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Boost Your Sales with Spring Holiday Promotions
Next month, the craft community will see sales soar in the lead up to one of the season’s biggest holidays: Mother’s Day! That means that newspaper editors around the country are busy right now researching ideas for gift guides. Now is the perfect time to get your name and products out there, and drive demand for your work. Here are a few things you can do to get you started.
Sharpen Your Angle, Prepare Your Pitch
No editor wants to receive just general information about a product. You need to provide them with a reason to write about you and your work. What is it about your work (or you) that makes it interesting? In newspaper talk: What’s your angle?
Once you’ve gotten that down, you will need to provide context. How you present the information will greatly impact whether or not an editor includes your work. Editors want information that’s relevant. Try to think of the ways in which your work relates to the spring season or Mothers Day.
Sharpen Your Pencils, Too
Now that you’ve decided what makes your work or you interesting, and you’ve thought about how you can relate that to the editor’s interests, it’s time to write up a short press release. Make sure you’re following proper press release format! You can read about that at http://www.lunareclipse.net/pressrelease.htm.
Polish off Your Press Kit
With more and more materials being available online, some folks in the PR industry have claimed that the printed press kit is dead. Whether it’s online or off, a good press can still help earn you coverage. You can include a recent press release, an artist’s statement, a short biography, and LOTS of color images printed on glossy photo paper. Don’t forget to include your contact information on every piece in the kit.
If you’re putting together a printed press kit, make sure to provide all materials on a CD. You’ll also want to put your materials in an eye-catching package—anything that will both intrigue someone enough to pick it up, and relevant enough for them to understand what you do. If it’s on your website, of course, you can just email out a link to the materials. Be sure to provide high-resolution (300 DPI) images to be used in print on both your print press kit and your website.
Ready, Aim, Fire!
Once you’ve gotten your materials together, it’s time to start sending them out. Because the shotgun approach rarely works, take some time to do a little research. Do you want to hit a local, regional or state audience? What type of person is buying your work, and are there any specialty publications that cater to them? Find out who the editors are and give them a call. Ask them if they’re working on anything special for Mothers Day or spring. If they say yes, ask them if you can send them a press kit.
But remember: editors are busy people! Making sure you ask them if it’s a convenient time for them will help you earn their trust—and hopefully some ink in their publication.
Wholesale Matters Blog-Watch
Have you seen the Buyers Market blog yet? Find out what’s new in wholesale, get wholesale tips and tricks, find cool online business tools, and more at http://buyersmarketblog.typepad.com. Here are a few recent headlines:
- Hi from ABI!
- Craftsman’s Challenge Competition
- Reader’s Choice Awards
- Dennis Stevens on Talk Shoe
- Market Matters
OPPORTUNITIES KNOCKING
Call for Entries: 2008 NICHE Awards
Applications for the 2008 NICHE Awards are now available online at www.AmericanCraft.com. Artists can download an application at the newly revamped NICHE Awards web page. Other useful information includes updated rules and guidelines, as well as information about the 2008 NICHE Awards ceremony, special display and finalist notifications.
Categories include Ceramics, Fiber, Glass, Metal, Wood, Jewelry, Home Furnishings, Goblets, Judaica, Mixed Media, Narrative, Recycled, Teapots and more. New categories include Handmade Beads and Polymer Clay.
Judging is based on three main criteria:
- technical excellence, both in surface design and form
- market viability
- a distinct quality of unique, original and creative thought
Finalists are invited to display their work in the NICHE Awards exhibit at the February Philadelphia Buyers Market of American Craft, February 15-18, 2008, and will be included in the Winter 2008 issue of NICHE magazine. Winners will be announced at the February 2008 Buyers Market and featured in the Spring 2008 issue of NICHE magazine.
Call for Artists
If you haven’t gotten your application for the 2007 August Buyers Market yet, now’s the time! Applications are currently being reviewed. Visit www.americancraft.com/BMAC/artist/index.html to read the eligibility requirements and download the application. Space is limited, so apply today!
ADDRESSING IRAQ: MAIL-ART ABOUT THE WAR
The Reitz Gallery, University of Florida. Deadline for receipt of work 4/12/07. Exhibition will occur April 16-27th. For more details visit our web-page at http://plaza.ufl.edu/revelle or email revelle@ufl.edu, or just mail your war-response postcards, photos, placards, flyers, color-copies, DVD format videos, posters, home-made T-shirts, or other mail-able artworks to “ADDRESSING IRAQ: Mail-Art About the War” c/o Professor Barbara Jo Revelle, College of Fine Arts, School of Art and Art History, PO Box 11580, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611. All works submitted will be exhibited. No return of work! All entry fees will be donated to either “Doctors Without Borders” or “A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition” (Act Now to Stop WAR and End Racism). Include entry fee in the form of check made out to one or both of these two organizations. Enclose check(s) in the envelope/package with your artwork(s). $5.00 entry fee per artwork is the suggested minimum, but any amount will be gratefully accepted and sent on to the organization you indicate. Alternately, you can use your PayPal account to pay your entry fee/donation to: AddressingIraq@gmail.com
Craftsman’s Challenge Competition
Veneer Technologies of Newport, NC, is now accepting entries for the company’s cash prize competition, Veneer Tech Craftsman’s Challenge Awards™. The competition aims to recognize achievement in the use of natural veneer through cash awards and other recognition to designers, craftsmen, distributors and distributors sales representatives. Any amount of natural veneer from any source used in the end product will qualify entries. Entrants each may submit up to a total of three entries. A cash award of $5000 will be made to the creator of the grand prize-winning entry. The distributor of the veneer for the grand prize-winning entry will receive $3000, and the corresponding distributor salesman will receive $2000. The top-judged student entry will receive a $1000 scholarship check. These cash prizes as well as other awards will be made at AWFS® Vegas, July 18-21, 2007, in Las Vegas, NV. Entries will be accepted through June 8, 2007. Judges will be well-recognized third party professionals in woodworking media, education and design. Competition categories include: Furniture, Store Fixtures, Cabinetry, Architectural Woodworking, Specialty Products and Student Design. Entry materials are available from Veneer Technology sales representatives, distributors, and through http://www.veneertech.com. Online entry is encouraged for submissions of digital photography and forms at http://www.veneertech.com.
Quote of the Month:
Understanding human needs is half the job of meeting them.
—Adlai E. Stevenson Jr. (1900 - 1965), speech, October 3, 1952
Market Insider
Archive - MI newsletters from previous months. |
