The Sales Are There to Be Had
e’ve
come to the end of another year and many of you are already tallying up this
year’s sales and making plans for 2004. As usual, we are presenting
our Business Tips A-Z issue in which we have compiled our most useful and
informative articles of 2003, according to our readers. What a perfect place
to start adding to your wealth of knowledge for your crafts business!
As I write this, I am planning to travel to northwestern Arkansas where more than 3,000 artists exhibit and sell work within 30 miles of each other in the same week every October. I have already talked to some artists who show their work in this massive area-wide venue. They tell me it is the best locale of the year for them to sell their traditional fine crafts. I will be reporting on my trip and the sales in an early 2004 issue.
I also have been visiting local shows in the Delaware and Maryland area in recent months. In follow-up e-mails to 26 artists after the Brandywine Arts Festival in Wilmington, Del., all 12 who responded told me they made enough at the show to cover their expenses. Even some first-year exhibitors said they did well, including one who told me he made a “great” sale on the second day of the festival to a collector who bought four of his segmented wooden bowls.
Interestingly, the most common range for price points of the survey respondents was $15 to $100, although several went as high as $400 and one leather artist, whose range is $70 to $650, told us this was his “best year at Brandywine.” Two artists also pointed out that doing local shows could lead to sales all through the year. One exhibitor reported that a customer from the show came into their studio and made purchases the week following the festival. And another artist says his goal in attending local shows is to build up traffic at his studio and reduce his trips to shows.
I also attended an Arts Summit in Dover, Del., where more than 500 performing and visual arts professionals from the state gathered to share ideas for increasing public interest in all arts. One of the most interesting speakers suggested that people take many different roads to arts venues.
This consultant on cultural participation patterns stressed that to successfully draw consumers of your art, you must market yourself on several levels, including to those who value art in their home as part of a lifestyle, to people who go to art events merely as part of a social occasion, to those who attend because they value the ritual and pageantry associated with the arts, and to those looking for a “real-time” experience in a world of televised and computer-generated events.
A music teacher told me this view was disappointing because he wanted everyone to enjoy art for its beauty alone. Fortunately for him, he is on a salary. Artists whose livelihood depends on selling their talents must take the more pragmatic view. No one can buy it if they never see it. Getting your name and product in front of consumers, even those who may not initially come to buy, is ultimately the only way to guarantee sales. Don’t overlook the possible sale to a dis-interested spouse or friend “along for the ride” in the aisles of your next show. Make this the year they discover they can’t live without investing in your art.
