I don’t really want to drag around a big art art folio

Imagine if every time you show your art to people that you have to open up a big art folio. This can tend to be a bit confronting. It looks like you are trying to sell them something right there and then, so they tend to get turned off straight away. I had this very problem when I first started out so I set about solving it and came up with a solution…

Let me introduce you to your new best friend; your Personal Organiser Mini Art folio

I don’t really want to lug my artworks everywhere with me just in case someone takes an interest, so what I do is keep a mini art portfolio with me at all times when I’m in exhibition promotion mode.

This is how it works…

The key is to talk to people as you meet them in your everyday life and somehow let them know that you are an artist, but without actually saying up front “I am an artist and look at my artwork”. Instead you need to help them to ‘discover’ that you are an artist, and then ask you for more information.

For example, when you are in a shop and the manager of the shop serves you and asks how your day was, rather than saying “pretty good thanks”, say something like “oh I’ve been very busy working on an artwork for an exhibition”. Invariably they will ask you what kind of art you make, at which point you can open your trusty personal organiser mini art folio and actually show them.

A personal organiser or Filofax is a pretty non-threatening kind of object; everyone is used to seeing them, so its no big deal as you open yours up as you are paying for something.

After you’ve shown the shop manager your work you can invite them along to your exhibition. Invariably they will be quite honoured to be asked. Pop their details into your personal organiser pages. When you leave the shop also add a few notes, detailing any useful specifics about the person you’ve just met, and in particular which artworks they seemed to respond best to.

Your personal organiser portfolio is not limited to use in shops, use it everywhere! In the office, when you are socialising, when you are sitting in the park, on the bus, train or in the gym, absolutely everywhere. At any opportunity let people know that you are an artist in casual conversation and when they ask for more information, just whip out your art folio, engage their interest, take their details and invite them to your exhibition. The key is to engage people in conversation such that they ask for more information about you, rather than you just rattling on about yourself and boring the pants off them.

Tip:

If someone you meet starts going on about how their brother, sister, mother, dad, grandpa etc is a fantastic artist then the chances are that they really will not be interested in your artwork even though they make for a pleasant (mostly one-sided) conversation.

Warning!

When you first start using your personal organiser art folio it is very tempting to invite all your close friends, family, and relatives along for your first exhibition expecting that they will think you are fantastic, the next big thing and support you by buying all your artwork. In the majority of cases I have seen, unless your friends, family and relatives are very generous, all they will do is tell you how very clever you are and then drink all your beer, wine and nibblies, making for a very expensive art exhibition.

Instead try to invite people who might actually have a disposable income with which to buy your artwork such as business owners and professional people. Good art costs good money and the people who are generally interested in buying good art have good incomes, so invite those people! After talking to people for a while, you should start to become a bit of an expert a picking out potential prospective art buyers and useful contacts.

I’m not saying don’t invite your family at all to your exhibition, just be prepared to have a very nice but very expensive party if you do.

Do it all the time

The secret to promoting your exhibition successfully with your art folio lies in using it and having it with you ALL THE TIME. Keep all your credit cards, money, notes, names and addresses in there. The more you keep in there the more excuses you will have to open it up.

Make them Choose!

So you’re out and about in your everyday life showing everyone your mini art portfolio and generating quite a mailing list for your next exhibition by getting people excited and interested in your art. Wouldn’t it be nice if instead of just looking at your personal organiser art portfolio that people actually wanted to take a small piece of what you’d shown them home with them right then and there so they can remember you and your wonderful art?

I pondered this problem and I came up with a solution that I use myself which I call…

The Five Card Trick

An excellent way to gain interest in your artwork is to get people directly ‘hands on’ with it.

Here’s how it’s done:

• Get a set of 5 business cards professionally printed, each with a different artwork you have created on the back of it. Pay for a really nice high quality glossy double sided colour job so that they really look ‘the business’; almost artworks in themselves. Rather than just use a cheap generic free design I had a professional graphic designer do a custom job for me.
• Pop them into your personal organiser art portfolio. Some personal organiser makers also supply a little plastic pocket to fit inside the organiser which makes it easy to get your cards out quickly.
• When you are out and about showing people your art, if someone seems interested bring out your 5 different business cards. Let the person flip through them and examine them closely.
• As they coo over your lovely artworks on your glossy cards ask them which is their favourite. This will force them to really look at your art closely in order to choose. The great thing about this is that they really have to take their time and have the opportunity to really appreciate what they are looking at.
• Because these cards look great and are mini collectible items in themselves often people will ask right there and then if they can have all five. Tell them they can have only one. It shows them that you value your art enough not to give it all away for free, which implies in turn that your art is valuable. This is when the begging begins. I’ve heard people give me all sorts of reasons why they should have more than one. “Oh I just can’t choose! I like them all” they say, or “oh my sister would really like this one but I like this one, can I have both…please?”(cue batting of eyelids). Stand firm. Just one. A little taste just for now.

Of course you’ll note their specific choice in your personal organiser portfolio for later reference as a poll of the popularity of your images. This is great marketing info! Oh, and don’t forget to get their name and address so you can invite them to your next art show.

So go to it. Make your own variation of the Five Card Trick, practise often and refine it until people are almost begging for one of your business cards.

Buy one classy looking small to medium sized Filofax style personal organiser or equivalent, preferably in a nice arty colour. (Classy I said! No funky patterned designs…you don’t want to detract from your art). Your personal organiser choice should radiate ‘success’ and ‘taste’.

Take a selection of good clear pictures of your artworks, preferably using a digital camera with good resolution and edit them using the photo editing software of your choice so that they are cropped nicely with no unnecessary background, and then save those files for later.

Buy a hole punch suitable for making the kind of holes that a personal organiser needs. I bought an adjustable one which is suitable for just about any kind personal organiser.

Create a personal organiser page template in whatever word-processing, publishing or photo editing program you use. Make sure you leave some room on your template for the punched holes. Use one of your original personal organiser pages as a guide.

Drop the pictures of your artworks into your template and then print it out with a colour printer on a nice glossy photo paper.

Use a guillotine to chop the individual pages out of the photo paper sheet and then use your hole punch to make the holes in the edge of each page. Pop them into your personal organiser along with a set of contact details pages for notes of all the prospective clients you’ll be talking to and voila! You are ready to promote your upcoming exhibition any time, any place!