Marketing out of state?

Michele Rushworth · 09-17-2002, 08:07 PM

I'd like to market my work in the Southeast and Northeastern parts of the United States and I'm looking for some cost-effective ideas.

I have a site on Stroke of Genius so that part's taken care of. I know I don't have the quality portfolio to submit to the portrait agents yet, though I'm working on it. I'm sure I can't afford to advertise in Southern Living or Veranda yet either. That covers the first few out-of-state marketing ideas that came to my mind.

I live in the Seattle area, and the Northwest has never had a tradition of portraiture. Washington State also now has the highest unemployment in the country and they're predicting another two or three years of recession up here.

So....I need to get my work out in front of lots of people in the parts of the country where they do buy portraits.

Any suggestions?

Peggy Baumgaertner · 09-17-2002, 11:47 PM

Do you know anyone? Have a brother-in-law or great aunt? Old college friend? Ex-employer? Former next door neighbor? The surest way is to call a contact and arrange to fly out with a number of paintings and have an open house. The idea of an art patron does not necessarily mean you need a benefactor with mega bucks. Someone with a modest income who thinks you are great, (or owes you a favor...) will do nicely. They get to have a famous artist in their home, and you get a venue to show your work.

You might also arrange to do a portrait commission for them at a discounted price if they will "work" for you. This is also basically the way you get your start in your own home territory. I had the same plan back in the late 80's, and I tried Jackson MS, (too southern), Naples, FL (not southern enough), and finally hit in Raleigh, NC. It took three years and many misfires before the plan worked, but it did eventually work. The Raleigh contact was a friend of my husband's whom I met at their class reunion. (The Jackson contact was a workshop I taught there, the Naples contact was through the daughter of a couple who lived in Naples...) Two other extremely lucrative contacts were a couple that sat across from me at a convention and an e-mail buddy of my husband. Don't overlook shirt tail contacts and the guy sitting next to you on the plane.

Then paint your head off. That first contact might be serendipity, but your career is based on turning out a game-winning portrait that causes a ripple effect of secondary commissions.

Good luck!

Peggy

Michele Rushworth · 09-18-2002, 12:39 AM

Great suggestion, Peggy! I know just the family in the New York City area that I will start with. Hmmmm... and maybe those friends of my husband's in North Carolina....

Michele Rushworth · 09-18-2002, 12:47 AM

Peggy, I just had a thought.

Do you think it would make sense to offer a family a discounted or free portrait in return for a specific number of attendees at the open house, or a specific number of follow-up commissions? (For example, they get their child's portrait free if I get two other commissions within a year of their open house?)

I'm just concerned about flying across the country, shipping a half dozen paintings and having the room filled with people who could never afford portraits - or worse, with hardly anyone in attendance.

Peggy Baumgaertner · 09-18-2002, 01:28 AM

It's iffy at best. Although I see nothing wrong with discounting a portrait, I like to do it with no strings attached. It may seem to make sense to try to arrange a "fair trade," i.e., "If you get me three paintings, I will paint one for you for free." But this gets into a consignment relationship instead of a benefactor arrangement. I have had my success with benevolent benefactors.

I would say the best way to approach this would be to do the straight, discounted commission, (It doesn't have to be a deep cut, maybe only 25% off -- just so they know you are making an effort for them...). Then when the painting is completed, do a delivery and open house with their friends. The friends see the recognizable likeness in the portrait and they see what you can do for them. You could also arrange it so you are there when there is an auction in a local private school that you donate to, or you could volunteer to spend one day at a local elementary school, with newspaper coverage. "Washington Portrait Artist Honors Clinton, SC Elementary with Artist in Residence Program." I call it sandwiching.

You can't really hold your "patrons" to any kind of bargain. You just need to do your best to make the trip successful from your end. A trip to the East coast is still a lot cheaper than running an ad in Veranda, or paying 40% to an agent. If you are ready to do the cross country gamble, you get your ducks in rows and go for it. As I said, the first few times for me it didn't take. But if you are open for sandwiching opportunities, something always comes up. Family vacation in Florida? Hit the galleries. In Naples, I set up shop in a small craft shop and advertised in the local paper that I was running a private showcase. The craft shop was happy to accommodate me because I drew in customers that would not normally come to her shop, and I paid for the newspaper advertising.

Peggy

Michele Rushworth · 09-18-2002, 10:22 AM

Peggy, you are a treasure of great information and ideas! How kind of you to share it, too!

When you say the first few times for you "it didn't take", did you go back again a few years in a row with the same patron, or was it just that you hit the right region eventually?

I have a friend in Dallas who would help me. Do you know how the portrait market is there?

I am actually planning a family vacation in Florida in February, though we'll be on the east coast, not near Naples. I could visit the Miami/Palm Beach galleries. (Guess I should plan on turning every trip into a business trip from now on!)

When you say, "hit the galleries", what would you do? Phone ahead and bring a portfolio and ask for representation? Aren't many galleries reluctant to handle portrait artists because they lose control, since the work is done by commission?

Sorry if I sound so clueless on this! It really is a whole new area for me and I would bet, for many others on the Forum, too.

Thank you, Peggy, for your generosity in sharing your experience!

Peggy Baumgaertner · 09-18-2002, 07:27 PM

Let me back up a little, I would not suggest you try to get into a gallery. Marketing through a gallery is very different from the kind of commission work we do as portrait artists, and has it's own set of rules.

When I said hit the galleries I meant to see the tone of the paintings being commissioned in a given area. The galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico have a different flavor than those in New York or Atlanta. I sell better in the mid to northern parts of the country than in the deep south because my paintings tend to be deeper, richer, and more tonal the "Southern" portrait that was in style when I first started out. An area rich in Victorian Art Galleries, or galleries with paintings drenched in the orange/red light of New Mexico will give you an idea of what kind of portrait the population might want to place in their homes.

One final thought, I doesn't matter how an area is for portrait sells. You are only selling one painting, initially. Dallas is a good place to start if you have support there. Atlanta might be spectacular in general, but if you can't get work there, it's bad for you. Minot, North Dakota may not be the hot spot of the portrait world, but if you are painting the president of the bank, hey, it worked for you. The location of the commission is not important, what is important is how you sell yourself and how great a job you do on the portrait. Everything grows from that.

I said in a different spot on this site that one of the keys to success in this business is a lot of eggs in a lot of baskets. So the more territories you are working, the greater your exposure. Just don't overdue it. Become as much a portrait fixture in each of your territories as you are in your own local area.

Quote:

When you say the first few times for you "it didn't take", did you go back again a few years in a row with the same patron, or was it just that you hit the right region eventually?

I hit the right region eventually. I am tenacious, but I know when to stop beating a dead horse. Something I tell my students, and a piece of advise which is counter to that offered by one of the more visible art marketers, is that you can't talk anyone into buying a portrait. They either want it or they don't. This is not like selling sports equipment or aluminum siding. A client cannot be "hard sold" into buying a portrait. So I do my best shining. And if they aren't interested, I shake their hand, say a polite thank you, and steal into the night.

Peggy

Michele Rushworth · 09-18-2002, 07:56 PM

Thanks again, Peggy. A lot for me to think about -- and do! Your advice is always greatly appreciated.

Tammy Nielsen · 09-19-2002, 10:35 AM

Just thought I'd share a thought. I've had a lot of dealings with Spanish people and they seem to appreciate portraits. I know in a lot of homes I've been in, they usually always have a portrait. I think perhaps this is because in the third world they didn't have the access to cameras and photographers that we have so they commissioned portraits. And maybe it is like a tradition, because Grandma had a portrait hanging in her house, etc.. In fact, the other day I tried to help they asked for a portrait of all five of them, in pastel. Going to Texas, the Spanish population, if approached, might yield some Spanish beauties to paint, or gents.

Tammy