Affordably Simple Marketing™

The Elastic Budget

As an artist, do you spend so much time thinking about marketing that you never get any of it done? Don't let this paralysis affect your success. At ADBASE, we believe marketing that works is marketing that runs - and that anything that gets in the way is a problem. We hear from a lot of artists that they can't afford to do the type of marketing they want, so instead they don't do any marketing at all. This is the wrong approach, as budget doesn't have to be the problem. Using the concept of The Elastic Budget, we'll show you how you can afford to keep your name out there all year long.

The Elastic Budget is based on three principles that make it easy for you to decide how and where to best spend your limited marketing dollars. There are no secrets - you just need to "think smart" with your money and apply marketing basics.

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Principle 1:

Stretch your budget by marketing frequently

Frequency is the number of times you want to reach out to your target audience in a year. Here's a good marketing basic to keep in mind: you will get better results by hitting the same people repeatedly rather than by promoting irregularly or occasionally hitting every lead you can find. Because of this, frequency is the most important component of your plan and therefore is the least elastic, or flexible. This is not where you compromise - this is the best place to spend your marketing dollars.

Keep in mind that frequent promotion doesn't necessarily mean sending at "fixed" intervals. In slower marketing months (like December or July), you can save money by not sending anything and instead doing some extra marketing in a busier month (like January or September). This way, you'll keep your frequency high while still being very smart with your budget.

Your final consideration is to decide how often you want to be reaching out to the 2 primary groups within your target audience: your core and your extended groups. Your core group contains those buyers mostlikely to hire you, so this is the group you want to market to more frequently. At a maximum, you should be hitting this group once a month - any more than that can really get annoying for the buyers. When promoting to your extended group, anything less than once a quarter will fail to build recognition. Here's where you can play with the elasticity of your budget. If you have some room, stretch the frequency of your marketing to this extended group. If your budget is tight, save marketing costs by reducing the frequency of promotion to this group. Here's another good marketing basic: try never to reduce the frequency you market to your core group. They're your best source of business and are worth the investment.

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Principle 2:

Stretch your budget by being as targeted as possible

As we talked about above, you should think of your target audience as consisting of 2 groups:

1. Your Core List
   those most likely to hire you. This should include clients you have worked with before and companies in industries you work in most often. This list can also include other industries you really want to work in and where your existing body of imagery shows you have relevant experience.
2. Your Extended List
   those that may hire you, but not as often. This should include industries that you get some work from but are not your "bread n' butter". This list is also where you can target new industries you want to enter, but where your current work isn't as applicable yet you want to make a long-term investment.

All too often artists fall prey to the "more the better" trap and are tempted to mail the largest list they can find. Reality is the more people you market to, the more your marketing program is going to cost. A good marketing basic: be brutally selective when identifying who your key contacts really are so you maximize the money you spend on those that really matter.

I'm a big believer in really, really targeting a very small group of people, and doing it on a regular basis.Debra Weiss, Creative Consultant

That means that your overall goal is to spend more on your core group, as these are the people most likely to hire you and have therefore earned a bigger share of your marketing dollars. But that doesn't mean that your extended audience isn't vital to your marketing program, it simply ranks below your core group when it comes to budget allocation. In other words, spend money on your core group and expand or contract your secondary extended list to accommodate your budget.

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Principle 3:

Stretch your budget by using postcards and email

The main thing to keep in mind when you're making your media selection is that buyers just want to see your work. Because trends in style and image use are always changing, buyers want to see your recent work and frequent promotions will help you do this. You will still need to be smart with your media selection though, as costs can quickly add up. Don't discount the power of postcards and email. These make excellent cost-effective promotions and do a great job of showing your work - the overall purpose of your marketing. Buyers have repeatedly said that they like postcards and email, so you can't go wrong. More elaborate (and costly!) promotions can be seen as "gimmicky" and don't guarantee more (or better) work, so we recommend you only invest in these when your time and budget permit.

I like postcards, I like something where you can see the photo the easiest. Heather Hall Art Buyer, McCann Worldwide

Here's a final marketing fundamental that can help you be smart with your media selection: using a variety of media types brings more attention to your promotions and makes your marketing program more effective. Additionally, mixed media helps you combat a key issue for all marketers: knowing what types of promotions individuals react to. So by sending a mix of promotional types, you can get the attention of more buyers.

I would say email is effective. I do pretty much look at everything I receive. Dan Southwick, Art Buyer, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners Inc

Choosing the right media for your program will depend on how much money you have to spend. For example, you may decide to send postcards to your core list 4 times a year, and fill in the months in between with email. Because your extended list is less likely to hire you right away, you could decide to send only 2 postcards and 4 email campaigns to this list. Postcard size will also have a dramatic impact on your budget. Modern Postcard, for example, offers sizes ranging from 4x6 all the way up to 6x11, all with various price points. If you find your budget contracting, try sending a smaller postcard or substituting a postcard with an email campaign rather than reducing frequency. By playing around with this mix, you can expand or contract your printing and mailing costs to fit your budget.