You finished the work. You delivered it to the venue on time. The show is hung. Suddenly you have just 5-10 days before the opening. And you’re exhausted.
The last thing you want to think about is marketing, and, yet, it has to be done.
That window is the period when people are most likely to pay attention and decide whether or not to show up. But it’s already too late to reach the people who scheduled another commitment a few weeks ago. And it won’t fix the deeper reasons your supporters stayed home.
Anything you do in those final 5-10 days will be but a bandage. The real work happens long before that.
Let’s talk about why they stayed home and what you can do differently next time.
You let your list get cold.
You assumed you could count on certain people to show up even if you’d been out of touch. But we can’t expect people to hop to attention when we ask something of them. We have to show that we care about the relationship — and that means staying in touch long after they purchased from you, started following you, or asked to receive your emails.
When you have a strategy for regular contact, you don’t have to reintroduce yourself when you finally do ask something of them (like showing up to your show).
You counted on the venue.
You relied on the venue to get the word out. After all, why bother with a venue if they’re not going to earn their commission?
They’re thinking the same thing about you: Why did we bother booking this artist if they aren’t getting people to the show?
Venues have an entire program of artists and exhibitions lined up. To the point, you are a small fish in their big pond. What’s important to you isn’t always critical to them. You can’t rely on the venue.
I think about this from my perspective: if I had a personal relationship with an artist, I’d feel a little left out if I heard about the show from the venue rather than the artist. I’d think I wasn’t very important to them.
You relied on a social media post.
You relied on people to see your invitation on Facebook. Or the photo of the postcard you shared on Instagram.
You can’t post once or twice to social media and expect results, especially these days. Algorithms aren’t being very nice to us. And even when someone does see an invitation, people generally don’t act until they’ve seen it multiple times.
You need a variety of touch points:
- A postcard to save the date
- Stacks of postcards in strategic locations
- Mentions in your newsletter
- Consistent posts on social media
- Flyers, where appropriate
But the best use of your time is personal contact with the people you most want there.
They didn’t know how important it was to you.
Nothing moves people to action like a personal invitation. Not a mass email. An actual message sent only to them, from the heart.
Never underestimate the value of a personal invitation when you’re asking for action. People need to know how much this show means to you. Not in a high-pressure, salesy way with a bunch of exaggerated adjectives and adverbs.
Be discerning about where you spend your relationship capital. You can’t call in every favor for a another group show where you have one piece. Save the personal outreach for the moments that matter most.
Nobody is going to be as invested in your show as you are. But the people who are close to you should understand what it means to you.
You were afraid to send email reminders.
You hoped that one email would do the trick. That they’d read it, write it on their calendar, and remember. They didn’t.
Many artists admit to being afraid to “bother people” with another email. But the numbers on last-minute reminders are cause to change your tune. The highest percentage of responses tends to come from messages that say It’s tomorrow.
This is why it’s so useful to have your list segmented so that you don’t have to send to people who live too far to do anything at the last minute. Short of the segmentation, you can send personal reminders.
The people your message was meant for will thank you for the reminder.
It’s not just uncomfortable to contact people only when you want something. It’s impolite. There are plenty of people out there who want to show up for you. Make sure they hear from you and know they’re appreciated.
Make a list of the people you most want at your next show. Before the event, reach out to each of them personally — not a newsletter, not a social post, but a direct message that tells them why this show matters to you and how much you’d value their presence.
You can quote me.
“While you may think you’re bothering them with too much marketing, they’re thinking, why didn’t she invite me? Why didn’t I know about this?“
“Remember, they signed up to be on your list. If you don’t tell them about something, it’s a disservice.”
“One personal contact is going to give you better results than all those email blasts put together.”
Mentioned in the episode
How to pitch to The Art Biz (or anyone else)
Lisa Call’s 2010 post about why Quilt National is important to her (she’s probably cringing that I’m sharing this old post, but it’s the best example I know of)
July 9 Workshop: Follow Up Already
This post was originally published February 28, 2018. It has been updated significantly with the addition of a podcast episode. Original comments are intact.
The post Why nobody came to your art show (271) appeared first on Art Biz Success.