Juliette Wolf-Robin travels the U.S. asking art buyers, editors and industry insiders how artists can market their businesses more effectively. I’ve combed through dozens of podcast interviews Juliette has conducted with influential art buyers and creatives. In this article, art buyers talk about how frequently artists should send promotional material.
Juliette Wolf-Robin: How often should an artist send email and printed promotional pieces?
“Four-to-six times a year, something like that. But in different forms because sometimes you feel like you're bombarded with the same images.” – Michelle Jackson, Freelance Art Buyer/Print Producer and Founder of Snap Indigo
“Every few months would be fine. I want to be updated as you're actually producing new work. – Andrea Mariash, senior art buyer, David & Goliath
“I think an overload can be a little bit rough, especially if you're getting promos all the time. You tend to start to ignore them or be annoyed by them. I'd say no more than once a month is enough.” – Dan Southwick, Executive Art Buyer/Print Production Manager, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
“Depends on what a photographer is trying to achieve. If it’s a series, then maybe send an update every three months or quarterly. We don't like to get bombarded every week with promos. Some people have called me to say ‘Just checking to see if you got that promo from me,’ or ‘We sent you a link to our website.’ That doesn't go over really well because we get so many promos that it's hard to differentiate… we're not thinking of just that one.” – Lisa Oropallo, Art Buying Manager, Digitas
“There are some people who send things way too often. I wonder how they have the budget. And it tends to be a lot of the same stuff. And then some people try to put too much on a piece or who like to write stories with their images. It doesn’t do anything for me. The image has got to speak for itself. I think a lot of text is annoying. Clean design and consistency are important.” – Melinda Estey, Art Buyer, Young & Rubicam/Wunderman
“Send new images no more than once a month or once every two months. [More often] hurts their chances of me looking at them. For example, if they send me a promo once a week, that tends to clog up my email box faster. So I have a tendency to “select” and “delete” … because I know another one's coming.” – Kat Dalager, Manager of Print Production, Campbell Mithun
“If a photographer’s with an agency, the agency usually does one huge promo a year, maybe two. Then there are individual promos. For a photographer to be remembered individually… I think more promos are good.” – Lori Walker, Art Buyer, Butler, Shine, Stern, & Partners
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