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bearhug07 Apr 27, 2007

Hi

Daphne asked what we all took to shows recently...and that set me thinking. In preparing for a show what do we all do to help promote the show and ourselves as being there.

As an organiser I can't emphasise how much traders can help make a show successful. Here are some of the points I find good

1/  A photo of your latest work to put on the website
2/  Book early so I can let collectors know who is coming through newsletters and flyers.
3/  Get flyers to you to have on your trading table at other shows.
4/  Use traders photos etc in my advertising...

You can -------

1/ Let your collectors know through your website and newsletters
2/ Take flyers to shows

But that is only a few.....how else do you self promote in preparation for a show???

Doing these things can be very motivating also to get other things done for the show as it keeps it at the forefront of your mind.

Daphne Apr 27, 2007

I can't "ditto" what Sandra has said loud enough!!!

Sure, its the promoter's responsibility to 'promote' the show. But we are one person. We can't advertise at every teddy bear show, we can't send postcards or emails to every collector out there. But if say 40 artists were doing a show and every single one of them sent out 10 postcards to their mailing list and gave out another 10 at one other show they did that's 800 people who now know about the show! 800 who may not have heard about it if it hadn't been for each of those 40 artists doing their small little part.

Self-promotion. It is indeed so important for you to do as an artist. It's also important for you to do as part of a group of artists all participating in a show and looking for the same results as you.... sales... attendance... new collectors.  We're all in this together, right??? I see so much commradarie here on TT, that should pour out into all of the bear community including shows.

There are so many benefits to 'spreading the word'! What do you have to loose? Seriously? What can it hurt to send an email out to your email list? If the promoter provides postcards what can it hurt to send them out? (After all, you've paid for them as part of your booth fee!) Or take them to other shows you are doing? OK, so it takes a few minutes to type an email, address and stamp postcards. But what about the time it takes to make each of those adorable and wonderful bears? If people don't come, you don't sell. Then all the time and effort spent on your works of art are pointless.

(Excuse me a minute... I have a spider doing laps across my screen... gotta get him before he gets on the keyboard and I scream!)

OK, so now that I've given my lecture for the night let me leave you with this thought: You can't simply pick a date and a venue, call it a teddy bear show and expect people to come. It takes effort and no matter how good the promoter, how large the advertising budget, it takes a whole lot of people to help spread the word.

Other ideas:
-Do you sell on eBay? Do you have an About Me page? List your shows on there!
-How about Bear-Aritsts-Online members... you can list your shows on your showcase page, did you know that?
-Do you run ads in bear magazines? Why not include a line about the next show you'll be at?

bearhug07 Apr 27, 2007

Another one.........

When you print business cards to hand out at shows.......print on the back your show schedule......I love that one and have kept many an artists card just so I know what shows to attend and who's stand I'm going to bee line for when I get there.

bearhugs

lulubears Apr 27, 2007

Wow, was Daphne ever right when she said you can't just pick a date and a venue, call it a teddy bear show and expect people to come!  As promoters, advertising is probably the single most difficult aspect of shows.  It's difficult to gauge which day(s) of the week to advertise in the local papers.  You also have to decide which section of the paper to advertise in.  If you advertise in a bear magazine, will the ad come out too early for people to remember it?

When I sign up to do a show, I add the show to my website.  Even if you don't live in the area that the show is being held, or have established customers, mentioning it to other bear groups may reach someone that didn't know about it before.

If you've been doing a show for a couple of years, by all means, send out postcards to previous customers.  Just because your customer bought from other artists as well doesn't mean they ended up on a mailing list that will notify them of the show.  Some customers don't sign up on mailing lists, and expect their information to be picked up from the sales ticket.  See if the promoter will let you offer a discount.  We always send out a lot of free admission passes to customers that have returned year after year to the show - regardless of who they buy from.  If they are coming back every year, they are buying from someone and free admission is a nice bonus for them.  We offer senior citizens a very low admission fee, and they all like that.

All too often, we read reports about how bad a show was or nothing at all is reported.  When you do a good show, tell EVERYONE!  That buzz is what keeps people interested.  No report at all leaves them wondering if the show is worth bothering with.  This snowballs into show after show being cancelled, which is really a shame.  If we don't support the shows, we will wake up and find there aren't any left.  Our only venue to sell our creations will be websites or auction sites.

I personally feel that shows are the single best way to sell bears.  If I were to list 10 bears on e-bay all on the same day, and take 10 bears to a show, I'm completely confident I would sell more at the show.  The added bonus is, I get to meet the collector and they get to take home the bear that very day.  No waiting for the auction to end, biting nails to see if anyone is going to bid, worrying about bids being placed at all, etc.  When the collectors go to a show, they know in advance what the general price range of the bears will be and usually end up going home with at least one new bear. They like the interaction between artist and collector.

Shows are a great way (especially for new artists) to build up their confidence, see how others price their work, get to meet collectors as well as other artists and see what else is being made.  It's a wonderful way to build lasting friendships. 

Luann

Shelli Retired Help Advisor, Banner SponsorApr 27, 2007

In my official role as Advisor here, I feel positively compelled to add these great ways you can reach the wide, international audience of TT readers for the purpose of promoting your show.  We want it to be a great one and are happy to support the show cause!

Both Promoters and Exhibitors -->

--  Put your show on the calendar here (FREE!)

--  Post ABOUT your show by starting a thread in the SHOW & TRAVEL thread(FREE!)

--  Discuss issues/excitements/concepts regarding your show in the DISCUSSION areas here by introducing a topic that people can learn from or contribute to, which also keeps your show "top of mind" (FREE!)

--  Post photos of your work (people LOVE photos!) created for the show in the SHOWCASE section here (FREE!)

--  Promoters... Consider running an inexpensive banner ad (<$20 for six months of air time) about your show

--  Exhibitors... Consider running a banner ad advertising your annual/semi-annual shows.  Animated banners cost the same as static banners and you can create something that advertises not just your website, blog, and bears, but your scheduled shows as well

Little Bear Guy Apr 27, 2007

Wow  excellent information everyone.

Shelli thanks for reminding us about the banner ad's, I never would have thought of doing one for bears shows or listing bears show's we will be attending.  Cool idea , thanks so much .

big hugs

Shane

bearhug07 Apr 28, 2007

Another one to help yourslef have a successful show is to add a line into any adverts you do place in magazine................"see me at>>>>>" . Especially if you are announcing a new line or limited edition.

You'd be surprised how many collectors don't like to buy from photo's. I was covering a Doll and Bear Show for the magazine today and sat down to have a drink and something to eat at a table with a number of collectors. One of the first things mentioned was that they were sorry to see less bear traders than usual....."A lot are selling on ebay".......commented one collector......."But I like to look and buy in person? two others answered almost together.."I don't care if it is the same pattern and fur said another, all the faces are different and I like to look and cuddle before buying. I won't buy from a photo."

So please don't dismiss shows as a waste of time and effort at least commit to doing one or two shows and year and stay in touch personally with your collectors and let them know in any of number of ways as to where to find you.

bearhugs

psichick78 Apr 30, 2007

Great Advice everyone.

It is important for not only the show promoter but the exhibitor to promote the show as well.

I agree with Sandra that alot of people like to hold the bear before they buy and it's great to get feedback from collectors and meet fellow bearmakers.

Shows are also a great place to buy supplies as well. I think the day of the teddy bear show is coming back!

psichick78 Apr 30, 2007

you're awesome Ellen! Thanks

lulubears Apr 30, 2007

Hi Ellen.  Good for you realizing that the exhibitors need to help the shows as well as the promoters!  I am curious as to what made you realize this?   I know that when I first started doing bear shows many years ago, I didn't give much thought to doing any advertising myself.  Once I started selling bears, I saw how important it was that I let the collectors know where I would be next.   In some cases, if I hadn't told them about a show, they wouldn't have known about it.

I know of one collector couple who had returned to the same show year after year and only knew about it because I was keeping them informed.  They bought bears from just about everyone in the room every year, yet were never notified by any of the other artists or the promoter.  They still keep returning after all these years, but somehow are still not on anyone else's list.   It's scary to think how many collectors would actually show up if we took the time to send them something as a reminder. 

I suppose that as artists we always seem to think that the collectors who purchase a lot of bears from various artists are on everyone else's mailing list.  Unfortunately, sometimes they never end up on anyone's list and miss the shows completely.

Hugs,
Luann

bearhug07 May 1, 2007

Another point is that many collectors don't want to end up on organisers list as they worry about being annoyed by mail but they will often be happy to let a particular artist know their address because they feel that the artist will not send out too much junk mail.

This in particular will put an organiser behind the eight ball.

But it just comes down to the fact that  the more people talking about a show the more will hear about it......so don't be shy just let everyone know where you will be by flyer,  card or postcard, email, website, articles, advertising, anyway you can....just talk about it.

Many of my artists will take flyers and leave them in the craft stores in the local area for me.. I send flyers to the information centre and more.

Daphne May 1, 2007

Here is a little first hand experience with artist self-promotion after my show this weekend. I can give you solid facts here folks!

206 attended

69 postcards, supplied by me- the promoter- to the artists, were handed in at the door
13 coupons, printed from my website were also handed in
4 coupons, printed from my email to my mailing list were handed in
18 coupons from newspaper ads I ran were turned in

I ask on the door prize ticket they fill out how they heard about the show. A total of 133 indicated that they came because of notification they received from another artist... be it a mailing or seeing show postcards while attending another show.

Now, 200 isn't a lot. BUT... they were almost ALL collectors and they were buying! And not just the lower priced bears, many artists said they were selling their higher priced bears!

Last summer at my Maine show I had many more attend but they were 'drive-bys' who saw the sign or were looking for something to take their kids to while on vacation at the beach. Sales were no where near as good. I KNOW that not many artists sent out notifications. (In part because I didn't give them stacks of postcards to send out. I gave them a few and it was up to them to make copies. A little extra effort on the promoter's part, supplying all the postcards the artists wanted this year, paid off!) So, yes, ARTIST SELF PROMOTION MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE SUCCESS OF A SHOW!

Yes, my mission this year is to attract new collectors to the industry but teddy bear shows also need our faithful collectors to come and the only way they are going to know about a show or that their favorite artists are going to be there is if they HEAR FROM THOSE ARTISTS! And hey, if they get on more than one person's mailing list so what? They can share that extra postcard with someone else!

Artists... please know that, in my experience anyway, not all show promoters spend the time and money to send you postcards to send to your mailing list. You have to make your own. Please make the effort and do it. Do it for yourself as well as your fellow artists.

bearhug07 May 1, 2007

Ellen

You have hit on the magic of shows in one strike. Watching someone who is not generally a "fanciful" person pick up a bear or friend and fall into a relationship a first "cuddle". I think every artist who has been around a while will have a story of someone who has bought a bear from their table who does not normally collect and had attended the show under sufferance with a friend or better half. One of my favourite creations was bought by just such a long suffering husband.....I'll admit against his wife's objections. 

She is a "cutsie" traditional collector and my bears will never look like that but he loved this bear and after returning three times, he bought the bear and it now lives in their bedroom on his bedside table. He nearly always comes to say hello to me at bear shows and so does his wife ...although she will never buy from me.......she is only on MY mailing list!!!! Thanks to her husband.......work that one out  

But this is a sale and a relationship that would never have developed outside a show atmosphere and also they often only hear through shows by me contacting them.

All Bear May 1, 2007

I try hard to promote any shows I do.  The main thing I like to do is to build the atmosphere via my website and mailshots ... I usually add a show preview page to my website and make sure I add the show bears to it, one at a time ... right up until the big day!  That way, visitors can't resist returning to the website frequently to see the new bears as they are added and by the time the show is due, they are bursting to visit and buy in person!  Well, that's the theory anyway! 

It goes without saying that it's a good idea to have a 'shows' page on your website with all the relevant show details, ie date, address etc, displayed throughout the year.

At the show, I always make sure I have plenty of postcards advertising 'ALL BEAR' for collectors to pick up easily as they pass my table.  I also make sure I leave some wherever else the promoter allows.  If someone purchases a bear, I try to remember to pop a postcard into the bag with the bear too! 

Also, if mags offer photo opportunities for pre-show publicity, I try to make sure I take them up!

Flirtsdad May 1, 2007

An ad in a magazine got us to our  frist bear show.  We went to get Connie a bear.  But as i was wandering around I found Flirt and he ended up coming home with us.  This was our first bear and going back to the artist for one for Connie lead us to become  friends, then bearmakers and now pormoters for the Nevada City Bear Show.  Oh ....did I slip in a plug for our show     
Bill