Interview with Robin Pedrero-on marketing

Tell us about your mar­ket­ing journey…how did you start?

I learned a few things from my mother who did PR for our the­ater group, when I danced and sang in musi­cals. Her exam­ple taught me to be fear­less about just ask­ing or send­ing some­thing in to the press, radio or TV stations.

When did you dis­cover that you needed to market?

When I moved to Florida in 1988 and began paint­ing por­traits for just $25, word of mouth spread the news. Now my por­traits are $1200 — $5500, and  peo­ple who bought my early work are col­lect­ing new work from me. My next move took me away from the com­mu­nity who knew me as an artist. Now, I had to work at build­ing a good rep­u­ta­tion as an artist all over again in a new place. I started by land­ing a show, joined groups, and par­tic­i­pated in cen­tral Florida art events. As you grow your busi­ness you expand your ter­ri­tory. The rela­tion­ships that you build will carry your busi­ness around the world espe­cially if you use social net­work media.

Do you have a mar­ket­ing plan, strat­egy if so please summarize?

My strat­egy is per­se­ver­ance and shar­ing. I never stop work­ing. My goals inspire the mar­ket­ing I pur­sue. Most mar­ket­ing is event and project ori­ented, build­ing my brand, which is my name, my art. I might be unusual for an artist because I find the busi­ness of art fun!

Do you use Social media online alone or do you com­bine it with off-line efforts?

My first thought is if it is free and I can do it myself I use it, both online and offline. I have paid for ads in mag­a­zines, art guides, news­pa­pers and radio broad­casts, yet my own efforts to build and main­tain con­tact with my col­lec­tors per­son­ally are the most fruitful.

What has been the reac­tion to your mak­ing your work avail­able in non-traditional ways, like mugs, jew­elry etc?

In gaug­ing buy­ers both my art col­lec­tors and those who would not typ­i­cally pur­chase 2D art are attracted and pur­chas­ing.

Has it been successful?

As a new endeavor, I had hoped for more sales, yet I haven’t focused on mar­ket­ing the prod­ucts exten­sively.  I would really like more venues to pick up the prod­ucts. Would I rec­om­mend it? Yes of course! Low over­head, easy ship­ping and the items make great gifts for my col­lec­tors at the touch of my fingertips!

Have you seen it effect sales of orig­i­nals or prints?

I have had peo­ple buy items then later buy orig­i­nals. I see these items as another form of adver­tis­ing as well. When prod­ucts are used they are a con­ver­sa­tion piece.

Where do most of your sales come from?

80 % of my sales come from 20% of my col­lec­tor base. I adore my col­lec­tors! It sad­dens me when I don’t get to know who bought a piece, yet as my sales increase in gal­leries some­times that occurs. I do ask my gal­leries to share a hand­writ­ten thank you from me to my new collector.