Personal branding: Be Real!

  ArtofJohnFrench.com has been my passion for the last year and a half or so. Selling art on-line can be tough because it's difficult to build trust through a keyboard! Being a local artist supporting the local arts community has been helpful.

   Being active in the local arts community has been an important part of my personal life, and therefore my branding. However, people will smell a fake! I don't do this community stuff to promote myself, I do it because I'm part of the art community, so I support it. I'm not on the Marquette Symphony Orchestra Board of Directors just because it gets my name on a prestigious and published list; I joined that board because I love classical music! I didn't run for Ishpeming city council so I could get my name in the newspapers; I ran because I care about the community in which I live(and maybe I'm a little nuts). I'm not president of The West End Community Arts Network (WeCan!) to promote myself (in fact, our bylaws say I can't); I agreed to take the position because there was a need (and nobody else wanted it). I'm not on the Renaissance Fair Committee for the reduced booth fee; I help because I love seeing people enjoy my town at such a unique event.

  It's also been a lot of hard work. I've spent countless hours at the computer working on ads, posters, announcements, and emails. I've spent many evenings attending meetings, participating in work-bees, hanging sponsor's banners, hanging event posters, meeting with printers, sweeping floors, marking out exhibitor spots, helping crafters set up, licking stamps, painting for promotional materials, and working at events. I've also donated a fair amount of my own money to help meet these needs.

   The amount of direct marketing power has been minimal for the work I've done. But the satisfaction of helping these great programs has been priceless. The experience and hands-on education has been invaluable. The contacts and friends I've made have been very enriching. 

   If you go into any community promotion with simply your personal promotion and branding in mind, you'll likely fail. I take that back; you'll successfully brand yourself, but in a negative way. But if you get into such activities with a passion and zeal for what you're doing, the rewards are astounding and will profoundly affect your personal and professional life. 

  That, my friends, is branding yourself in a great way!

Branding yourself: Be Nice, or Be Nil

  It's a widely known fact that people will do business with people they like, when possible. A few years ago, my mother and I saw an artist at Marquette, Michigan's annual art extravaganza, Art on the Rocks. He was a great painter and a great photographer. He was also a great ass. I never saw anyone so rude. Needless to say his booth was empty of customers, and I never saw him at this event again.
  How many of you have gone into a store to be greeted by a not-so-friendly clerk? Would you go back to that store? Maybe if you had to, but what if you didn't have to?
   Let's look at Wal-Mart. The behemoth retailer has spent the last several years trying to out-cheap its competitors, but the customer service was lousy. I don't mean the folks working there are rude (Tim!), I mean the general policies that might make the customer feel good about being at Wal-Mart did not exist. Even though most of the clerks want to be nice, it seems they're bound by a rushed and stressful atmosphere that makes the experience unpleasant. But the economy has been so bad, Wal-Mart could get away with running a 'customer factory'. Now that economic conditions are starting to improve, more and more people are going elsewhere, leaving Wal-Mart scrambling to re-brand itself.
   I don't know about you, but I don't feel like re-branding myself. If a place like Wal-Mart is struggling, even though they sell very necessary items like food and underwear, then imagine how an artist will struggle! We only feed people's eyes, and clothe their hearts with beauty! And there are lots of us. If people don't like us, they will move on. And never come back.
   I tell my son to be nice to people, even the ones he doesn't like. I tell him not to pretend to like them, but be nice to them. Even if you don't think they deserve it, be nice. If you've ever seen the movie The Blind Side, about football player Michael Oher, you know what I mean.
   I also tell him not to take any crap from people. ( I admit, I have a hard time discerning crap from criticism!) I tell him to stand up for himself. I tell him to defend his dignity. Dignity, it so happens, is also a very important part of personal branding!
  

Branding Yourself: Getting out of your comfort zone.

  I'm a very shy person. I have a fairly decent opinion of myself, but I don't think I'm all that wonderful. I like big crowds because I can hide amongst the throng. I like one-on-one conversations, and even being part of a group discussion. But I am terrified of public speaking. The idea of being the center of attention makes me want to puke and hide. I expect there to be a certain amount of criticism, and I don't always take criticism well. Consider my response to some unsolicited criticism on my painting "Three Fold Path" when I put it up on Fine Art America. Maybe I overreacted. Anyway, that's why I was content to let my art sell itself while I stood in the corner.
   I began to understand that my art would need some help selling itself. I had to brand myself. I had to make some very deliberate and well planned decisions to get over my shyness. I had to get out of my comfort zone.
   In 2009 I was invited by my former Northern Michigan University Illustration 101 professor (and owner of one of my paintings), Tom Cappuccio to join The Marquette (MI) Symphony Orchestra's PR Committee. What a great opportunity! I could learn about marketing the arts to arts-loving people, receiving valuable experience and exposure while helping a regional symphony! Soon after, I was nominated to serve on the Board of Directors. This meant that I would have to give PR reports to the Board, which put me at the center of  what I felt was very critical attention. Making these presentations helped pull me out of my shell.
    I joined the Ishpeming Renaissance Festival Committee three years ago. I was asked to go before the Ishpeming, MI City Council and ask for a donation from the community promotion fund. What was particularly terrifying about this was that the Council Meetings are televised, and I know at least a dozen people watch them. I was so nervous I almost wet myself...really! But I did it.
   The year after, I did it again. That time I was much better. I even made some jokes. And people laughed at them. Or maybe they laughed at me... Just a month ago, I did it again. I was till nervous, but again much better.
   During this time, I ran for an elected position on The Ishpeming City Council. I lost, but I got some great publicity and experience. More importantly I readied myself for public scrutiny, and showed the world that I was committed to my community.
   I was beginning to see that being at the center of attention is OK, for short periods of time, and as long as it was for good reasons. So at my second art showing with the Outback Art Fair in 2010, I made extra efforts to draw attention to myself. I had big green banner made, with 'Art of John French' emblazoned in orange. I dressed up nice and classy, trying to hone my image to the type of people who buy art. I displayed a  poster I had made for the Marquette Symphony, and when someone asked, I proudly announced my membership on the board.
   And to top off the image, I wore a nice shirt and a suit coat. The effort was noticed by Jim Koski, a local radio personality, historian, and fine community member. He walked up to me and said "You're the only person here wearing a suit coat."
    "Good!" I beamed. My branding had begun.

On Line Art Marketing Stinks!

   I had suspected that publishing ArtofJohnFrench.com would not mean that the world will magically find the website, and buy my art online. But at this point I was still somewhat sure that my art could sell itself. So I was sure that as long as I could get more than a few people to look from around the world and the nation, I could quickly generate some sales. After all, it worked at the art shows, right? The website is an art show, on a digital, global scale. I'm not sure if this was arrogance or ignorance. Neither have any place in marketing!
   At first, I got a lot of hits, a lot of interest, and a lot of great comments. No buyers.  Now, some artists will tell you that this is OK, because to them, it's more about sharing their creativity than making money. I'm not one of those artists. I want to make money sharing my art. I'm in business. This does NOT mean I insist on getting money for everything I do. I donate lots of time, art and money to local causes and groups. More on this in the next post.
   I designed and printed the  postcard (below) alerting people that my art was online, and tried to convince them to buy some. I bought a mailing list and sent the postcards to carefully chosen people in affluent and upper middle class zip codes.  It was very meticulous and time consuming, and generated zero sales.

   It was around six months before I actually sold anything through the website (incidentally the painting on the left in the postcard), and that painting was something someone saw at an art show, but couldn't buy at the time. So she went through the website when she was able. I gave her free delivery, since she lived around the corner from me!
   So all that time, effort, and money I spent trying to sell art to someone thousands of miles away netted a sale two blocks away!  I started re-thinking this website and researching online art selling. I learned that a lot of people are afraid to buy art from a website. First, there is a lack of trust, because the prospective buyers don't know the seller. Second, there is a concern that the art won't look as good as the picture, which really goes back to trust. Third,art buyers tend to collect art from local artists, which again goes not only to trust but also familiarity.
   So, I had a plan: I had to target locals. I could still market to the world, but I had to build trust, and that had to start on a local level. My next post will deal with building trust as I developed a plan to market myself as a real person, who was a real artist in a real community.

The pain and satisfaction of website building...

Ah, a website...
   I had dreamed of having my own website for a few years, but I admit I was a little slow jumping on this bandwagon. It seemed like such a huge task, not to mention a tremendous amount of money. But after my initial success at the Moonshine Gallery in October of 2008, followed by more great things in the summer of 2009, I wanted to conquer the world! So I decided to start figuring things out and asking questions.
   The first place I looked was at a local web master. He wanted too much money. So then I decided to sit down with my friend Tim, creator and HTML writer of The Art on Ice E-mag (www.artonicemag.com). He wouldn't charge me as much, and I could have design control and I could let Tim have the technical control. I should have stuck with this idea!
   Tim told me to register my domain with Go-Daddy.com. So I did, and while I was on their site, I noticed they had some cool looking templates! And I could add a shopping cart! And it was 'point and click!' It would be so easy, and cheap!
  So I frantically began searching for domain names. I knew I wanted to use my name. JohnFrench.com was taken by a photographer, I think. JohnFrenchPaintworks.com was open, but sounded more like a home and wall painter, not an artsy painter. JohnFrenchPaintings.com was available, but someday I want to try sculpting, and stained glass, so I checked ArtofJohnFrench.com. Available! So on Jan 1st, 2010, I registered my domain. 
   After that, I began working on the building of it. If any of you have ever worked with Go-Daddy.com, then you know it is an exercise in frustration. Nothing is ever the same way twice, it's hard to find your stuff, it's hard to figure out what you need, and that's just the sign-in page! Once you're in, the real maze of sales pitched and long halls of Bob and his hot chicks. Don't get me wrong, I like hot chicks, just not when I'm trying to actually accomplish something!
   I spent three months figuring out go-daddy's web builder, adding the a storefront as a subdomain to the main domain, painting inventory, taking pictures, uploading pictures, upgrading my services, canceling services that I had accidentally doubled-up on (remember the maze), and typing my keyword rich text. Finally, in March, I launched www.artofjohnfrench.com!
    It wasn't so easy, and it wasn't THAT cheap, and I haven't exactly conquered the world. But I've reworked the website many times to sculpt it into something I'm proud of. There are many other web building programs out there to try. I wish I would have check more of them out before I settled with Go-Daddy. Still, as frustrating as Go-Daddy is, it was still quicker than learning how to write in HTML code. Just be ready to scream at your computer!

A warning!

   As your marketing gets better, you'll attract more and more people to your art. Not all of them are good people!
   Marketing my art has been a fun, rewarding, painful and frightening experience. So when someone sends me an email telling they'd like to buy one of my paintings, it makes everything worth all the troubles. I read and read, I worked my website, ArtofJohnFrench.com ,then reworked it. I bought Google ads, Facebook ads, and even sent postcards to more affluent zipcodes across America. So when I finally see an email in my website email requesting to buy one of my paintings, my heart squealed.
   Then I opened the email.
   Have you ever gotten one of those emails from the Nigerian Prince, or the Liberian bank president, both of whom want to give YOU millions of dollars for no reason? The email I opened scarcely compared. It looked like it was written by a second grader... no, I take that back. I've seen second graders write better. OK, It looked like it was written by a teenager. It made the Nigerian Prince look like a genius.
   FIRST TIP!! Bad grammar usually means someone is writing you who doesn't know English, and is trying too hard to sound smart.
   Instead of someone wanting to use PayPal to buy one of my $200 paintings, this person wanted to pay twice as much, and stressed NO PAY PAL! Then he wanted to use his own shipper. Sounds great!
   SECOND TIP! If it sounds too good to be true, it likely is.
   THIRD TIP! Pay Pal is safe and easy. If someone wants to avoid it, there's a problem.
   FOURTH TIP! He wanted to use his own shipper. There is the heart of the scam: The scammers use stolen credit cards to pay for your art. They include the shipping in their payment. You pay the 'shipper' with the money the buyer gave you. The shipper is part of the scam. Your art, and someone else's money are gone. Sometimes, instead of a stolen credit card number, you get a bad check.
    Usually, a quick Google search will yield mountains of trashy results. Search the email address, or the sender's supposed name, or even a line or two from the email message. You'll be amazed.
 

My first blog!

"My art can sell itself," I told myself as I quietly watched people file in and out of my first ever show at Michigamme Moonshine Art Gallery. Some of them bought, most didn't. Still, I had enough sales to consider the show a success.
   Seven months later, I showed for the first time at The Outback Art Fair, Marquette, MI's annual outdoor arts and craft market. Again, people filed in and out of the tent. Again, some bought. Most --a huge MOST-- did not buy. Again, I considered the event a success. My art was out in the world. It had sold itself.
     The success I had in the beginning whetted my appetite! That was the first year that I had really pushed myself to become the successful artist I always wanted to be. I was ready to be a businessman. Some people say when you have a good idea, the universe and God conspire to help you. I guess that's what beginner's luck is. After these two events, sales dropped off. My art was no longer selling itself.  I started asking myself "why?" Was it the art? Not likely, since a lot of it had sold, and I get great comments about it. Was it the economy? Maybe, but I refused to hold on to that. Was it me? No...well...maybe...hmmmm... What can I do?
   The answer I was inevitably drawn to was MARKETING. I realized that even though everyone knows about McDonalds crappy burgers, and everyone knew where to get one, McDonalds still advertises! They still spend billions to remind everyone that McDonalds still exists. If McDonald's has to advertise to stay successful, then so must I.
   So it was time to change my way of thinking. My art does not sell itself. In fact, I've learned that very little art sells itself. I have to sell it. In doing so, I must sell myself.
   This blog will be my journal of the twists, turns, dead ends and flights on this journey from frustrated artist to struggling, semi-professional artist, which I hope is a stepping-stone to Successful Art Professional!