Marketing Action Plan – Part 3
Marketing Action Plan for an artist
This is the third in a three-part series of blog posts explaining how the develop a Marketing Action Plan (MAP) for different businesses.
In Part 1 of this three part series I set out an example of a MAP for a caterer
In Part 2 I set out an example of a MAP for an interior designer
In this final example, I am going to consider an artist who specialises in the field of ceramics. Many people who work from home are creatives – writers, poets, painters, sculptors, crafters, etc. They turn their skills into products bought by both consumers and businesses. Some are professionally trained and others have left another career to pursue a passion.
For the purposes of this example, the artist is professionally trained and has a studio in the garden. He previously worked part-time in a gallery and part-time on commissions from home. This year’s goal is to extend his product range and sell to more retail stores.
His marketing audit showed that most of his part-time revenue came from sales to private individuals, usually previous customers and a small proportion from recommendations.
In addition, with limited time, he sold directly to the public at a few summer craft fairs but recognises that the success of these events is both weather- and location-dependent – if you have a poor pitch and weather, sales sometimes only covered the cost of the stand.
With the decision to go full-time, and having done a Marketing Audit, he put together the following MAP combining offline and online tactics.
- Design and print of marketing literature showing the full range of ceramics.
- Research into booking art exhibitions, craft fairs and open studio events for the next year.
- Creation of the database of local independent retailers specialising in gifts and homewares.
- Contacting local galleries.
- Evaluation of trade shows in the sector.
- Regular updating of the website and improvements to the online shop.
- Using LinkedIn to discover buyers in retail sector.
- Better use of Instagram and Pinterest by creating a content calendar.
For the blog post on how to construct a Marketing Action Plan click: MAP
