Facebook Ads

I remember the Practice Pad group was considering Facebook advertisements..I started Facebook ads for the Symphony Orchestra I worked for this summer...so here's what I know from that experience.

I chose the 'pay-per-click' option and what you have to do is place a max bid that you are willing to pay per click. In reality you may be paying less than that bid, depending on competing bids for ad space, but if I remember correctly I put the bid around $.50 per click, and the ad ran TONS of times. You can always adjust your bid later. Also, you need to link a credit card to the account so Facebook can bill you for the ads. You can set a dollar limit per day--I think I set the Symphony's at $20--and most often you will not be anywhere near that, as you only get charged when people actually click on the ad, as opposed to paying just to have it show up a certain number of times.

I would say that the ads had a modest effect on the number of Facebook fans the Symphony gained. If you really want people to join, make sure you put the "find us on Facebook" logo on any print ads you may do, too.

Appleton's Art in the Park

I don't know if anyone will be here over the summer, but a local art expo happens every year near the end of June. Appleton's Art in the Park series is a project by the Appleton Art Center that showcases local artists. If the pop up gallery is able to sustain itself through the summer, I would encourage them to attend. It could be a way to connect with the community by offering to showcase some art by local artists (who in turn would bring their friends to the showcase). Just an idea.

www.appletonartcenter.com/appletonart/art+in+the+park/default.asp

Get Published!

For visual and literary artists, there's one way to ensure professionalism at a low cost -- get published! For visual artists, showing one's portfolio is an important part of networking, receiving commissions, and getting one's work into galleries. Though in all cases the buyer and/or marketer of your work should be more interested in your art than in the manner in which you present it, a hard bound, glossy finished, full colored book certainly grabs the viewer's attention and shows that you care enough about what you do to present it in such a manner.

Lulu.com is a cheap, efficient, and professional way to not only manufacture your book for personal purposes, but if desired, one can actually mass publish and SELL your publications! If you care about the image you're putting out to your buyers, fans, and galleries, lulu.com is the place to go!

Low-Cost Marketing

One of the keys to a successful business is the marketing. Even if you have a great idea or product, if nobody knows about it your chances of success are limited. Since marketing can be an extremely expensive investment, it is difficult for people like us who are trying to start up a business with $100 budget. Here is an article about how marketing can done with relatively low costs and still create the same kind of "buzz" you need for your business to be successful. Some of these may not be realistic for our one time event, but are things to keep in mind for our long term projects.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneursstartupsmagazine/2009/june/202090.html

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Re: arts and $

Some thought in response to Elyse's post.

This is what I get from Jackie: If you can support yourself entirely by doing art then great! do it! Just like Jackie herself, she lives off entirely from her art sales. But she also pointed out how other people choose other ways to balance between living their dreams and supporting themselves financially, just like her friend who do tax for a few months per year. It's not that one way is better or preferable than the other. Just whatever works for you and your situation.
I personally think that it's great if you can live your artistic life while make a living out of it. But I have no problem with an artist who spend some time doing other stuff to make a living. I don't think that would harm your art practice (unless you are a dancer or a music performer who probably cannot afford to go a few months without practicing)
A person may have lots of interests and maybe one passion in life. In my opinion, you certainly need to maintain a focus and set goals to fulfill your passion, but it doesn't mean you have to devote your entire life doing that one thing in order to excel in that field. I think people get a lot of experience and inspiration while experimenting and trying to a variety of different things. Especially with art, your artistic inspiration might very well come from your wide array of life experience. Who knows, maybe an experience with the up and down of the stock market might give someone an inspiration for a great work of art!!! :)

What I did this weekend

In 1880 J.E. Hamilton of Two Rivers, Wisconsin quit his job to go into business making wood type and later expanded to include printing cabinets and printer's furniture. In 1889 the Hamilton Manufacturing Company was formed. This company went on to make dental cabinets, drafting furniture, medical furniture, and the first automatic clothes dryer.

I've lived seven miles from the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum for twenty years and finally got there this weekend. I knew the Hamilton company made the drawers for storing the print and a quick Google search led me to the website and I visited the museum on Saturday. I was impressed by the quality of the museum's online presence and the museum itself is fantastic. In addition to housing 1.5 million pieces of wood type, the museum contains a workshop. This adds another dimension to the museum experience since you can see people using wood type and experimenting with the medium. The gift shop sells prints, posters, broadsides, and postcards. Not only was I very impressed with the museum, it may end up being helpful my class project.

For more information the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum has a website, items for sale on etsy, and a presence on facebook and twitter.