I have a weekly promotion, that runs every Friday morning through Sunday evening, using the Limited Time Promotions. I choose a different image each week, the quantity is set for "one", and I never feature the same image twice. I promote the sale on my Facebook fan page, my personal Facebook page and a Facebook page for my local community. I also frequently "boost" the post on my Facebook fan page, for the minimum amount ($5.00). I let the composition of the image help me determine what size to offer...usually it's either an 11x14, a 16x20, or a 24x36.
What has this accomplished?
~ Over the last 2.5 years, LTP has sold 10 times. That's not much, but those are ten sales I wouldn't have had otherwise.
~ When I do local art fairs, people recognize my name and my work from those weekly promotions.
~ I regularly get feedback from people in the community, that they look forward to seeing what I'm going to put up each week. They even notice if I run behind on Friday mornings and the promo gets posted later int he morning!
Some thoughts:
~ I *really* dislike the idea of discounting my work. I've never offered discounts at my art fairs, and I don't offer promo codes to my clients. I think that if I did, then it would train people to "wait for the sale" before they decide to buy my art. Hopefully the way I structure my weekly promotion minimizes that risk.
~ It creates a sense of urgency...because once someone buys that weekend's promo, the sale is over! Many times that happens within an hour of the time I post the image. Plus, they know that that particular image will never be featured at that price again.
~ Surprisingly (at least to me) one size of canvas has not really outsold the others. I've sold three 11x14's, three 16x20's, and four 24x36's. In that small a sample, I think the difference is insignificant.
I appreciate that FAA offers the limited time promotions as a marketing tool for us. There IS still a problem with the thumbnails of older work not showing up in the Limited Time Promotions. This has been going on for a month or so...and while it's been corrected in other areas, it's still an issue in the LTPs. I hope it gets fixed soon, because it severely limits the percentage of my portfolio that I can promote through LTPs.
I'd love to hear other ways that artists have creatively used the LTPs (or other marketing tools) to increase their sales.
