Snail Mail vs Email

Sacred Heart, detail on postcard, original painting 36 x 36

Back when I first started painting I did a lot of art fairs and exhibits. The great thing about them is that you come face to face with folks and you can build your mailing list. On the down side, most fairs don't attract the original art collectors, they are geared toward the inexpensive print buyer. I was lucky enough to participate in Red Earth art show in Oklahoma City for several years and got quite a nice mailing list of my collectors. Most galleries won't give you the names of your buyer making it difficult to build your list. But that's a discussion for another post

I used to mail out newsletters, postcards of show openings etc. But with the ever growing popularity of email  the the outrageous price of postage, my Snail Mailing has really dropped. Some people just won't give you their email address or they mean to but never do or *gasp* don't have email. I've lost contact with some of my collectors by neglecting them. How could I let this happen?

So for the next few days I'm updating my Snail Mail list by searching the internet for current addresses. I'm happy to report that most of my collectors are still right where I left them the last time I wrote. Whew! I've also found a few on facebook and I will pursue that further

I will be sending postcards to all of these folks to try and acquire an email address. But I'm also planning on contacting the folks on my email list and try to get their mailing address. Why? I think folks like to get post cards from artists. Don't you? And most artists no longer do this. I'll stand out in the crowd. Email will continue to be my main source of contact but I'll also be adding an occasional post card to the mix. 

Do you really Need a website?

Quilled Moccasins, 12 x 9, oil on canvas

I've read all sorts of articles about 'How to sell on the internet', 'Bring customers to you Blog'. Does it work? Not much.

I find my websites are most useful to show my artwork to my galleries.  And the buyers that are already familiar with my paintings  stop by and look but still, almost all of them buy from my galleries. I don't think I'm going to Be Discovered through my sites and become rich and famous.

So, is a website / blog worth the trouble. You bet! This is what happened to me this weekend: I was participating at a gallery show and a buyer came up to me and said "I really liked that painting you did of the Moccasins but it sold before I could buy it. Do you think you'll be doing another one?"I happened to have another painting of moccasins on my website so the buyer and I went into the gallery office, pulled up my website and voilà! I sold the painting. And as long as we were on my site, I showed them another painting I thought they might like. Sold! 

Because my website was up to date I was able to sell 2 paintings then and there. I've had that happen more than a few times. And of course, this is counted as a gallery sell and the gallery gets their commission.

I'd love to hear any success stories you've had with your paintings and your website.

Email List and Aggravation

Quilled Moccasins,12 x 9, oil on canvas

As you know, on Fridays I like to email folks about new work. I always send the emails to myself and Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) the emails to everyone else in groups of 25. I have about 500 folks on my list so I send out about 20 groups of emails. NEVER 'carbon copy' your list when you are emailing. Other people can see their names and email addresses. This is an invasion of privacy to you clients and can result in them asking to be removed from your list.

When you send each group of emails to yourself (with everyone else getting a BBC) you will get your email when each group of 25 is delivered. Am I making sense? Well, today I only got half of the emails I sent to myself. Something wonky is going on with my email server. I was unable to reach my server by phone. I suspect that something strange was going on and they were receiving numerous phone call complaints. Very irritating but something I must reconcile with my server before I can send out next weeks emails. If I weren't sending each group of emails to myself, I wouldn't have known that something was wrong

 

Finding Potential Customers. Maybe

Silver City Marshal, oil on canvas

Almost all the followers on my blogs, Twitter, Facebook etc are artists. And while I love my artist friends and find great value in what they have to say, my goal this year is to find more art buyers.

95% of my work is sold through my galleries and I love what they do for me. But I don't sit back and wait for them  to do everything. Especially since most galleries won't share their customer's names

I'm fortunate that most of my art fits into a 'Niche Market' : Western Art. Today I went over to Facebook and found a company that sells high end western decor. I looked at who their friends were and started requesting to be their friends. Now, many will not befriend me, and many will not be interested in buying my art. But my theory is that the more folks that know about me the better my chances are of selling more work. I spent about 45 minutes on facebook  connecting with people and will continue doing this a little bit at a time.

I also paint vintage toys. I belong to a few vintage toy groups on facebook. Other group member would be a good fit for my work.

What kind of art do you do? Where do you think you can find new buyers? Don't wait for them to find you!