by Rebecca Sciullo | Sep 8, 2020 | Blogging, Events, Learning
I want to thank the East Suburban Artists League for inviting me to present during their member meeting via Zoom last week.
The topic was Building a Dynamic Web Presence. We discussed how visual artists can use blogging to strategically and systematically promote their work.
This was my first time presenting via Zoom. I thank the group for allowing me to do that!
While I’d rather meet artists in person, I’m thankful that technology provides a way for these meet-ups and presentations to continue.
Interested in having me present to your group? Please contact me at becky@artisan-advantage.com.
by Rebecca Sciullo | Aug 29, 2020 | Blogging, Events, Learning
Free Webinar! Use Blogging to Build Your Art Business
Registration is now open for How to Use Blogging to Build Your Art Business. This webinar was previously named, Build a Dynamic Web Presence for Your Art Business.
Choose from one of two opportunities to attend this live webinar on Tuesday, September 15, 2020. This free presentation will explain how to use blogging to create an effective marketing system for your visual art. All participants will also receive a complimentary “How to set up your blog” guide. Reserve your spot at one of the sessions below:
Tuesday, September 15, 12:00 PM EST
Tuesday, September 15th, 7:00 PM EST
by Rebecca Sciullo | Aug 21, 2020 | Blogging, Learning
Free Webinar! Blogging for Your Visual Art Business
Many creatives are feeling the pain of canceled exhibitions, festivals, and other opportunities due to Covid-19. It’s more important than ever to have a web presence. Opportunities still exist on the internet. The key is to prepare and position yourself to take advantage of them.
Some artists, however, find the task of creating and maintaining a website daunting. They don’t think they have enough technical know-how to build one. Then, once established, it can be a struggle to get visitors to the site.
My free webinar, Use Blogging to Build Your Visual Art Business, offers some answers to the following questions:
How to set up a vibrant web presence for your art business in an effective way without hiring a web designer?
How to keep your website up to date without a web designer?
How to reach an audience interested in buying your work with a blog?
Set up a Simple System to Drive Your Art Marketing Efforts
This presentation uses my personal experience and real-life examples to outline a system any visual artists can use. The information is relevant for many popular web platforms such as WordPress, Weebly, Squarespace, or FASO. Learn how to consistently share work with an audience across various marketing channels such as social media and email marketing using an easy to use blogging platform as the driver for your business.
My goal is for you to gain a new enthusiasm for building a web presence, whether you are starting from scratch or improving upon an existing website. I will offer tools and advice for starting and maintaining this system in a manageable way.
How to View a Live Event
Art Groups
I will be presenting to various arts groups during the program segment of their monthly meetings over the next few months. If you’d like me to present to your art group, please contact me at becky@artisan-advantage.com. As a follow-up thank you, your group members will be offered a discount to my course “Build a Blog Based Marketing System for your Art Business in 30 Days”, launching October 1st.
Individual Artists
I will host two live presentations in September here at Artisan-Advantage, open to all visual artists. There is a size limit of 20 participants for my self-hosted events. The schedule will be released next week. If you would like priority notification for these free events, please sign up for my Create! Sell! Newsletter.
by Rebecca Sciullo | Aug 19, 2020 | Learning
What Can You Learn from The Office about Selling Your Art
I’ve been re-watching episodes of The Office this summer. Like many people, it’s one of my all-time favorite tv shows. Last week I caught “Business School”, an episode which contains one of my favorite scenes. In fact, according to An Oral History of the Office podcast, I wasn’t surprised to hear that this is a fan-favorite scene. Watch the video below where Michael comes to Pam’s art show and brings her to tears.
“This is our office and we sell paper!”
People purchase art that makes a connection with them.
Is it surprising that a typical office building illustration could be a precious piece of art for someone? In this case, Michael’s ego had just taken a beating after hearing from business school students that the paper business may no longer be relevant. The illustration of “the office” meant a lot to him. Art is a unique commodity. It doesn’t follow traditional economic rules of selling. People will purchase art that they never intended to own if it strikes the right chord with them.
I have some personal anecdotal evidence in helping my artist father, Robert Yonke, sell his art. At a bluegrass music trade show, I saw a woman moved to tears who purchased a painting of turkeys that we had displayed to fill a space in his booth. It was not a likely sale at that particular event. But, It reminded her of the turkeys on the farm where she grew up as a child. In a similar situation, I saw another customer get very emotional over a painting of a barge that he ended up purchasing. It reminded him of the barge that his father worked on.
People purchase art that is authentic.
It means that you understand or connect with what you are creating yourself. Notice how Michael recognizes his window, his car, and Pam’s car.
Create what you want.
This doesn’t mean that you have to create art to please all people. If you’re going to sell it, though, you have to figure out how to present and get your art in front of the audiences that might best connect with it.
A final word. Don’t forget to price your art! Don’t be surprised when someone decides to purchase your work. Be prepared!
Get in front of people who connect with your work.
Would you like to learn more about how to get in front of audiences that love your work? Sign up for the Create! Sell! newsletter where I will be announcing some exciting webinars and workshops starting this fall
by Rebecca Sciullo | Aug 10, 2020 | Artist Websites, Blogging
Make a lemon drop martini!
Seriously, we’ve all had a bunch of lemons dropped into our laps, haven’t we?
The important thing, though, is what you are making with those lemons.
Many artists are feeling the pain of canceled exhibitions, festivals and other opportunities due to Covid-19. One disappointment for me was the cancellation of the annual studio tour that my father participates in every year. It is always his best selling weekend of the year. While he moves a decent amount of work online, the studio tour is where the larger pieces sell. Missing this opportunity makes a significant impact on his business.
Here’s What We Are Doing
With the absence of the Studio Tour, we’ve made adjustments and improvements to his website and added a few other features to his marketing mix. I couldn’t allow the annual event to go by without doing something and came up with the following ideas:
Created a “Virtual Tour” page on his website, inviting people to view some specialized galleries that we organized – one which included new and featured work and one with a collection of art offered at a special “virtual tour” discount through August.
Made his first “artist talk” video. Using video has been daunting to me, but with the help of a tech-savvy nephew, we pulled it off. I think our first attempt was pretty good, and we plan on making more.
Sent a personalized direct mail piece to a targeted audience of people we identified who could be in the market for original artwork. It’s a trade secret…but if you hire me or take one of my upcoming courses, I’ll share how I found them.
Outcomes and takeaways
Thanks to his blog, mailing list, and client base, sales have been decent during the pandemic. The Virtual Tour recently launched, so I’ll have to report back on how the sales went. At the very least, it has forced me to get creative about putting new content out on his blog, and we made it over the video hurdle.
It’s a Process
Remember, if you’re looking to start something new in your business, it’s a process. Don’t get discouraged. Just keep moving forward little bit every day, and eventually, you will see results.
Would you like to share a story of how you’re making lemons out of lemonade? Please share with becky@artisan-advantage.com.
Photo by Myfanwy Owen on Unsplash
