PROMOTION TECHNIQUES

On 'Promotion 101' by Business of Illustration [1], there are lots of different techniques mentioned to promote your work. I had a look through some of them to see if I had planned to do them for this module or id I already had.

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'PROMOTIONAL MAILER'

I think this is more of an American term- and I assume this refers to things you can put in the mail. As I am planning to make paper items, I think this can count as a 'promotional mailer'. The collaborative postcards we made as a group would also be good to send out to people along with a business card and maybe a calendar as a nice set.

One piece of advice which I thought was interesting was to send out work 'three to four times' a year, 'usually seasonal'. This way an art director keeps up to date with your designs and you are constantly refreshing yourself in their mind. This means that work can look seasonal to fit in with when you send it, so maybe greetings cards could be a practical idea.

At the London Book Fair the publishers all agreed that sending things in the post is a better way to get your work seen by somebody, as emails can get lost under, well, more emails. It also offers a chance to be creative and send books and items other that just flat jpegs. which is all that can be sent via email. (apart from GIFS, see below!)

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PORTFOLIO SITE

Another recommendation are sites such as 'Behance' (which is free) and other portfolio sites like TheISpot.com- which features illustration only portfolios but costs a one time set up fee.

A portfolio site is helpful as it has lots of portfolios all in one place for art directors to look through, however I would worry that there is so much stuff to look at that my work could get lost amongst everyone elses.

By hosting my portfolio on my own website, I can choose how I want it to look and promote the website myself.

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EMAIL

Sending emails is an easy way to get your work out to people, and seeing illustrations on screen guarantees that the intended audience will see them in high quality (things in the post risk getting ruined!) Also a great opportunity to show off extra talents such as animations or GIF making.

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DIRECTORIES

If you want to pay a lot of money, you can buy a page in an art directory. The 'Business of Illustration' might be referring to something that is outdated now, but I could always look into joining something like The Association of Illustrators, where I can get advice on pricing,  discounts and most importantly online promotion [2]

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ILLUSTRATION REPS

I am assuming that illustration reps refers to illustration agents, and this was one of my ideas for who I wanted to target with my promotional items in the first place- however if I then get agent they will in turn help promote me. Business of Illustration also wrote an article on the pros and cons of illustration reps [3] which I have bullet pointed below:

Pros:

-Help get you work

-Exposure

-Negotiate larger fees

-Publishing deals

-Better deals on promotional costs

-Someone to look after you if a job goes sour

-Help plan your career

-Take care of business/money for you

Cons:

-Cost money

-Some take a cut of anything you do, whether they got it for you or not

-Lots of other clients, not just focus on you

-Have to check up on your rep

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As well as items to post and my online portfolio, I have also used a lot of social media to promote my work. I think this is the future of promotion for artists, and so many illustrators I follow use Instagram all the time. Social media is great as it is free, easy to share images and everybody uses it. 

REFERENCE

1. SWAAB, NEIL- 2014
2. AOI- 2017
3.SWAAB, NEIL- 2014


Saab, N. 2104. Promotion 101. Business of Illustration. [Online]. Feb 17 2014. [Accessed Jan 2017]. Available from: http://businessofillustration.com/promotion-101/

The AOI. 2017. The Association of Illustrators. [Online]. [Accessed Jan 2017]. Available from:

http://www.theaoi.com

Saab, N. 2104. The Pros and Cons of Illustration Reps. Business of Illustration. [Online]. Jun 17 2014. [Accessed Jan 2017]. Available from:http://businessofillustration.com/pros-cons-illustration-reps/