More for your artist mailing list

Hi Alyson–What a timely post! I keep my mailing lists in pretty good order and use them for all sorts of things but I just had a recent success story to share with you and your readers that should encourage everyone to use their mailing lists and to update them often! I recently attended an event run by the local chamber of commerce to which 15 local artists were invited to showcase their work. Some sales were to be expected but it was mostly about networking. I brought lots of cards and put out a notebook for mailing info, email addresses, etc. Surprisingly I was the only artist who did so! Sales were slow for everyone as it was more of a browse, talk and have a cocktail sort of evening for the attendees but every business owner, politician and entreprenuer in town was there. Every time someone expressed interest in my work I invited them to take a card and sign my list and I added about 35 good contacts to my list that night. That was two weeks ago. This weekend I had a 2 day home sale for my art work and sent out 200 postcards to select people on my mailing list, including those new names on my list. I added notes to the new folks, thanking them for coming to the chamber event and saying I hoped they would stop by. I had 55 people come to my sale this weekend and every single person bought something–they came to shop! About 5 of those people were from the chamber event and between them they spent over $400! I also got calls from others I met that night who wanted to make appointments to come by at another time. One of those is a local radio person from our public radio station and she wants to set up an interview! All that from putting out a notebook and a pen at a 2 hour event to collect names and addresses. Without the new contacts my event would still have been a success and lots of fun but I thought it was also interesting how many new people were delighted to be invited! So happy holidays everyone!

I love your newsletter even though I’m not an artist-I’m a web designer. This post was especially timely as I’ve been procrastinating getting my own mailing list set up and getting my e-letter out. It’s challenging to take time away from “real work” to do marketing but soo important. So, I got my mailing list started, signed up for Constant Contact and am proceeding. Thank you for your great work! Cordelia Blake Cordelia Blake Web Design http://www.CordeliaBlake.com “Little by little, one travels far.” (J.R.R. Tolkein)