SHOW YOUR WORK #3: Share Your "Affiliates"!
Whose work do YOU love, and whose work goes well with YOURS? Share!
More in this series on "baby steps" (and a few giant steps) to get your work out into the world and grow your audience online.
I've had some delightful conversations in the last few months with one of Fine Art View's newest contributors, Thea Fiore-Bloom. Our life outlooks are similar, and we both love each other's writing. And recently, Thea added me to her own artist resource page.
I was not only honored, but also impressed with this page. I've already bookmarked several of the sources she listed, and I urged her to write about this. Because it is an awesome idea, and one I'd never considered doing on my own website.
Then Clint Watson posted his article about how email is still the most powerful way to reach more people, advice in how to expand your current email newsletter list, etc. I thought about asking my subscribers to share with their friends, and their friends' friends. Another idea I've already incorporated into my blog posts, but not in my newsletters. Hmmmm.
Then the two ideas came together into one insight, one that could work well right now.
What if we looked for opportunities to cross-promote? (Like I just did with Thea and Clint, for example.)
As I was thinking about that, a reader posted a comment on my last article, which I republished on my blog. Their website name leaped out at me: EquusArtisan! Why? Because not only do we share a love of horses, we both use horse imagery in our art.
Suddenly, Thea Clint Lisa = Novel idea for cross-promoting in the time of the coronavirus storm!
I'm treading carefully here, because these are everyone else's insights and articles. But the notion of using our work and websites/newsletters/social media to help promote and support like-minded people, who not only have similar interests, philosophies, and wisdom, but who also have similar audiences hit me like a ton of bricks.
And though the simple solution is to reach out to people like this, to see if they'd be interested in cross-promoting from time to time, other ideas piled on.
Example 1) I volunteered a year ago for a local horse trainer whose major work has grown into rescue work: Rehabbing/retraining/healing horses whose owners have to give them up, for all kinds of reasons, and finding new homes for them. But this person isn't a writer by nature. So when I came across an organization that was taking nominations for their annual "horse heroes" award, I volunteered to write one for her. (After all, usually when someone else sings our praises, it can "land stronger" than we are promoting ourselves.) I could create a resource page on my site and share her biz with my audience. And maybe I should ask her if she'd be interested in adding my horse jewelry/sculptures to her own email newsletters, and donating a portion of any sales I make from that.
Example 2) Another rescue group I admire and support, the American Wild Horse Campaign, came to mind. I contribute in a small way, buying a couple calendars from them every year. But what if I came up with a way for them to "point" to my website, and I found a way to "point" to them not only by adding them to a resource page, but supported them by donating a portion of any sales I get from referrals from a mention in one of their newsletters? After all, I already have to pay such portions to galleries and even my online shop. Supporting people and organization who do "hero's work" in the world would be just as good.
Example 3) What if I reached out to EquusArtisan and we both referred our audiences to each other's websites in our email newsletters?
People who love horses, people who paint horses, people who rescue horses, and people who make horse jewelry. Surely our audiences overlap a little?
My first thought was to add such referrals and such to my own resource. But it feels awkward asking them to do the same for me.
On the other hand, mentioning each other in an email newsletter seems lower risk, lower "load", and simpler. Each "partnership" could be limited to one newsletter (on both sides, theirs and mine) and the resource page can be a one-sided thing on my part.
Obviously, there's a little more thinking and experimenting before this becomes something I can recommend to you.
But for a "what if" opportunity, especially in this time of knowing our galleries aren't opening anytime soon, art fairs are out of the question, and open studios are not happening, this feels fairly positive and manageable. It certainly doesn't cost anything upfront, either.
I'm actually grateful that three amazing people crossed my path and opened my eyes to new possibilities.
What cross-connections and affiliates come to YOUR mind? What conservation groups would benefit from your landscapes, wildlife work, seascapes, and still lifes? What artists do you love and find inspirational, who loves and is inspired by yours?
When we lift each other, not only do we both benefit, but so does the entire world. Because our being a force for good in the world is what EVERYBODY needs, right now.
If this article inspired you today, please pass it on to someone else who might like it, too. And if someone sent this to you today, and you liked it, you can see more advice on art marketing at Fine Art Views, more of my articles on FAV, and read/subscribe to my blog at LuannUdell.wordpress.com.
And if you'd like to see this in action, you can sign up for my email newsletter, too! (Er, don't be surprised if it takes a while, I'm affected by the shut-downs and shelter-ins, too!) :-D
