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You are here: Home / Articles / The Many Benefits of Cross-Promotion For Artists

The Many Benefits of Cross-Promotion For Artists

By Renee Phillips 10 Comments

When I was a professional artist a major collector of mine, who was a floral designer with a retail store on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, prominently displayed my garden paintings in his store window. The endorsement and exposure he gave me was priceless. He referred art buyers to my studio a few blocks away. To reciprocate, I distributed his business cards to my friends, associates and customers, and recommended his services to event planners. As I became more educated about art marketing practices, I learned there’s a name for what we were doing. It’s called “cross-promotion” or “cross-marketing”. Since then, I’ve continued practicing this win/win relationship with many different professionals near and far.

In this article I explain more about what “cross-promotion” is, emphasize the many benefits of cross-promotion, plus many examples of how you can apply it. I encourage you to try it, practice it often, and reap the rewards!

What is Cross-Promotion?

Photo credit: Priscilla du Preez on Unsplash
Photo credit: Priscilla du Preez on Unsplash

In the world of business, it is a form of marketing or promotion, where customers of one product or service are targeted with promotion of a related product or service. All types and sizes of businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies do it to reach their mutual market more efficiently. For example, when Pillsbury Brownies packages their product with Nestlé Chocolate or when Sephora puts the logo of Operation Smile on their product these are forms of cross-promotion.

Cross-promotion also occurs within the same business that has one or more products and services to offer, such as when you promote your art workshops at your art exhibition. Imagine however the enormous potential to greatly enhance your art business when you cultivate cross-promotion partners.

You don’t need to have a major art collector, celebrity or corporation as a partner for this form of marketing to work successfully. You can team up with a business in your neighborhood or an organization you identify with on social media in another country.

This form of professional networking is a wonderful solution if you’re restricted by a small advertising budget and it’s often more effective than the traditional methods of paid advertising or public relations.

Muses-Urania-and-Melpomene
Muses Urania and Melpomene, painting by Louis de Boullogne, circa 1680-1, 36.2″ x 43.7″. In the collection of Palace of Versailles. Also known as Boullogne the artist produced religious paintings for Parisian churches and mythological subjects for royal residences. Photo: Public Domain.

Examples of Simple Cross-Promotion Activities

* Promote each other on social media.
* Exchange and distribute each other’s promotional materials, catalogues,  cards and event announcements.
* Do a joint mailing or email newsletter.
* Sell a bundled package that contains one of your works of art plus a product or service that your partner offers.
* Mention the benefits of your partner’s product or service when you give an artist’s talk or write a blog post.
* Share a space and organize an event together.
* Post banners or links on each other’s website or blog.
* Write and submit blog posts to each other’s site.
* Create a video or podcast together and/or interview each other on your respective Youtube channels if you have one.

Advantages of Cross-Promotion and What to Expect

Artist's open hands covered with paint. Photo credit: Amauri Mejia, unsplash.com
Photo credit: Amauri Mejia, unsplash.com

* Benefits multiply because you and your partner can expand through each other’s customer base.
* You can gain a favorable introduction to your kind of customer as well as have an opportunity to reach new clients not accessible to you alone.
* The cost of cross-promotion is less when shared.
* It can be a one-time occurrence or take place on a recurring basis.
* It can be a way to test a future permanent partnership.

How to Use Cross-Promotion

* Find a partner that meets the conditions.
* Establish what and how you plan to exercise cross-promotion services for each other.
* Get your agreement with deadlines in writing to avoid misunderstandings.
* Keep each other notified about how and when you conduct the promotion.
* Track how well the cross-promotion activities are working: ask new customers how they were referred/found you.
* Give each other feedback about its success.
* Learn from each partnership and repeat the best activities that brought the most results with the same partner and new ones.

Guidelines to Consider When Choosing A Partner

Use caution when using art materials

* Before you jump in, be aware of necessary conditions when choosing your cross-promotion partner, such as:
* You’re both trying to reach the same type of customer niche and demographic.
* You are not in direct competition with each other.
* You know the partner has a good reputation and you will benefit from this association.
* You are willing and eager to take time and effort to promote each other’s products and/or services to your own circle of customers and followers.

I encourage you to integrate cross-promotion marketing into your art business routine and watch your career grow exponentially. You’ll quickly learn that the sky is the limit and you are restricted only by your creative imagination and the kind of person and business with whom you share your cross promotion activities.

 (I wrote a similar article to this one that was published in Professional Artist magazine, which was also a cross-promotional activity.)


 

Filed Under: Articles, Featured Articles Tagged With: art career success, art marketing advice, cross-marketing, cross-promotion

Find out about Renee’s Writing Services for Artists

About Renee Phillips

Renée Phillips is a mentor and advocate for artists helping them achieve their fullest potential. She provides career advice, writing services, and promotion for artists from beginners to advanced. She organizes online exhibitions as Director/Curator of Manhattan Arts International www.ManhattanArts.com and Founder of The Healing Power of ART & ARTISTS www.healing-power-of-art.org. As an arts' advocate she has served on the advisory boards of several non-profit arts organizations. She lives in New York, NY.

Comments

  1. Sandra Belitza-Vazquez says

    01/22 at 8:19 pm

    Your advice is always informative and helpful. I will look into this more.
    I do appreciate your cross promotion of my book on the dance festival in your posts.

    Reply
    • Renee Phillips says

      01/23 at 8:35 am

      Thank you Sandra! It is a joy to be your cross-promotion friend. 🙂
      I also love how frequently you comment positively on posts about other artists. More artists should follow your lead on that. You are very supportive of your fellow artists.

      Reply
  2. Norma Grieve says

    12/27 at 1:35 pm

    I do not think I have reached the sky’s limit – yet. However, your article has prompted an idea which I would never have had, had I not read it! (It took reading right to the end to get the idea.)

    Reply
  3. Susan Ashley says

    05/17 at 12:00 pm

    I thanks for Renee’s article. I think it is an important way to connect in my community. Have you heard of Alignable that claims to build business connections in an artist’s area? Maybe it only wants me to upgrade taking my money to pay monthly.

    Reply
    • Renee Phillips says

      05/17 at 1:46 pm

      Form my quick search it appears their focus is on businesses to business collaborations, not generating sales to customers. I’ve read it doesn’t give you a large radius to work with and the settings for an unpaid membership are difficult to get connections. But, you may already know that from your own research. Like any business or service you’re considering, it pays to do thorough research, ask unbiased clients for feedback, and see if they have a money back guarantee.

      The other important consideration is, for the fee you would have to pay, is there another service you you could use to obtain better results and achieve your art business goals? Always compare and investigate your options.

      Reply
  4. Darlene says

    02/24 at 10:40 am

    Thanks, Renee;
    Great article.
    It is another way to realize how very connected we all are.

    Reply
    • Renee Phillips says

      02/24 at 2:46 pm

      Darlene, that’s so true! And, I look forward to being a cross-promotion partner with you! 🙂

      Reply
  5. Renee Phillips says

    02/03 at 10:45 pm

    Thank you Nancy and Teri. It’s always rewarding to do cross-promoting with you!

    Reply
  6. Teri Leigh Teed says

    02/03 at 10:08 pm

    Thank you for this very informative article. As always, your advice is stellar. And thank you for helping promote women artists and cross-promoting with your clients. I am grateful for your help.

    Reply
  7. Nancy Laughlin says

    01/30 at 7:23 am

    Great article, Renee. Interesting ideas!

    Reply

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My purpose is to help artists achieve their fullest potential. On this website I share decades of knowledge and experience as an art writer and artist career coach.

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