A great question arrived at the Idea Cafe’s CyberSchmooz forum about a month ago (time flies!), asking how to expand an annual art show’s income beyond the 3-day event. Edward (the owner) says it best,
I am wondering however if there is another component, other than another event, that I can add onto a business like this that would still fall under the umbrella of this 3 day event. Since the website gets a good amount of hits maybe I can sell something on my site?
My question is: Do I work on ways to add more components to this or do I focus on making this 3 day event the biggest and best 3 days of the entire year?
Edward’s feels he can pull his event off only once a year. I suggested he at least consider a holiday event in December, and promised I’d “chew on” ways he could leverage his website for income the other 362 days of the year. My much-gnawed answer is:
DO BOTH
by providing the value of the real-world event in an online venue
For the artist/vendor, Edward’s art show is an opportunity to display and sell their work while connecting with art enthusiasts. These attendees benefit similarly: they can explore a variety of art in one place, meet the artists, and buy their work.
With those things in mind, here’s how Edward can promote his annual art show and earn year-round income with a restyled website:
Sell display space to artists
Because he has decent site traffic, Edward could easily sell ad space for products and services aimed at artists and those who like art. Sold as a monthly subscription, the advertising could appear throughout his site, on a sponsors page, or as classified ads. Tiered pricing for a range of ad sizes (e.g., banners, buttons, and text links) would widen the appeal.
He could also build a directory and sell profile pages to participating artists. I imagine a single page for each artist with a bio, photo of the artist, photos of their work, where their work is currently showing, their URL (if any) and contact information. Artists without a website may appreciate an affordable, no-maintenance online presence with existing traffic. Artists who already have websites may benefit from a secondary source.
Sell art to site visitors
As the art show coordinator, Edward is in an ideal position to be a broker for the artists. He’s already a bridge between the artists and the art-lovers, so it should be easy to get buy-in on the new role. The mechanics of this could get sticky: contracts with the artists, policy setting, etc. But it may be worth it to earn a nice commission while the artists benefit greatly from the off-season virtual gallery.
With appropriate license from the artists, he could have an online gift shop for direct sales of appropriate reproductions. “Appropriate” being high-quality postcards, greeting cards, and catalogs—as opposed to mouse pads, mugs, and keychains. Print products are my first and only choice for this because they’re affordable, popular, easy to manufacture, sweetly profitable, and simple to ship.
Sell the event to everyone
With a photo gallery of the previous year’s event, Edward could give website visitors a taste of the weekend’s fun months in advance. He shouldn’t need to take the photos himself or hire a professional photographer. Artists and participants might be eager to submit their own photographs for a bit of online presence and a photo credit. He can host the photo gallery on his own site and also start a pool on Flickr.com and request submissions.
He could also sell event gear. He’ll need new imagery each year, but a contest held among the participating artists should yield worthy work to feature on tote bags, t-shirts, and other stuff. At the Maryland Sheep & Wool festival, I met people intent on maintaining a complete set of annual event gear. Poseurs can buy gear after the event and pretend they attended ;) I imagine a display of the artists’ submissions would be a crowd pleaser at the event and online.
And if it suits his ticketing arrangements, he can sell/reserve event tickets online. Even if that’s impractical, he should surely sell/reserve vendor event space online. If site visitors can buy conveniently while they are excited by all the good stuff on his site, it would add to the trickle of income he could be enjoying the entire year.
Et tu? Got more ideas for Edward and getting all year earnings from his 3-day event? Lemme know down below!
Also, I’m taking tomorrow off to get the jump on my semester. I’ll be back Tuesday with a review of Location Independent Living’s X Marks the Spot. Thanks! ~CW
Photo credit: danielle_blue
