Posts Tagged ‘promotion’

I’ve still got a BUNCH of wallets with our old name on them that I need to get rid of before I print a slew of new ones with the new name/logo. So…

This weekend only: BUY TWO GET ONE FREE!
Simply add 2 wallets to your cart then leave a note for me during the checkout process with the name of the third wallet you want. It’s that easy.

Place your order at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/jeffclaassen?section_id=11163868

To sweeten the pot…
If you share THIS POST on FB your name will be put in a drawing to win a FREE wallet. What are you waiting for?

If that link doesn’t work, you might have to first “like” my FB page.

I have A LOT more of designs available. To see them all and to order please visit:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/jeffclaassen?section_id=11163868

Thanks for looking!

I decided to experiment on Saturday. The experiment was promoting an “item of the day”, which was a print marked down 50% for one day only. I posted a link to it on my FB Fan Page. As you can see from the screenshot, only 403 people saw the post out of a potential 2,300 people that have liked my page. (This was four hours after posting. It’s Monday now and only an additional 103 have seen the post. Obviously, the first couple of hours will be the time your post gets the most views.)

In the next screenshot, which is from my Etsy stats, out of the 403 people that saw the post on FB only 18 people clicked the link to see my “item of the day”.

Out of the 18 people that looked at the actual item in my etsy shop none of them took advantage of the 50% off deal. You win some, you lose some.

Naturally, there are an enormous amount of factors to consider:
– Posting on a Saturday might not be the best day because more people are away from their computers than on a weekday.
– Time of day that I posted was possibly a time where less people are online.
– Perhaps the item I chose to promote isn’t a popular one. Then again, maybe it is, but it might be more popular in a different format like a limited edition print on wood with resin coating as opposed to the open edition that I was promoting.
– It’s the end of the month too, which could mean people aren’t spending money on artwork because they have rent due in a few days.
– With the amount of people on FB it’s highly likely that my post simply got buried on people’s home page within a minute or two.
– I only posted the link once. It would have gotten more views if I posted the link every few hours.
– And the list goes on and on.

My main point though is the number of click throughs. I have 2,300 “likes” on FB, which I think is a lot. I know it’s nowhere near the high profile “rockstar” artists, but it’s certainly more than a lot of other fan pages on Facebook. The thing is though, out of 2,300 people I only managed to get 18 of them to click on the link and to look at the item I was promoting. How many people would have had to see the item before a purchase was made…19…20…300? We may never know.

Armed with this information what is a DIY professional to do? First and foremost, it’s good practice to not let stuff like this get you down. It’s completely irrational to get upset because people don’t buy your creations. And when 18 out of a possible 2,300 click on your link you need to keep in mind that 18 is better than zero. You must forge ahead and keep at it.

Naturally, you might be asking yourself, “is it worth it?” In the big picture I would have to say yes. Simply because there are too many factors to say this particular promotion was a failure. I could try the same promotion with a different item and have totally different results. Possibly better results or maybe worse results. I could even do the same exact promotion with the same exact item and end with different results by posting on a Monday as opposed to a Saturday.

In conclusion, I think it’s best to continually experiment with promoting. Who’s to say that one of those 18 people won’t come back and make a purchase later?

Any thoughts, comments, ideas, past experience with your own FB promoting…I’d love to hear them.

Bottle Cap Opener Keychains are awesome for all sorts of reasons. They are an inexpensive way to get your name/message out there whether you’re an artist, musician, blogger, graphic designer, photographer or if you own a retail boutique, restaurant, bar, etc.

How often do you leave the house without your keys? Imagine having your logo on something that people take with them every time they leave the house. And not only that, but it serves a function…it opens bottles!

Making custom promotional products for people is an idea I’ve been toying around with for awhile. I’ve been making my own bottle opener keychains for a couple of years and have actually done a few for others, but I haven’t really pursued it too much. Until now!

Here are some examples.

Trailer Barn is your one stop shop for trailers on the Central Coast and used these as a free promotional item to give to their customers.

I made these for The 1st Line, which is a badass punk band from Santa Maria CA. They took advantage of the “split order” option so their fans could choose from a couple different designs. They’ve sold these at shows and given them away as freebies.

I made a small batch of these for my neighbor across the street from the gallery, Dr. Cain’s Comics. He sells them in his shop and passes them along to friends.

If you’re interested in getting some bottle cap opener keychains made with your logo, graphic, artwork, etc. here is a little break down for you.

Custom bottle opener keychains are available in increments of 12.

12 – $2.75 each
24 or 36 – $2.50 each
48 or 60 – $2.25 each
72 or 84 $2.00 each
96 and up is $1.75 each

For each increment of 12 you can switch your design and still get the price break. If you order 36 you can get 3 designs and it will be $2.50 each.

Here’s a little inside secret from one artist to another. I’ve had no trouble selling mine at $5 a piece on etsy and in my retail space. It’s a good markup for you and a great price point for customers. It’s a win win!

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

If you’d like to place an order please use the Contact Form letting me know what quantity you’d like to order and I will email you the template to make your design with. For payment I can send you a paypal invoice or I can take your payment information over the phone. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

Thanks much!
I hope to hear from you soon!
– Jeff

A lot goes into organizing your own art show/event. Like all topics I plan to write about for this blog it can’t all be said in a single post, so for this particular segment of organizing your own art show let’s focus on one of the most important things you need to do before the show even starts.

Promote, promote, promote! Did you get that?

Without promoting your show nobody will come and all of your hard work will have gone to waste. Here are a few easy things you can do to get the ball rolling on the promotion side of things.

Make flyers/postcards for the show. I use www.americasprinter.com for all of my promo postcards. Or save your money and make photocopy flyers or print them out on your home inkjet printer. I suggest fitting four postcard size flyers on your 8.5″ x 11″ paper. Once you have your flyers printed and ready to go it’s time to distribute them. Stick them on bulletin boards in local stores, or on counter tops of stores that will let you. Give them to all your family and friends. Ask them to put your flyer up at work on a bulletin board in the break room or something similar. Give flyers to coworkers. When you get your hair done leave a flyer with your stylist. There is a good chance they will leave it on their station for all to see. If you live in a town with a community college give some flyers to the art teachers. A lot of times they’ll encourage their students to attend local art shows for extra credit.

Send a press release to all the local publications in your area. Sometimes an “official” press release is actually too much information for local papers. Call ahead and ask what you need to do or who you need to talk to about getting your event listed in their events calendar. While you’re at it, get the name of the arts editor of the paper and send them one of your flyers as a personal invite to your show. If you’re lucky they’ll interview you and help promote the show for you.

Post a free ad on www.craigslist.org.

Make an “event” page for your show on www.facebook.com”. Encourage all your Facebook friends to “share” the event with their friends.

If you have an email list already put it to use and send out an invite. Somewhere in the announcement encourage your readers to forward the message to their friends. You can also use www.evite.com for this.

Talk. That’s right, talk. How often do you run into people that ask “what’s new?” or “what’s going on?” or “how are you doing?” Fight the urge to give the typical response of “not much” or “I’m good. How about you?” Take this opportunity to avoid the mundane and give an honest answer. If you have a show/event coming up and somebody asks you “what’s new?” or “what’s going on?” answer with, “There is actually a lot going on right now that I’m really excited about.” At this point you can pause and wait for their reaction. Since your statement begs for more information and is also not the typical response there is a good chance they’ll ask you to tell them more. When they do that’s your cue to hand them one your flyers and invite them to your upcoming show. I actually took my own advice on this just yesterday. I was at the bookstore café getting a hot chocolate and the guy helping me (we know each other by name at this point because I spend a lot of time there) asked me if I had anything new going on. Like most people I simply said, “No…not much.” And he said, “yeah, me neither.” Then I snapped out of the mundane haze and corrected myself. “Actually, there is something new. This past weekend I redecorated the window display of my shop. It’s been great too because a lof of people came in today that had never come in before.” This little bit of info turned into a brief conversation about window display and other store merchandising.

This last one is pretty obvious. If you’re a blogger definitely promote your show on your blog. You can post an image of the flyer or just some plain text info about the show. Personally, I’m a BIG fan of teasing my blog readers with “in progress” photos of new paintings that will be featured in upcoming shows.

That’s all I’ve got for now. If any of you readers out there would like to add to this list of “promote your show” ideas please leave a comment.