

Did I mention it’s totally free? I don’t think I could even put a price tag on this if I had to. I attribute a lot of the marketing knowledge I have to reading his material.

His e-letter is geared towards copywriters and some of the issues specifically address how a copywriter can find work in the freelance world, but overall the brilliant marketing wisdom he dispenses applies to anyone and everyone who’s interested in making large amounts of money.

If you do decide to subscribe to The Total Package, be sure to go through all the back issue archives. There’s some 87 past issues at the time I wrote this and you can read each one of them at no cost whatsoever. Every issue is usually well over 10 pages of pure gold content and the whole archive is literally a book in and of itself. There’s enough reading material back there to keep you busy for weeks.

When you get your first issue, just look on the right hand side of the page and you’ll see the ‘archive’ menu button…..

OK Tim back here.  definatly check this out.  It is good information and well worth the time. It is one more component of marketing our passionate brushstrokes or shutter clicks.