Month: November 2015

Well, several things in fact.

Behold:

You are in control, and you are responsible for your art business.

Nobody has permission to steal your thunder, no matter how important they (think) they are – unless you’ve given them permission, in which case might I suggest you revoke it.

How? By taking control.

And how do you do that?

By committing to take action, and by being specific and analytic about what you’re going to do with your art business.

So, in the December LEAP, that’s what you’re going to learn.

Here’s some of what’s in it:

* How to plan your year and marketing tasks ahead, so you’ll make the most use of opportunities without running out of time

* Why and how to create structure, habits and frameworks – so that your marketing is better and your creativity higher

* What neuroscience says about resolutions, why they don’t work, and what to do instead

* How you can ride the wave, given the fact that the traditional art industry is falling to pieces, and how that enables you to develop your own brand and audience

* How to implement and develop Aristotle’s ‘excellence is a habit’

* Why you must get lasersharp focus on which goals to work on, and in which order

* How to develop the habits that allow you to achieve those goals

* How to really identify what you’re for: the value you bring to the world with your art

* How to explain and tell the story around that value

* Massively useful: how to connect and engage with influencers so that they will put you in front of their audience

* An template for an outreach email you can adapt and use in order to attract influential people with massive audiences to your art

And, yes, a whole lot more.

And, if you sign up before midnight tonight, I will also personally fix and smooth out your own version of that outreach email for you. (Current subscribers also get this gift).

And don’t underestimate that: Karin, by current count, has received 5 very positive replies from top dogs in exactly the field her art is for.

That’s five extraordinarily useful contacts who liked the fact that she sent them an email out of the blue – five brand new relationship she can develop.

Just because I tweaked that email for her, and because she selected the right individuals based on my instructions.

Exactly the same instructions you will find in the next LEAP.

So. You ready for the next year, no resolutions required?

Then sign up here and get ye ready for some massive change in your art business in 2016 –> http://martinstellar.com/leap-to-more-sales/

Cheers,

Martin

One of the best things you can do for your art career, is to eat a frog for breakfast.

NO! Put that frog down!

Sheesh. Must you take everything so literally?

I’m talking metaphor here.

Allow me to explain.

Imagine you were struck with some odd medical condition, and no doctor would be able to find a cure.

Except one, who says that a certain type of frog, when eaten alive once a day, can cure you.

And hey, you want to live so what can you do?

Now most people, they’d put it off until later in the day.

I mean, who wants to eat a live frog?

But that means you spend the whole day dreading the prospect of eating your medicine, which ruins your entire day.

And, there’s a real risk that you’d end up not doing it at all.

Which, as the doctor told you, is only going to make your affliction worse.

Now, lets leave the image behind, and translate this into art marketing.

There are things you know would be good for your business, but they’re not something you’re looking forward to.

Maybe it’s phoning people up, or fixing your site, or writing daily emails.

Doesn’t matter what it is: You know that there are things you could do that would really have an impact on your business, and you just. keep. putting. them. off.

No, I’m not a mindreader: I just understand the human being.

What’s more, I’m the same.

But for the last few weeks, I’ve experimented.

I’ve eaten a live frog – as in, I’ve taken big action exactly on those important things that are going to make a difference to my business.

One of those things is calling people up, out of the blue.

And I’ve done it.

And it’s already had some interesting results.

For one thing, the seminar I’ll be hosting next month, at a gallery not too far from here.

So yeah. Eating frogs. It works.

No Kermit! It’s a me-ta-phor!

Whatevs.

If you want to get ahead, it’s worth your effort to identify one or two important things, and stop procrastinating on them.

And once you get it over with, you will feel like amazing.

If you start your day with just one simple but important action, you’re going to be on top of the world the rest of the day.

Which means that you’ll enjoy the fun marketing things even more.

Oh yeah. Psychology baby.

Want more psychology that helps you advance your art business?

It’s in LEAP, and you can get it here –> http://martinstellar.com/leap-to-more-sales/

Cheers,

Martin

They say that in no more than 6 ‘friend of a friend steps’, each one of us is connected to one another.

The idea started some years ago, I think when someone tried to prove that in just 6 connections, everyone could get in touch with Kevin Bacon, or something like that.

I think he got a lot of phone calls that day.

Anyhow, apparently researchers at Microsoft analysed 3 billion messages, and found that the theory holds, except it’s 6.6 degrees.

Now, I don’t propose you try to call Kevin Bacon. (I tried – his voicemail said ‘This is not how it works’)

But I do want you to be fully aware that you are just a few steps away from incredibly useful, or influential, or helpful people.

You can very easily make connections with people who might just have an enormous impact on your art career.

Proof:

One of the artists I’m working with – a talented Dutch woman by the name of Karin Hoogesteeger – was about to open a show.

I mentioned her last week, when I instructed her to reach out to influencers in the field of education, since her art has to do with that.

I gave her some instructions on what to put in an email to those people, and made a few edits for her.

She sent it to about 30 people.

So far, only one reply.

But.

That reply was absolutely stellar.

A Dutch education bigwig sent her an extremely positive, grateful for receiving it.

And, from a guy who is positively a thought leader in education in Holland.

Author, speaker, you name it.

That guy gets SEEN, he has a huge network and social and professional standing, and he was thrilled to receive her missive.

How’s that for minimal degrees of separation?

Just from a few hours of building a list and sending one simple friendly email.

Unfortunately it was too short notice and he can’t show up.

But, the connection has been made, and a relationship has started.

If she nurtures that relationship, he’s extremely likely to show up at a future show.

Connections, conversations, relationships – that’s what an art business is about.

And as you’ve seen it can be so easy (and fun) to do.

So here’s the deal.

In the next LEAP newsletter, you’ll find the exact email that she sent, plus instructions on how to modify it for your own purposes.

But, there’s more.

I’m going to do you a very special favour.

For anyone who signs up for the deadline tomorrow night, I will personally edit your email for you, and get it ready to send.

You take the template, modify it, and send it to me.

When you get it back, it’ll have been massaged by these here big strong hands, and just might land you a perfect connection, just like what happened to Karin.

You can use that email over and over again, each time you have a new show or studio viewing.

And each time you send it, someone just might show up, or become a precious connection.

So.

Ready for 2016?

No?

Then get on board the LEAP system, and I’ll make you ready.

Access here –> http://martinstellar.com/leap-to-more-sales/

Cheers,

Martin

P.s. If you are currently a LEAP subscriber, you can also send me your email for me to edit. Note: this is not a rewrite – I’m offering to tweak and perfect it for you, like I did for Karin.

Welcome to the second episode of Art Marketing Expert Interviews, this time with Ana Hoffman of TrafficGenerationCafe.com.

Ana doesn’t specialise in working with artists, but she’s definitely an expert in attracting visitors to your website, and getting them to convert from visitor to subscriber to buyer.

In this interview, you’ll hear:

• Why Twitter isn’t necessarily the best choice for artists: people don’t necessarily go to Twitter to look for visual ideas. Ana thinks Pinterest and Instagram have much more potential – and don’t forget Youtube!
• A whole bunch of free resources for you on Ana’s site – check the links at the bottom of this page)
• Why you’d do well to focus on networks that maximise your time, in other words: go where your audience is most likely to hang out
• Why and how to create interest, so that people come back to your site. In other words: bridging the gap between ‘Oh this is nice’ and ‘hey I’ll have that, here’s money’
• Tips on how to make your site layout work for you, and encourage people to buy
• The why and how of building a funnel. Art is an emotional purchase, and very rarely an impulse decision. Ana explains why you must think in terms of progression through stages.
• Why it’s worth your time to think in terms of conditioning: If people don’t buy right off the bat, you need to make sure they’ll want to come back and see your work again and again.
• Where list building comes in, and how to create an email sequence to educate your audience on the merits of buying art in general and your work in particular
• Why Ana considers education the best way to sell
• The non-salesy way to sell: Earning permission to pitch by giving something useful, and how to keep doing that so that you retain that permission.
• The ultimate sales machine: sell without selling
• How to build an email sequence with a start and finish, but also to keep adding to it so that it keeps growing.
• A bit of a surprise: even Ana didn’t really think that daily emails can work, but she just might give it a try
• How Ana started out with no list and no blogging strategy. But I remember Ana from years ago and I remember how she just started conversations with people. And these days, she runs a healthy business, and so can you if only you engage with people.
• Why the secret to a successful business is conversations and relationship building.
• A very simple way to instantly start a relationship the very moment people sign up.
• Tips for how to get fans and ambassadors to take action and spread the word about you
• Big think: don’t just focus on the buyers.
• Why Ana is adamant there’s no recipe, no cookie-cutter solution for everyone, and why you’ll always have to find out what works for you and your audience
• Why you should focus on who you are as an artist, and present that rather than give things away
• Why nobody would buy colour-by-numbers art, which is why there’s no standard marketing approach that works for everyone
• Landing pages: what’s the best entry point that gets people to sign up
• What Ana thinks of popups – probably not what you would expect from an expert in traffic and conversions
• What to do if you don’t like popups – but you still want to grow your email list – you just don’t want to pester people.
• The value of analytics, and whether or not you should use them
• A special gift from Ana (links in the shownotes), to make your analytics much easier to understand, instantly.
• Why you should talk about your art progress, especially on visual platforms
• A platform you had probably not considered but which can give you thousands of visitors in very short time, even if you have very little fame or exposure
• How she used that same platform to generate 243.000 pageviews in just 30 days, and her students are seeing great results too.
• Why stories are so incredibly important in your marketing
• A tip to help you repurpose your visual material for even more exposure and traffic

What can I say?
Listen to this interview and you’ll come away with a ton of ideas.
Click the links to access the interview, and the special bonus links Ana has for you.

http://www.trafficgenerationcafe.com/10-ways-to-successfully-engage-influencers/

http://www.trafficgenerationcafe.com/influencer-marketing-11-ways-to-be-memorable/

http://www.trafficgenerationcafe.com/google-analytics-custom-dashboards/

http://www.trafficgenerationcafe.com/slideshare-traffic/

http://www.trafficgenerationcafe.com/increase-website-traffic-guide/

Cheers,

Martin

Have you ever noticed how some people seem to get things right, progress fast, earn well and sell a lot of art?

While others don’t manage, complain, struggle or plain simple go bankrupt?

Tell me: which of the two do you prefer looking at?

Next: which one do you end up looking at most?

If you prefer the first but end up looking the second, you’re suffering from a human condition I call morbid fascination.

For some reason, we’re prone to look at negative, unpleasant, or even awful things.

That’s why we get traffic jams when there’s been a car crash on the opposite lane.

It’s why war games are popular, and horror movies too.

We might think we like horror movies, but I don’t think it’s an actual liking – I think it’s a kind of morbid fascination.

Like William S. Burroughs wrote: “Like a tainted cheese, overpoweringly delicious and nauseating.

That’s how the media hook people with scare stories.

And, if you’re not aware of this natural tendency, it can seriously hamper your chances for success.

If you keep ending up reading stories about struggling and starving artists, perception bias is going to make sure you’ll see more, and more, and more of those stories.

And places like Facebook too: “Hey, she seems to like that kind of thing – let’s show her more of it”.

It’s real simple:

What you look at will appear again and again, in your perception.

It’s how the mind works.

And if you look at negative stories, they steal your thunder.

Bit by bit, the impressions and reports will whittle away at your self-confidence, beliefs, and action-taking abilities.

Whereas if you look at success stories and listen to podcasts about people who have discovered ways that work, your self-confidence and abilities grow.

You get to choose.

And now that I’ve told you this, you’d better consider what you choose.

Because I would venture that the media you take in are a pretty good predictor of your success.

In the next LEAP newsletter, I’m giving you suggestions as to where to look, and specific instructions for what to do with the positive things you observe.

That way, you get better at marketing and promotion all the time.

But, it’s only for people who are determined to look on the bright side, as it were.

If your worldview is gloomy and you’re unable to redirect your orientation, it’s not going to work for you.

So if you’re the kind of person who sees opportunities instead of obstructions, here’s where you go to subscribe –> http://martinstellar.com/leap-to-more-sales/

Deadline is next Monday.

Cheers,

Martin

This new LEAP I’m working on, that’s going to be something special.

After personally making every possible mistake an entrepreneur can make, I think I finally have a few things figured out.

And I want to share them with you.

Because you and I, we both are creatives.

I believe we have a lot in common, even if I don’t create pure art, but functional stuff instead.

I’m still a creative, and an artist at heart.

And if you’ve ever struggled with your marketing, your pricing or your sales:

I KNOW what you’re going through.

Used to be, I had no idea what to do.

Where to invest time, or money.

No clue as to who my audience should be – until I figured that out: artists, like ye olde self.

Nor did I know how to make plans.

I’d try my hand at something, drop it again.

Try another thing, halfheartedly.

On and on, one insecure and uncompleted step after another.

But those days are over.

I know what I’m doing (I hope!), I know where I want to go, and I have a plan and a roadmap that will get me there.

Hint: it’s going to involve ebooks.

Many, many ebooks. At least 20 of them, hopefully in the next year.

Also: expert interviews.

One a week, if I can pull it off.

And yes, Ana Hoffman’s interview is ready to go live, you’ll receive the link later today.

So, what about you?

What’s your plan for the next year?

Where do you want to be, 13 months from now?

I know it’s early to talk about the new year, but that’s only because resolutions don’t work.

And more importantly: I want you to be ahead of the curve, and the competition.

What’s your roadmap look like?

What steps are you going to take?

Which actions, investments?

What are your milestones?

Ah, oh. You ain’t got any of that stuff.

Yeah, that might become a bit of a problem.

You definitely need a plan and a roadmap.

So here come the cavalry:

The next LEAP will tell you exactly how to build one.

Make sure you read it, and above all: implement it.

Knowledge and instruction is only as useful as its implementation.

So if you want to go places, and you want to have a plan and map, go here –> http://martinstellar.com/leap-to-more-sales/

Cheers,

Martin