For those of us who live immersed in the digital world, which certainly includes you as an Absolute Arts blog reader, it is most likely nearly incomprehensible how a modern day artist, or businessperson of any sort, could not be partially, if not fully, connected in the social marketing world. Truly, these days most would think how can anyone serious about getting ahead not be wholly represented on “The Social Marketing Grid” with a Facebook page, Twitter and Linkedin accounts et cetera?

The reality is there are plenty of people with serious careers and serious career ambitions who have not and are not interested in joining the minions on the great social networking experiment that consumes so many others. Is it really possible to be successful or to grow a meaningful career without issuing a single tweet? The simple answer as always remains yes.

Here’s a last century example that remains germane to the argument today. For many years, I sold advertising and show space for Decor magazine and its sister Decor Expo tradeshows. Both served the art and picture framing industry. In the day, Decor’s annual Sources directory and Atlanta Decor Expo shows were huge successes on every level. Quite simply, anybody who was anyone in the decorative art and picture framing business would never consider not robustly participating in both. To do so would be career suicide by being obvious by one’s absence.

There is a direct correlation today between the implied “must participate” in those vehicles as there is in being fully active in the social networking arena. However, then just as now, there were artists and companies that chose not to go along with the crowd and consciously avoided participating in what seemed to all others to be an apparent choice.

Back then, much to my confounded consternation, there were artists and publishers I knew who were enjoying success that would be the envy of many of my regular advertising customers and show exhibitors, yet they were not spending money to promote themselves in the splendid and effective marketing vehicles I represented. It took a long time for me to realize that just because the evidence seemed to irrefutably prove participation in such activities paid results there would be those who would resist the opportunity.

So, despite my eloquent presentations and urgent pleas to not miss the ship about to sail, there were holdouts that steadfastly refused to be motivated. Their reasons were not always the same, but I think the primary reason is not unlike what you see today, which goes like this: “Yes, I can intellectually grasp there is opportunity in what is being offered. However, I’m doing just fine without the bother. And, despite the powerful lure those things have for many people, they have no interest for me.”

It was harder then for me to grasp their choices. Perhaps this was so because then I had a financial stake in persuading them. Being more involved and invested in their participation made me more passionate about my attempts to evangelize them into partaking. Today, with more maturity and less at stake, it’s easier to accept there are those who have no interest in getting a Facebook page and who are equally willing to suffer the consequences of not playing a part in the social networking revolution.

The question for artists today is can they have a successful career without having a Facebook page, a blog, a Twitter account and so forth? Despite what current proponents of these and other social marketing tools have to say, I believe it is completely possible. Admittedly, I am one of those proponents. You can find plenty of articles among the 200+ blog posts I’ve published on my Art Print Issues blog that encourage artists to get involved with these tools.

Despite what I think and promote regarding advancing an artist’s career, I deem it is possible for an artist to achieve notable success without having much more than a phone and an email address. While I think it makes the proposition of attaining success more difficult for most, I am convinced that it’s not impossible or even implausible to gain notoriety and perhaps even museum collectible attention without being a card carrying member of the social networking movement.

Of course, if the artist is not a willing participant, it still would be a great benefit if his or her benefactors, i.e., gallerists, reps, dealers and collectors promoted the work in online social spaces mentioned here. But, at the heart of it, a long running successful art career is built one brick at a time. And, that can be done in a variety of ways, not all related to the digital world. In fact, in spite of my cheerleading for Web 2.0 type involvement, I think it would be foolhardy for most artists today to focus exclusively on social marketing while ignoring traditional forms of marketing.

When I was repping Decor and Decor Expo, a regular question was, “How do I decide where to allocate my marketing dollars?” It remains a viable question today. My answer has not changed much. That is, decide what you perceive to offer the best return on investment and give it the biggest chunk. Then spread the rest available, within the realistic constraints of what an individual or small business can do with time, financial and personnel resources, among all the rest.

For artists to achieve success the goal, whether in the 21st Century or the last, remains the same: Seek to build a viable dealer/gallery/collector base to grow your business. Then nourish and replenish with vigor. Make it part of your business plan and every work day in some fashion. If you are fortunate to have someone working for you, make sure it is an even more important part of their working day. The slow steady pace of the turtle in the race is still the sure way to succeed in business. To do otherwise is foolish. For instance, hoping to become an overnight success is the equivalent of buying lottery tickets as a financial plan.

Adding a dealer or gallery here, finding a few collectors at a show there. Digging up media support with press releases and participation in charity and other notable events and sending direct mail can all be done without ever tweeting a word. An artist who has motivated quality reps on the road making old fashioned cold calling presentations still works. While advertising in consumer and trade magazines and tradeshows may not deliver the same impact as when I was in my heyday with such vehicles, they nevertheless offer opportunity for artists who effectively utilize them.

Although I offer an alternative perspective, I still encourage artists to join me on my Art Print Issues blog, to get a website and blog of their own, and to exchange tweets with me at www.twitter.com/barneydavey or to friend me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/barney.davey. I will fully understand if you choose not to engage in social marketing. Further, I will happily support you and may even be one who chooses to publicize you for the quality of your work and for achieving success while going your own way.

Barney Davey
www.artprintissues.com

Created by Barney Davey On 07/16/09 At 03:16 PM

I grew up in an age that eschewed four letter words as “dirty” or uncivilized. All that has changed: just tune into any prime time TV show and there are bound to be several words casually spoken that would have gotten me and my peers expelled from school. However those are not the most dreadful words of all. In fact, the more a blasphemous word is used, the less shocking and more mainstream it becomes. Think of how ordinary or even welcomed an explicative is in a friendly greeting, an advertisement or a song. However, there is one four letter word that has the worst connotation of all. The four letter word to which I am referring is “time.” Time is my nemesis, my enemy and the word that can intimidate me like no other.

Who would not give up millions for time? Recently the MegaLotto in New York was $86 million. Had I won, I would have gladly traded all the lovely cash for a mere two more hours in each day. I can fantasize about millions and paying off my bills, buying necessities (a new lens or some good new brushes) or luxuries (a new camera and all the gadgets that go with), upgrading my equipment and fixing my house, but I space out at the thought of more time. Imagine!!

How would it be if I could go into my studio and actually have the time to work on a painting or a photograph without time constraints? I’m not thinking about commissioned work or art that requires deadlines. Actually, I find that time driven projects drive me also– in a positive way: less time/ more energy expended. These types of time issues cause me to focus and stretch all my abilities towards a specific date on the calendar. However, wouldn’t it be wonderful to develop my own work without stressing about having time for everyday chores that are necessary to live? Obviously I don’t mean (in my case) cleaning my house, cooking or doing the laundry. I mean those intrusive time wasters like making a living outside of my own art: whether it be teaching a class, office work, commercial art involvement aside from my personal projects and so on. Then there are family and friends to consider…

Time for family and friends is a serious issue for the artist who cannot say, “Look, I work at an office all week. Let’s get together on the week-ends or after work.” For me, as an artist, there are no week-ends, no after work, no free time unless I create it. Therefore, just when my starting time is over and I’m really ready to dig into my painting, it’s time for dinner with those close to me. A hard call sometimes to say, “I won’t be joining you because I have to finish my work.”
“What work? Did you get a job?”
“No, my painting.”
“Working on a cash commission?”
“No.”
“Oh, that work. You can finish it any time. We want to SEE YOU!”

Of course I want to spend time with loved ones. Who does not? But while I’m dining with them or driving to and from the visit or having a chat on the phone, part of me feels frustrated at taking time away from my “work:” my art. I feel guilty either way. If I go, I’m shorting myself. If I work on my art and do not spend time with people near and dear to me, I feel selfish, isolated and cannot seem to work well. Yes, I’ve read all the articles on priorities, but that’s how it is for me: damned if I do/ damned if I don’t. Fortunately, my family and friends have been understanding and stuck by me even if they don’t always see me.

Periodically I ask people what their most valuable resource is. They answer: love, health, family. I inquire about “time.” They stop to think, to reconsider. Time IS the most valuable resource for without it what do you have? It is also, paradoxically, the most terrible and wonderful word I know.

Created by Ellen Fisch On 12/15/08 At 08:20 AM

After having a vent yesterday with my “Ten Things I Hate About Having an Art Blog” list, I realized that I don’t hate having an art blog at all. Actually I struggled to come up with ten things, but I couldn’t stop at six or seven things as it would have looked like I wasn’t trying hard enough.

So, as a counterweight, here’s Ten things that I love about having an art blog..

1. Comments – Comments featured prominently on the list of things I hate too, but I was just talking about the comments of spammers and retards. All the intelligent things are said in the comments on Art News Blog, so if you just read my posts, you’re missing all the interesting stuff in the comments. The comments that disagree with me may be wrong (as I’m always right), but they still interest me.
2. Keeping Up – I like to know what’s happening in the world of art. It’s a big world and there’s lots happening. I wish some one would hurry up and make a teleporter so I could go to some of the exhibition invites I receive from around the world.
3. Appreciation – My favorite emails are from artists explaining that my little list of wicked scammers prevented them from being conned.
4. I can say what I want – Freedom to say almost anything I want. I don’t have to report to Rupert Murdoch or an editor in chief to see if my opinions are valid, I just click “Publish Post” and I’m online.
5. Vanity or Ego Stroking – I shouldn’t mention this publicly, but I like it when I’m talking to some one and learn that they read Art News Blog. It’s a small world. People expect me to have really strong opinions on everything after they learn that the blog is mine, but my opinions change with the weather.
6. People – I have met some interesting people because of this blog. Some in person, some through email, some on the phone, and some through comments.
7. People Send me the News – Most days I don’t even have to go looking for art news as it finds me. I must be on a few mailing lists as the inbox fills up with news each day. So don’t be offended if I don’t mention your exhibition opening or reply to your press release as I’m just one person.
8. Freebies and Bribes – Mostly small things like books and magazines. I don’t receive much but I love getting surprise packages. If I start making weekly posts about how wonderful Ferarris are, you’ll know that I have been bought by a Ferrari dealer.
9. Talking About Art – Most of my friends in real life wouldn’t know a Francis Bacon from a Jackson Pollock. Which means that I talk about art online with people that like art as much as me, rather than forcing my art-ignorant friends to listen to my rants about the importance of art.
10. Learning – The blog forces me to learn new things and be open to new ideas. I can still be narrow minded at times, but I try widen my world view a little bit each day.