Tag Archives: Marketing

Why Should Artists Blog?

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by Nancy Haberman

It seems these days everywhere you look, people are talking about using the internet to earn money. Regardless of whether you’re an entrepreneur running an online store or an artist displaying your work online, your goal should be to drive qualified traffic to your website. A qualified visitor is someone who is genuinely interested in the products or services being promoted, and who is ready to take a specific action (called a conversion), such as making a purchase, filling out and sending in an online form, or calling to schedule an appointment.

Anyone can publish a website, but unless you have a plan of action and know what you want your site to achieve, it will be next to impossible to determine if you are successful. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that once a website is posted, your job is done. That’s like opening a store and forgetting to advertise that you are open. Once a website is online, your marketing has just begun.

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A little wisdom for the struggling artist

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by Georgia Lange

There are many us artists out there who find it difficult to turn our art into thriving businesses. It is enough of a challenge for us to create the art to begin with; when it comes to actually exhibiting and selling our work, a lot of us start to feel stuck with questions as to how this can be accomplished. There are, of course, many exceptional artists who simply have a knack for the business and marketing of their work. Others hire representatives to help them deal with these issues. If you fall under the latter, good for you! If not, and you are feeling a little lost at “marketing” sea, Sylvia White is your lighthouse.

Sylvia White has been offering career advice for artists since 1979 as it relates to exhibitions, business, and marketing. If you have a question regarding the development of your career as an artist, her advice articles will be of great value to you.

Check out Sylvia White’s site for more information.

And thank you, Sylvia, for the wonderful wisdom you are willing to share! We are eternally grateful!

10 Easy tips on displaying your greeting cards

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OK, you’ve decided that one way to sell your artwork is on greeting cards. You’ve found some places to sell them – craft fairs, farmer’s markets, local merchants. However, displaying them in booths or on the countertop is different than displaying larger artwork. The most common ways to display cards are in spinner racks, on slat walls, on acrylic shelves, and in free-standing displays. Any display that shows the full faces of cards is ideal. Beyond that, greeting cards aren’t exactly a three-dimensional product, sometimes making them difficult to display creatively.

Here are some easy tips on how to display your cards for sale.

1. No room for a table top display at your farmer’s market booth? Show them off on string or colorful ribbon strung between the posts of your booth or hanging vertically. You can even find mini-clothespins at a craft store to attach them. Keep cards for purchase stored in a box under the table.

2. Make shoe boxes (perhaps wrapped in wrapping paper) with dividers for clients to sort through. Just Something I Made is a wonderful blog on how to build a tiered box system for displaying your cards.

JustSomething

3. Sell sets in clear boxes. Prepare a sheet for the bottom of the box that shows all the card designs included in the box, as shown below:

ClearBox ClearBoxInsert

4. Buy acrylic cardholders for counter-top display. These can be very inexpensive, and are perfect for displaying just one or two card styles on a countertop. Oak Creek Printworks carries small and large stands.

AcrylicEaselSm BackEasel BCEasel

5. Use office divider racks to display your cards. Some office supply stores have what they call “junior” racks, which are smaller than the 8.5 x 11 file size racks (too big for greeting cards).
WireRack

6. Laminate your cards together on a large sheet of paper. If the cards are blank inside you can just show the fronts. If there are verses inside you will want to show both the front of the card and the inside.  These laminated “posters” can be displayed on a table or by hanging on a wall.  Depending on the size, they can also be displayed in an album or flip chart. The art always stays clean, and you can even use dry-erase markers to write on the poster, and wipe it off later. Perfect for listing prices or emphasizing sale items. The actual cards for purchase can be stored in a box or file under the table.

7. Display your art online using a website or a blog, such as Facebook or WordPress.

Facebook – Display your designs and cards on your own facebook page. Link to your blog on WordPress. Join groups of artists who will link to your page and blog, like the Graphic Artists page.

WordPress provides public domain blogging software, which means it is FREE! It is easy to set up an account. Here are some examples of sites that are selling cards with WordPress sites:

Rikki O’Neil and Friendship cards

8. Use a scrapbook or portfolio book to display the cards on a counter top, and store actual cards for purchase in a box or file underneath the counter. The scrapbook can be purchased or even homemade.
scrapbook
9. Arrange a 3-D display on heavy posterboard using the adhesive 3-D dots that scrapbookers use for their album pages. The downside to this method is that if the display board or cards get dirty or dogeared they can be hard to clean.

PopPoster-Cards dotPoster

10. Acrylic Spinners – a perfect countertop or floor display.

Blog-spinners

Don’t forget, when displaying your cards, the best way to protect the artwork as potential customers handle them is to use some type of protective sleeve. Check out our card jackets, no-flap bags, and protective closure bags.

We hope that this information has helped you, and would love to hear how you display your products. Leave a comment, or send us an email at info@oakcreekprintworks.com. Include a photo and we will try to post it here on the blog.

Greeting cards at the Post Office? How can you cash in?

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That’s right – at the post office! The financially troubled U.S. Postal Service has a “get well” plan that includes selling Hallmark greeting cards at their local branches. Check out the Washington Post article for full details.

PostOffice

Marketing Your Artwork

So how can greeting card artists cash in on this plan? While you can’t compete with Hallmark at the USPS, check out your local mail franchises, such as Postal Annex, Mail ‘n More, PostNet, etc. Our community also has several postal sub-stations (franchises) at various locations, such as the Sears Catalog Store. Franchise owners are often willing to display greeting cards. You can check on the franchises in your community on franchisegator, franchise-guide, or at postalconnections.

How you display your artwork and cards is very important. While you might not be ready for a large spin-rack, the cost-conscious artist can start out by using our individual acrylic stands. They come in multiple sizes, and are reasonably priced.  Check out our clear acrylic small card/print stand, our large card/print stand, and our print/calendar holder. Each stand will hold multiple cards and envelopes.