Free Art Business Tips: How to Use Print Promotional Tools
If you are on a tight budget, our practical tips will help you use low-cost marketing tools to promote your art with class.

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Free Download: Please forward to artist friends. Treat your art business like any other serious profession. The business of art is creating unique work of high quality and value to your viewers. The art of business is consistently building sustainable relationships through strategic work habits and well-organized business systems.

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Public Relations is free advertising. Words of advice from The Publicity Hound®, Joan Stewart



This tip is short but r-e-a-l-l-y important. It's your art business, you put a lot of time, money and sweat equity into it. Keeping "master files" of what you create for your business and having backups of those files will, I promise, make your life soooooo much easier down the road.

I know this because (big confession coming...) I didn't used to (like, ten years ago when I was a newbie at this) and I so paid dearly for it. Ahhhh, live and learn, as they say.

By "Master File" I mean files that you keep and use over and over again, including high resolution images of your art; design files of your postcards, business cards, brochures, and rack cards; and your logo and other graphics you use (both high resolution for print use and low resolution for web and online use). Don't forget your documents like agreements, artwork documentation, and contracts. I keep one as the "Master File" and do knock-offs from there. That way I always have a clean original to work from. My favorite command is going the the File menu and doing a "Save As" to make a copy to alter and save for that particular use.

Then, backup all the files on your computer, often. Use an external hard drive, an online backup and storage service, or even CDs, but DO backup and do it often. Think of it this way:  What image files and documents are you willing to lose forever if your computer crashes before the next backup?  I dunno about you, but I'm on the computer all day creating. I don't want to lose anything, so I have a Mac and use Time Machine with an external hard drive for hourly backups.  Actually, I have two external hard drives. They get rotated every other day into a large fireproof safe located in a different building. If we burn down, I can just go buy a new Mac, plug it into the external hard drive, and I'm back in business.

So, what about you? Got Master Files and Backups??

All my best to you and yours,

Robin Sagara
Web Marketing Mentor
robin@artistcareertraining.com

Brochures are great promotional tools for artists with a reasonable budget and graphic design skills (or someone who has them).

Brochures Say "Real Business"

• How do you show them that you care about them?
• What are the benefits of what you are offering?
• Where are they most likely to see and read your brochure?
• What information do they need and in what order?
• What will get them to take action?

• Call you? Then make sure to provide your phone number(s).
• E-mail you? Then make sure to provide your e-mail address.
• Register? Then make sure to provide a website link or instructions to call or e-mail you.
• Meet you? Then make sure to provide the address, telephone number and map or map link so they don't get lost.
• Pass the brochure on to others? Then make sure to provide more than one.

• Showcase your brand. What makes you and your art distinctive? How can you make your logo, type font and colors a core element of the design?
• See your brochure from the reader's eyes. Decide what you want on the front and the back. Choose the best placement for your headline, contact information, text and images. If you have a 2-panel or double-sided brochure, check that it "reads well" no matter which side it opens. Decide which way you will fold a 3-panel brochure to guide the reader.
• Design for the total picture. Consider each panel and the overall effect, once the brochure is open. If you use titles that are large and bold make sure they read well no matter how the brochure is opened.



A few weeks ago I was with my husband Harry at the Dwell on Design show in Los Angeles.

We went to an artist's booth and it was wonderful, with nice art beautifully displayed and an assortment of colorful printed materials including an eight-page brochure on sumptuous paper. The artist was tastefully dressed. Stellar, huh?  Not so fast.

I was impressed and decided to feature him in this newsletter, as an example of "how to do things right."  So I tried to introduce myself, but he was very distracted (I was the only visitor there.) His demeanor was stiff and his attitude arrogant. His attitude said, "The great artist" standing in his booth, holding court. I did not feel that he valued our conversation, not at all. But I handed him my postcard, and started to explain what I do, that I write this column and.... he took my postcard, glanced at it, and scowled. Looking at something in the distance he said, "What is it you do?" and I started again. A few words later it was obvious that he had decided I wasn't worth listening to. He handed the postcard back to me (!), took a call on his cell phone, turned his back on me and walked away. No "thanks for stopping by." Not even a "no thank you."

Another artist booth I visited was very different. Not a big fancy booth, hers was small and simple, well-lit and covered in her framed work. (Sorry, I didn't get a photo, but below is one of her at another show.) Jessika sat in a folding chair next to a small table displaying her colorful postcards, with a fishbowl to collect business cards for her mailing list. As I approached, she made eye contact and greeted me warmly. She listened to me as if I was the most important person in the world.

I complimented her on her art and postcards, and asked where she got the postcards printed. We chatted and I explained that I collaborate with fine artists, helping them build their art businesses. I handed her my postcard, she took it, looked at it, and smiled. How nice she was! Obviously, I wasn't buying (at the moment), but did she turn her back on me and walk away? No, she didn't. Instead she told me about her wonderful printer, she showed me other samples of his work (her prints, which were very good quality), and as she searched for one of his cards for me she explained about all the great things he does to help her.

THIS artist understands how to market her art. Sure, I wasn't buying but she was wise enough to be friendly and helpful. She understands that genuine interest, good listening skills and pleasant conversation are very valuable marketing tools.

Who will I buy art from in the future? Her, or the rude artist? Yeah, her of course (and I suspect so will everyone else at that show). And who did I choose to be featured in this article and benefit from the exposure? Her, of course.

Her name is Jessika Cardinahl and you can read about her and view her work at www.jessikacardinahl.com.

Oh, her printer? His name is Dan Rider. He is located in Alhambra, California and I suggest you look him up at www.j6creative.com. 

The rude artist? He wasted all that money he spent on fancy printed stuff. As I walked around the show I glanced at his booth from time to time. It was usually empty, and if someone visited it wasn't for long. Can you blame them?



• You don't need graphic design skills to create flyers. You can use ready-made templates in most word processing software. Just fill in the blanks with words and images.

• You don't need special equipment to print flyers. You can print small quantities on your home printer.

• You don't need a huge mailing budget to distribute flyers. Most flyers are distributed by hand. You just need a supply of colorful stick pins or a good staple gun and the occasional bandage for paper cuts.

• You don't have to cram your message into a small space to broadcast your message. You can use both sides.

• No muss, no fuss, no waste. You can print on demand. If you run out, you just open up your document and print more.

• promote events and workshops

• highlight special promotions

• offer prizes through raffles

• educate art lovers with tip sheets

• create mementos of exhibits

• By now you should know that any marketing activity starts with your audience. State the benefits of what you are offering. Think about the places where they are most likely to see and read your flyer.

• Make your flyer visually appealing. It may be tempting to fill very nook and cranny. Don't. You can use both sides of the flyer to create a nice balance between text and images.

• Decide whether you want to use a template, design your own or get help with a custom branded design from a graphic designer. That way, you can work out the timeline and your budget.

• Decide how you are going to distribute your flyer and how long it will be around. If you plan to post outdoors, take the weather into account. If you want a "collectible" version as a memento, give extra attention to the archival quality and visual appeal.

• Share the space and make it easy for people to look at the whole board. When you post flyers on a bulletin board, you can improve the chances that your flyer is visible. I am famous for tidying up bulletin boards. Most of them end up a mess as people add new items, with no thought to what they cover up. Of course that means you can pick a prime location for your efforts.

• Some venues require you to ask permission before you post. If the bulletin board is in a store or restaurant, make sure to follow any guidelines. Don't annoy them or waste your time by ignoring their rules.

• Add a personal conversation to your piece of paper. I like to go one step further. I talk with the owner and staff to let them know about my event. They often let me know that they have told their regular customers to attend.

Remember, if the process eats up your precious studio time, is technically beyond you, or frustrating, please let Robin help. It's not a big investment and you'll end up looking ever so splendid! Her dedicated support  has helped me, and can help you, make a better living making art. Robin is located in Los Angeles, and serves artists world-wide. For more info on how she can help free up your time so you can focus on what you do best, email her at Robin@ArtistCareerTraining.com 310-649-4434 Pacific time. The first 15 minutes is on us.

If you only need a few, it's probably better to print things yourself. But if you need quite a few, it may be better to have them printed at the local print shop, or from an online printer.

Take a few minutes before you print to "run the numbers." Figure out the real cost of each, you may be surprised and find that it's cheaper to pay a professional to print them.

Here are a couple of examples.  Let's say you've designed a flyer, it's 8 1/2" x 11", color, on one side only and you want a nice glossy heavyweight paper. Remember, this flyer represents you and your art, don't go all cheapo and end up handing out something that doesn't represent you well.

To print it yourself:
Figure out what it's costing you to print each page. The cost of ink for printers varies, and the manufacturer's website will give you an idea of how many pages you might expect to get out of each cartridge. I have a fairly standard inkjet printer, basic model, nothing fancy. My ink gives me about 400 pages per cartridge, there are four cartridges in my printer (three colors and black). Total cost for the four cartridges is about $70 including tax (the real ones from the manufacturer, not the cheapos which yield poor color and fewer pages). Divided by 400 pages (more or less) means I pay about $.17 each. Plus the cost of paper, glossy brochure paper (wonderful, love it) costs about $.22 each. (If you must use regular inkjet paper, figure about $.02 per sheet.)

So, to print them myself costs me about $.17 + $.22 = $.39 each. Not bad. But remember, this is only if you need a few. If you need larger quantities, having a printing company do them may be more cost-effective.

To have them printed online:
One of my favorite places (www.overnightprints.com) costs from $1 each (small quantity of 100) down to $.32 each for 500. Add shipping costs, which adds a few cents or more to the cost of each one, depending on how fast you need them. Some companies offer free shipping. At larger quantities, it's still cheaper to have them printed for you and you'll prolong the life of your inkjet or laser printer.

Resources:
 
Here are some of my favorites. Ask around, there are plenty more...
www.overnightprints.com Small quantities OK, good quality and prices.
www.drivethruprinting.com  Great printing/mailing company for quantities over 1000. Convenient floating cost calculator shows you exactly what it's going to cost.
www.vistaprint.com Usually a bit cheaper, but the quality is often not great. If you're not that concerned about the color, give them a try.
Helpful article at eHow.com on how to calculate printing costs.
Printing cost calculator for HP printers. Is useful even if you have another brand.


Also, write to me if you have questions and I'll cover them in upcoming tips (robin@artistcareertraining.com).