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
