This is the last post in a four-part series of How Artisan Advantage Started. If it hadn’t been for The Bluegrass Painter blog, I’m not sure Artisan Advantage would have come to be. If you missed the first few posts in this series, start here.
After that initial launch, we tried all sorts of other things to promote his work, such as exhibit at fairs and festivals and entering group exhibitions. We sent handwritten thank you notes on his art print cards. We sent targeted direct mailers to people we thought would be interested in his work. We’ve tried making prints and we’ve used print-on-demand services. Some things worked better than others. Through it all, we maintained a blog. Whatever we were doing at the time, it was announced on the blog, which ended up serving as the focal point for all of his marketing efforts.
Through these activities, I started meeting other artists who were interested in what I was doing with my father. That is when I came up with the idea of an Artist Boot Camp. Artist Boot Camp was my one day seminar helping artists with getting an art business up and running.
Artist Boot Camp was well received. I attempted to cover all of the topics in that workshop on this blog and through individual consulting efforts. Eventually, I realized that my strength was helping artists to use a blog as the basis of their marketing system.
And that is how I got to be here at Artisan Advantage, encouraging you to blog about your art.
The Partnership Continues
As for my father, he is still painting and selling work, both online and in person. He and I are in different parts of the country geographically now, so most everything I do for him is online. One exception is his annual open studio weekend in the summer, which has proven to be a consistent success.
I look forward to sharing more of our story with you. Thank you for reading this series and I hope that you will continue to follow me on this journey.
I love to connect outside of the blog. Here are some ways we can do that:
Connect with me on LinkedIn.
Pittsburgh artists, join my Create! Sell! Meet up Group.