During what appear to be more difficult economic times many people are in search of investments that will appreciate over time. Far be it to provide anyone with financial advice since I am no expert when it comes to the stock market or the banking industry however I do know a little bit about art and photography when it comes to marketing.
Many clients of mine in the past have asked me how do I get my prints to sell. First I give them the slew of tips and tid-bits I have learned over the past decade or so and then I usually dwell on niche marketing. Niche marketing is different than finding your niche and trying to capitalize on it. Niche marketing is the practice of targeting a specific market for your goods. Since as artists and photographers we have an endless supply of product in the form of prints and usually have a place to have those images printed (if you do not have a lab that does your printing check out my website FinerWorks which specializes in printing artwork and fine art photography for artists and photographers), it behooves us to focus on where to sell your prints. If you have read some of my previous advice about getting your work into galleries, a lot of the same principals apply. First make some prints you can show, the second is to focus on that niche.
One of my favorite recommendations came to me when I was getting lost in the halls of a hospital. A family member was being treated and I took a wrong turn (or perhaps a right turn in this instance) which led me down a series of hallways decorated with large giclee prints of beautiful black and white prints printed on what appeared to a be a nicely textured fine art paper. While the photography was decent the impact of seeing all the wonderful prints had a certain calming and luring effect. I could not help but stop and admire some of the work.
Once I finally made my way out of the building it dawned on me that why not suggest this to some of my clients. A little further researched yielded that many medical facilities such as hospitals, clinics and retirement homes are eager to decorate their walls. Some , especially new hospitals are eager to decorate their halls to get away from the stale antiseptic look usually associated with medical facilities. Many are also looking for work that reflects either some theme (say children in a pediatrics section) or local attractions that hi-light familiarity in a tasteful or artistic fashion. Some will also be looking for general imagery such as wildlife and landscape.
While I won’t go into detail as to how to best display your imagery such as size, type of frame or what information about you should be displayed I will say that it is not only a chance to get some decent exposure but also a chance to sell your work. Sometimes an intial investment will be required so that those that make the decisions can see a sample of your work m the fashion it will be displayed but if you thoughtfully seek out these sort of contracts it is not difficult to walk away with a nice paycheck at the end of the day.
