Looking for design inspiration?   Browse our curated collections!

Return to Main Discussion Page
Discussion Quote Icon

Discussion

Main Menu | Search Discussions

Search Discussions
 
 

Lesa Fine

9 Years Ago

A Spin On Promotion/marketing And Sales?

Speaking of how things work, I had a thought of doing a promotion.

Since most of my interaction as a newbie on FAA is with the other photographers and artists, who are the ones helping my page views counts being on the rise, the groups helping with features and contests to get exposure to my work

I also try to drive traffic to my artistwebsites as much as I can on other social networks. I add new work with variations and have been starting the deleting process on lesser work from my galleries to keep it fresh and showing my best work only.

I was trying to think of a new approach within FAA to help not only my work but the work of others that are new to the site get their first sales here. My idea, since FAA seems to pivot around the idea "to sell" you must "have sales" more or less. Since it's kind of a catch 22 for the newbies, how can we sell if we aren't seen to sell? So anyway my idea was this, what if among the artists we have something like a "Fabulous Friends Friday" and offer a piece, or perhaps three different pieces, even if it's just a greeting card or two that is marked down to basically nothing so other artist and photographers can purchase and afford, a piece of work from their favorites for very little, creating a sale for the artist and a piece at a fabulous price to the other. I have heard others in the discussions who look at it like trading cards with other artists but this way it would not only expose our work to others but also hopefully create a sale or two and get up in the mainstream with the actual sellers on the site. Only post it via Group Discussion post, would this be allowed on FAA to do something like this?

Just curious and trying to be creative with ways not only to get additional exposure from the selections being posted in the post, but also get those much needed sales to get on the front lines to the buyers. Maybe a catch to the posts would be you have to comment and fav the three pieces shown before placing your order? Mark them down really low, and run them for just a very limited time. If we wanted to keep it just to group members we could throw those images into a private gallery and password protect them and the buyers could contact us for the password if we wanted to.

The insight on your board and exposure have been priceless to me as a newbie to the selling of my work online. I love the interaction with other artists and have learned so much in the past month from being on FAA through the discussions and threads. But still trying to let the wheels spin in my head and add to the ideas for promotion and ultimately sales for everyone.

My thanks to you for all your help as well as the members here on this group! If anyone thinks this would be a good idea, please let me know, I would be interested in doing it with other artists that I have found here.

Lesa

Reply Order

Post Reply
 

Clare Bevan

9 Years Ago

Hi ya Lesa,

I think it´s a very interesting idea!!

I wonder if we created a discount code and then pasted it in the group discussion for all in the group to see. Like you say maybe just for a greeting card, I know there are a few I would like.

Anyone else like this idea?

Clare x

 

Kristia Adams

9 Years Ago

Very interesting! I would participate.

 

Mr Bennett Kent

9 Years Ago

Great idea Lesa and something that others have done in at least one group.

I am absolutely up for this as still waiting for my first sale and firmly believe that at least some of mine would make people happy they bought it....................if they could find it. Still struggling to get into the higher pages of the searches so pretty much invisible in the main site.

Postage to the UK is 9.95 for a single card and stays at that overall price if you order several (ie fixed price on order, not per card). Clare will have at least that cost to ship to Spain

Very keen on doing this, and would really like to wait until I could get 5-10 cards minimum to justify the postage cost, but I reckon this could be just the kick start us Newbies need and to be honest, there is some really great stuff in this group which would make great general purpose greeting/thank you cards

I am thinking that if we get a group of us, all up for it, everyone buys one card from each of the others, we would all benefit

A public discount code would be a great idea as we could then market that and perhaps get other sales which we might not have got with our mark up. It might take a little organisation and pre-agreement, so that everyone, buys and sells the same amount, then sit back and watch the sales roll in! Happy bunnies :0)

 

Clare Bevan

9 Years Ago

So pleased that you guys also think this is a great idea, Good thinking Lesa!!!

Will send out an email to everyone to view this discussion and see what they think.


xxx

 

Shawn Brandon

9 Years Ago

I Agree . I believe that this is a great way to make sales, and get some momentum going for the group.It will create more discussions as well.

 

Cindy Angiel

9 Years Ago

Sounds like an idea worth pursuing. Worth a try to see if it helps increase sales outside the community!
Count me in.

 

Jo Jurkiewicz

9 Years Ago

Definitely sounds like a great idea to hopefully get those sales juices flowing.

 

Carol Sullivan

9 Years Ago

I would like to try this! I'm working really hard, but maybe not efficiently, at getting "noticed". Perhaps this would be a good avenue to pursue. Please let me know if this gets organized. I am state-side, so for cost's sake, it would be preferable to purchase from other artists here in the States (although there are quite a few I would LOVE to have from the international group!!)
Thanks and I look forward to this idea coming to fruition!
Carol Sullivan

 

Mechala Matthews

9 Years Ago

I would participate too, especially for prints or greeting cards and I think the posting a discount code idea is great also. I have seen a lot of other artist's work that I would like to purchase. Maybe we should make our own group so that we know who is participating. Count me in!

 

Celeste Manning

9 Years Ago

It sounds like a very good idea. It does seem like a long, hard battle to be seen in the outside world. I would be interested. I'm sure there will be a lot to look into. Just wondering how the "discount code" works. Would we go in and change the price for our cards or will FAA recognize a discount code? Great suggestion, Lesa!

 

Carol Lynn Coronios

9 Years Ago

I have just participated in a 'card swap' with 6 other artists here on FAA. Each person bought a card from each other - thereby generating six sales!

This was Jemmy Archer's idea; evidently she had done one last year also. She asked for our personal e-mails so we could communicate as a group, since the FAA Reply All doesn't seem to be reliable.

She asked each participant to mark his/her single card price down to $1.00 - so each card was $4.95. Gave us the option of selecting a few pieces to offer or just let others choose from our galleries. We all left it open. We had a one week window, but all placed orders within 48 hours.

Trick is to remember to go back and change the card price again.

 

Donna Read

9 Years Ago

It's a wonderful idea but right now I am unable to drop below cost plus 10%. I am an unemployed student and am also involved with the relief efforts for Oso, WA where the landslide occurred. We have a grass roots project on Facebook called Art For Oso where photographers donate prints to be auctioned off via the comments section under the photos. All printing and shipping is out of pocket for all of the brilliant togs who have contributed and I've used some of my student loan money to print and ship 4 20x30 prints that raised a total of $450! Good luck in your efforts to reach more people though. I may be able to participate later.

Donna Read
Donna Read Visions
Seattle, WA

 

Mechala Matthews

9 Years Ago

If anyone wants to create a discount code you go to "behind the scenes" "marketing" then "discount code" then "create discount code". For example, I created the code XKVLCR for a 7.00 reduction on art prints. If you have a markup of 10.00 and the total price is 30.00, you would make 3.00 per print sold.

 

Mechala Matthews

9 Years Ago

I moderate several other groups and have posted a discussion to come here if they are interested in joining in this promotional idea. Hope this works!

 

Susan Sidorski

9 Years Ago

Great Idea, I'm in. :-)

I think Making the discount code a dollar amount would be the easiest way to mark a card down.

Does it show in your sale which code is used and be able to track how the sale got promoted to happen by using different codes.

 

Thomas Michael Conner

9 Years Ago

I'd like to try this. Count me in!

 

Carol Lynn Coronios

9 Years Ago

A discount code would also allow someone to select something other than a card, if wanted.

 

Alohi Fujimoto

9 Years Ago

I think this is a good idea, especially for newbies like us. :)

 

Mr Bennett Kent

9 Years Ago

Carol (Sullivan),

All the FAA work is printed in America, so the cost to you would be the same whichever artist you brought from

The postage costs are based on where you as the buyer live, so you can buy from international artists or from the States for the same price

You would pay a flat fee of $2.75 for 1-5 cards (total postage, not per card),$3.90 for 6- 20 cards, $6.20 for 21-45 cards $9.40 for 46 cards up to at least 100

I am from the UK, It would cost me a flat fee of $16.58 for 1-5 cards, $18.20 for 6-11, $23.24 for 12 onwards (not sure when the price ramps up again)

As such, my sweet spot would be 11 "swaps" ie a ring of 12 people including me, each buying one card from each other member of the ring

as far as mark ups go - I would be perfectly happy to have no mark up, as this is about getting sales to promote visibility and get higher in the mystery algorithms picking choice and I any mark up you make will be completely offset against the markup spent on the other 11

 

Lesa Fine

9 Years Ago

@ Clare: Thanks for passing the idea on! Oh my, how I have opened or perhaps re-opened a can of worms! Yummy Worms!!

@ the responses from the group : I am so happy that there are so many people willing to consider the idea, like I said, just an idea and Im sure with details to work out.

I like the idea of making our mark up to no more than a dollar to each other, and I do like the idea of also a selective group of images.

The discount code for outside the group buyers is also a wonderful idea. Curious to see how we can work that, perhaps link the discount code throughout all our social network sites as a huge sale within the group, bringing the buyer directly to the group (do buyers have access to our groups here?) hmm, that's an interesting question and if so we could also bring alot of bot attention to Claren's group and get the group on the "High" listing as a new group. Or would it be more bringing the buyer to the individual artists page kind of thing?

@Bennett I didn't even think about the international shipping costs, geese you guys pay hefty prices for that stuff huh. Maybe we can think of a way to hold off on those purchases until you have accumulated enough to warrant shipping etc. To me, if I knew I was getting some of your work for a discounted price, I could wait until I could get them all together regardless of the wait. But I guess more the point is that if buyers are from your side of the pond they would have an enormous shipping charge just for a card, so I can see where that would be a problem. : ( Gonna have to put my logistics thinking cap on how to better solve that problem wisely if at all possible.

When everyone has time to consider it, and has time to go through their work, think on the problems we might incur in doing it. Im certainly in and will be looking through everyones gallery to start my new "wish list" ! :)

Thanks to everyone for being so open about the idea, I just hate seeing all of us working so hard to help each other out I know it takes time to work our way up the ladder as new artists here, but there has to be a way to get there a little faster, and hopefully this will be a way to help us all get a good kick start maybe.

Lesa

Edit to respond to Bennet's last post, I see your point on the postage, and I agree, I also would be happy to take zero mark up on mine as well if that would help the visability, I mean really we aren't losing anything here, and gaining a little visibility for free, it doesn't cost us a penny to print them or ship them out, and may pick up a few regular buyers or collectors that would ear mark us for later purchases, and we could always create a thread if the buyers are able to get to the group page and have the thread showcase what images we are offering each week perhaps? We could do a test run with no mark up between just group members to see if it helps us at all, and if it turns out well, then maybe post the coupon discount to buyers when we have things worked out a bit better.

 

Maria Angelica Maira

9 Years Ago


I think is a great idea. However if too many people are going to participate, we need to figure out also the way to do it right. We need a good organisation, in order to limit the amount of money that each person would spend and be sure that everyone who participate is going to be included.

 

Kristia Adams

9 Years Ago

Maybe get a list together at the top of your post Lesa? Add everyone's name who wants to participate. Have a cut-off date to add your name to the list. Once you have everyone's name split the group randomly into suitable for trading size groups. That way if a ton of people are participating, then you don't have to buy from everyone on the full list but buy definitely buy from people in your subgroup. I am fine with not having a mark-up for cards since it will just be a wash if you are buying from people and everyone has the same markup. I would probably be in the range of 10 cards if they don't have a mark-up.

 

Constance Lowery

9 Years Ago

I would like to try doing this but am afraid I would not be able to figure out how to add the code to my photos. (That goes for any other directions I might be told to do). If I can call upon someone to help me, I would participate.

 

Kimberly Ekes

9 Years Ago

I love the idea. Though I'm hesitant of the code just because I'm not sure how that works & I can control just pricing down.
Also, because I tried something like this on Etsy & got burned (as with a lot on that site), I'd love a list or another idea: doing it like the 'artist above' promotion. Where you buy cards from the person above you then post what you bought so the next person buys from you.

How ever we do this, I look forward to trying something.
Happy painting,
Kimberly

Show All Messages

Big Skip

This is a very popular discussion with 158 responses.   In order to help the page load faster and allow you to quickly read the most recent posts, we're only showing you the oldest 25 posts and the newest 25 posts.   Everything in the middle has been skipped.   Want to read the entire discussion?   No problem: click here.

 

Clare Bevan

9 Years Ago

So glad hear everyone wants to participate, think we need some organisation.

First thing as many of you have said is to get a list of names going of people that would like to particiapte.

I think the best thing is for people to send me a message with a simple, "yes, I would like to participate" I will then make a list and as Krista says I can divide all the names into reasonable sized groups.

Shall we give it 1 week for members to see if they want to participate?

I will send out an email if you all agree, if anyone else has any ideas on how to work it, just let me know (very excited about this idea)!!!!

xxx

 

Kristia Adams

9 Years Ago

I know we are done but Shawn said that she wouldn't be purchasing now which is kind of a bummer.

 

Clare Bevan

9 Years Ago

Yes I agree Krista!!! Quite disappointed!!!

On the positive side FAA has sent me an email saying my order has been shipped, it should be winging its way to Spain. Whoopee!!!

 

Kristia Adams

9 Years Ago

Yep! Mine shipped too! Hope to have it in a few days. Can't wait to see the results!

 

Richard Andrews

9 Years Ago

I'm still waiting on a couple of sales, still time to grab yourself a bargain!

 

Constance Lowery

9 Years Ago

A big Thank You to all in Group 3. Thomas Michael Conner, Alohi Fujimoto, Kenneth Thomas and Kimberly Ekes. Thanks for being my first sales.

 

Lesa Fine

9 Years Ago

Hey Ya'll !! I also received my shipping notice in the email bin today. So excited.

Im saddened to hear that we have bad news about the promotion. I'll be short in saying this, let's not get upset so quickly, the promo isn't over until tonight. I know we are excited to see that everyone has fulfilled their part. But no worries people !! Who ever does not receive back what they have given and are cheated for lack of a more tackful word, then no worries. I have your back, and I appreciate you covering your obligation to the promo as promised. Email me with who did not fulfill what they should have and I will gladly buy from you what they didn't. I feel it is the least I can do for your support and being a part of the promotion.

Shawn? that's quite another story. I don't buy it, in fact.....come to think of it, ,,,,,,,,, Im not buying it,...it will be promptly returned. And that's the way you rip that band-aid off. Wow that was a quick solution, hmm I surprise myself sometimes! lol

I look at it like this. By my purchasing what others didn't from you. You will still get what you should have, I get to go shopping again in galleries I didn't get to in my group, =) And you get sales so all will be good in Newbie Town!

Hugs all around - No worries folks !
and email me tonight or in the morning if you aren't up late and I'll get things squared away for you!

Thanks again to all the members who so graciously contributed and I really appreciate you Clare more than words can say !!
L"

 

T J Krueger

9 Years Ago

Hey group
I know you are waiting on me. Please change your prices back. I have technology issues and problems that are keeping me from accessing the internet. Soon as I get it fixed I will purchase from my group at regular price

Thanks for your purchase or my cards
Sorry for the inconvenience to you. I always dead in the water right now..

T j Krueger

 

Gladys Turner Scheytt

9 Years Ago

Carol Lynn, Richard, and Collin,
Thank you for buying my cards, I am very excited how this promotion involved most of all and the excitement built among us.
Even though I have been in the road since Monday and worrying about able to connect to internet or not I did my part. I can wait for you all to see my new images I have taken this week.
Thank you

 

Cindy Angiel

9 Years Ago

Prior to this promotion - in one of my main search words I had art show up on page 3 and on page 11
after promotion I'm now featured on page 1, 3, 9, and 11 under the same search term! :D Been that way for several days. So I'm assuming it's not a fluke.

 

Lesa Fine

9 Years Ago

That's great news Cindy!!!!! I need to go check mine, been working on updating descriptions and keywords tonight, that will help as well.

 

Debbie Oppermann

9 Years Ago

Ok TJ - my prices will be put back tomorrow

Thank you to Darren, Kelly and Marlous (Group 5) for the purchase of my cards and I just received notice that they have been shipped!
This promotion was fun
Thanks also to Clare and Lesa for the organization of this promo - great work!

 

Kenneth Thomas

9 Years Ago

Thanks to group 3 for buying my cards and I also received a notice that orders were shipped. Please let me know how they look, thanks Clare and Lesa for all your hard work. This Newbies group came together as a team and I'm proud to be a part of this championship team because I couldn't do it alone.

Thank you all,
Ken

 

Richard Andrews

9 Years Ago

Just received confirmation that my order has shipped.
To Lesa and Clare - I hope my purchase goes some way to show how much I appreciate your efforts this week.

At first glance, it hasn't been as successful for me as it has been for others. I haven't won just yet, but I will!
Thanks to Lesa for your unexpected but very welcome purchase of "Clouds Over Georgian Bay - f2g".
Thanks also to two members of group 4 who also made purchases.
Gladys Turner Scheytt - "Lighthouse Island"
Carol Lynn Coronios - "Sunset at Sauble Beach"

 

Constance Lowery

9 Years Ago

I'm reading about how other's art work shows up on pages "way in the back" but now with a search those same images appear closer to page one? Can someone tell me what pages you are talking about and how do I find mine? Thanks

 

Lesa Fine

9 Years Ago

Depending our your page views and statistics, comments etc, but mainly pageviews and sales !! The more sales and the better your counts are then the closer your image moves to the front pages of the FAA search engine. But one thing to keep in mind, it's not just your counts but also your keywords you put into your keyword boxes when uploading or later editing your images. The better the keyword is to the image and the more the keyword are correctly used for the images, the better the FAA search bot can pick it up. Lot's and lots of images also helps. Especially in a certain area where you are using the keyword over in mulltiple images I think is also a big plus from what I understand from msc. threads etc.

once you start selling it moves your work forward from say page 10,000 the back of the pile to say 500 or just in general a better number, the more sales the closer to the front, the more images, and pageviews, the same closer to the front. That's the best I can do to answer, but you may also find additional information on the main discussion board that may explain it better than my knowledge of it or perhaps give additional pointers etc. Thats really what I focus on personally, images and pageviews, and of course now sales is in the strategy!!! =)

Try the main discussion boards and see what you come up there, hope my input helped a little, Im new too keep that in mind. Im still fumbling around and figuring everything out just like the rest of us, but that's generally what I have found.

 

Kristia Adams

9 Years Ago

I know on the main discussion board they have said it helps to be featured in groups too. That can help your movement up in the pages. I belong to one of the self promotion groups too and that has helped me get favorites, likes and page views that has also helped some of my images move up as well.

 

Cindy Angiel

9 Years Ago

Besides the other things folks have mentioned here - using the description field wisely makes a big difference. And I just learned today that the title field, has very little or absolutely no bearing on it at all. And accidental discovery, but one worth knowing as it helps me know where to focus my energies.

The activity that has helped me more than anything else - in regards to moving up in the search results - is "sponsoring the search pages." That one thing alone has made the biggest difference! Since it's completely free, it's really silly not to utilize that feature.... IMHO. :D for example - although my mandala drawings sell like hotcakes in galleries, I've not had even a nibble on them here. Hardly any comments. Some never featured, liked, or favorited - because there are a ton of other mandalas in FAA my competition is high (10,000+ results returned from search). Not until AFTER I sponsored the search pages for the term "mandala" did I show up anywhere near the top. Now I have several of my mandala drawings showing on the front page rather consistently.

The other thing that *I think* (but don't know how to test) that appears to have helped me, is that in several of my pieces, I've used the same search terms. Is there anything to be said for consistency within a particular profile, I'm not sure. I'm thinking though that if you have several pieces of art that fall into the same keyword category - it makes sense to repeat those keywords. After all if you have multiple pieces that use the same keyword, you probably have a better chance of at least some of those pieces showing up somewhere in the top level search pages returned? At least, that's been the case for me.

Another interesting thing I noticed is that even though there are 10,000 results available for the term mandala - only 180 of them are shown in the search results (30 search pages). So if you don't show up in those first 30 - you probably don't have much of a chance in getting noticed based on that particular search word. Personally, I strive for the top 10. I think folks probably try to tweak their search term if they don't find something to meet their need after viewing 10 pages.

What's everyone else's experiences with what seems to work and what seems not to work. Actual experience over what you've read or heard weighs a little more with me.

Continued luck to all!
~ Cindy

 

FRANCE ART

9 Years Ago

Thank you Cindy for this insightful comment.. Also LESA, Christy, & Clare.. What a good bunch of Gals..

Having all your input will make our struggles to be successful @ FAA more effective & rapid! MERCI milles fois! Or thanks a million!

Dona Dugay

 

Carol Lynn Coronios

9 Years Ago

I purchased all mine, and have received word that my order was shipped. I'm anxious to see the cards. They will be waiting for me when I get back home from visiting my folks in IL.

Richard Andrews and Gladys Turner Scheytt, I appreciate your purchases.

On another note, I am sorry to see that Gillian and Collin did not - with no explanation. I understand foreign shipping is expensive, but I think they might have checked out that part of the 'sale' before committing to participation. Or perhaps, neither could find anything of mine they liked. I suppose that's always a possibility. Art is in the eye of the beholder, after all.

And no, Lesa - I do not expect you to buy just because they didn't. That absolutely is NOT necessary.

 

Lesa Fine

9 Years Ago

Carol, I am sorry for the loss of the two sales, appreciate your forgoing the extra purchase, however I would be happy to do it. As a thanks for your patience with what happened as well as for your participation in the promo. I dont think it was because you lacked good art to purchase, your gallery is wonderful sweetheart. And yes I agree, you should check out the full extent of any obligation prior to participating. I understand the costs associated with the shipping to other countries, and would probably cringe a bit myself. Those people suffer tremendously by the outrageous costs associate the shipping! I couldn't believe how expensive it was. But a well placed and graceful step down would have been appreciated and respected especially PRIOR to the promotions start so the groups could have been reevaluated prior to the promotion so everything ended up fairly for all concerned. This is something we all need to think about and think of PRIOR to any upcoming promotions in the future.

Thanks to those who bit the bullet for any sales in this promotion, the extra costs were appreciated by all Im sure. I tried to help those who suffered the additional expense either by additional card purchase and or promoting their work heavily for the help and cost associated by the promo. Now that we have the first sales out of the way any promotions in the future will more than likely not be associated with spending, but more towards marketing effectively and promotion of work in other ways. But it was only way for some of us apparently to get the first sale out of the way. And I for one am so happy with the promotions overall success. Sure some did not make the cut for this one, and the support it would have created, not to mention the extra sales credit to their work and the FAA ladder, will more than likely be a part of what they missed out on.

If someone has a reason, they should speak up and let the others in their group know in advance for future promotions, after all we are all adults here and all striving for the same thing, if we are doing this as a well tuned team and all pull their part then it means success for all concerned, isn't that what the values of teamwork are based on? I appreciated all of you for taking part, and hope Clare see's fit to have additional promotions in the future for her members.

Have a great Sunday Everyone! And wishing you all much continued success with your work and with your new sales!!

L"

 

Gillian Singleton

9 Years Ago

I would just like to say that I did purchase a card, I'm sorry that I didn't purchase more than one, I hold my hand up that I didn't check the delivery cost before hand, but at the end of the day that is what crippled me, I apologise for not carrying out the required promotion, but I will know next time.

 

Mechala Matthews

9 Years Ago

I received my cards today! Excellent Excellent Excellent! The artwork is beautiful and the quality is amazing! Very Very happy! Thank you so much!

Art Prints
Photography Prints
Art Prints

 

Kristia Adams

9 Years Ago

@Mechala - Awesome! Hopefully mine will be in the mail today. I was just thinking that I might have to stay home from work to stalk our mailman! Hopefully it won't come to that. Wonderful choices!

 

Mechala Matthews

9 Years Ago

Kristia, I gave the mailman time to get to the next box before I ran out to check mine LOL !

 

Kristia Adams

9 Years Ago

I got mine today too! They look fabulous! I am super pleased with my selections!

Sell Art Online

Photography Prints

Art Prints

Photography Prints

 

Lesa Fine

9 Years Ago

You girls are so funny, but Im the same way, it is killing me to wait on mine. I have made a special trip to the post office every day since tuesday and I normally run up there maybe once a week if that. So happy yours turned out great Mechala, and Kristia !!! excited to hear the quality is so good!

 

Clare Bevan

9 Years Ago

So pleased you guys are over the moon with your cards!!!!! I can't wait!!!!! Spanish post can be a right pain!!!!! Fingers crossed it will be soon xxxx

 

This discussion is closed.