A marketing tip for artists

Yesterday afternoon before the gallery party, I spent quite a bit of time creating something artists might find to be an interesting marketing tool.

With every ink supply I purchase for my printer, I also get a pack of photo paper free in with the ink. There are 50 photo sheets (size 4x6) in this pack and I have several packs I've accumulated.

Being that all of my work is not at the gallery, yet others always say "can you do horses?" (or dogs, or birds or whatnot), I decided to use this photo paper to showcase what I do. I have a mini photo album here I wasn't using. So yesterday afternoon, I printed each image of my current paintings onto it's own photo sheet and inserted it into the album. I wrote the name of the painting in the border, as well as size and price and whether it was sold or not.

I also created a graphic image (shown here) to sell prints of my painting Behind the Brick Wall. Since the painting is obviously too high priced for the average person, I thought it would be a good idea to publish this art as an affordable print. So I created a graphic which acts as a "mini flyer" and printed several on photo sheets so I could pass them out. As you can see, the 4x6 photo shows the work as well as tells how to order the print.

I also created another graphic advertising my commission pricing. I have the downloadable brochure/price list on the website, but thought this little 4x6 mini flyer printed on photo paper summarized it all quite nicely.

So...if you are an artist and have extra photo paper laying around, this is a good way to create a "mini portfolio" to share your work easily in social situations. The photo album is small, and easy to carry with you, and customers find it easy to browse through. Make up some mini fliers too and print them on the photo paper, and passing them out is just like giving someone a photograph....easy and quick!

Jai