RDKirk
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 p.1 #5 · Starting Portraiture - how to market? | |
A. Start corresponding (or at least lurking) on more directly professionally oriented forums, such as ourppa.com
B. Depositing materials in mailboxes is actually illegal in the US, and mailers are quite expensive (the mailing lists are expensive, the materials are expensive, the postage is expensive, and the response levels are low).
C. Think of ways to meet people more personally. These days you really need to think about a higher-end, lower-volume operation, because you can't compete with Sears or Wal-Mart. That means dealing with people who place a high value on personal service and custom products.
You want to get your work into public displays that showcase you as a high-end, prominent portrait artist...such as at your dental office. Presuming you're in the local Chamber of Commerce or Rotary, see if you can do some complimentary work for higher-end social organizations--portraits of officers and such for display at their meeting locations.
I connected with our local library and bookstores to contact local artists and writers, then did portraits for them on kind of a TFP basis. I then arranged to display those portraits in the library and other venues, like non-chain bookstores and a couple of restaurants. At each of these locations, make sure your business card is available. Don't skimp on the cards; you're trying to attract a crowd that expects a luxury service, so get plush cards. They don't need to have photographs on them, but they do need to be plush.
The whole point here is to get your name moving among the higher-end clientele--when these people get a premium product, they like to spread the news. All my work these days is word-of-mouth. My "advertising" is just to make my contact information easily available. I have a website, leave contact cards ("lift cards") and business cards where my portraits are displayed, hand out business cards at social gatherings, et cetera.
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