Self Promotion
by Angie Boyer
In my experience makers find it hard to promote themselves, they can often promote their work but don’t understand why anyone would want to know about them, yet it is the fact that the work is hand crafted that makes it stand apart from mass production. When someone buys your work they are buying a little piece of you; your skills, your talent and creativity and the time and effort you gave to produce the piece.
At the Ferrers Gallery we hand to our customers information sheets about makers so that the customer knows the name of the person who made the item along with information on the techniques used, the inspiration behind the work and care instructions. Extracting this from the makers has been a long and hard battle yet this information gives the customer a closer rapport with the object purchased and gives added value if given as a gift.
Poppy Treftry a textiles artist makes the most gorgeous buttons, purses, bags and tea cosies and produces small ribboned tags that hang on her work that tell the customer ‘Your product is handmade from a variety of fine, found and vintage fabrics. There is not another one like it°. She goes on to write about how to care for the item and to say a little bit about herself and her inspirations. Recently an artist sent me a postcard promoting his work, it had a photo of him working on a painting and on the back it told a short story about his inspiration, which stemmed from a happy childhood memory, the words were entwined with a tale of a customer’s feelings when it sparked a memory too. It was a beautifully designed postcard, a piece of art in itself and it told so much about the artist and his paintings.
Knowing a bit about the maker who crafted a treasured piece helps when others admire it, knowing more about the maker means they are more likely to remember your name and help promote you and your work out of their admiration for your creativity. I have a customer who collects Virginia Dowe dogs, I did not know this until he told me when he purchased another for his collection. On finding this out I told Virginia and asked her to send a signed note. The note, thanking him for collecting her work, is now treasured along with his collection of dogs. This will add value to his collection, after all many of today’s pieces of contemporary craft will be tomorrow’s antiques.
In February/ March the Ferrers Gallery put on an exhibition called ‘Stars in their Arts’, an exhibition looking at makers who have designed work for celebrities and awards. The idea for this came when we asked artists for this information when we were putting together the information sheets mentioned earlier - we were surprised by the response; they had all kept their celebrity secrets quiet! We didn’t know that we had makers who had designed for Elton John, the Queen, footballers, news readers and celebrity chefs. In the past few years following celebrity trends has been a big thing, having a bag or piece of jewellery like that of a celebrity has brought status. If you know a famous person has a piece of your work, then why not spread the celebrity gossip and increase your sales.
I will be visiting the British Craft Trade Fair in Harrogate this year as a judge and as a buyer. I love attending this fair as I get to see the makers I deal with and to find new ones. Awards such as the Excellence Award and the Newcomer Awards are also a great way to promote you and your business. Winning one of these would be a great business boost, but only if you shout about it; tell your customers, tell the media and include it in you promotional materials. Tracey Russell who produces exquisite hand beaded cards, keepsake boxes and albums promotes the fact that she won the ‘Northern Arts, North East Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2002, Best Cultural and Creative Business’ on her letterheads. Awards of this nature build customer confidence in you and your products because they see that someone else also has confidence in you and your abilities. Customer comments can work equally as well. At the gallery we have introduced a visitors’ comments book and have had some wonderful comments ‘amazed at the creativity, skill ingenuity - great’, ‘brilliant, so different’, ‘Fab, great exhibitions as ever.’ We will use these comments to promote to future potential customers.
I visited the stand of Rachel Coleman at a recent public craft fair. Rachel, whose work had been featured in Country and Telegraph magazines, had mounted these articles and had them displayed proudly on her stand. Not only had she gained the press feature, but had continued to use this to further promote her business.
Self promotion is also the most likely way for you to get media coverage, everyone enjoys a human interest story. I wanted to promote the fact that the Ferrers Gallery did commissions for weddings, I had tried sending the wedding press makers product shots of rings, tiaras and wedding favours, but only then received sales calls asking whether I wanted paid advertising, (at their prices I couldn’t afford it!). I had to think creatively of something that would interest them; I got married (not specifically to get the publicity) and had the photographer take photos of my tiara, wedding jewellery and favours, which had all been commissioned from makers at the gallery, and sent a few photos to a national wedding magazine and then waited. In the end I had a four page full colour feature and national publicity for my gallery and the makers. (The photos were even picked up by the hotel we got married in and are being used to promote weddings at their venue). You don’t have to go to such drastic measures, but you might consider thinking creatively in how you promote yourself. Self promotion can be hard, especially if you are the sort of person who doesn’t enjoy the limelight, but if you are serious about your business and want to make it work then you have to promote yourself and tell the world how great you are and how wonderful your work is.
