THE GOOD THING ABOUT CYBER SPRING CLEANING - YOU DON'T EVEN GET DIRTY

Since time is something we all seem to have plenty of right now with the quarantine and all, I have set out to freshen up my online image.  I think it is good to do a bit of cyber spring cleaning once in a while and the really great thing about it is that you don't even have to get your hands dirty! 

If you are like me then the year past has brought about changes in your style or maybe you have new favorite artwork that need to be incorporated into your marketing materials or online banners and logos. 

I've noticed that many websites and blogs have changed from having dark colors to almost white minimalist feel.  I like that look so I've been changing over all my sights so that there is uniformity and cohesiveness across my cyber domain. 

I've done a lot of painting this past year and while most of them were smaller pieces, they can really add a mighty punch when used in as part of your marketing materials.  What can show people what you do then to give them pictures of what you do?  Does that make sense?  So this past few weeks I have redesigned my banners for my Etsy Shop, my Facebook Studio page, Twitter and Instagram.  Let me know what you think of my NEW LOOK.

I have even begun learning about marketing on Pinterest and how to brand my art by designing cool pins and getting followers to my boards.  I'm excited at the possibilities for growth there and certainly will be sharing more about that in the future.

2018/19 Banner Design

My new and improved 2020 look

These three little sweeties are actually from paintings I finished in January and February of this year.  I LOVE their faces and I think they are the perfect representatives of my "FARMHOUSE WHIMSY" art.  Don't they just make you want to run up and pet them? 

Now that I think about it, all three of this original artwork pieces are available for purchase on my Etsy Shop.   I would have thought these would have been sold right away because of their cuteness.  I will give you the link to each of them if you want to check them.  Remember, there is only one original and when it's gone it's gone.

HER GOATNESS
LITTLE SWEET PEA
EMMY LOU

"Her Goatness"

"Little Sweet Pea"

"Emmy Lou"

Besides my new "Wash Tub" series I have been drawing, I had to take down all the artwork that I hung up as the featured artist for March in Boulder City.  I think it hung up for a whole 2 weeks before the pandemic shut everything down.  So yesterday, I started really organizing my studio and and creating an actual inventory room. That is code for "It looks like a tornado blew through and tossed the joint."  I'm the kind of girl that loves to have a place for everything, but I never can really decide where that place should be.  Are you like that?


One great thing to report is that in the 2 weeks my art was on display at the gallery for "Life on the Funny Farm" show,  I was able to sell just over $400 in artwork and my March online sales were once again record breaking for me.  I feel very blessed about that. 

I also saw my goal of 5000 likes to my Facebook Page realized and even now a few weeks later I'm up to 6600 likes.  That blows just really blows me away.

Two B's or Not Two B's?

The 2 B's that I'm speaking of are Branding and Biography. In my mind there is no question on just how important these two bricks are in the formation of a strong business foundation.  They really are the cornerstones.  This blog today is focusing on the "BRANDING" brick.

So, before you can really launch into a successful art business, you will need to roll up your sleeves, grab some bricks and mortar and start laying a foundational plan for you and your artwork.  Yes, there is just a wee bit more involved to marketing then printing yourself up some business cards but the rewards for the extra effort are great.

Branding is a marketing term that I know you have heard many times before.  I'm pretty sure your mind jumps immediately to any number of large well known corporations and their recognizable logos.  The NIKE swoosh or the McDonald's golden arches are good examples.  The reality is that branding is much more then just designing a catchy logo.  It's the WHOLE experience and it starts with the first interaction you have with a potential collector and continues on beyond the  shipping off your sold artwork.  That is why you have to have this worked out because just "winging" it won't create that consistent impression that you are wanting to achieve.

While this maybe a scary thought but you have to realize that YOU ARE THE BRAND! That's right! Along with being the CEO, CFO and all the other O's rolled into one big art ENCHILADA.  You could be the best artist on the planet and if you don't lay the right foundation then it is doubtful that you will sell the amount of art that you could have.   The old saying "The Buck Stops Here" rings true but if you lay a strong foundation then those bucks won't actually stop but rather will keep flowing right into your bank account.  I love this explanation of branding given by Angela Cross, "Your personal identity as an artist may be the well-spring of your work, but your brand is the vehicle that makes you money."  (https://skinnyartist.com/artist-branding-tips/)

So here are some basic questions to help you get started creating your brand.
1.  What's your story?  This might be one of the hardest questions to actually answer.  It doesn't have to be a Greek tragedy or a stand up comic routine.  For goodness sakes, don't make it up or embellish it.  People can tell if you aren't being real.  You just need a story that will help people remember you and your art when they have walked out of the room.

My story is probably typical and a rather boring one, but I can work my story into my motivation to create art and that makes it memorable.  For example, I grew up in the heart of rural America, 1/2 mile down a gravel road in the middle of no where Missouri.  While we didn't own a farm, there was farming all around us and that has left an impression or mark on me, and even though I have lived in a very large city my entire adult life, the experiences of a country childhood have had a huge impact on my life and my art.  

2.  What's your motivation? Why do you create art in the first place?   For me personally, I create my art to find peace in the chaos.  In the process, hopefully bring those that view my art back to a more innocent time in their life.  I want to transport them back to their childhood and memories of visiting their grandparent's farm or family trips to the country.  The ultimate response I am looking for, besides them pulling out the wallet, is a simple "SMILE".  We live in such a dark and sad world and if I can only, for a moment, bring a spark of happiness or a spot of light to their day, then I have accomplished my mission.  After all, I feel that I have a God given talent and it is my ministry to use it to bring Him and His creation glory.

3. What words would you use to describe your style of art?   That was a tough one because I really didn't know.  There are realism, abstractism, impressionism and many other "isms" but none really felt like the correct label for my art.  There is one word that I do hear often from observers of my art and that is the word WHIMSICAL.  So the style I'm embarrassing to describe my art is "Childlike Whimsyism" or "Farmhouse Whimsyism".  It's okay to make up words, because after all, we are artists and the rules that govern proper language don't apply to us. Remember, we have that ace card up our sleeves called "Artistic Liberties".

Once you have determined the style you are passionate about, then stick with it.  Create art that people will recognize to be yours even before they see the title card or your signature.  It's okay in the process to learn the techniques for creating from artists that you respect but the goal here isn't to copy them but to develop those techniques and apply them in your own unique way.  I don't want my art to look like a "Bob Ross" or a "Thomas Kinkade", but rather I want it to look like a "Julie Townsend".

4.  Who is your target market?  It would be amazing if our art could touch the 7.8 billion people that call this planet home but that isn't going to happen. Who would buy your art?  What do they look like?   You really have to consider what the demographics of your customer base looks like so you can come up with a strategy to best reach them.  I love to paint farm animals so it is pretty easy for me to find people on social media (mostly ladies) that share my love of cows, pigs and chickens.

HOMEWORK:  Get yourself a notebook and start jotting down words and phrases that come to mind to help you with your story and your style of art.  You don't have to invent the wheel here.  There are many great examples of successful artists and write them down on a list and then start reading their stories, looking at their websites and what they are doing.  I invite you to check out my Website, Etsy Shop or Facebook Studio Page.  


 

Marketing My Art with the Help of Some Mice

Working on my first post that I plan to boost on Facebook by purchasing some advertising.  The goal of course is to get more followers to my Studio Art Page.  So one of my marketing plans for 2019 is to have regular art giveaways and drawings to generate an excitement.  Here is my first drawing for 2019 and I'm super excited about it.  Hope over to my Facebook page and enter today.

Time to Get Rid of the Dust and Cobwebs

With the coming of a new year, there are lots of resolutions and commitments made to improve health, making new goals and promises to finally get organized.  There is just something uplifting and inspiring about new starts, new beginnings and new calendars.  It is also the perfect time to give your online presence a good cleaning up.

That is what I've been doing the past couple days.  It is important for me to maintain the branding I have already created for myself so I want to make sure that all my online platforms have a similar look.  I'm pretty happy with the changes I've made so far.

First, I'm still considering changing up my motto from "Telling Stories with my Paintbrush" to "Telling Paintbrush stories To Make You Smile".  I really like the idea of working the concept of the Smile into my motto.  From experience I have first hand observed over and over the reaction that my art causes when an individual steps into my booth or views my display and I can honestly say there is usually a smile involved. 

So let me show you what I've come up with for my website home page.  It is so important that the first impression you get is visually impacting.  You want your website landing pages to grab you and make you want to stay.  I'm hoping that from there the natural thing to to is to checkout the rest of my tabs and spend sometime in my gallery and not just immediately click on to the next site.

I've chosen Dancing Script as the font for my studio name and KG Be Still and Know as the second font.  It is really important that you stay consistent with the details.  I can make some adjustments with the layout of the artwork across the different platforms but the font needs to stay the same.

Here is an example of a page banner design that I created to use on my Facebook Studio page or on my Etsy Shop.  You can still see the theme remains the same.

business card front

Another extremely important marketing tool is that of your business card.  Here is currently the draft of what I have worked out for my new design.  I'm not quite ready to order cards yet so I will probably make a few adjustments.  I do have my phone number listed on the back of my card but covered it up here on my blog for privacy sake. 

business card back

So I encourage you to take some time to consider your website, Facebook Page or Blog and perhaps do some sprucing up of your own.    It is amazing how just a change of color palette, font choice or adding a few images can make such a difference.  If you don't have an online presence for your art or whatever creative outlet you do, then I encourage you to make that a goal for 2019.

Feel free to comment below or message me if you have questions about marketing.  Please consider following me on my Facebook Studio Page 

Hold Your Horses and COWS...2019 is HERE

HAPPY NEW YEAR!   2019 came in with a bang...literally between the fireworks and the gun shots!  

Looking back at 2018 I can say it was a great year of growth that my little studio has seen in 2018 and I couldn't be more pleased. 

It has been my habit for the past few years to take a few minutes on January 1st to record specific marketing data on each of my social media accounts and on my Etsy Shop.  I do this so that I can make a comparison to the previous year.  My likes on my Facebook Studio Page  have doubled to 723 and on Instagram there has been a 35% growth in the number of those following my art. 

Here is something new I've decided to do.  I'm keeping a map of sales locations by state for 2019.  For 2018 I went back through my shipping records on Pirateship.com where I mail out all my package orders.  This is both Facebook, Ebay and Etsy sales.  It doesn't include local sales via galleries, art shows or personal sales deliveries here in the Las Vegas area.  This represent mostly sales of cowbells but there were some print orders included.  Now I didn't start using Pirateship.com until mid year so this is really a 6 month picture.  The purpose here was for me to see a visual of where my art is being collected.  I can see that I need to do some work to grow a fan base west of the Missouri River. I'm really anxious to start seeing the 2019 map fill up.   

One last thing I wanted to share with you this morning...I'm having a drawing on Facebook that I'm really excited about.  A few months ago I found a little set of 3 faux wooden books at the thrift store for $.50 and brought them home and painted little mice on them.  The set sold right away.  I decided I would try to find more of these little faux books to paint on.  That wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.  Apparently, these were made in the 80's and are not available for purchase online.  I managed to purchase one set on Etsy and another on Ebay so I have a total of 6 more I can paint on.  I'm hoping soon that my husband can make me up something scrap lumber that will duplicate them for the future. 

Because they turned out so cute, I thought it would be fun to have a little mousie faux book as a studio giveaway.  I decided to team up with my friend and distant cousin, Jolene Worm of Jolene's Gathering of Old Folks and add one of her cute as heck mouse dolls to make a "Mousie Duo". 

To enter the drawing isn't hard.  You must hop over and "LIKE", "SHARE" my Studio Facebook Page and "LEAVE A COMMENT'.  The drawing info is pinned to the top of my page.   If you don't have Facebook you can also enter by joining my Studio VIP list through my website.  It only takes a minute and you just might be the lucky winner!

Getting My Mock-ups On

Creating new mockups to show case my art is actually fun and challenging.  I not only add the artwork to this completely digital room but I have fun finding accessories that are matching to correspond to the art.  Everything from a vase of pansies to a pair of red Converse tennis shoes.  I thought I would share a few of the images I've designed to help you visualize just how great my artwork would look on YOUR walls. 

All these images are listing in my Etsy Shop if you want to hope over there and check them out.

 

Paint it and They Will Come

Unfortunately, it isn't always that easy.  Marketing your art is actually a great deal of  hard work.   Recently, I have found myself being pretty successful using Facebook as a marketing tool.  I have made a number of sales and grew my fan base substantially.  I couldn't be more happy about this fact.  I'm so excited about this that I wanted to share a few tips with you that seem to have helped me in this area.

Now, I know what you are thinking.  I’m going to start spouting out information about algorithms and SEO’s, but I can’t do that.  Mostly, because I really know nothing about that stuff.  If you were hoping for real technical information from this blog, you might as well stop reading now. Besides, I believe the vast majority of artists really don’t want to take the time to understand all the technical mumbo jumbo.  I do however have 4 marketing tips to share with you today that seem to have really worked for me.

1.  Add a Watermark.  I now add my “Julie Townsend Studio” as a label or watermark to all of my pictures.  If my art is shared, and I hope it is, then they will always know that I am the artist.  If, with just a few layers of sharing, a photo of your artwork can be out there and there is no way to get it back.  You have lost your opportunity to make your name known to the public.  The ultimate goal here should be that everyone knows your name.  It is your brand so treat each photo you publish, even your WIP photos, as if it will go viral the moment you press that “publish” button.

2.   Use Tag Words on your photos to make them more searchable on the web.  I put my studio name and about 5 or 6 other tag words to describe the image.  I’m sure there is a whole range of ways to do this, but I found that my phone does this very easily for me.  I use the edit feature to add both the label and the tag words when I’m cropping and adjusting the image.  Now I think the tag words stay when you even go in later and save another copy.  For example, I will go back in and put a SOLD label on a piece of work that has sold and use that as a marketing tool to let my follows know that they had better grab up my art right away if they find something they like.  It creates a sense of urgency with your collectors.   It has been my experience so far, the tag words are there on the second saved image automatically, so I don't have to add them again.

3.  Drive traffic to your Facebook Page.  There are a lot of places that tell you to drive traffic to for art sales.  Etsy, Ebay, Fine Art America and your website are just a few. Short of meeting collectors in person at a public event, Facebook gives me the best platform to actually build a rapport with your audience.  So if you are an artist, YOU NEED AN ART Page!  I'm not joking about this one. DO IT!

My art page has been slow going for me.  I started the page for a several years and have been discouraged many times and just how slow it has been to grow and build followers.  I would always wind up posting my new art pieces to my personal page also because I had a larger audience there and not really give my Art Page the daily attention it needed.  What is the draw then for my FB friends to want to like my Art Page?  ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!  I didn’t give them any incentive to make that leap.  In the past few months, I have really made a conscious effort to keep the two pages separate.  I’ve realized a nice amount of growth in my audience there and most of that can be contributed to my next recommendation.

4.  Join some Facebook Groups.  I don’t know why I didn’t come up with this sooner because the simple action of joining a couple of niche groups has really been a huge boost for me as an artist.  Just this week alone, I’ve seen 80 new likes to my Facebook Art Page due to sharing my art on the FB groups I belong to.

Now I have been a part of a number of art groups for years.  Acrylic Painters, Miniature Art Painters, Western Artists, Artistic Journaling and the list goes on.  But the reality is that artists don’t really buy other artists work.  These groups are great for inspiration and art tips but they stink when it comes to actual art sales.

I have to back track here for a minute so I hope you don't mind.  A few years ago I discovered that I really liked painting cows and other farm animals and scenes in my paintings. It started with my series of work that I called "Down Country Roads"  That has developed into me really find my style of painting. My whole focus has really fallen into creating art that makes you want to smile.  My motto after all is "Telling Stories With my Paintbrush”.  With that in mind, it is a natural for me to be part of groups that focus on farmhouse style, primitive and country decorating.

Let me tell you these groups are out there and they have thousands of members and most of those people LOVE my cowbells. Now some groups clearly say NO SELLING but other groups are fine with it. So make sure you read carefully all the information about the group before asking to join.


Groups are about relationships, so don’t just jump in there on day one blasting them with your whole gallery.  Take your time, balance yourself and become part of the group.  You will develop friendships that become fans and then collectors wanting to follow you.  That is when you can direct them to your FB Art Page.

I would suggest that you do the following first if you want to increase of art fan base  and who doesn't want that?  You first figure out what your fans actually look like.  Make a list of niches that your art might fall into and then you simply start looking for groups that are filled with people who are passionate about that niche. There are groups for everything.  Let's say you like painting landscapes, especially mountains.  Well I would try outdoor enthusiasts, camping, hunting or hiking groups.  What if you like painting sea life?  Well you would look for groups of whale lovers, marine lovers or boating enthusiasts.  You get the direction I'm going with this.  Give it a try, be creative and stay steady.  It isn't going to happen overnight.

If you found these tips helpful, please leave me a comment.  Sometimes blogging is a lonely endeavor and you pretty much feel like you are talking to yourself.  I NEED feedback!   If you want to check out my social media sites you can find me on Facebook, Etsy and Instagram @JulieTownsendStudio.  Check me out and like my pages, ESPECIALLY MY ART PAGE!

Pinch Me Because I Must Be Dreaming

What if I told you that I have found a website that is still I  a week later blowing my mind.  To think that all of the Etsy tools I'm finding there on just the free version are amazing.  The site is called EtsyRank.com and if you have an Etsy Shop, you really need to check this site out!


For sometime I have been trying to find a tool to help me with keyword generation.  I find that in every application that I have my art listed at needs good keywords for SEO searching.  Sometimes it gets hard to be uniquely creative with keywords and you certainly want to drill into the mind of your target audience and use words and phrases they would be searching with.         



Here is an example of a few of the great features you will find on this site once it is linked to your Etsy Shop.  I love the Your Listings Section.  Originally, I found that I had 7 spelling issues.  Silly me, I had even incorrectly typed my own name on one listing.  I would never had realized that if it wasn’t for using this tool.






For this blog example, I did a search on “GOAT POSTER”.   EtsyRank.com gives you statistics about this key word you are considering so you can decide if that is the keyword that gives you the most visibility.  There is also suggestions for additional keywords.  I don't know about you, but when it comes to creating unique keywords for a listing I find myself scratching my head and not always sure that what I'm coming up with is creative enough.  So much of the success of my listing depends on this and now I feel I have the tools to make solid decisions about what words I should use.



It was only just yesterday that I realized that just a little further down on my screen I was actually being shown the listings of my top competitors for that key word category.  I almost fell out of my chair when I saw this.  I can really make informed marketing decisions about my product and find that niche to help my products stand out.  Remember what they say, "The riches are in the niches".


It seems I just can’t say enough about how useful I feel this tool will be for my Etsy Shop in the future.  It’s a REAL ETSY GAME CHANGER!

You want to check out my Etsy Shop or Website then please stop in and say hi.  Leave me a comment on this blog if you found this information helpful.

I would LOVE to hear from you because sometimes it gets mighty lonely here!

Taken to the Graphics Wood Shed

I've been doing very limited graphic designs for a while now and they have all been for my personal use.  I'm not a professional graphic designer and never plan to be.  I taught myself a little Photoshop in July and I have been non-stop designing marketing materials for myself ever since.  I am proud of that fact.  See, you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Here are just a few of the examples of designs I created recently.  My art show marketing postcards, my banner and this adorable marketing image to share on my social media accounts.  All turned out just the way I wanted them to; colorful and humorous. I think they are just a perfect fit for my artwork.

The past 9 months have been amazing.  I'm loving the Photoshop I have learned and it allows me to create so many things.  Photoshop has taken my artwork to a whole new level  Now let me remind you, that I have had no formal training in either art or graphics so everything you see here is created from basically my gut feelings and my creative eye.  I just found out that BOTH HAVE BETRAYED ME!

Not only have I created my own monthly studio newsletter and marketing cards, I am always busy designing things for the Art House LV Gallery here in Las Vegas.  I am one of two volunteer directors at the gallery so you can just imagine how many hats I must wear.

One of my favorite marketing themes as of late, is to use images of members of my family and add them into different funny settings that then advertise the gallery.  Here are just a few of social media marketing images I created for the Art House LV Gallery.

I have also published several newsletters in the past 9 months to promote the gallery.  Here you can see the front and back pages of my most current newsletter.  I love the bright colors and how I have the daisy wrapping between the two pages.  I was so pleased at how this turned out....That is until just the other night when I was chatting with one of the younger gallery photographers and to my complete shock and dismay he said to me, "I have hesitated to tell you this, but since we are discussing the newsletter, I just thought you should know that no one in the graphics field uses COMIC SANS as a font anymore. It works for what you are doing but really shouldn't be on the gallery website or marketing materials."

At that moment, I felt as if my whole world had changed.  I mean COMIC SANS has been my standard go to font for everything.  I even have it set up as my default font for my emails.  How could I not know this?  I'm just now learning that it is right up there with the font Papyrus. Yes, I did watch the SNL skit regarding the Papyrus font being used on Avatar.  I think the humor was lost on me at that moment.

I came home from the gallery and in a moment of weakness I posted my misery for all my Facebook Friends to read.  That is when I received my enlightening to the errors of my ways.  These friends held nothing back.

If you think you might like my art, please check out my Etsy Shop or my website gallery and please don't tell me if it is also in COMIC SANS font because I haven't checked there yet.

FACEBOOK DISCUSSION THE OTHER NIGHT REGARDING COMIC SANS FONT:

ME:  I'm just a bit upset right now. I was just informed that graphically speaking, Comic Sans as a font is just a bad choice. That is like my go to font. Now I have to rethink everything.

LG: It's art, art is at the discernment of the viewer. That being said art may be judged by the viewer but that judgment shouldn't be pressed on others.

VT: This applies to everything else in the except comic sans.

           ST: Did they recommend a different one? lol!

Manage

ME: Not really...um just left in the void of graphic space. It's lonely out there. Lol

Manage

LB: The most likely reason you were told so is that it’s one of the first fonts use, and overused in books & other graphic design platforms. But who care? It works great with what you’ve been doing.

Manage

VT: Literally any other 100k fonts would be better.

ST:  All this time everyone stayed quiet! 😂😂😂😂

VT: The thing with comic sans, in my opinion, is that when we started doing graphics in the late 80's, you had a choice of about 3 fonts. Comic sans was the "coolest" one. So to still be using it gives the illusion of not progressing in the last 30 years.

VT: Jules, do you use dafont? Lots of fun choices. Try "eponymous" or "century gothic"

ME:  VT,  I have downloaded a few fonts from there but it is overwhelming. Rest assured I will be getting out of the 80's now. This all steamed from a conversation I had with XXXXX last night about the website. I've only been doing graphics for the past 9 months or so and I just had no idea. Well I have been EDGUMACATED now!

LG:  Again opinions lol

KA:  Agree LG Some people are still hippies!!! BE YOURSELF. Font snobs!