Thursday, October 1, 2009

PR and Promotion Advice from an Artist

O sure you're saying after reading the title of this post, like what's an artist know about PR and promotion?  It may amaze you that there are some artists who really want to get their work out there and sold.  One of these folks is Chad Sorg, a very talented illustrator, fine artist and video dude.  He posted this last week on Facebook and is letting me repost it here.  I think there are some worthwhile ideas here.

1) When it comes to social networking, there are only events. If what you're selling isn't an event, make it into one.
2) Interesting photos or videos tell more than your boring words ever will; not only do we want the info–dates, times, etc.–but we might pay attention if know what being there is going to 'feel' like. *Stylish examples of these will always get you more mileage.
3) Comments are your friend–ALWAYS. Inspire commenting.
4) Pretty girls make the world go 'round.
5) Repetition seals the deal. 3 or 4 updates in a row are the most you can get away with without annoying your peeps, but a couple updates a day, the week leading up to the event, now that's the dog's nuts.
6) If you're just being lazy, we can spot it. Don't be lazy.
7) a LOGO is not a photo.
8) I can't stress HUMOR enough–but I can mention it here without being funny.
9) Social networking/marketing is ALL about giving.
10) People will thank you if your marketing gives them an experience.
11) If your event is beer based, link up with the beer people; if it's theatre based, link with the theatre people, and if it's beer AND theatre based, refer to bit #6–link with both groups.
12) Action is attractive while humor is contagious.
13) Promoting others is the best way to promote yourself.
14) The more people that stand to gain from your event the easier your job will be; put them all to work promoting themselves.
15) Add to your credibility by NOT advertising constantly. Offering links related to your topic from YouTube or blog sites works nicely.
16) In promotions, playing the game works; NOT playing the game works better!
17) Be conscious of analytics, in other words, be sure you can measure your results.
18) Target the popular people, they know how to network your networking.

*Video has found a perfect marriage with social networking. The SorgSorg Fan page here on Facebook is the spot where you'll be seeing examples of my videos. Above all, I hope you find them entertaining. Get a hold of me if you think I can help your efforts; I'm affordable.

If  you're on facebook, you can find him here
or cut and paste the following into your browser
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=141974013321#/pages/SorgSorg/262604065594?v=wall

or you can find him here
http://sorgsorg.blogspot.com/2009/03/commissions_8589.html
or here
http://www.facebook.com/l/14c40;www.SorgSorg.blogspot.com.

If you have a project that needs illustration, video or promotion, contact Chad.  He knows what he's doing and he's a nice guy too!