I had a very surreal last few months. My father was in the hospital for several weeks and passed away. It was difficult to deal with….
 
I debated over how much I wanted to share with my customers. I write an occasional blog and I send out a monthly newsletter to my art clients. Did I want to tell them what was going on? If so, how much?
 
Even though it was a difficult thing to do, I decided I would share some of my experiences. I thought it was best to be sincere and vulnerable and show that I was human.
 
You see, the problem with only communicating to your customers via a newsletter or a blog, or even Facebook is that you appear only as words on a page. They cannot see your face or hear you speak. That can cause a disconnect. Adding the details, even small details, of your life can go a long way toward making you human and more real to the people you are trying to communicate with.
 
So next time you write your blog or newsletter, include a little story. It could be about how your cat keeps getting in the way when you’re trying to create, or that funny thing that happened while you were setting up at your last show, or maybe how having cancer has affected your art. Or yes, even that your father has passed away and you are creating a piece of artwork to honor him.

When I was in college I had a friend by the name of Greg. Now Greg had an interesting philosophy when it came to grades. All during finals his mantra was, "D is Done."
 
He was much less concerned with getting good grades in his classes than he was with simply getting passing grades. To him getting a D in a class meant that he was finished with it and he could move on to the next class.
 
Now, don't get me wrong, Greg was a smart guy. But he had different priorities. He was there to learn what he needed to learn in order to go out and get a job. It was a means to an end. He was not learning for the sake of learning.
 
Look at your marketing efforts in the same way. You are not doing marketing for the sake of doing marketing. You are marketing so that you can further your art career.

So, rather than worrying about creating the perfect newsletter, just create one and send it out. You can always improve on the next one. Or, rather than stressing that you don't have a mailing list, start collecting names at your next show.

Marketing is a long term process. Sending out one perfect newsletter and no more isn't going to get you anything. So, even if it's not perfect, just get it out there. Your customers need to know you exist,

As far as marketing goes, you don't need to do it perfectly, but you do need to do it enough.

This isn't so much about what to write about, but how to make it easier to write posts.

The first idea is to write in a series. My previous post was about 7 ideas for writing blog posts.  This post continues with other blog ideas. Rather than writing one really long post, break it up into separate sections and post them periodically.

Next idea: Write a bunch of posts all at once. Don't post them all at once, just write them in one sitting. Save them and post them over several days.

Another idea: Check if your blog host has the capability to post automatically. Some blog hosts will let you schedule your posts. That way you can write several posts and then schedule them automatically to post even when you're not sitting at your computer. I am writing this post right after I published the previous one, but this one won't get posted for a couple more days.

Last idea: Update an old post. Publish an older post but include more information to update. For example, if your post was about creating a piece of artwork, repost it and include the information that the artwork sold.

That's all for now, I have to go make artwork for an upcoming show.

For many years I kept a mailing list. I dutifully took a guest book with me to every show and collected names and addresses. The book would come home with me and then get tossed in with the rest of the show stuff until it was time for the next show.

This went on for years. I had this book of names and never did anything with it.

About two years ago I decided it was time to do something about that. I signed up for an email service (I happen to like MailChimp) and started sending out a newsletter.

At the beginning, I wasn't really consistent about sending out emails. However, I would always try to get a newsletter out right before doing a show. What I quickly noticed was that my customers were coming to the shows! It was just a few customers, but those few actually bought from me and made the difference between the show being profitable or not.

When I started communicating more consistently, I noticed something else. Many of my newsletters would include photos of my progress on a new piece. When these customers would come to a show, they would ask if I had finished the piece yet.

This was very exciting to me. People were actually interested in what I was doing. And they were excited to be a part of it.

I recently started coaching a fellow artist. Although she has a background in marketing, she is not sure how to apply all of that to selling her own artwork. She knows she needs to do something, but she i't sure what. Her first thought was that it was her website that needed updating and she asked me to work on it.

She was right, her website was just a bunch of photos with no story behind them. I started out by asking what her objective was. She wants to sell her art.

Okay! Now that I know the objective, I can ask some questions.

• Do you have an email list? Sort of.
• Do you send emails out a on regular basis? No.
• Do you have stories written about each of your art pieces that gives the viewer an emotional connection to the art? No.
• Do you want to only sell your originals or do you want to also include print-on-demand items? Ummm, what?
• Do you have a hook to get people to want to continue to visit your website? No.

Turns out she needs a lot more than just her website fixed. In this case, this artist is in need of an extreme makeover. All of the above mentioned stuff needs to be done all at once. Each of those puzzle pieces fits with all of the others.

Let's break them down...
Your mailing list is a list of pre-qualified leads. These are people who saw your work at a show or who have visited your website and liked what they saw. These people are gold.

That mailing list needs to be nurtured. Sending out a newsletter or other communications on a periodic basis will keep you at the top of their mind. And maybe give them a nudge to visit your website again.

When they do get to your website, if you have a story to tell, they will have a reason to make more of a connection to your work rather than just looking at a pretty pictures. The more emotional the connection, the more likely that they will buy.

Not all artists can or want to have print-on-demand products available for sale, but for those who do, you are giving your customers an easy way to purchase your work. And you're giving yourself an easy way to sell your work. If you're not familiar with print-on-demand sites have a look at FineArtAmerica.com, CafePress,com. or Zazzle.com. There are many other sites of this type, but this should give you a good idea of how they work.

And, if your customers don't buy from you right away, you need to have something to entice them to continue to visit your website. There are many ways to do this. You could have a blog on your site that answers some of the common questions that you get. You could offer them a freebie like a free calendar that they can download and print themselves (click here to see mine). Or you could send them to a page on your website that has an easy tutorial.

All of these pieces feed on each other and should be done concurrently. Unfortunately, that is not always possible. And there is no right answer to which one to do first. My answer is pick one and do it!

I recently started putting out calls for entry. I am doing monthly online themed exhibits. The winner for each month gets to be a featured artist on The Shy Artist website. I've just put up the next two calls for the months of October and November. It's free to enter, so what are you waiting for?!?!?

Over the past several weeks, I have been participating in The Book Marketing Challenge. It has been an information packed experience. I have learned so much about marketing and I’d like to share my favorite strategy.