Quick!
What are the top reasons you do not promote/market your art?
or
How do you justify not putting enough elbow grease into your marketing?
or
How do you rationalize not updating your mailing list, getting a new postcard, entering exhibits?
Maybe you don't have any of these situations right now, but perhaps you did at one point. Do you remember how you felt?
I am eternally grateful to you for your help with any or all of these questions.
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Get a transcript of episode 182 of The Art Biz (Rethinking Mailing Lists for Artists) followed by a 3-page worksheet to evaluate the overall health and usage of the 3 types of artist lists.
Where can we send it?
To ensure delivery, please triple check your email address.
You’ll also receive my regular news for your art business.
16 thoughts on “Excuses, excuses . . .”
I’m a very project driven worker, and sometimes marketing just seems like a big, never-ending, nebulous THING! When I take the time to break bigger projects down into smaller tasks-as you so often advise- it really helps, but sometimes even that seems daunting.
-I don’t have a clear plan, so I don’t know where to begin. -It feels so overwhelming. -There’s too much to stay on top of. -I don’t understand it all and the more I learn the more behind I feel. -I need to paint more new pieces before I can promote them. -What is rss, dig it? (and many more questions I’m afraid to ask) I have done much more marketing this past year than ever before. I enjoy reading about it and letting it sink in, but sometimes, it’s just too much. I mean, look over to the left at the long list of topics – each having tons of posts within them telling me what I should be doing. Just a little daunting. I read a little bit about marketing everyday, but I usually finish feeling overwhelmed and spinning. Then, the next day, I come back for more.
I get so absorbed in the work itself that I forget. Or I say I’ll do it later. Silly.
Lack of time. There aren’t enough hours in the day to do it all: Day job, kids, house maintenance, errands, friends & family and of course making the art – who has time to do marketing!
It’s fear for me, plain and simple. I worry I’m not good enough, that my paintings aren’t good enough, maybe the next lot will be better so I’ll wait to put them on the materials. oh, and moneys – I wait until vistaprint has a sale with tons of freebies – it’s the best way.
It’s all so overwhelming and expensive, ads, flyers, newsletters, copying and mailing costs, you name it. I have little or no disposable income, and even being expert at doing it myself with Publisher et al, most outside marketing is a long way down the payables list unfortunately
More than anything, money….or lack of an adequate amount and I find that true of many artists I know. There’s a lot of free ways to promote yourself but even mailing costs a lot these days. Photography, printed work, all of it….$$$$$$$ It’s discouraging sometimes. Artists who seem to do the best promotion of their own work usually have access to adequate funding, whether it’s from extended family, spouse, sponsor, inheritance or day job….In this way, not much has changed over the years….an artist still needs a patron of sorts, huh….
Ditto to all of the above. Exact same for me. Money, Fear, Time. And yes, when i break things into tasks it is easier. thank you!
I must tell you that this email arrived just when I needed that nudge. I’d been to see a gallery owner 2 weeks ago, he looked at my online gallery and asked me to bring a few paintings in for his critique. At the moment, I’m painting mostly abstracts and he said they are difficult to sell because people can’t understand them. I admit to being afraid of failure (in his eyes) andhadn’t arranged an appointment. Then I received your marketing message — so I made an appointment for next week. Thank you!
Excuses, excuses…or life, life? I’m not super art woman, able to leap all marketing aspects in a single bound. I’m okay with learning one thing at a time and figuring out how it works for me before moving onto another marketing tactic.
Running out of adrenaline. Oddly enough when exhibitions are coming up I am motivated to do the marketing. Once the exhibitions are over I fall in a heap for a few weeks with little marketing done.
The big one for me used to be cash flow… there didn’t seem to be any point in sending out promo material unless the photos were top notch, which required a significant cash outlay. I found that buying a better digital camera and learning how to light my work took care of this problem for the most part. I shoot until I get something I’m happy with and save versions that are fit for both print and web. Also, I’ve just learned to budget time into my day for marketing and promotion. I usually tackle something new each morning over coffee before going to the studio for the day. Bigger projects might get spread over a few days or find a larger time slot in the evening.
whether it’s about lack of money, time or motivation I think we all have fluctuating energy, both for our work and for the marketing of our work. I have been doing 5 things a day to promote my business for the last few months. Every day. Sometimes it’s sending out 5 postcards to designers, sometimes it’s making 5 phone calls, visiting 5 galleries or design studios (my work is in custom ceramic art tile), something really simple, almost free and it’s really working miracles for me….it goes beyond breaking things down, it’s so easy. add 5 names to your mailing list each day…tiny baby steps don’t feel so overwhelming…and they do get us over the mountain eventually…
For me it’s lack of time with a bit of uncertainty and fear thrown into the mix. I need ideas more than anything, when all my creativity is used up paintings it’s very hard to come inside and get creative in my marketing too.
I seem to do the marketing when I have shows coming up and then I crash and burn afterwards because I’m so burned out. Then I find myself doing all the other things in life that I didn’t do while I was painting and marketing. Then I finally start thinking I better get painting again and then it’s a battle to get into my studio. I find all kinds of excuses to not paint. All good stuff like finally exercising, catching up on reading, organizing my studio, files, stuff on the computer! Then I am so behind in my painting that I feel guilty for doing anything like taking time to talk to my kids or mom on the phone! You had a blog a week or so ago that said you need to paint first, then do marketing. I am in that group. I have spent too much time trying to be orgaanized and do all the right stuff that I don’t have enough paintings for all the shows coming up or my galleries.
Oh yeah, all of the above – money, fear, time restraints, the mystery of where to start next – make marketing hard to accomplish. But the thing that has gotten my behind into gear the best has been a tight support group of other artists. We started two separate art salons of 6-8 artists each last January & from those groups, four of us have formed a very tight-knit group. We meet every two weeks for a long lunch, share ideas & problems, help each other research and most importantly keep each other accountable! I know that I’m going to have three others asking me if I acheived my two week goals, and I really want to report back well! We cheer each other on & help with tough decisions – really the best remedy for not getting marketing done!