A debatable question is, “Is it easier to have an artist business in the 21st century?” In our world artists can be seen around the world. Once a piece of art is created it can be seen by thousands of eyes with the help of social media. Collectors now can purchase their favorite artwork while sitting on their coach. What are the best marketing strategies for today’s businesses?
It is still the early 21st century, and the world is moving fast. If you look at how marketing was done in the 20th century compared to today’s marketing strategies you could ask yourself, “How did we get here so fast?” There is no question that technology is making this a fast paced world.
How can today’s artists build a successful business?
With the amount of marketing strategies available, you could spend the entire week marketing. This raises a problem. If you are spending your entire week marketing, how are you creating work to sell?
The only way to succeed is to stay with the times. Or is it?
I remember the days when people use to look up businesses in the yellow pages. Local businesses would purchase space in the yellow pages to advertise their business.
If they had enough money to spare on marketing they would purchase a larger ad. That was one way that a business could show its reputation. If a business owned a large ad in the yellow pages, they must be good.
The phone book would only target a small demographic area. I am talking small compared to today’s age. Today we can talk to anyone around the world.
Other than the yellow pages and local paper ads, building a business was a word of mouth that would bring a small local business traffic.
Other Marketing strategies would be TV commercials and billboards which only the large companies could afford.
So what else could a small business do to be successful and have a long run?
Their focus was on a clean store with great customer service.
I need to say this again. A clean store with the great customer service kept their doors open.
I want to share a story with you.
I was 19 years old and promoted to be in charge of a department for a large chain supermarket. The company was the largest chain in Southern New England with 422 stores.
I was excited and eager to learn all about the business. Due to my competitive nature, I wanted to be the best. I wanted to have the best department in my district. Within one year I accomplished that.
The ride was not all smooth sailing. There was a learning curve that at times was difficult. My willingness to try new ideas, study the results and address the outcome is what made me reach my goals.
How did I grow my customer base to reach my goals?
There were two main goals that I had; the department had to be clean and offer top customer service. My employees knew my mission, and they worked hard with me to achieve this mission.
It took about six months for the customers to gain our trust. They soon started to know us all by name, and we would know their names as well. They would walk up to us with a smile, and we would greet them with a smile. We cared about them as if they were all old friends. They knew that if they had a question, we would be able to assist them.
Sales and profit continued to go up. It was a great feeling to be able to reach my goal in such a short time. I was then training others to become leaders in different locations.
I do not want you to get the wrong idea. It took a lot of work between marketing, learning about all of the products and the finance.
The main focus was customer service and a clean well-displayed department. That is what made the department grow. Those were my two main marketing strategies.
After about ten years I became self-employed because I knew that if I could do that for a large chain, I could also do that for something that I have a passion for.
2 Marketing Strategies That are Overlooked
Customers Service
All I read for today’s marketing strategies is how to build traffic through social media. Take a look around. You will see how to build traffic with FaceBook, Twitter, Pinterest and the list goes on.
Are social media sites a marketers curse or a blessing?
I believe it could be both- depending on how it is handled. I believe that many businesses fail because they are not focusing on what matters for a business to be successful.
Customers should be the main priority. Without loyal customers, a business is sure to fail.
When you build a strong relationship with customers, your business will benefit from the use of social media sites.
Social media sites are for socializing. Many businesses overlook this important fact. They spend their energy in the latest “guaranteed way to increase traffic” for instant results. They soon realize that their efforts come up short.
It is more important for an artist to grow a relationship with their customers. Once trust is built between an artist and a collector, sales will occur.
I want to share a story with you.
When I went to purchase my first new car, I was very ignorant of what would be best for me. I didn’t know anything about cars. I knew where to put the gas in and how to check the oil. To this day, I still do not know much about cars. My only concern is to be able to get to a destination safely.
I went to a dealer through word of mouth. I was nervous at first because I didn’t know what I should say or ask for. I knew nothing except I needed a car and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on it.
I went to the sales person that I was referred to and introduced myself. I quickly explained that I didn’t know what I was looking for and what was best for me. I explained that I only cared about safety and not spending a lot of money.
She then started to ask me some questions. She knew exactly the right questions to ask so she would be able to show me the best options. There were no sales pitches just honest questions to get to know my thoughts.
A great business person knows the importance of asking the right questions.
Once she had the information that she needed from me, she showed me a few choices that would be best for me. Most businesses might have taken advantage of my ignorance of cars and try to sell me something that would benefit their needs. Instead, she was only interested in what car would be best for me.
I purchased the car that day. She went above and beyond to make this process as painless as she could. My first experience purchasing a new car was a good experience.
She won my trust.
I have only purchased my new cars from her and will continue to do so. She has built my trust, and she has gained a loyal customer.
She could have made a quick profit from that sale. It would have been easy for her to do. Instead, she knew that it would be more profitable for her long-term if she built my trust.
She did just that. I have purchased five new cars from her and recommended her to anyone looking for a new car.
Thinking long-term is how a business survives and grows. The main focus a business should have is great customer service.
Clean and Organized
A clean and organized store are welcoming to a customer walking in through the doors. That is the first impression, and it is very powerful.
The store should have a layout that makes it easy for the customer to find what they are looking for.
People are busy and time is valuable. A store that makes it a quick shopping experience shows that they have respect for their customers.
Have you ever been in a situation that you needed something in a hurry? You run into a store and realize that you are spinning in circles trying to figure where the item you need is located.
Knowing that you do not have much time, you try to find someone that could help you. You are soon disappointed and frustrated when you realize that the workers do not know much more than you do. They are no help at all.
The outcome is you leave without the item that you needed. You lost valuable time. The business lost a customer.
How does this affect an artist that sells online?
That is a great question. If you focus on selling art online, you will not have customers that walk into a store.
Your objective, however, should be the same.
Your online presence should be easy to navigate, welcoming, clean, and organized.
The average time a person spends on a website is less than a minute. Your objective is to keep your readers on your site for as long as you can.
If you have your site set up where it is easy for the reader to find the information that they are looking for they will stay longer on your site.
This goes back to our first topic, customer service. Having a site that is designed for your customers is great customer service. You are building their trust.
Blog and Website Design
This is something that you will want to spend some quality time thinking about. The more time that you spend researching other sites the better of an idea you will have to your online presence.
For more info read:
How to Brand your Blog with Themes
Overview
Although there is a lot that you will need to discover about customer service and building an online presence, I believe that you should spend most of your energy starting here with your marketing strategies.
Then and only then will you be able to grow your business and try different marketing strategies.
You will find more articles to build your online presence with an artist blog by clicking on the link below.
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