8 Ways an Artist Can Promote Their Artwork Offline Aug 29th, 2012 by Aldouspi
8 Ways an Artist Can Promote Their Artwork Offline
Everyday artists are being instructed by experts how to promote their art business online, in social media and in all ways digitally. The experts espouse these “must do’s and must have’s” on how an artist should market themselves virally. Yes, digital marketing is extremely important, but artists should not forget to market and promote themselves offline as well. Marketing offline is another way to drive traffic to an artist’s website and help to create new business opportunities. Overall, offline marketing helps to make sales and to brand the artist and their artwork.
Here are eight suggestions on how an artist can successfully market and brand their artwork offline:
1. Collateral Materials: An artist should promote and direct their prospects to their website every chance they can get. Website promotional opportunities should be a part of the artist’s collateral materials such as business cards, letterhead, envelopes, invoices, business checks and mailing labels. In addition, the artist’s website should appear on their email signatures, be a part of their voicemail messages, appear on any social media networks and pages that the artist is engaged in. The idea is to get prospects and other interested people to go to the artist’s website and to make contact with the artist for further information.
2. Press Releases: Press releases sent to local media provides the artist with an alternate way to present themselves and their art. Press release copy can be sent out about anything newsworthy, such as art shows, art awards, art sales, speaking engagements etc. These same press releases can reworked and recycled in order to be uploaded to many of the free press release sites on the internet too.
3. Become a Columnist: Local news publications both offline and online are always looking for good writers who can write about interesting things and interesting ways. These are non paying positions, but the continuing publicity is an incredible way for an artist to gain more exposure to people who are interested in art. Become the local art expert in your area and reap the benefits in more traffic and more art sales.
4. Networking Events: Local networking events are an excellent way for an artist to meet people and will allow an artist an opportunity to promote their artwork. While at these events an artist should try to make a good first impression and not try to sell everyone. If an artist tries to use any high pressure sales tactics and pushiness, the networking attempts will fail. A networking event is a place to meet people and to develop professional relationships. If the artist is unsure how to “network” call and ask the event administrator or promoter or even someone who attends a lot of networking events on how to handle yourself. They will be glad to advise the artist on how this is done effectively.
5. Speak at Non Profits Events: Non-profits and charities always have monthly membership meetings and they are always looking for guest speakers to attend and speak to their membership. This is the ultimate venue for anyone in terms of “networking”. The artist has a captive audience, their complete attention and the artist controls the message. What could be better than that? If the artist is scared of public speaking and most everyone is, the more that the artist does it, the easier it gets. If the artist needs any training in this area they should join a local Toastmasters group to help.
6. Write Interesting and Helpful Articles: Editors of newspapers, magazines and newsletters are all looking for good, timely and informative article content. Just make sure the content is well written, grammatically correct and helps the reader to solve a problem or is able to inform the reader of something of value. Do not write a self serving commercial, otherwise, you will not be asked to write again. These same people may be looking for interesting interviews. Propose this to the editor as well as writing articles, as it is another way in which to get more exposure this way. The same articles can be uploaded to article sites on the internet too.
7. Publish a Newsletter: A printed newsletter is an excellent way to present and to promote the artist and their art. Newsletters also provide the artist with an effective way to brand their art business. Newsletters are a message solely controlled by the artist and can be targeted directly to the artist’s audience. Newsletters can be handed out at networking events, brochure inserts or used as handouts. Newsletters can also be left in shops and stores at the counter to be picked up for further distribution.
8. Join Trade Related Organizations: Trade organizations are another way to meet people and decision makers related to the art business. Remember, it is not just enough to be a member, become active, get on committees and become a valuable part of the organization. By doing this, the artist then becomes much more visible and well known to the other members. If these organizations have related trade events and trade shows, get involved, attend or help out.
In our local communities, on a state wide basis and regionally, there are a lot of different ways and different media that an artist can use to promote and market their art. Offline marketing opportunities are usually local in nature but if done consistently, effectively and well, will eventually lead to more website traffic and more art sales. Offline promotion also supports an artists’ branding campaign which always should lead back to the artist’s website, their online presence and to the artist’s artwork.
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ARTIST MANAGEMENT – 8 Reasons Why a Band or Artist Needs a Manager Jul 10th, 2012 by Aldouspi
ARTIST MANAGEMENT – 8 Reasons Why a Band or Artist Needs a Manager
Article by Jeremy W Rwakaara
To most musicians, the enduring image of an artist manager is a caricature of a heavy-set, unkempt slob of a man, stuffed into a 2-sizes-too-small, off-the-rack department store suit, chomping on a cheap smelly cigar while sliding a greasy hand unceremoniously into the back pocket of a starving artist. Surely, somewhere in the vast landscape of the music universe, such malice exists. The vast majority of artist managers, however, are a motley collection of well-meaning, hardworking, selfless individuals struggling to make the dreams of someone they believe in come true.For the legion of dedicated unbelievers out there, this is an article that attempts to shed light on the true value of an artist manager. Following are 8 reasons why a band or artist needs a good manager:
Career Guidance – It’s often extremely difficult for artists to step back from the day-to-day activities and see the big picture (you know – the old ‘forest-for-the-trees’ thing). A knowledgeable manager can see how everything in the big picture fits together, and can help the artist navigate through the often-confusing maze of activities that seem unrelated yet are all part of a massive jigsaw puzzle. The manager provides career guidance and helps to set the overall game plan for the artist and the artists’ team to follow.Cheerleading – Even though fans are the main cheerleaders for an artist, someone has to communicate the same enthusiasm to the music business community. An artist manager will trumpet the artist’s message to record labels, booking agents, promoters, media personnel, club bookers, independent retail accounts, etc., in order to keep them all engaged and enthusiastic.Prestige – According to most record industry professionals, there is something to be said about an artist that has a manager. The logic is that if an artist is good enough to attract management, there must be something of value present. In fact, most major labels refuse to sign an artist unless they have solid team (manager, attorney and publicist) in place. An artist without management is just too much drama! Labels would rather deal with someone who knows how the music business works and can make decisions on a non-emotional basis.Buffer – A manager can act as an effective screening buffer between the artist and people that want to do business with the artist. This buffer tends to attract legitimate industry players while at the same time scaring away scam artists. There are no scarier words to a scam artist than “please talk to my manager”.Time management – There simply is not enough time in the day to do everything that needs to be done in order to further the career of an artist. In between writing songs, conducting interviews, designing artwork for CD’s and merchandise, managing a mailing list, filling out copyright paperwork, rehearsing with the band, hiring and firing musicians, updating band websites and MySpace profiles, getting pictures taken, shooting and editing DVD’s and YouTube videos, sending out packages and/or updating EPK’s, researching, repairing and purchasing equipment, etc., there isn’t time to also craft a master game plan, solicit potential sponsorship partners, handle licensing requests, reach out to industry gatekeepers, attend industry networking events, harass labels for tour support, and so on. Some tasks can be delegated to the band while others can be handled by the manager.Accountability – Part of a manager’s job is to hold people accountable. What happens when the financial tour support that was promised by the label fails to materialize? Or the check from the booking agent bounces? Or the FOH engineer at the show is MIA? Or the licensee fails to sign and return the contract but is using the artist’s songs anyway? Or the beer in the tour van vanishes? Somebody has to keep people honest, and that is most appropriately the manager’s job.Good Cop / Bad Cop – Need to fire the bass player but don’t want to create an enemy? Let the manager play bad cop and do the firing. Need to re-negotiate your contract and request more of a promotion budget? Let the manager play good cop and keep a positive spin on the proceedings. There are plenty of occasions when the artist and manager can trade off playing good cop / bad cop.Sounding board – A manager, even though basically an “honorary member of the band”, is frequently on the outside looking in. Managers usually see things differently than the artist, and can often provide different perspectives, insights and solutions to problems the artist is encountering. Running ideas by a knowledgeable manager prior to making decisions often allows for good ideas to become better and bad ideas to be removed altogether from the to-do list.So, there you have it! 8 good reasons why an artist needs a manager. Having said all this, however, it is important to note that having a bad manager is worse than having no manager at all. Many wannabe managers think they can just “wing-it” with an artist, and continue to operate with the “lets-record-a-3-song-demo-and-shop-it-for-a-record-deal” mentality, even though the music industry continues to undergo significant changes. New business models are emerging, and only those managers that stay at the leading edge of the learning curve will create successful strategies and provide meaningful counsel to their clients.Copyright 2007 Jeremy RwakaaraNeed access to music business articles, insider interviews from industry players, informative music articles and an artist management directory? The Artist Management Resource serves as a central point of information and resources for both Artist Managers and Self-Managed Artists.About the Author
Jeremy Rwakaara is a music industry veteran with extensive experience in the capacity of artist manager, record label executive, record producer, recording engineer, publisher, song writer, and musician.
Use and distribution of this article is subject to our Publisher Guidelines
Jeremy Rwakaara is a music industry veteran with extensive experience in the capacity of artist manager, record label executive, record producer, recording engineer, publisher, song writer, and musician.
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