Sell
5 members found (show all)
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selling
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~ Selle
Australia
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Aurélien Selle
France
1698 creative works found
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Help for Redbubble members
by Mel BrackstoneKarin Taylor, Jo O’Brien, Stuart Chapman, Dave Pearson, Lance Jackson, Ragman, Mark German, Steven Lippis, Simone Byrne and myself hav…
Karin Taylor, Jo O’Brien, Stuart Chapman, Dave Pearson, Lance Jackson, Ragman, Mark German, Steven Lippis, Simone Byrne and myself have added some very useful tutorials and links for those members who’d like some help in learning a few extra tricks to make their time on the bubble easier. I have this link in my profile, so it’s going to be easy to find. I’ll add to it as I learn of new helpful information. How to enhance your profile Text formatting Links to other helpful pages Where to get help/critique/FAQ Help on how to sell your work How to TAG your work effectively Redbubble hacks with Dave Add category lists How to make smoke photos Digital Infrared info Ragman’s excellent advice on all things arty farty Mark German’s fantastic photographic techniques Steven gives an explanation on how to utilise a flash modifier Simone Byrne’s hints on ND400 filter use My experience with Neutral Density Filters My hints on shooting at the beach Explaning focal lengths for digital Polarisers – a visual experiment
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Thank you everyone for your lovely comments !! Available as a matted print , laminated print, mounted print, canvas print framed print and card . Summer And Polkadots / / Patterns#2Red Hill All Origional art work can be purchased through the artist. —-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-——- Copyright notice: / All rights reserved. All images contained on these pages are © copyright protected by Mariska and any use of these images in any form without written permission will be considered an infringement of these copyrights.
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Work featured on home page 06/01/2009 – Thank you very much dear Redbubble:0)) One of my best sellers T-shirt, great on black tee too!! Wonderful present for Valentine’s Day!!! Thank you for buying ! :0) Another favorite:White Flowers
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Sixteen Ways to Increase Your Sales
by Stephen MitchellI’ve seen so many people still asking why they’ve still not sold any artwork on Redbubble! So I’ve compiled all my enterprising, marketin…
I’ve seen so many people still asking why they’ve still not sold any artwork on Redbubble! So I’ve compiled all my enterprising, marketing, sales and money-based articles written over the last two years. I really REALLY hope you enjoy reading and applying them into your sales-campaign. First, let’s take a look at you, the artist within. Wait, that sounds like the first article… 01. Defining the Artist Within / 02. I Have a Special Condition! / 03. Keep that Entrepreneurial Spirit Alive / 04. Two Crafty Ways to Become a High Profile Photographer / 05. Playing the Popularity Game Without Caring if You Win or Lose / 06. What Makes You Think Your Art is Good Enough? Here is the guts of this article, the really in-depth stuff that should help understand how to better use Redbubble in your venture to either make money or make a name for yourself: 07. Are You Selling More Artwork ? / 08. Helping YOU Make a Profit on Redbubble ! / 09. Pleasure from Profit from Pleasure / 10. Quality Marketing Equals Sales / 11. Selling Your Art Successfully / 12. Sell, Give, Donate and Use Your Skills / 13. My Marketing Strategy / 14. How to Sell Anything / 15. Selling My Artwork At Amended Prices / 16. Twelve Months on Redbubble The trick is to read each article, and then ask yourself: ‘How does this apply to my situation?’. I’m very sure you’ll find a way to incorporate the ideas I’ve used here to improve your situation and increase your sales! I look forward to hearing how much more sales you make over the next few months!! EDIT [11:32 PM 15/05/2009] / Some of you will now want to run an exhibition, gallery or stall of your artwork. For that I have compiled another list of links that should help you! / ... Running Sheet for Exhibitions Since this is my article, I have to get a few shameless-plugs in here somewhere. I have T-shirts for sale that will get you noticed! / ... Your Name on a PHOTOGRAPHER Shirt / ... Photographer Shirts / ... Redbubble Shirts for Artists, Writers and Photographers Postscript / I started writing simple tips that any Redbubble Artist could use. I don’t write them so much any more, but I keep them here for my own reminder. I hope you enjoy these two that relate to this post enormously: / ... Tip #001 / ... Tip #004
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Working with Press to Promote Your Art
by RedBubbleWe recently read two great articles that feature RedBubble artists. Mindy McGregor Mindy McGregor is an artist and stay at home m…
We recently read two great articles that feature RedBubble artists. Mindy McGregor Mindy McGregor is an artist and stay at home mom. An art curator found her work on RedBubble. Since that connection, Mindy has displayed her work offline several times in Melbourne, and she now has a new solo show in Sydney, Australia. As part of the Sydney show, local and regional newspapers were sent information about Mindy and her upcoming show. Periodicals were also offered an interview with Mindy about her artwork. From the article: “Soon after joining RedBubble, an online artist group (www.redbubble.com), she was contacted by Andrew May, an art curator.” “The 30 photographs in the Sydney exhibit are mainly images from southern Saskatchewan, because McGregor loves to capture bits and pieces of province’s history.” More information: Mindy McGregor | The Leader-Post article Tom Baumker Tom Baumker is a respected US wildlife photographer who was recruited by an existing member to join RedBubble. Tom’s work was recently shown on his local CBS television affiliate as part of a story about the US holiday, Memorial Day. Tom also hands out “at least 20 business cards each day” in order to drive traffic to his RedBubble profile page. The local TV spot led to an article about Tom’s work in the TC Palm, a periodical focused on the coastal area of Florida, USA. From the article: “Baumker starting taking photos when he was 7 years old. His education in photography came mostly from the school of hard knocks and by reading as many books and magazines as he could get his hands on. Since then, he has taken thousands of wildlife photographs. Many of them end are on his Web site – redbubble.com.” More information: Tom Baumker’s RedBubble profile | The TCPalm.com article How can you secure press about you and your artwork? David Watts Barton, a 25-year veteran of The Sacramento Bee and well-known music and arts writer who’s currently the managing editor of SacramentoPress.com – a local online daily periodical that is mixing professional and citizen journalism, stated: “Start with the four Ws – who, why, what, and where. Beyond that, be sure to pique the writer’s curiosity. Most local publications want to write stories about local people. Just give them the hook and the basic information – don’t sell the subject. Just tell the story. If it’s interesting to the writer, they’ll bite. If not, no amount of hype will sell it.” Other tips include: 1. Make the information newsworthy by capitalizing on a trend, e.g., working from home, secondary income streams, networking online, etc. are hot topics right now. 2. Leverage events such as artwalks and current events such as holidays – tying them back to your work. 3. Provide thought leadership if possible. If your work documents a specific topic in which you have expertise, note that in your pitch. Offer an interview and be on time. 4. Build a relationship with newspaper and press staff. One isolated email won’t do most of the time. Send editors commentary, leads, feedback on past articles, etc. It’s easier to sell your artwork to a friend; the same goes for securing press. 5. Be consistent in both your tone and the frequency in which you write editors. Become familiar and there will be less hesitation on the editor’s part to engage. 6. And lastly, don’t send attachments without prior approval. Link to images whenever possible. Let’s conclude In Tom’s case above, you have a dedicated photographer whose subject matter matched the upcoming US holiday. With Mindy, you have an aspiring photographer who was “found” and whose work captures and space and place in the form of a collection. See how you go and let us know how you do. Also, if you were featured in a periodical or publication, please feel free to post the link and details below. If you already create articles about selling art, please point us to them below. More information about selling your art can be found under the Selling member name. Thanks. Regards, / Jason
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“Against the Wind” Photography & Artwork / by Holly Kempe © “When everything seems to be going against you, / remember that the airplane takes off against the / wind, not with it.” / ~ Henry Ford Featured in the: Redbubble Homepage – September 08 Tree Group – July 08 Cards: Best of Your Best Group Shoot the Moon Group – February 09 Redbubble Homepage – June 09 Recent Sales: 1 x Card – unknown buyer – Canada 1 x Medium Poster – unknown buyer – Palestine / Thank you so much to everyone. / Profits donated to Starlight Childrens Foundation Australia See “Against the Wind” at my website /
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“Veil of Mystery” Photography & Artwork / by Holly Kempe © “Some might see the morning fog as a shroud of / grey that settles in their soul and stays with them / even when the sun breaks through to warm their / skin. / Others see the fog as a beautiful mist that opens / up to reveal the brightness of life and a reason to / feel good about the outside…on the inside.” / ~ Annette Hansen Featured in the: Redbubble Homepage – December 08 Trees Group – June 08 Trees and Their Parts Group – May 09 Recent Sales: 1 x Medium mounted print – unknown buyer 1 x Large canvas – Karen – Australia 1 x Card – unknown buyer – America 1 x Large canvas – unknown buyer – Australia 1 x Card – Nancy – America 1 x Matted print (off white) – unknown buyer – America 1 x Card – kativa – Australia / Thank you so much to everyone. / Profits donated to Starlight Childrens Foundation Australia See “Veil of Mystery” at my website /
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“Storm on the Rise” Photography & Artwork / by Holly Kempe © “The wise man in the storm prays to God, / not for safety from danger, but deliverance from / fear.” / ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Featured in the: Redbubble Homepage – April 08 Recent Sales: Published in Redbubble’s book – “Gaia – The Living Planet” 1 x Medium mounted print (no border) – unknown buyer – Australia 1 x Small laminted print (white border) – unknown buyer – America 1 x Card – unknown buyer – Australia 1 x Card – unknown buyer – Australia / Thank you so much to everyone. / Part profits donated to Starlight Childrens Foundation Australia See “Storm on the Rise” at my website /
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Using Facebook to Sell Your Art
by sellingFor all of their pluses, there are plenty of confusing aspects of Facebook and Twitter. The biggest positive…
For all of their pluses, there are plenty of confusing aspects of Facebook and Twitter. The biggest positive is that Facebook and Twitter leverage your relationships with contacts. And we all know that relationships help sell art. Additionally, Twitter allows you to “follow” people that broadcast information and links that can broaden your understanding of topics, industries, etc. For example, I follow 100+ t-shirt designers via my Twitter account, and have found that the their tweets keep me “in the know” about seasonal and pop-culture merchandising trends. RedBubble has both a Facebook page and Twitter account. Back to Facebook. As an artist and designer, Facebook can be a great awareness builder and sales driver. Here are three easy ways to promote your art and design on Facebook. 1. Friends, and friends of friends, buy art / You may already have a growing list of contacts that Facebook defines as friends. Tell friends about your art and design via: Link to your RedBubble profile page or Bubblesite from your Facebook profile. Post new artwork in your Facebook status. This broadcasts an image, a link, and associated text to your friends. Create a collection (or collections) of artwork as a photo album. Be sure to note the artwork URL in the image description. Note: You might want to watermark your images or overlay your RedBubble URL on the image. While Facebook down-samples files to 72 dpi, expressing copyright is never a bad idea in digital public spaces… though one would hope that your Facebook friends would give credit where it’s due. Use Facebook Notes to tell the story behind the creation of your artwork. If you’re a writer, you can tease your work in the Notes section and link to your writing portfolio on RedBubble. You can also install the RedBubble Facebook slideshow found in the Promote area of MyBubble. Status update of an artwork and link. / Addition of a photograph / B. Groups contain focused, interested buyers / Join Facebook Groups where members share common interests related to your artwork content. By being active in Facebook Groups, you can subtlety migrate interested parties to your RedBubble profile and/or Bubblesite. It’s helpful if you can use your art and design to educate others and gather feedback, e.g., post “New images of Yosemite National Park. I’m interested in feedback about which images I should place on RedBubble.” You can obviously use this same technique on RedBubble. / / C. Use Pages to create fan clubs / Facebook Pages are separate from your personal Facebook profile and are also free to create. Think of your Facebook Page as a business page where you can give people a view of your studio, news of a recent exhibition, show work in development, etc. It’s also good to use RedBubble journal posts to do the same for those watching your RB profile. The distribution power of Facebook Pages comes from their ability to update “fans” whenever you post something new to your Page (like your status update, but for your business). However, note that your friends need to become a “fan” of your Facebook Page in order to receive updates. The Pages updates won’t duplicate nor conflict with your personal Facebook profile. You can also announce promotions on your Page. Here is a contest example created by Diesel Laws. Contest created by Diesel Laws / Advertising is easy, but demands attention / Facebook advertising is easy to set up, but not a “set it and forget it” exercise. You’re dedicating funds to this exercise, so consider the following when creating your ads: What images will capture the viewer’s eye best amongst all of the other Facebook page clutter? What designs sold best for you previously? What art or design is at a price point that will attract a first time buyer? What outcome would you consider a success – exposure and sales, simply sales, etc.? FB ads work on a pay-per-click basis, which means that you’re only paying for the clicks that you receive. You can cap the cost per day, so if you want to test ads at $5 per day it’s simple to do so. FB ads also feature demographic (age, location …) targeting, as well as psychographic targeting (interests, hobbies, career …). This allows you to show ads to people you know or estimate to be very good targets. You were once only allowed to create ads for businesses with websites outside of Facebook, but now you can create ads for Pages and Events too. Start simple / My advice is to try the free options first – especially if you already have a large Facebook friends list. Personal referrals will often convert (create a sale) better than a paid ad. That’s not to say that a targeted ad can’t work well if you present the right image, copy and URL. Let’s close / If you’ve found success with Facebook personal, business pages, events or paid ads, please add your comments below. We’re always looking for success stories or warnings about sales and marketing programs as they relate to selling your art and design. And finally, if you want to help other members sell, you can join our “You Can Sell Art and T-shirts” Group (by invitation). Bubblemail me with the topics you feel confident sharing. Thank you. Regards, / Jason BTW, click here for our Twitter tips and tricks. It’s also worth noting that Twitter integrates with Facebook; your tweets can be broadcast as your Facebook status. Janis also pointed out a great Twitter guide on Mashable.
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Vector illustration / 2008 / Work featured on home page 28/01/2009 / Work featured on home page 06/01/2009 / Thank you dear RedBubble and thank you my dear friends for your lovely comments and fav.I am totally thrilled:0))))
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Yes, You Can Sell Your Art
by sellingThe Selling articles detail tactics and marketing channels that you can use to sell your art an…
The Selling articles detail tactics and marketing channels that you can use to sell your art and design. And while we’ve received great feedback about these practical tips and tricks, this is a good juncture to step back and discuss the mindset and culture of selling art. As a photographer and printmaker, I wish that people would simply see and buy my work. And sometimes this happens. However, an impulse purchase is counter to how many art sales happen. Most enthusiasts and collectors want the same emotion from the art buying experience that they get from from the viewing experience—a connection, a feeling, a memory, an aspiration, etc. After all, relationships sell art. So, what does it take to sell your art? A sampling of RedBubble members that have demonstrated a dedication to this pursuit shared these thoughts. 1. Have confidence and a hint of modesty. You created the artwork or the design and that’s amazing—embrace it. A simple “thank you” can address a compliment. Janis Zroback publishes some very good journal articles about art and selling theory. 2. Talk the talk. Buyers are interested in your background and the story behind the artwork. Feel confident in chatting about your work. Also, ask the viewer questions; get them invested in the work in order to further their interest. If you’re uncomfortable at first, practice your 10-second pitch with a friend or family member. It also helps to have supportive ‘agents.’ Karin Taylor has friends and family members that act as her representatives. Says Karen, “My family members are my biggest advocates. They run out of my business cards all the time and ask for replenishment. They have the guts to go where I am afraid to go and put my case forward, and they do it in a great way, very conversational, without all the nerves.” Karin does a great job herself here on RedBubble, and offers a live chat link from her profile page. This reminded me of a comment last week by Tom Baumker. Tom hands out dozens of business cards per day. Tom meets many sales leads where he photographs “on location.” 3. Join customers on common ground. It’s worthwhile to “join your audience.” Scott Robinson recommends, “I’m a member of a lot of different sites based around things I love. Namely skateboarding and comics – two things that a lot of my work consists of and revolves around. I don’t use these places as somewhere to promote myself, but as an active part of those communities, I do build up relationships there and can make posts of my art (and links back to RB) wherever appropriate. Using discretion of course—no-one likes spam. You have to respect the communities you’re a part of.” 4. Walk the walk. Scott Robinson and Diesel Laws wear their work constantly. For print artists, use greeting cards or printouts to advertise your work. You can print your work on ink jet sticker, label, perforated business card, or photo paper. Pass along these samples at parties or other public events. Marketing doesn’t need to be expensive. Or, simply hang the work on your wall. Bruce Watson noted, “I have actually sold it – Cell Phone – as an RB framed print also, but not on RedBubble. A visitor to my home liked it so much they bought it off the wall!” And finally, 5. Challenge yourself. Entering challenges not only improves your exposure on RedBubble – which encourages feedback and interaction with others – but it also says that you believe in your work. Winning a challenge would be nice, but entering is the first step. As I stated before, selling is a marathon and not a sprint—just like the creative process. Matt Simner captured this best when he said, “Self-promotion is a constant voyage of discovery. I believe a fair percentage of exposure I’ve got (which has overall increased views, etc.) has been a by-product of me just doing what I do naturally (sharing information, giving encouragement, trying to help), rather than explicitly ‘trying’ to get more exposure. Of course when you realise that’s the result, it gives you more ideas…” Please add your thoughts on selling below. Selling isn’t easy for everyone (for most people really), so I hope that this article makes you feel in good company and gives you some inspiration to keep going with it. And one last thing. Thanks to the members that contributed above. I reached out to many other artists whose feedback I’ll note in future posts. I welcome any other thoughts, case studies, tips, tricks – anything you want to share as related to selling. Thank you. Regards, / Jason p.s. If you’ve lost your mojo and need some encouragement, click for my Frustration and Anxiety Release Tool for Artists.
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Using Art Subjects to Target Shoppers
by sellingLet’s look at the subjects that people favor when purchasing art. By extension and personal experience, these are big buckets that are se…
Let’s look at the subjects that people favor when purchasing art. By extension and personal experience, these are big buckets that are searched for often, but are hard to win through search engine optimization and expensive to buy through pay-per-click advertising. In a survey of 2,000-plus art buyers ages 18 to 65 (selected based on their previous purchase of art), shoppers aged 45 and above favored landscapes, flowers and gardens, and country traditional themes more than those who are younger. Shoppers aged 35 years of age or younger favored photography, abstract/surrealism, European subjects, and movies or celebrities (pop culture) more than the older [in age, perhaps not in spirit] consumers. Here are the art themes that had the strongest appeal to shoppers (in ascending rank). One caveat: keywords that are a direct hit, e.g., Star Wars, Barack Obama, etc. don’t apply below; it’s a given that brand names are targeted by their very nature. 1. Landscape / 2. Photography / 3. Flowers, Gardens / 4. Wildlife, Animals / 5. Abstract, Surrealism / 6. Impressionism / 7. Tuscany, Paris, Cafes (scenes of Europe) / 8. Still Life / 9. Country Traditional / 10. Pets (dogs, cats) / 11. Sports (baseball, cricket, football, futbol, soccer …) / 12. Religious / 13. Pop Culture / 14. African-American / 15. Brand Icons / 16. Hispanic Art / 17. Other What can we do with this information? We can use the above keywords for tagging, artwork/group descriptions, and Bubblesite text, as well as integrate them into titles, description copy, and hyperlinks in from external blogs, personal websites, and other credible referral sources (e.g., press, social shopping websites such as StyleHive, Kaboodle, etc.) when linking back to your RedBubble pages. In no way should these tags be applied to unrelated work; you’ll drive page views, but not sales. Plus, it’s poor form. There are many excellent categories missing above, e.g., nude art, self-portrait, dance, etc. The recommendation is to think about how you search online. Use common terms and keep it simple. If this article bores you to tears, we suggest that you take a bit from the above and then go with your gut. You know your artwork best, and by thinking like a regular art shopper you might find that fewer tags in a simplified structure will help categorize your work – both in your own mind and for the shopper and buyer. Bringing it all back home. All this sales talk is great; thanks for listening. However, I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that the outcome is to provide an amazingly great work of art and design to someone that appreciates it… that we artists made something that someone loves or gave to someone they care about. In many cases, the shopper will come to think of you as a contact or friend; or at the very least, someone that they feel they know a bit about. Regards, / Jason
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“Praying for Rain” Photography & Artwork / by Holly Kempe © “As the farmer knelt down on the salty sand, / He needed rain to save his land. / The crops were wilting, the cattle all dead, / He looked around, not a word was said. / The ground was dry, where is the rain? / What could stop this worthless pain? / The farmer cursed in sheer despair, / He did not have a drop to spare. / A thundercloud covers the western sky, / A bolt of lightning explodes near by. / The farmer looks up and begins to pray, / Hoping that the rain will come his way. / Then drip-by-drip it starts to fall, / The crystal water like a clear glass wall. / The trees and flowers all in bloom, / Then once again, gone is the gloom. / The water fills the old parched creek, / The rivers bulge as the waters peak. / The mud squelches through the farmer’s dry old / hands, / As he thanks the Lord for saving his land.” / ~ Meg Hayes Year Seven / St Mary’s Primary School Featured in the: Redbubble Homepage – November 08 Recent Sales: 1 x Card – unknown buyer 1 x Card – unknown buyer 1 x 40” x 27” matte canvas through Fine Art America – Jessikalyn – America / Thank you so much to everyone. / Part profits donated to Starlight Childrens Foundation Australia See “Praying for Rain” at my website /
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“I Love a Sunburnt Country” Photography & Artwork / by Holly Kempe © “I love a sunburnt country, / A land of sweeping plains, / Of ragged mountain ranges, / Of drought and flooding rains, / I love her far horizons, / I love her jewel sea, / Her beauty and her terror - / The wide brown land for me.” / ~ Dorothy MacKellar Featured in the: Abstracts from Nature group – June 08 Redbubble Homepage – July 08 Recent Sales: 1 x card – unknown buyer – Australia 1 x extra large canvas – unknown buyer – Australia 1 x card – unknown buyer – Australia / Thank you so much to everyone. / Profits donated to the Starlight Childrens Foundation Australia See “I Love a Sunburnt Country” at my website /
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Selling Greeting Cards Through Stores
by Jo O'BrienRecently the topic of selling greeting cards out in the real world has come up in the forums...
Recently the topic of selling greeting cards out in the real world has come up in the forums Having sold greeting cards before through shops and at markets, my humble opinion and experience may be of interest. I’ve got a lot to say on this one so I’ll use headings :) / mren’s ‘somewhere in fitzroy’ Be a Business- Not Just an Artist / What I mean by this is consider yourself a business supplier and demonstrate a level of professionality. Yes it is great if you promote the artistic merits of your work but greeting cards are a very common product and so being organised with an ABN, professional looking invoices, online ordering facilities, fast turn around etc will put you ahead of the (always growing) pack. Like all good businesses, know your strengths and show them off. Provide Good Quality Products / It might sound obvious (I hope it does) but when people are starting out in business they tend to cut corners. In the greeting card business quality is a big deal. This is where RedBubble becomes a huge advantage because the quality of the card printing is so exceptional. Packaging is Important / Have you considered what your cards will look like after 20 or so customers have handled them? Some people like the ‘no plastic’ look and who am I to tell them otherwise. I always individually wrap my cards and make sure that if the packaging prevents the card being openned, that “Blank Card” is printed either on the individual packaging or nearby signage. If you put together gift packs, wrap them beautifully and make sure people know what images they are getting in the pack. / My little tip: leave one copy of each card unwrapped on display and when you check up with the store, see which ones are the grubbiest to identify the favourites Displaying your wares / The things people want to see are the images, the quality and the price. Where possible I use clear perspex stands that do not cover the front of the card. By leaving a few sample cards out of their packaging people can pick them up and feel them to check the quality. I also make sure each card has a visible price on it, on the back, on a removable sticker. Some hints would be not to have too many of a particular card out on display at once. Keep a box of ‘top up’ cards out of sight. If you have a series that belongs together, display them together and perhaps highlight them with different packaging or a small separate display rack. Cards should be displayed with the image facing the right way up where possible. Always put your name and contact details on your card stands- so often they ‘magically disappear.’ And if you are providing your own stands, try to ‘claim’ the space so that other people’s cards don’t get put in over the top of yours. This can be hard to police but for example, having “Cards by Artist ABC” on your stand makes it harder for the retailer to stick any old stuff in there. / ‘legs’ by itsactustus Get Your Pricing Right / Like all things business, a lot of small shops will heckle with you over money and prices. My advice to you? Know what price you want and stick to it. Think about it in perspective, in a typical shop, greeting cards will be close to the cheapest item in there. If the business can’t fork out $30 to try 10 cards then you don’t want to be doing business with them! But also think realistically about your prices. Most retailers will start saying ‘no thanks’ at about $3 a card so to make RedBubble cards (with a base price of up to $3) a financailly viable option you need to sell them as premium art cards worth that extra dollar or two. Considering the quality of them, I believe this is possible. Depending on where you sell them, you could get $4 to $8 or even more per card. It will depend on the clientelle for that particular store. / Common Mistake: Too many people give their cards different prices when in the eye of the customer they all look pretty much the same. If you want to have a premium range, make it obvious Profite Margins / I should add as a separate but related point, most stores will want to mark up by about 100% on greeting cards. Most people sell there cards for a set wholesale price and then let the store charge whatever they like. The only time in my opinion, you should intervene is if you seriously believe they have overpriced them to such a point that nthey are not affordable. But think about it before setting your price. If you ask for $4 per card, can the store onsell them for $7.95? How to actually get them into stores / Here’s an idea for you- send them a card! Of course a rigorous follow up would be required. I would ‘door to door’ with a small sample or my stuff and it worked really well. I also had a bit of a tactic. I’d show a selection of cards worth $20 total. Then when they fell in love with a couple I’d say. “How about you buy this $20 worth from me right now and you keep that one you like for yourself, I’ll replace it with this one” Then I’d pull some other random card out of my bag and add it to the pile. Worked 9 out of 10 times. The other thing I did was band together with a fellow card maker (she did printed ones, I did handmade) so that we could show a greater range and cut our door knocking time in half. Can I also suggest not interrupting businesses during busy periods such as weekends or lunch hours. That happens to me in the gallery all the time and it’s a real pain. Also, if you’re talking to staff and their phone rings or a customer comes in, invite them to deal with the more important thing first and come back to you. Rotate Your Stock / Basically, if it isn’t selling, get rid of it yourself before the store owner decides to get rid of you! I’m exaggerating but the point it still valid. People will stop looking if your display always looks the same so keep it chaging. Make a fuss. If you have a new range, stick a sign up saying “New Farm Yard Range On Sale Now.” And remember, what works well in one store may go really badly in another so if it’s not selling, try somewhere else rather then giving up and throwing the lot in the bin! Consignment / This is particularly just my opinion but I’m against consignment on cards. Especially if you give a choice of what is ordered. Seriously, cards cost so little compared to other things, if a store can’t find $50 somewhere to buy some outright, there is something suss about that right away. It might be good to offer consignment on your first batch which will encourage the store to stock your stuff but don’t get into a habit of it. I would drop off say 50 cards and get someone to sign a consignment form saying how many they were given. Then after a few weeks I would go back, count them up and invoice for however many were missing. Then I’d also give them the choice of buying the remaining ones, or me taking them back. Most would swap a few that they didn’t like and then buy up. Payments / Again I hope this sounds obvious but ask to be paid. So many people get lost in a world of politeness and assume that eventually someone will do the right thing, Most small businesses using MYOB or QuickBooks accounting software will automatically lodge your invoices to be paid within 30 days. Agree on your terms and then chase up late payments. No need to be mean or nasty but a follow up letter and then a follow up phone call is fair enough. Also, be flexible in how you can be paid. Some businesses do everything with a cheque (or for you Americans, a “check”), others will rely on Direct Debit. So know how the business wants to pay you and don’t make it hard for them! Promote your Cards / The beauty of RedBubble cards is they have the URL of your portfolio on the back which shows off all of your work. But also remember to promote your cards out in the real world. Recently I bought a bunch of RedBubble cards and gave them all to friends. The response was amazing. They all got online to find more! Next step for me is to buy a bunch of my own cards and find excuses to give them to people. webgrrl had this awesome idea too. The cards really do speak for themselves so get them into circulation. - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - So if anyone is still breathing after reading all that, I hope you found it useful! / I do tend to ramble when it comes to retail related things- it’s my passion in life. / ‘Tashom III’ by FireRabbit
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Using Email Marketing to Sell Your Art
by sellingEmail marketing is a powerful tool that should leverage your existing relationships with family, friends, previous customers, clients, an…
Email marketing is a powerful tool that should leverage your existing relationships with family, friends, previous customers, clients, and acquaintances to create awareness and sales. You can also purchase email lists that are targeted to people that are apt to buy art or apparel (corporate art buyers, retail shop owners), however, the fastest way to lose credibility is to send a bulk email to strangers without providing context, purpose, and pointing out an immediate benefit to the recipient. Always ask yourself what job the email is doing for the recipient. What’s the benefit? OK, you’ve decided to send a mass (aka bulk) email. Now what? 1. Identify your mailing list / Your list can be your webmail contact list, an export of your computer’s address book, Apple or Outlook Address Book, Palm Contacts, etc. Members interested in buying lists should ping me via Bubblemail. Don’t be dissuaded by a small list of just a few people; email marketing works based on list quality and not the total size of the list. Email marketing can be as simple as sending an email to previous customers from your Gmail account. 2. Segment your list / Divide your list in order to test several groups. You can segment the list by sales potential, e.g., purchased from you in the past six months, inactive for six-plus months, new prospects (new to your list and never purchased art from you), etc. You could add a second qualifier if you have the patience, e.g., purchased a t-shirt from you in the past six months… or you could just go the full monty. 3. How will you mail? / This is the juncture at which you will decide if you’re going to send the email from your webmail, personal mail, or if you’ll send email using a bulk email tool. There are many free and pay-per-use bulk email tools online. A few names include Constant Contact, Campaign Monitor, Campaign Master, SubscriberMail, ExactTarget, etc. Look for a service that does not charge an up-front fee, little or no monthly fee, and that charges less than a cent/penny/pence per email sent. Why use a third-party email tool? a. You preserve your personal email address’ white label status (favorable view) with Internet Service Providers – making it unlikely that your address will be blocked due to an email blast. b. These tools provide templates that make email creation very easy. Some tools make adding content to an email as simple as “drag-and-drop.” c. The third-party will manage your unsubscribe and spam lists, so you won’t need to remember who wanted off the distribution list. Similarly, some services allow you and interested parties to add subscribers using a form; you won’t need to manually add subscribers. d. Third-party tools often include reports that will show you how many people opened your email, how many clicked through (and on which links), as well as unsubscribe and “spam” rates. 4. What to write? / Perhaps you dislike the “hard sell” and choose to send an editorial email that targets everyone in your list. The content of this newsletter could focus on: a. New work / b. Artwork in process – a behind the scenes peek at upcoming work / c. News about you and your work, e.g., recent shows, groups, charity work / d. Photos of you and your studio – or other personal images / e. A short, witty anecdote, etc. lead-in If you’re interested in creating a merchandised (sales-y) email, consider: a. Keeping the copy short and the calls to action obvious. Don’t make clicking through to your RedBubble page hard for the reader. / b. Capitalize on seasonal trends or life cycle events. Holidays are a great reason to talk about your work. / c. Readers love of collections, e.g., art for shared spaces, pop culture t-shirts, landscapes, etc. / d. Show lots of pictures, but keep the file sizes small. If you use Photoshop, use the “Save for Web” function and tweak the JPG quality so that images are small yet attractive. / e. Make any incentives obvious and put them in both the Subject line and at the top of the email newsletter. E.g., if you’re having a sale, offering a free item with purchase (free digital downloads are nice; e.g., wallpaper, printout), etc. 5. Subject line time / Subject lines make or break the number of people opening your email. You can get crazy and send the same email content – using different subject lines – to similar audiences and then measure the different open rates (the number of people that opened each email). My best advice is to include an offer in the subject line (if an offer exists). Otherwise, keep the subject line short and to the point. Humor and personality helps if it’s not obscure. Want to know if your email subject line is too obscure? Send a test to a few friends in the target audience and ask for their opinion. 6. Prepare and test / You’ve got your list, created your email message, and chose a distribution method. Next, paste your message into your email client. If you’re using a third-party tool, load your content into the template you’ve chosen. The only other note I have here is to send a test email to multiple email clients. For example, open a Gmail account, employ Apple Mail, Outlook, Yahoo Mail, etc. if possible. Send your test email to make sure that you like the way it looks in each email client. Some third-party tools will show you a preview of your email in multiple email clients (for a small fee). Here are the email clients used by RedBubble members: 25.0% use Yahoo! Mail / 15.0% use Outlook 2000, 2003, Express / 13.0% use Apple Mail 3 / 10.9% use Hotmail / 9.6% use Gmail / 5.8% use iPhone 2.0 / 3.1% use Apple Mail 2 / 17.5% use All others combined 7. Time to send / Good luck. Spell check, recheck, and check your copy again. Then push that send button and be sure to record the results. Basic stats include: / a. Emails sent / b. Emails opened / c. Clicks from the email to your artwork / d. Number of sales – both transactions and total dollars A next step would be to monitor the lifetime value of the customer, e.g., how many sales, dollars, etc. started with that one email. I’ve probably rambled on far too much, but I hope that this article got you started and provided a few new thoughts, tips, and tricks that you’ll test in the near future. If you use email marketing to sell your art, please Bubblemail me or add your anecdotes or pointers below. Oh, one last thing. If you have blog, you might want to look at FeedBurner.com as way to automatically email people each time you post a new blog entry. Feedburner provides the opt-in (sign up) form and automatically distributes the email for you. I can see that many members also use Feedburner through Blogger.com, and feature a link to these feeds and newsletters on their RedBubble Profile Pages and personal blogs, e.g., Jordan Clarke / thickblackoutline / and Stephen Mitchell among others. If you already create articles about selling art, please point us to them below. More information about selling your art can be found under the Selling member name. Regards, / Jason
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“Spirit Land” Photography & Artwork / by Holly Kempe © “Have you ever felt the spirit of the land / when you’ve walked alone and seen / the beauty in one tree one rock and / managed somehow to overlook the / majestic landscapes. Have you ever….” / ~ R Frankland Featured in the: Landscape and Abstract Photography Goup – September 08 Trees Group – September 08 Recent Sales: 1 x Matted print (off white) – unknown buyer – America 1 x Medium black flat framed print (off white matte) – unknown buyer – Australia 1 x card – unknown buyer – Australia / Thank you so much to everyone. / Profits donated to Starlight Childrens Foundation Australia See “Spirit Land” at my website /
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“Praise” Photography & Artwork / by Holly Kempe © “Praise the young and they will blossom.” / ~Irish Proverb Recent Sales: 1 x Large canvas – unknown buyer – Australia 1×30” x 22” glossy canvas through Fine Art America – unknown buyer – New York 1×40” x 29” glossy canvas through Fine Art America – unknown buyer – Birmingham 1 x medium laminated print with black border – unknown buyer – America / Thank you so much to everyone. / Part profits donated to Starlight Childrens Foundation Australia See “Praise” at my website /
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“Goin’ With the Flow of Summer” Photography & Artwork / by Holly Kempe © Once upon a time there was a wise man who used / to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit / of walking on the beach before he began his work. / One day he was walking along the shore. As he / looked down the beach, he saw a human figure / moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself to think / of someone who would dance to the day. So he / began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man / and the young man wasn’t dancing, but instead he / was reaching down to the shore, picking up / something and very gently throwing it into the ocean. As he got closer he called out, “Good morning! / What are you doing?” The young man paused, / looked up and replied, “Throwing starfish in the / ocean.” “I guess I should have asked, why are you / throwing starfish in the ocean?” “The sun is up and the tide is going out. And if I / don’t throw them in they’ll die.” “But, young man, don’t you realize that there are / miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. / You can’t possibly make a difference!” The young man listened politely. Then bent down, / picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, / past the breaking waves and said- / “It made a difference for that one.” Featured in the: Yellow Gallery Group – December 08 Inspired Art Group – April 09 Recent Sales: 1 x Matted print (off white) – unknown buyer – Canada 1 x card – unknown buyer – Australia / Thank you so much to everyone. / Profits donated to Starlight Childrens Foundation Australia See “Goin’ With the Flow of Summer” at my website /
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Mixed media / 2008 Available as a Card and Matted Print All Origional art work can be purchased through the artist. —-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-——- Copyright notice: / All rights reserved. All images contained on these pages are © copyright protected by Mariska and any use of these images in any form without written permission will be considered an infringement of these copyrights.
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“New Growth New Hope” Photography & Artwork / by Holly Kempe © “Young one you know how I’m older than thee?” / said the largest of the trees, / “Another is growing smaller than you / and we must tell it the best thing to do” / “I know, I know”, said the younger tree, / “To grow as tall as the moon. Will it be sibling to me?” / ‘Yes it shall, it will grow by and by.” / And the trees stood and watched / the new reach for the sky…....” Author: adgray / See the rest of adgray’s writing inspired by / New Growth New Hope here. Featured in the: Shoot the Moon Group – April 09 Recent Sales: 1 x Small laminated print (black border) – unknown buyer – America 1 x Small Poster – unknown buyer – Palestine / Thank you so much to everyone. / Profits donated to Starlight Childrens Foundation Australia See “New Hope New Growth” at my website /
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Dont look into this too much, you could say its having a go at our commercially driven world in which we pray on peoples temptations to sell a product, in this case its using sexual temptations to lure the youth of today to sign up to the military. Thats how you could look at it, mostly though i just think its a cool image…
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“Sun Shower” Photography & Artwork / by Holly Kempe © “To every word of love I heard you whisper, the raindrops seem to play a sweet refrain.” / ~The Beatles Featured in the: Prize Challenges Group Recent Sales: 1 x Medium laminated print (white border) – unknown buyer – America 1 x Card – Nanagahma – America 1 x Small laminated print (white border) – unknown buyer – Europe 1 x Small laminated print (white border) – unknown buyer – Australia / Thank you so much to everyone. / Profits donated to Starlight Childrens Foundation Australia See “Sun Shower” at my website /
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“Radiance” Photography & Artwork / by Holly Kempe © “Learning how to be still, to really be still / and let life happen – / that stillness becomes a radiance.” / ~ Morgan Freeman Featured in the: Prize Challenges Group Recent Sales: 1 x Medum laminated print with white border – unknown buyer – America 1 x 36” x 27” matte canvas through Fine Art America – Jessikalyn – America / Thank you so much to everyone. / Part profits donated to Starlight Childrens Foundation Australia See “Radiance” at my website /
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