SHOULD I BE ON THE INTERNET?
... Roberta
by Alan J. Zell, Ambassador of Selling

Q. I am a craft artist. I work in mixed media. I read in the newspapers and magazines about the opportunity that awaits us for making sales. I don't know that I can afford advertising or putting my work in stores and galleries on commission and then wait to see if something sells in order to get some money. I need money for my business and to live on. I am on the Internet but no one is calling me. Should I be on the Internet?

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A. Roberta: As one who has sold arts and crafts for many years and who now works with artisans working in a wide variety of media and in diverse localities, your experience in selling arts and crafts via the Web does not surprise me. Your message points to several reasons why you aren't getting the immediate results on the 'net.

1) While we read about how many people are buying things on the Internet, the questions becomes: How many of them are interested in buying crafts? Even in the off-line business world those interested in arts and crafts are a small, small percentage of the buying public. The demographics of the Internet reflects the demographics of the public in many ways.

2) Although the items are there to be looked at, selling arts and crafts are more than just a visual thing. Selling three dimensional items, and even paintings and prints have a third dimension to them is hard to visualize when they are presented in a two dimensional format. Certainly, there are some craft items, mostly due to their lower pricing, that catalogues have sold that are now on-line but, overall, the total dollars per artisan or industry are very low.

The Internet throws up another road block -- screen size and how much can be seen without scrolling. You are working with 1/3 of an 8 x 11 page. So, to see the whole unit, the illustration has to be less than 3” high. For items under 12”, this may be OK. Larger items, ugh! And, as the prices go up the chances for making the sale decrease which is true whether the customer is on the net, seeing it in print or on TV or looking in your window or standing in front of you.

Many crafts sell because of the “illusion factor” that is, from a distance the work seems logical (shape, size, color) but up close it is hard to figure how it was done. Most experts agree that all great art has an “illusion factor” to it.

3) With arts and craft items shown on the Web it is hard to relate the size to other things because a solitary, small graphic usually represents the item. When the graphic comes up on the monitor, the viewer does not know if the colors are the same as they would be in real life. Add to that the difficulty in determining texture, weight and depth and the illusion is lost.

4) Now, find the audience who remains and your total possible audience gets quite small. Remember, it may not be easy to get to your web site and, if potential buyers do, are they interested in looking at the type of work you do can further diminish the potential for making a sale over the Internet even smaller.

Then there is the problem of getting people to your web site? It is not easy. Perhaps you have used a firm to register your site with various web sites. Have you tried to see where your pages come up by doing a search? There are, I read, more than 13 million web site pages and the number grows at one million a month. The search engines combined, it is reported reach or list less than 40% of them and the percentage decreases because they are not able to keep up with the growth.

What is required, money to advertise your site on other sites and in other media (print, broadcast, direct mail, etc.). Ask yourself where are the best place to spend your marketing budget? Could the same dollars or less be spent promoting your work and getting people into the shop where they can see and feel it. What might catch the fancy of a potential customer? Consider hotel displays, in-room magazines, newspaper art sections and, possibly, if where you live is a major tourist area where people come by air, in the airline magazines? The closer your potential customers are to where you work is shown, the better the chances of getting them into the gallery and, once that is done, the better chances of your making the sale.

Can or should the Internet fit into your marketing picture? Here, too, some important factors come into play:

A) You cannot expect this medium or, for that matter any other mass media, to do what it cannot possibly do! It cannot be expected to make sales for you although you may get some sales from it. All mass media advertising or promotion has really only one thing it can be expected to do and it can do well and that is to make what is being promoted known to those with whom the potential buyer might possibly discuss their purchase or potential purchase. Mass media makes it easier for the buyers to justify the purchase because whomever they are discussing their purchase with may already be familiar with the work, the material, or the artisan.

B) Having a web site is a form of credentials. It is not unlike saying you had advertised in Town & Country or Architectural Digest magazines. Most people do not understand the Internet but saying you are there helps them believe they are dealing with a reputable artist. Anyone who buys one of your works from a gallery or visits without buying (better known as Mr. & Mrs. Will B. Back) will be able to mention that you have a web site.

So, Roberta, look first in your own back yard for sales. Then, as time and other considerations permit, increase the range of exposure of your work. You will find this to be an effective use of your time, effort and money.

This article was written to help you and your business. If you believe some of these articles will be helpful to your business, please e-mail me your comments on how you will apply them. ajz

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Alan J. Zell, Ambassador Of Selling
P.O. Box 69 Portland, Oregon, USA 97207-0069

Email: azell@aol.com
Telephone: (503) 241-1988