Marketing for Artists and Faux Finishing
Articles are appearing in the search queries more these days as the economy keeps us on our toes. especially in the faux finishing market. Then along comes a website like Thumbtack.com which stands to be a bit different in the
“pay per lead” type of lead generation website that is doing
some things a bit different to help at the local level of internet marketing that is actually helping in the faux finishing niche of the arts that I came across. In an open discussion on one of the boards on Facebook, a question came up that I thought I would post my response here on my blog.
A question from decorative artist Donna M. Bauer asks;
Yes, while I am a bit disappointed (re; to a job match)
it was a good experience and I am now comfortable using
So now Art, I have a question to your original
request of this post….I can review you even if you have not
done any work for me and vise versa?
My response is to a question about filling out a review on another artists profile which is strongly suggested as part of a no-cost listing on Thumbtack.com
Yes, you can write a “review” for anyone on just about anything,
just as you can write a “book review” ‘movie review’,’product’ or
whatever the case may be. They also have a ‘referral’ section as
well, which is different than a review.
The review is an opinion and not to be confused with a referral. These appear to be set up mainly to
show up in the local SERP’s rather than say in the National or
International SERP’s (search engine results pages).
I thought it was a pretty brilliant way to reach more of the local market when searching the internet for a local business. The beauty of it is that it can work both ways. For instance if
someone buys a vacation/retreat home in Memphis and are from
California and needs work done while they are gone. They are going to
want someone local most likely and if they see someone in the
same trade giving a nice ‘review’ simply because of networking,
most likely they are going to follow through with selecting this artist, faux finisher, or business owner based on your review as a professional yourself.
I have networked with hundreds of artists across the world including many of you here on Facebook for years
and yet have never met many of you personally. But I DO know some of you well
enough that I can give a fantastic review of your work!
Some of us go back as far as Murals Plus and even before The Faux Forum, Facebook, and even any picture hosting sites such as Flickr and video was just a wish.
This adds to the trust and to the integrity of that Decorative Artist, Faux Finisher, and Business Owner
profile helping the one who is viewing it make their decision to
call you.
Internet marketing, and business networking, is king these days even for
Artists, faux finishing, and business in general
I have often received emails or comments on my blog asking if I know of anyone say in
the Orlando Fl. area that could possibly do some of the things I do
and I respond by saying of course I do. At that point, I will
contact other faux finishing, decorative artists who I know up there and see if they are busy or not and
pass on the information. You see a ‘review’ covers that in a
sense because the person viewing the profile will most likely
follow through, especially if it’s coming from another
professional. I believe Thumbtack.com has really got the right idea
taking into account that B2B networking is a huge factor in
“Word of Mouth” advertising game and the people of higher education
and income levels (college degree professionals) understand the
differences between a review and a referral. Thumbtack I
believe are in it to help small businesses and not so much as
the greed part like all the other ‘Pay per Lead’ companies who
want $40-50.00 per lead before you really even get any kind of
viable information to help you make that choice of whether the lead is
for you or not, plus it’s free to sign up with no setup fees.
I mean this is really a no-brainer and could help significantly
with genuine local traffic to your site from people who
really are specifically looking for what you do. In my
opinion, this reaches far beyond what Facebook does. The fact
that the majority of Facebook users are not here to find fine
art or artists, they are there to party and play games and
socialize and don’t really care what it is you do. However, sites
like Thumbtack.com are just the opposite and know how to reach those
target markets that we all need.
There are a few other websites I am looking at that are also showing some very impressive SEO
work focused on the higher end businesses in the small local
business niches that are fairly new I am testing. It’s like I
have been saying fine art collectors don’t come to Facebook looking
for fine art and neither do people who are looking for fine
European finishes that are of higher education especially the
ones who literally take a simple phrase like “Faux Painter” to
make their decision on whether they want to hire you in the
first place. I mean think about it ……Do you think someone of
the elite status is going to hire someone who calls themselves a
Fake Painter or a Fake Artist? Or someone who has the
initiative to call themself simply an Artist or Decorative
Artist. It’s all about knowing your market!
2 thoughts on “Marketing for Artists and Faux Finishing”
Hey Art, Just stumbled across this blog…lol> I see it was written over a year ago. I had no clue you would use my question as a blog. Does this make me famous now? hehe
Hi Donna, Thanks for dropping in. Whether or it will make us famous or not is probably doubtful but I thought it was a good topic from a good person.