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Articles Advice From an Artist on Art Show Strategies My successful art show strategies – Tips for fellow artists by a fellow vendor.
First, get rid of your directors chair. Don’t avoid perspective customers . People will not come in to your booth if you are sitting at the front blocking the entrance or if you are hiding behind a display. You have spent so much time creating your art to sell. You have spent the time and money to exhibit at the show. Why hide? If you want to sell your work, you must interact with the public.
Put yourself out there! Its very simple - you create additional value to your artwork when you interact with a perspective customer. Explain to them what makes your art work unique. Tell them how you came about conceiving and producing your artwork. Tell them the story, people are interested, and when they buy the piece they now own additional information about the piece to share with their friends.
It's important to give a reason for someone to stop at your booth. Utilize a main focus piece on an easel or pedestal in order to draw interest from the crowd.
Using signage is an easy way to give someone a reason to stop at your booth. With signage, you can give suggestions for alternative uses of the artwork. For example, many of my dishes sold as candle displays, soap holders, bread plates, etc.
Run a show special and use signage to promote the details. Its important to give an added incentive to purchase something from you that day. Take one of your lower end products and create an easy way for people to purchase more of them buy 2, get 1 free for example.
Invite people to sign up for a free drawing to win a piece of your artwork. This last step allows you to capture their name and email for future marketing purposes.
Hand out your business cards and don’t forget to follow up! 79% of all fair booth leads are not followed up. People get bombarded with e-mail and usually do not open it. So you need to find a different way to reach them. I like SOC, I send pictures of my new pieces of Art for them to see and for them to get excited about. It is a very inexpensive system to use. You might want to try it. I did mailings but they were to expensive and had a low customer return rate. Make sure to have a small flyer that lists all the fairs and festivals you will be at for the next year with dates and locations. Make sure to have your contact information on it. Make it easy for a person to call, e-mail, write or go to your web site to buy another on of your peices. Hand the flyers available for everyone that comes into your booth.
Finally, take a good look at your booth. The success of your next art show will increase when you create the successful booth. View your booth from the customers vantage point. Is it inviting, are your pieces displayed to their best advantage? If you are new, ask some other vendors for their advice. Make sure to have your wares displayed on many levels. Its more pleasing to the eye. Don't get discouraged if your first few shows do not have high of sales. It takes time to build a following. Remember you spent alot of time creating these peices. Smile and have fun!
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