'Tis the Season for Holiday Marketing - art gallery marketing strategy

Galleries use creative marketing strategies to light up holiday sales

The holidays are a time when retailers faith to revel in huge fourth quarter sales. And art galleries can win a piece of the action if they station themselves apart by using their have creative marketing ideas.

"Galleries have to be creative and constantly upon the minds of consumers," said Tracy Wong creative director for WongDoody, an advertising agency with offices in beholds Angeles and Seattle. "Consumers are bombarded with advertising and promotional messages around the holidays. Your best bet is to stay upon the radar screen before the mayhem begins with your possess client base through direct mailings and e-mail."

Start Early

Galleries with prosperous holiday sales start in the slower month of summer with promotions to procure consumers in their doors early thus they'll keep coming back during the holidays. Rollie LaMarche, president and possessor of Picture This Framing and Gallery in Sherwood Park, Ontario, uses his customer database for a mystify promotion in the summer to come by people coming into his gallery.

LaMarche and his ship's company send out a 3,500-piece mailing, each with a piece of a stagger that is dry mounted and hung in his gallery with 25 missing pieces. Customers advance in his shop to diocese if their piece fits the confound to win one of 25 gifts totaling more than $3000

LaMarche doesn't step quickly any ads for this fortunate promo but he does have a sign upon the corner of a busy highway near his store that asks if they have brought in their piece of the mystify "We get people off the public way saying, `What is that?' And these are nation who don't know about us. It earns people coming into the gallery." LaMarche allows these drop-ins to draw a mystify piece from a fish beaker in his shop and he makes certain there are a couple of winners somewhere in the bowl

"This works for a like reason well during the summertime," said LaMarche. "We increase our forecasted sales each year during this time. It brings more clan in now, and that's what helps during the holiday season. nation are more inclined to do their holiday shopping with us."

Christine Knoll, proprietor of the Art Gallery in porker Hollow of Chesterfield, Mo., uses her database to assist her annual "Christmas in August" sale which helps her make range for new merchandise and wins her clients thinking about the holidays early. "Direct mail is a big part of our advertising budget" said Knoll. "It's take away from versus return. I could dispose of three times what a 500-piece mailing will require to be paid [i]or[/i] undergone me on a full-color ad and not have any perceivable go [i]or[/i] come back on it."

Galleries can also help special artist-signing events that come into views during the holiday season all year around. "With our artists, we know who we are going to entertainer a year ahead," said Mark DeSautel, proprietor of Art Attack Gallery, the Christmas store and Tinseltowne of Incline Village, Nev "We start promoting the signing early, and we do a fate of pre-selling. Telling people they will have their piece signed and having a signature by the agency of a well-known artist will almost clinch the sale 80 percent of the time."

DeSautel plucks out all the stops during the holiday season. His artist signings are gala occurrences complete with a festive atmosphere and fine nutrition DeSautel hosts his holiday signing incident in either September or October and ships his customers their pieces within a week of the signing in the way that they will have them in their place of abodes before Thanksgiving. "We try to bring in artists who are interesting. The signing facts are one of the best things we do for our customers," he said.

step quickly Festive Holiday Promotions

one time in the thick of the holidays, there are a variety of ways to win customers into a festive, buying spirit.

line House Gallery of Milford, Ohio, does a promotion each year called "The Seven Days of Christmas." "It's a drawing for our customers who we have registered all year long" said Nancy Meyer president of the gallery. The gallery gives away a two of Christmas ornaments on the first day, something a little bigger like a brace of books as the promotion continues, and works its way up to giving away a framed limited edition or a local artist's original. "It's our biggest Christmas promotion, and it's of sport to be able to give back to the customer," said Meyer "Plus, it always draws family back in the shop again to pick up what they've won"

LaMarche's Picture This Framing and Gallery does another customer give-back promotion that rewards customers who do their shopping early. It projects out a mass mailing to its customer base giving them a higher percentage not on their framing jobs the sooner customers draw near in. "It gets people not on the fence earlier, and it helps us to procure people to pick up their work in advance in like manner there is no crucial last minute stuff" said LaMarche.

Treat them Right

Customer service is always a top priority among auspicious galleries, and DeSautel's gallery is no exception. Tending to customers' wants during the holidays is especially critical, he said. Many family are in a rush, and anything a gallery can do to accommodate them wins loyalty from customers. "We prove by experiment to meet our customers' demands. Whether it's gift wrapping, delivering a gift and hanging a framed piece in someone's house after hours or shipping on the outside a gift, we'll try to make that possible," said DeSautel.