How exactly does the information in the new Advanced Marketing DVD differ and improve
on my Marketing book and on my first Marketing DVD?

Introduction:
Compared to the book the information on the Advanced Marketing DVD is entirely different and new. The book is based on my first Marketing DVD which was published in 2006.  The book itself was written in 2008 and published in 2011. The information in the book is a summary of the information on my first Marketing DVD.

All this was written prior to the recession of 2007. The recession has had a powerful impact on the world of fine art photography.  Selling fine art photographs today is much more difficult than selling fine art photograph before the recession. Marketing has changed dramatically since the recession.  To continue selling fine art photographs with pre-recession results and income, I had to change my marketing dramatically and the Advanced Marketing DVD reflects these changes in the following ways:

Specifically:

– Offering limited editions has become very important to motivate customers.  However, just putting a number on a print is not enough.  You have to know exactly  how to structure your editions and you have to offer several editions ‘staggered’ in value. I explain exactly how in Section 14 – How are you going to do this ? –  of the Advanced Marketing DVD.

– Customers have more objections than ever before since the recession started because they want to control their expenses.  They have become ‘smart’ and know how to circumvent the techniques previously used by salespeople.  These techniques no longer work. In Section 10 – How to communicate with customers – of the Advanced Marketing DVD I offer sales-generating answers to post-recession objections.  Using these answers will help you sell more art than before.  I also teach you how to answer your business phone, how to use and understand body language, how to write thank you notes, give you examples of phone calls leading to sales and much more.  This section is recorded by both myself and Natalie.

– Knowing what to say has become important. The language you use when talking about your work has never been as important as now.  Customers pay attention to everything you say. In the Advanced Marketing DVD I have a list of ‘bad’ words, words you should never use when talking about your work, and a list of ‘good’ words, words you must use if you want to sell your work.  The vast majority of photographers use ‘bad’ words and it hurts their sales profoundly.

– There are two types of sales in Fine Art Photography.  Most photographers make only 1 of these two types of sales: the first type.  The problem is that the first type of sale represents only  10% of your potential sales.  The second type of sales on the other hand represents 90% of your potential sales. This means if you are not making this second type of sales you are losing 90% of your potential income!  In the DVD I show you how to make both types of sales, focusing on the second type because this is where the money is.

– In the original Marketing DVD, and in the marketing book, I only talked about how I sell my work. In Section 16 -Artist Stories – of the new Advanced Marketing DVD I talk about how other artists sell their work.  In addition to the case studies that I mentioned previously, I also have 12 stories that are accounts of artists that faced selling problems and found effective solutions to these problems. Knowing how other artists solved problems that affect all of us will help you find solutions to your own business challenges.

– The original Marketing DVD, and the marketing book, focused essentially on selling at art shows.  In Section 7 – Where to sell your work of The new Advanced Marketing DVD I go over a vast variety of locations where you can sell your work together with photographs of each locations.

– I also show you how to sell through galleries and on the web.  There is an entire section on the DVD designed to help you find gallery representation: Section 8-How to find Gallery Representation. This section features a step by step approach on how to find the right gallery for your work, how to contact galleries, when to go, what to bring with you and more.  It also includes several ‘Gallery Sheets’ which are  the industry standard approach to showing your work to galleries. Most artists walk in with prints under their arm and this is one of the reasons why they are rejected.  Gallery sheets are the way to go.  They are included with the DVD together with templates so you can create your own.

– Knowing how to sell on the web has become more important than ever since the recession.  Selling on the web means selling worldwide without having to travel.  You cross borders automatically and you extend your reach beyond your physical reach and location.  But opening a web site is no guarantee of success.  In Section 9 – How to sell on the web – of the Advanced Marketing DVD I explain what makes a successful website, which errors you must avoid making to be successful, and how to sell on the web so you make money.

– The marketing book and the original Marketing DVD did not have much theory on them.  Theory is important because it teaches us the foundations on which our business is built.  It also explains how we make sales and how we can improve our skills.  In Section 4 – Understanding the Selling process – of the new Advanced Marketing DVD I lay out the  7 separate steps of the selling process.  These steps are ignored by the majority of artists, but known to the minority of successful artists (most artists are unsuccessful, because they don’t study marketing and make huge, money wasting mistakes).

– In Section 4 I also cover the relationship between the artist, the customer and the product we sell: fine art photographs.  I call this relationship the marketing triangle.  There are 4 possible case figures for this relationship to take place.  Only one of these 4 possible situations will result in maximizing your sales.  Again, the majority of artists ignore this and establish the wrong relationship with customers resulting in a huge amount of missed sales.  I know, I was one of them until I discovered how to make this work!  After reading this section I guarantee you will never make this mistake again.

– Pricing, one of the most important aspects of selling fine art, is covered in detail in Section 4 through the price-achievement pyramid and the venue-cost relationship pyramid in which I explain how to price your work according to your level of leverage.  In Section 14 – How are you going to do this ? – I give you examples of pricing.  In Section 16 – Artist Stories – I give more examples of pricing through the 13 artist stories featured in that section.

– Knowing how to start your business is crucial.  In Section 6 – How to start your business – I show how to find out if you are ready to sell, how to write your business plan, how to write your mission statement, and how to check if your business goals are realistic or unrealistic.

– However, starting a business is not going to work if you don’t know how fine art photographs are sold and why people buy them.  Believe it or not, most artists don’t know this.  So in Section 2 -How fine art photographs are sold – I go over the concepts of luxury and commodity products and explain which of these two categories photographs fall into (do you know which one it is and why ?).

-Becoming unique is hugely important, especially now that we have millions of ‘photographers’ who want to sell their work, with more ‘photographers’ coming onto the scene on a daily basis.  In Section 12 – How to manage your career – I  go over how to make your brand unique and I cover all the aspects that you can use to create a unique product.

– Selling artwork is good but managing your career so you are successful for years to come is better. In Section 12 -How to manage your career – I go over how to do so by addressing time and money management, the two things that defeat most artists.  I teach you how to prioritize your tasks so you use your time in the most effective manner.  This is super important because you can make more money, and you can count it, but you can’t make more time and neither can you count how much you have left.  I also go over how to reach your goals, how to deal with competitors and more.

– When all is said and done, we want to do this because we want to create a specific lifestyle.  In Section 13 – How to create the Lifestyle you desire – I go over the important aspects of creating this lifestyle so that you don’t end up working all the time, making money but not having any time to enjoy it.    I also give you my list of ‘success notes’ as a checklist of things to watch out for in checking if you are truly successful or just ‘busy’.

Here is the link to the detailed description page:

http://www.beautiful-landscape.com/Articles-CD.html

Best regards,

Alain Briot