All too often, when I ask antique and art dealers how they market, they reply, "We advertise," or "We call our core clients regularly," or "We have a website."
While these tactics are perfectly legitimate, they are yesterday's techniques. They don't constitute a Marketing Strategy. They don't engage.
These days, it is no longer enough to shout about a new collection, shipment or show. Collectors want to participate in your marketing stream. And this is good news, because every new member of the arts community who finds and is engaged by your website becomes your "brand ambassador."
- Your website is the first step to effective communication. Assuming it is rich in keywords, logical and easy to navigate, you already have the first part of your marketing plan in place.
- (Caveat emptor: Graphic-heavy sites don't entice the web crawlers to rank you above the fold on Search Engine Pages. Recently, we have been seeing a 5% - 10% ROI per month on sites we tweak with new content.)
- Inbound links drive people to your website. They can be embedded in press releases, blogs, articles and distributed via PR sites and communities like digg.com. If you hate to write, we can help with press releases, articles and blogs that are newsworthy and invite readership.
- Ready to access the social networks and blog? Perhaps you already have a presence on U-Tube, Facebook or My Space. Maybe you blog and tweet. That's great, just as long as everything you put on the web reflects your USP (unique selling proposition) and its benefits.
Knowing that most of you are product oriented, I encourage a DIY marketing initiative once you have a Marketing Strategy in place to lift you above the competition.
In the coming weeks, I'll guide you through some of the steps you can take to drive those elusive new buyers to your website and your retail shop.
Till then, if you want clarity on any of these points, please give us a call. (212) 665-6773. We always have a few minutes to share marketing insights.
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