I wanted to update everyone on Ted Gibson's Art Auction and let you know we were profitable. The auction ran for 3.5 hours. The event was a fun and we established new customers for the store.
We attribute our success to Email and our direct mail campaign with a customer list that included collectors, artists, designers, interior designers and friends. This proved to be the heart of our promotion. Facebook kept all our friends updated and built a strong new sales base. I say this because our list were primarily made up of artists who sell their works and need framing for exhibitions all the time. We blogged and initiated website postings about the auction on three targeted national art websites. While we did not receive business from them we did obtain phone calls and queries for future business.
The print ads helped us to brand the store and increase awareness of the Ted Gibson name in Los Angeles. The store has been in business for eighty years and is a word of mouth business. I found this out because we also distributed flyers at several locations and door hangers in zip coded areas where there is a market for art and antiquities. I ran into people and they would comment on the store and tell me about Ted Gibson's great technique for high quality and hand made frames at a sound price.
The print ads established the brand for new customers since we thought out the single most important thing to say about the business. Planning for the campaign was insightful and an understanding of the business and market was clear. We are now building a brand that is changing in the mind of young artists and collectors.
The point to all this is that with a small budget marketing can be accomplished with success and creativity for many retailers and small businesses. Please call me to discuss marketing needs and business growth for your company. If we were successful in the arts in this depressed market I know we can help other business categories achieve greater success in 2010.
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