You’ve probably encountered buyers who are not computer addicts, like myself. They may check email once every few days. They surf once in awhile. There was that one time when they managed to find your art online and purchased an original painting from you. These are the people you want to try and reach. A cost effective way to do this is through postcard printing.

The advantage with postcards is that they’re more likely to be viewed–and not just by you, if truth be told. If it captures the recipient’s interest, it might linger on the fridge or bulletin board. It gets looked at multiple times, like a PPC ad. After your initial investment, it costs nothing. Make no mistake, email mailings have some cost too.

Add a promo code to your postcard to judge its effectiveness. You may just find that there is truly a place for old-fashioned marketing techniques.

Post from: News From the North Country

Holiday Marketing with Postcards

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Post from: News From the North Country

Wordless Wednesday

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I like commission because they change my focus. Clients introduce me to new subject matter. While I paint barns often, I don’t usually paint houses or churches. Commissions on both of those subjects opened my painting style to new ideas.

On the downside, commissions can take awhile. There can be a lot of back and forth until the commission is complete. The last thing you want is an approaching deadline, with no clear end in sight. That totally flies in the face of creativity.

Now that Halloween is passed, people start thinking about gifts. What better way to get a sale than to tweet about commissions. Early tweeting puts the idea in followers’ minds now, while you have plenty of time to complete a commission or two before Christmas. It’s a good way to brand in your niche too.

You sell a unique, one-of-a-kind product. A commissioned painting is a thoughtful gift, recognizing something important to the recipient. It says love. It says that you care. Give your followers an idea about the perfect gift. Say it with a painting!

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Monday Marketing Meeting–Tweet for Sales

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Wordless Wednesday

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If you purchase online, you know what you don’t like about shipping–the cost, the delays, no tracking information. Frankly, those three things have always ticked me off about buying online.

After experimenting with different shippers, I’ve come to the conclusion that the U.S. Postal Service provides the best value. Here are some key reasons.

• Saturday delivery (Huge. The other major carriers charge for this convenience.)

• Free residential delivery
• Free package pickup
• Tracking service
• Priority shipping boxes
• Free shipping boxes
• No different schedule of rates if you use their packaging, drop it in a box, or call for pickup
• Good value
• Convenience

You just can’t go wrong with the value that you as the seller receive. Besides, there’s a lot to be said for dealing with just one shipper. Your time is money. Choose the best shipper for your needs. I vote, USPS.

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Monday Marketing Meeting–Choose Your Shipper

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One way I like to use it is in conjunction with a web application called Twitter Digest. I receive feeds from the people that I want to follow. It’s one way you can stay on top of job leads if you’re looking. Just follow one of the job boards. If there’s someone who is reaching you with their tweets, you can stay on top of the latest info. Follow others in your industry to stay in the know. It really is a helpful tool.

From a marketing perspective, it keeps you up-to-date. As an online seller, this is key. The cyberworld is changing daily, hourly even some days. Sharpen your cutting edge by staying in the game. Twitter Digest is one to do it.

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Monday Marketing Meeting–Follow the Tweets

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Wordless Wednesday

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I’m in the same boat. I do my own fulfillment. I have always enjoyed the marketing end of things. What I wasn’t so keen on was shipping. It was time consuming. I felt like it was taking too much time for the money that I was earning. That’s when I decided that I had to improve my efficiency. Since fulfillment of itself wasn’t earning me money, I had to find a way to streamline it. Here are some tips from the field.

If selling mats with your paintings, use pre-cut mats.
I always thought of my mats as selling points. I’d much rather the buyer’s first live view of a purchased painting be that of a finished work. Watercolorists will understand the untidy feel an unmatted painting has. Rather than spending the time cutting mats, I opted to go with painting sizes that matched standard-sized mats.

Put together your include package.
With every painting I sell, I include a business card, a promotional coupon, and care information. I bundle those together ahead of time so I can just toss them with the package.

Prepare mats as you go.
Since I’m not doing outdoor art sales anymore, I prepare my works as I go so that they’re ready to ship. I put the painting in a USPS Priority Mail envelop with the include package, and it’s just about ready to go.

Complete Certificates of Authenticity as you go.
I always include a Certificate of Authenticity for each painting that I sell. It is a means of tracking provenance with purchased paintings. I also include my terms of sale, which include my rights to the image. Rather than prepare them the date of sale, all are completed, printed, and signed, ready to go.

Use USPS.
You can’t beat using USPS for shipping. Not only does it save you money, but you get free-weekend delivery. You can call for free pickup or place in your mailbox if it’ll fit to save you time with other carriers.

By my way of doing things, these simple steps cut my fulfillment time in half. Not only is shipping faster, but I’m spending more time painting, which is exactly where I want to be. How do you save time?

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Monday Marketing Meeting–Streamline Your Shipping

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Wordless Wednesday

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A link is composed of anchor text, which is the text that contains the link, and the link itself. We associate links with underlined text. The basic link code will look like this:

Best practices will dictate that a link should never look just like this. There are several reasons for this. It represents missed opportunities and lost chances. Here are some things to consider.

Keep your page open.
Without specifying how the link should open, the default will open the link in the present tab and window. By clicking the link, the visitor has just left your site. No longer do you have an opportunity to sell. You gave it freely to the next guy. Rather, you can force the link to open in a new window or tab. The visitor can view the other information, close it when done, and return to your site. This is accomplished by adding this bit of code:

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Monday Marketing Meeting–Optimizing Links

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