It pays to advertise. Promoting a gallery the right way in the right publication will reap rewards, according to experts polled by Art Business News.
Gallery owners and marketing specialists agree that a successful print advertising campaign is based on targeting the right market and making a presentation that entices customers to call on you.
Advertising has several benefits, the most important of which is getting your name in front of your customers. 'Your customers need to know who you are, where you are, what you offer and why you're better than the next guy,' stated Eric Danneman, president of Martin Lawrence Galleries.
'Print advertising is probably the most common way to do this,' added Danneman. 'It's no use building the better mousetrap if no one knows you have it for sale.' Martin Lawrence Galleries are located in Beverly Hills, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Maui, New Orleans, New York, Newport Beach, San Francisco and Santa Clara, Calif.
'Gallery owners who don't advertise yet wait for people to walk through their doors are not participating in their own success,' observed Steve Diamant, president of Arcadia Fine Arts, New York. 'The goal of a gallery is to expose art to new markets. It's about increasing visibility.'
Print advertising affords potential clients time to warm up to a purchase, noted Rann Shinar, vice president of Fingerhut Group Publishers and Galleries, located in Sausalito, Laguna and La Jolla, Calif. 'When people walk into a gallery and see an artist for the first time, it will take them time before they are ready to make a purchase,' he said. 'But when they see the artist's name in print advertisements before arriving at the gallery, it creates familiarity. The name comes to ring a bell. Advertising establishes the foundation for that artist and allows the reader to become informed on the artist and his work.'
Executed properly, a print ad can start off as an educational tool that breeds familiarity, he observed. 'It's like the difference between meeting a stranger or seeing a friendly face. Familiarity can lead to sales,' he said. 'Once education is established, selling is the next step.'
Selecting an Advertising Vehicle
Advertising in the right vehicles will attract an audience to an artist and a gallery, according to Vicky Berg, director of operations for Axelle Fine Art, a publishing company based in New York that also has retail galleries in New York, New Orleans and a new one opening this year in San Francisco.
'The Yellow Pages are not the way to go anymore,' she added. 'You need to know what magazines are being read by your audience.'
'There are two kinds of marketing: general and specific,' said columnist Murray Raphel, president of Raphel and Associates, a marketing solutions firm with locations in Atlantic City, N.J., and St. Johnsbury, Vt. His column, 'The Art of Selling,' is published monthly in Art Business News.
Raphel said that a general advertising campaign address the universe while specific ad campaigns address a group of people. He said the latter is the most effective and less expensive. 'When you are targeting a specific market, you have to brand your store and target who you are, what you offer and why you are good at what you do,' he explained.
A basic strategy, said Raphel, is for galleries to seek magazines focused on like products. 'For instance, if your gallery specializes in Civil War memorabilia, advertising in a publication targeted to that market will get you the biggest bang for your buck.'
Likewise for fishing, sports or airplane inventory, among others. The annual publication Writer's Market is a means for exploring which vehicles target themselves to particular markets. The book lists thousands of magazines, publishers and agents and the key information you need to intelligently contact them, according to a review on Amazon.com. 'It lists thousands of magazines, categorizing them by demographics, subject matter, regions, etc.'
Sometimes, however, it pays to step outside of the box, noted Diamant of Arcadia Fine Arts, New York. The gallery recently showed payoffs from an advertisement placed in Architectural Digest. 'We held an exhibition of work by Malcolm T. Liepke and wanted to target the high-end designer market,' he said. 'It was our opportunity to make these people familiar with his work, and we absolutely saw results. People came in who were familiar with the artist but did not know how to acquire his work, and we saw people who were intrigued by what they saw in the ad.'
He noted that previous advertisements he had run in Architectural Digest showed rewards several months down the line when a potential client walked into the gallery holding an ad that he ran six months before. 'Not only did she make a purchase then, but she later purchased works by other artists,' he said. 'The readership of Architectural Digest does not decorate on a shoestring. They employ designers and have a large discretionary income.'
Each magazine has its own personality, Diamant observed. He has noticed a variety of trends in the customers who come to the gallery as a result of Arcadia's ads. He finds that Art & Antiques tends to feature artists whose works are visually more 'accessible.' American Art Review is a magazine Diamant finds to focus on much more traditionally inspired work. 'The `Contemporary Realism' section of American Art Review focuses on living artists and traditional imagery,' he said.
Fingerhut Galleries also tracks which of its advertisements attract clientele to its galleries. The consultants at each of the galleries ask clients where they first saw the work that they purchase and relay the information back to corporate headquarters to help track the ad dollars. This is an effective method of making sure your money is being spent wisely.
'Often Art & Antiques comes up, and we advertise more in that publication as well,' he said. 'We are inclined to go to Art & Antiques when we are doing something special. Normally, we promote artist originals and graphics programs. We have found that Architectural Digest readers tend to be interested in original works, while Art & Antiques readers purchase prints.'
Advertising in local publications also works well, noted Shinar. He said that when his gallery hosts a show, they do a series of promotions, and advertising in local publications becomes important. 'We advertise in the local newspapers, and we place advertisements in the magazines distributed in local hotels--concierges recommend us to the hotel patrons,' he explained. 'When we are in a slow season, we are inclined to have gallery shows and send out formal invitations. This is an example of the mountain going to Mohammed.'
Targeting clientele can differ between gallery locations, pointed out Danneman of Martin Lawrence. 'For example, some galleries are located in primarily tourist areas, so they should advertise in tourist-oriented publications. Others who have a more local client base should then look for upscale local magazines and newspapers with a readership that they hope to attract.'
Advertising techniques vastly differs from one gallery to another, agreed Shinar of Fingerhut. 'An artist will sell well in one location, and do medium rare in another,' he said. 'Normally, our gallery directors recognize the ambience of their gallery and what people are looking for. For instance, we find that our gallery in Sausalito gets a sophisticated collector base. Each of our galleries have certain products that sell well in their areas.'
Making a Presentation
The headline is the most important draw in creating an eye-catching ad, according to Raphel of Raphel Marketing. 'The ad's headline must either promise a benefit or provoke curiosity,' he said. 'The key thing is that you must have a headline that makes people want to keep on reading.'
According to Raphel, keeping a reader's eye is hard to do. A whopping 75 percent of an audience reads only the magazine headline. Only 25 percent keep going. 'If you cannot capture someone with a headline, you will lose them,' he explained.
Promoting an artist with examples of his or her work is essential, according to Diamant of Arcadia Fine Arts. 'I have always been curious about galleries that advertise an exhibition for an artist but only mention his or her name,' he said. 'We would never place an ad without an example of an artist's work. If you are going to advertise art, you have to show it, unless the artist is a household name or extremely well known within the community.'
Supporting a statement is another means of effective advertising, pointed out Shinar of Fingerhut. 'We usually run double-page ads that feature up to four of our artists. But, what we advertise depends on the message we want to get across,' he said.
For example, the company's artist, Jiang, was recently honored after years of being at odds with the established state-controlled art institute of his native China. 'The high regard for Jiang as an artist is evident in the special honors bestowed upon him at the West Lake International Art Expo in Hangzhou,' he said. 'This was a milestone and we wanted to get the word out about that. Collectors like to hear this sort of information, because it reinforces what we have been telling them about the direction the artist is going.'
Another tip about creating an effective ad is that colored imagery should always be reproduced in color. 'Nothing kills the look of art more than a black-and-white advertisement,' Shinar said. 'If you are going too advertise artwork, black and white is a waste of time,' agreed Diamant.
Galleries need to focus on their individual strengths and pay attention to detail, noted Danneman. He doesn't necessarily ascribe to the philosophy of 'bigger is better' or featuring loud colors or 'sale' logos to attract attention. 'The most effective ad is one that reaches it's target audience and offers them something they are looking for,' he said. 'No ad will be effective if the right people are not reading it.'
In addition, it is a wise choice to avoid distracting fonts and backgrounds that may take away from the artwork. A clean presentation, devoid of clutter is your best bet, agree gallery owners.
But Dannemann's most vital piece of advice is to be sure to let your customers know where you are located and how to get in touch with you. 'It is amazing how many ads leave off vital information, such as a complete address, phone number, Web site URL, hours of operation, etc.,' he added. 'The components of an advertisement can be called a purely personal choice, but it is essential that the message is clear and attractively presented.'
Expert Tips on Designing Effective Ads
[check] Use an eye-catching headline.
[check] Promote artists with examples of quality work.
[check] Choose art and text that gives the message of the show you are advertising.
[check] Reproduce color imagery in color, not black-and-white.
[check] Focus on the gallery's strengths.
[check] Avoid distracting fonts and backgrounds that may take away from the art.
[check] Pay attention to detail and be sure to include all of your gallery's most vital information like phone numbers, Web sites and addresses.
SOURCES
* Arcadia Fine Arts, (212) 965-1387
* Axelle Fine Arts, (718) 246-1200
* Fingerhut Art Galleries, 800-525-7456
* Martin Lawrence Galleries, 800-877-2250
* Raphel Marketing, (609) 348-6646
