April 20, 2001, Newsletter Issue #34: Ceramics Marketing

Tip of the Week

INFORMATION
PROMOTION & PUBLICITY FOR VISUAL & MEDIA ARTISTS

If you want your work to get the recognition it deserves, promotion and publicity need to become as important to you as making the work itself. Promoting yourself and producing publicity needs to be done on a regular basis, rather than being left until the last minute.

This leaflet, for visual and media artists as well as organisers, can’t deal in detail with how to produce and distribute publicity, but looks at some examples of how to publicise particular events.

It is also useful to take advice from other practitioners or arts organisations. You may be able to share their mailing lists and contacts and collaborate on joint publicity.

The Bookshelf and Contacts sections provide sources of further information and advice.

(1) Research
The most important questions to address when setting out to promote or publicise what you do are:

• who are you trying to attract?

• what is the most effective way to do it?

There isn’t a standard format for publicity and every situation needs individual attention.

You need to:

• Plan carefully and well in advance.

• Decide which groups you particularly want to attract – business people, schools, private collectors, tourists, etc – and direct the majority of your publicity at those ‘target groups’.

• Decide on your budget for publicity and examine each item for cost-effectiveness.

• Don’t under-estimate the value of free publicity – which comes from sending press releases and good photographs to local, regional and national press and media or to the specialist visual arts, crafts and media magazines.

Although colour postcards are a relatively cheap way of publicising your work to a wide range of people, they are not generally suitable for reproduction in the art and craft press and need to be supplemented by sending transparencies or black and white photographs to key magazines.

(2) Time-scales
Pre-planning and awareness of the time-scales of those who can help you is the cornerstone to success. If your role is to raise money for the project as well as to publicise it once set up, you may need to allow as long as a year to promote a small to medium-scale project properly.

Make a schedule of who you need to contact and when, so you don’t miss an important deadline.

• If you are using publicity to raise awareness and funds for a project, make sure you know who you need to approach and how long each organisation will take to reach decisions about giving money.

• To gain national publicity, you’ll need to circulate colour and black and white images and information at least six months in advance for glossy magazines, quarterly journals and specialist periodicals or if you are seeking a ‘feature’ on a TV arts programme.

• For regional publicity, allow at least three months in advance to gain coverage in monthly publications and What’s On guides.

• For local newspapers and radio, make an initial contact around a month in advance to get an editorial feature or interview. Listings can be left until ten days in advance.

• If you pay for advertising, you may be more likely to get editorial coverage in the press.

• It may be fruitful to go out and meet some of your ‘target’ audience ‘face-to-face’ to encourage involvement and support for your project; this could include visits to schools, business clubs, etc.

(3) Who, what, where, when?
Once you have a clear idea of who you want to attract, the words and images you choose should acknowledge their interests and needs. Make sure, therefore, that your publicity tells the recipient WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN.

There is a ‘rule’ for making sure your copy covers everything needed:

• it should ATTRACT – so that it will get noticed

• it should INFORM – so the audience knows who, what, when and where

• it should create DESIRE – should be persuasive

• it should induce ACTION – tell them what you want them to do and when.

Spend time writing the words. Get specialist help, especially if you plan to produce an expensive colour brochure. ‘Art jargon’ is very off-putting. Phrases like ‘issue-based site-specific work’ mean very little to most people. Try reading the words out to someone in your family or to friends who are outside the arts world.

• Keep the text short and clear.

• Send different press releases over a period of time, to gather momentum for a project or to emphasise different aspects of it.

• Don’t send too much material – try opening the envelope to see how it feels to receive the publicity material. Paper-clipping the covering letter to the other items so they are read in the right order is more likely to get the recipient`s attention.

• With a group event or exhibition, write a few sentences about each artist.

• End your press release with ‘Please contact..... if you need more information’. Give day-time and evening telephone numbers and say when you can be contacted – eg Monday-Thursday, 10-4, or after 6.30.

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