THE INSPIRATION PLACE PODCAST
Miriam Schulman:
Today’s episode is brought to you by my free live masterclass, discover the 5Ps of the portrait painting process. There’s never been a better time to hunker down with your art supplies and learn new skills. In this one hour live masterclass, you’ll explore the 5Ps of my portrait painting process. To sign up, go to schulmanart.com/masterclass, and yes, it’s totally free, and yes, you’ll even get to watch a painting demonstration.
It’s the inspiration place podcast with Artist Miriam Schulman. Welcome to the Inspiration Place Podcast, an art world insider podcast, for artists by an artist, where each week we go behind the scenes to uncover the perspiration and inspiration behind the art. And now your host, Miriam Schulman.
Miriam Schulman:
Hello, this is your host, Artist Miriam Schulman, and you’re listening to episode number 88 of the Inspiration Place Podcast. I am so thrilled that you’re here. Today we’re talking all about marketing your art. Now, if you’ve been listening to this podcast for a while, you know that I always preach that the two best ways to sell your art are in person and through email. With many of the in-person art festivals getting canceled, your online marketing efforts, particularly using your email list is more important than ever. In this episode you’re going to discover why it’s a mistake to stay quiet during this time or really any time, why there’s never been a better time to build your art business. Yes, artists can thrive even in turbulent times. How an email list adds job security to your art business.
Finally, we’re going to talk about how to procrastination proof your email marketing efforts, but before we get there, I wanted to make sure you knew about the free training that’s going on in May 2020, because if you love to paint, you’ve probably thought about painting the people closest to you, your family, friends, grandchildren, or your furbabies. Yet because portraits can be so powerful, they also tend to be the most intimidating to try, and that doubt and fear may cause you to miss out on one of the biggest gifts that you can give, a portrait that contains all the love and emotion that you feel. After completing dozens of commission portraits that make my clients who and are, I folded all my secrets and shortcuts into my five P portrait painting process and taught this process to hundreds of my students so that they could create portraits that they could be proud of. The good news is, I’m sharing these secrets in my live master class. You’ll uncover the taboo technique that most portrait artists don’t want you to know.
You’ll learn exactly which watercolor supplies you need to get started, and I’ll walk you through the five P framework. Plus you’ll get to watch a watercolor painting come to life so that you can learn how to do it yourself at home. To save your spot, go to schulmanart.com/masterclass. Now, back to the show. Today’s guest is an online marketing expert and the host of the top ranked podcast online marketing made easy, which is also the first podcast I ever listened to. Before building her multi-million dollar digital course business, she worked with peak performance coach Tony Robbins, where she oversaw the content team and collaborated on groundbreaking online marketing campaigns. Through her best-selling courses, and I’ve pretty much taken all of them, she proves that even newbies can bypass the overwhelm and generate exciting momentum as they build a business they love. Please welcome to the Inspiration Place, the one and only Amy Porterfield. Hello Amy. Welcome to my show.
Amy Porterield:
How are you?
Miriam Schulman:
I’m good. I’m beyond, this is so exciting.
Amy Porterield:
I’m so excited.
Miriam Schulman:
This was like my prom, like…
Amy Porterield:
You’re too adorable. I think you are so talented. I love what you do and I love the topic we’re going to talk about today, this is truly a pleasure.
Miriam Schulman:
Thanks so much for spending this time with me. It’s so awesome that I may able to share the gift that you’re able to give with my audience because I remember when I first found you, I was very much exactly where many of my students are right now. I didn’t get why I needed an email list. I didn’t understand any of that stuff, so I’m real excited to share that with them because it’s been a huge part of my success and I wouldn’t be here talking to you today if it wasn’t for that.
Amy Porterield:
So good. I have to tell you first before we go any further, just yesterday, your beautiful painting, drawing.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah, portrait.
Amy Porterield:
Portrait. Oh my gosh. It’s so beautiful. I’m going to frame it. We’re going to put it up. Thank you so much. I just got it yesterday.
Miriam Schulman:
Oh you’re so welcome. It was a lot of fun to make. I made it for-
Amy Porterield:
So talented.
Miriam Schulman:
Thank you. My friend who I think you may know, Michelle Marteo, Murray’s B school tech girl.
Amy Porterield:
Oh, okay. Yes.
Miriam Schulman:
So she said, “Oh, if you want to get Amy’s attention painter her dog.”
Amy Porterield:
That is too funny. She knows me so well. It is of my dog Scout and I, which is one of my most favorite photos. The fact that you took that one and we’re on the couch and snuggled up we’re up, I love it so much. My dog literally is like my child, you’d think I gave birth to him, and so anything with Scout makes me smile, but it’s gorgeous. Thank you so much.
Miriam Schulman:
See how happy we just made Amy.
Amy Porterield:
Yes.
Miriam Schulman:
This is like kind of giving a little extra commercial for the portraits.
Amy Porterield:
So good. I love it so much. I can’t wait to frame it.
Miriam Schulman:
It was a lot of fun painting it. My mom actually liked it. She says, “Oh, I was like that beautiful woman you painted with the [crosstalk 00:06:25] dog.” She doesn’t actually listen to the podcast, my mother, so she hasn’t figured that technology out yet.
Amy Porterield:
I got you.
Miriam Schulman:
I did order fake eyelashes but I had the same problem you did like-
Amy Porterield:
[crosstalk 00:06:35] killing me.
Miriam Schulman:
I couldn’t do it. And then it was like, “What am I going to do?” Had things sticking to my eyes. I’m trying to relax. Do you have fake eyelashes on now?
Amy Porterield:
I do, and I can’t wait to take them off. As soon as I don’t have to do video, I take them off. I just don’t like it. With you having glasses on, I can’t even tell if you have lashes or not. That’s awesome. I wish that was my situation. Your eyes look great.
Miriam Schulman:
It’s a lot of eyeliner. I look like a lizard.
Amy Porterield:
Listen, this quarantine is not my friend.
Miriam Schulman:
Then my joke is that I want to fly down to Atlanta and get all the illegal things because they’re open. My rootstand…
Amy Porterield:
I did hear that Atlanta was all open.
Miriam Schulman:
In Carlsbad where you live, are they wearing masks when people walk their dogs?
Amy Porterield:
They are not, and I’m not either, so maybe I really need to.
Miriam Schulman:
No, you don’t need to. I’m very opinionated about this.
Amy Porterield:
Okay, good. You don’t think so either?
Miriam Schulman:
Not when you’re outside.
Amy Porterield:
Right? I’m staying far away from everybody. My husband’s a firefighter, so I feel like he’s going on a lot of calls related to what’s going on and he even said, “No, you don’t need to wear a mask when you’re out walking your dog.” So I’m like, “Thank goodness.” But I have seen people running with masks on. I don’t even know how they can do that. It’s pretty impressive. Where are you located?
Miriam Schulman:
I’m in New York, so we’re kind of at ground zero.
Amy Porterield:
Yes, you are.
Miriam Schulman:
Not just New York, but I don’t know if you heard where the outbreak started? Started right outside of New York, that’s why…
Amy Porterield:
Oh, I did not know that.
Miriam Schulman:
We actually think that we had some version of it. I mean we don’t know for sure. None of us got sick enough to be hospitalized and they don’t really have a test. My son put himself on the list to be tested and two weeks later they called them and we were better by then. It’s kind of nice to feel like, “Okay, if that was it, I’ve been there, I’m fine. It’s past and maybe I’ll get it again, but I know I’ll be okay.” It’s not easy. My husband says, “You know, we only have like 20 rolls of toilet paper left.” So we’re getting down to it. I asked you about the mask because I went on Etsy to get my husband and son masks and they weren’t too thrilled with it.
Amy Porterield:
They didn’t want the masks?
Miriam Schulman:
My son and my husband have been watching [Founda 00:08:49], if you’re-
Amy Porterield:
I don’t know that.
Miriam Schulman:
It’s basically Israeli defense forces against the Palestinian terrorists. It’s basically Israeli James Bond. My son wants the thing that the Arabs wear that go all way around to his face. I don’t know. Two inches out. Has your son picked a college yet?
Amy Porterield:
He has. He’s going to UC Davis. I went to UC Santa Barbara, so I’m excited that he’s staying in the UC system. He is looking forward to it, he’s ready. Your son’s the same age as my son. Is he a senior?
Miriam Schulman:
No, he is a sophomore in college. He’s going to be 20. He’s a little bit older.
Amy Porterield:
Got you.
Miriam Schulman:
Is your son going to wrestle in college?
Amy Porterield:
He’s not, but isn’t your son a wrestler?
Miriam Schulman:
He is.
Amy Porterield:
Is he wrestling in college?
Miriam Schulman:
He was up until this March, but what’s interesting is that right now he’s a nutrition major and he’s working with his wrestling club. I don’t know if that’s a thing with your son where he lives, if he just wrestled with this school or if he actually had an extra club.
Amy Porterield:
Just the school.
Miriam Schulman:
Oh just the school. My son does extra training with his clubs. He’s helping the club systematize everything, get online, create a framework, do a thing. So I was like, “Well, you need an email list.” You can’t just go on Instagram.
Amy Porterield:
I love this.
Miriam Schulman:
I was like, “What about a podcast? You could a podcast.” Right?
Amy Porterield:
That’s so great. This is a really cool time to encourage our kids to try some things online. I was recently interviewed on the Model Health Show with John Stevenson. He has a son around our kids’ age and he got him into doing workout videos and posting them online. He’s like, “My son is so into his muscles, he loves to work out, he loves to look in the mirror.” And I said, “Well, why don’t you put some of those workouts online just to see what happens and see if people like them.” So he’s doing that. I think it’s cool that we’re living in a time right now, and this comes right back to the email list. People are more open minded to try things online, to buy art online, to do things they never thought they would do. I don’t know if you’ve seen this yet, but I would surmise based on my experience with other industries I’ve worked with, that maybe some people have felt like, “Well, I need to go and look at the art, feel the art, be a part of the art before I buy it.” That’s not the situation now.
Miriam Schulman:
I’ve never had a problem selling art online.
Amy Porterield:
Good.
Miriam Schulman:
Going back to the profit lab way back when I was selling on eBay and Etsy. I had more online sales than anything else.
Amy Porterield:
You are the master of that. The fact that you can use email to talk about it, to show it, to let them experience through that, I feel that even more people are going to be open to that. Just take advantage of it.
Miriam Schulman:
Back then I was relying on the eBay traffic. Makes me sound so old, but back then, I don’t know if you remember Amy, there was nothing else to do online. There was no Instagram [crosstalk 00:11:54], just shop, that was it.
Amy Porterield:
Yes.
Miriam Schulman:
If you were an artist and you knew how to put your art on eBay, that was the golden ticket, but then everyone figured it out and then it was like, “Okay, well, maybe I need to be on Etsy, but it wasn’t about the venue, it was about being able, when you have a customer, to keep in touch with them in between. And the same thing for the artists who are in person, being able to keep in touch with them in between is so important.
Amy Porterield:
I love that.
Miriam Schulman:
The other thing Amy I wanted to talk to you about. My son is at NYU and both my kids actually are forced to do their online classes. What he said was so interesting. The only class he’s really enjoying right now is the one where it’s set up like an online class rather than pretending to be in person. It has the modules and it has the success path and he’s able to go through it. That’s the only class he feels like he’s really understanding and learning from. I just thought it’s super valuable for you to hear as somebody who teaches how to build online classes.
Amy Porterield:
That makes me so happy because you see a lot of teachers jumping on zoom and trying to teach it in that way and have their live setting, but there is something to be said about pre recording the videos and organizing them and like you said, showing a success path when you teach what you know. That makes me really happy. Thanks for sharing that.
Miriam Schulman:
He finds it very distracting when they’re pretending to be live and then he sees everybody else in his class and then what they’re doing and now you’re looking at their houses instead of paying attention to the teacher. That’s what we’re going to do.
Amy Porterield:
Oh man, good stuff.
Miriam Schulman:
All right. I know what’s on a lot of people’s mind right now is that they’re scared to share their artwork, they’re scared to sell and that isn’t just true. In my world I know that’s true of a lot of the people that you teach. I just want to hear from you. Why do you think it’s a mistake to stay quiet right now?
Amy Porterield:
I loved when you were talking about that earlier about this idea that you can’t stay quiet. The way I see it is that right now during a crisis, during a time when we are all asked to social distance and stay far away from each other, I think more than anything, we need community, we need engagement. And so as artists it’s so important that you put yourself out there and you show up and you not only say, “Hey, I’m still here. I’m still offering value, but you also are doing a service to your community that feels so isolated right now. I really do believe that this is your time to shine, but it’s only just one belief. You could say, “Well, this is my time to get quiet, who’s going to buy art right now?” Or you could say, “This is when they need me most. I’m going to show up as my best self.” Obviously, you’ve got two choices, one is going to empower you and your audience so much more. It’s important to have a voice right now. People need you.
Miriam Schulman:
When you are emailing people, it’s not just about marketing to them or selling to them, it’s about building that relationship. You need to treat any of your art collectors or potential art collectors the same way you would a friend, and you wouldn’t not message a friend for three months.
Amy Porterield:
So good.
Miriam Schulman:
It’s really important to contact people even just to say, “Hey, how’re you doing? This is what I’m doing. I hope this email finds you well.” It’s not sleazy to reach.
Amy Porterield:
Yes.
Miriam Schulman:
It’s being kind.
Amy Porterield:
Very true. I’ve never heard anyone put it like that. That is beautiful and it’s very true. I love that.
Miriam Schulman:
Before talking about email list, I think we need to back up a little because I hear from so many of the art students who I teach or who write to me, that they still don’t get why they need an email list if they have Facebook and Instagram. I’m hoping you have a good answer for that.
Amy Porterield:
Yes. Let’s talk about this. I love Facebook and Instagram and all of the social media channels, but when you put your business on social media channels, you are literally putting your business out there on rented land. We do not own Instagram, we do not own Facebook. With that, the algorithms could change overnight, which means tomorrow morning when you wake up, your message might not get to nearly as many people or half the people or so much less than you would have thought. If the algorithm changed, you’re getting to so many fewer people, you can’t control that. Believe me, it has happened many times. We literally went to bed one night, woke up the next morning and Facebook tells us that all organic traffic is going to slow down considerably and you’ve got to pay to be seen. They came out and said that. This is years ago, and we’ve only seen it happen more and more.
Amy Porterield:
With that, you don’t want to build your business on rented land, instead when you use social but also have an email list, you own that email list, that is yours and it will become your most important asset in your business. What I want you to really understand is when you nurture an email list, like you were saying, reaching out to your friends, making sure they’re okay. When you treat them as friends, family and people you genuinely care about, that know, like and trust factor will increase. They’ll feel the same about you and when you make an offer, I can promise you, your email list will become so much more profitable than any offer you make on social media. I want you to use both, but just know you can rely on that email list so much more than you will ever be able to do so on social.
Miriam Schulman:
I also feel that people are just so used to swipe and pass things when they see it in their newsfeed, especially on Instagram, which is I know a place a lot of artists tend to hang out. It’s kind of like the billboard on the side of the highway, they don’t even necessarily take the time to read it, but when it’s in their inbox, it creates a sacred container for that message and gives it a little bit more respect than something you just threw out there for everyone, especially when you’re writing your emails and you’re saying, “Hi so and so or dear so and so.” When you’re using that format, people really feel like you’re talking directly to them, where they know you’re not doing that on Instagram.
Amy Porterield:
So very true. Some people will say to me, “Yeah, but Amy, I get a lot of emails that I just sent to trash or archive.” And I said, “Of course you do. You also get a few emails that you open up every single time they hit your inbox because you love to hear from that person, whether it’s somebody you don’t know, but they’re teaching you something new or if it’s a friend or family, we definitely open up the emails from those that we genuinely want to hear from. Your goal is to become that person they genuinely want to hear from.” That’s exactly what you said, be personal, be casual, tell stories, connect with them. They will open up your email every single week.
Miriam Schulman:
That’s perfect. Plus artists really provides a service by giving that beautiful, inspiring and uplifting art or create meaning. It’s not that it has to be so positive, it just could be creating meaning of what’s going on in this world through their artwork. It’s a very important service that we’re doing and when you hold back, you’re robbing other people of that gift.
Amy Porterield:
100% yes.
Miriam Schulman:
Now we can talk about how an email list keeps your business safe. Before we get into your answer, I do want to share that the artists I know that are thriving right now are the ones who have an email list. The ones that are scrambling are the ones who were relying on the art festivals and not collecting emails all along because they thought the art festivals were going to happen forever and ever and they always had this constant flow, and now the ones who don’t have it but had the email list are doing fine. What do you have to say about using an email list as kind of your business insurance?
Amy Porterield:
I love that. I love thinking about your email list as your security or business insurance. 100%, I tell everybody, no matter what niche they’re in, that they need an email list, but you just pointed out something so important that artists are so used to being in physical proximity. You even said it’s one of the ways you teach people how to sell their art is in person, and when that is taken away, right now people want to connect with you, and so when you get in their inbox, and when you share the stories and the experiences and the beautiful art, you are in an opportunity where you can start explaining things in different ways, showing things in different ways. This is the greatest silver lining with what’s going on. They are more open to receiving it in that way. There’s no other way they can. And so if you right now do not have an email list and you’re thinking maybe I’ll start to create one, now there couldn’t be a more powerful or perfect time to do so because your audience is paying attention more so in the digital space through email.
Amy Porterield:
They’re more open to look at your art and explore it even though they can’t touch it or feel it. You couldn’t find a better time to be more welcomed by your audience through email. I also wanted to point something out in terms of security. I was teaching email list building to an audience of people that didn’t have an email list, so they are very, very new to all of this. The number one question I would get asked all the time was, “Yeah, but Amy, don’t you need a huge email list? You have a couple of hundred thousand on your email list, so of course it’s profitable for you.” Because I was telling them it can become your most profitable asset in your business. And so I said, “I knew you were going to say that.” So I did an experiment. A few weeks leading up to me teaching this group. What I did is I took 1000 people on my email list.
Amy Porterield:
Now, 1000 people could be your first big benchmark that you go after. You’re just going to focus on getting the first 1000 people on your email list. You could take even more baby steps, first 250 then 500, you bet, whatever. We’re going to get you a first 1000. So I took 1000 people and I emailed them and I said, “I’m going to do a live workshop and I am going to charge $200 for it. I’m going to do it live on Facebook.” All about marketing, because that’s my area of expertise. I said, “You have just a few days to sign up. Here’s what it’s all about.” And I gave him the details. Then I followed up with one more email to let them know the price is going up if they don’t sign up soon. So I sent two emails out to 1000 people on my email list and within just a few days we generated $6,000.
Miriam Schulman:
That’s fantastic.
Amy Porterield:
And on social media, most people have pretty small social media followings. That is rarely going to happen, but my list right away jumped at the opportunity because they know they can trust me, I know what they want, I know how to talk to them, so they jumped at this opportunity. The reason I bring that up is, I always know I can make money in my business. If I get in a pinch, the first place I’ll go to is my email list. So if you’re looking for more security, if you don’t want to worry about where the money is going to come from, an email list gives you ease, gives you that security so that you can say, “I always have a money maker in my business.”
Miriam Schulman:
Now, I have a note from Amy’s team. “Don’t ask her about Facebook.” I find it very-
Amy Porterield:
I think they mean don’t ask me about Facebook ads. I don’t do ads anymore. I hired someone to do it.
Miriam Schulman:
So perfect that you said that because the first class I took with you Amy, was your Facebook Profit Lab. I signed up for the class to learn how to do Facebook ads, which I did, and I run my own ads ever since then, but what I really got out of it was how important building the email list was, because then I don’t even think I had 200 people. It wasn’t even on an email service, I had one of these online class sites. It wasn’t Kajabi, it was something that I think is out of business now. It doesn’t even matter what it is. And I was like, “Oh, but they’re in there. That’s fine. I don’t need to email them.” It was through that class I took about Facebook ads were it was kind of like the Trojan Horse where it was about Facebook, but it really wasn’t about Facebook. It really was about; you need to build this email list, because that was the course that later became your List Builders lab, which is now List Builders Society.
Amy Porterield:
Society, right.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. I’m such an Amy fan. My daughter’s been making fun of me all week. She says, “You do know you’re just going to the computer to talk to her, right?’
Amy Porterield:
That is so precious though. I love it.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah, she’s 22. She’s been making fun of me. She’s like, “How are you going stop this?” I was like, “I don’t know. Brene Brown, I don’t know.”
Amy Porterield:
There you go. That’s a good way.
Miriam Schulman:
Right. And then till my son goes, “Who’s Brene Brown?”
Amy Porterield:
What?
Miriam Schulman:
Right? And I say, “Well, Brene Brown is basically Amy Porterfield’s Amy Porterfield.
Amy Porterield:
Oh my gosh. It’s so true. I love her so much. You know me well, I love that.
Miriam Schulman:
That’s like, “What are you going to ask? I know all the answers.” You definitely want to build your email list whether it’s your friends, your collectors, always of course ask permission, but this is how you can reach out to people in between when you’re seeing them. I saw a huge shift in not just the online class side of my business because I do teach online classes. I actually Amy, have two lists. I keep one list that is for my art collectors and a different one for promoting my classes. For the art collectors, you only need, like you said, about 1000 people to have a vibrant art business. People love getting the emails, they come up to meet the shows, I let them know ahead of time where I’m going to be. I thank them afterwards with the email, I follow up with all those things and they love getting it. It makes them feel very connected to me.
Amy Porterield:
So smart. Do you put a lot of images in your email? I mean being from the art space, is that the norm for you?
Miriam Schulman:
Yes. The old school way of thinking that I know a lot of artists don’t like sending out email newsletters. One thing I’ve taught them is, stop thinking about it as a newsletter with all the different very old school. “Here’s the class I’m teaching and here’s an art I made and here’s something else.” It’s always one thing that you’re going to be talking about, so if it is about your sunflower painting, you might start with a story of how you got inspired. It might be a work in progress, picture, it might be here it is on the wall. It can have different sections and more than one picture, but still the one idea is all about; “Here’s the sunflower painting I made or whatever happens today.”
Amy Porterield:
So good.
Miriam Schulman:
We’ll link to more of those email marketing episodes in the show notes, which is going to be schulmanart.com/88. Here’s something that I thought was brilliant, that you were talking about. I know a lot of the artists who I work with really procrastinate writing the emails. When they see that on their to do lists, they rather clean their house. They will put it off and put it off. You shared something that I thought was brilliant, which was a procrastination protocol. Could you share with us what that is?
Amy Porterield:
Yes. I have a confession in the sense that, when I don’t want to do something that usually shows up as, I don’t feel like it in the moment. And because we’re both creative, I’m creative in a different way than all of your artists, but as an artist you want to feel it, whether you’re writing an email or you’re doing a portrait. I bet it happens even more so in your world where when something comes up and you have to do it, you’re like, “But I just don’t feel creative enough. I don’t feel like it.” I do this as well, and the minute I hear that, it’s like my trigger now, I think procrastination protocol, which is basically what I need to do so that I just get it done. This is what I do. Number one, I get clear on what I need to complete. In this case, I’ve got to sit down, I need to write the email. It needs to happen today.
The next thing I do is I sit down at my computer and I shut everything else down. For me it’s slack and a tool I use to called the sauna, I shut down email, I shut down all social media, I shut it all down, so there’s no distractions. And then I tell myself, “You have to work on this with no distractions for 30 minutes, no matter what, 30 minutes.” I set a timer so that I actually am truly working with no distraction. I set the timer that I’ll hear it when it goes off, but I just get to work. The great thing is, this is just like when you get on a treadmill and you play this trick with yourself at the treadmill, once you get going, you’re more inclined to continue. It’s that sitting down and starting it that is tough for me when I don’t feel like it. That’s what I do, it’s the timer, I make it happen and the trigger is, I don’t feel like it or I don’t want to do it right now. No, just get into it. I do the protocol.
That’s so brilliant. I love that. I know that you borrowed that kind of from the whole idea of having other kinds of protocols?
Miriam Schulman:
Yes. I have a weight loss coach that I’ve been working with for over a year now. We do protocols such as if I want to eat when I’m not hungry, emotional eating. What’s my protocol for; “Okay, I’m feeling like I really want to eat, I know I’m not hungry, what do I need to do?” And it’s things like, “Okay, I need to, even though I don’t love it. I need to go on a walk or I need to take a nap because I’m probably tired, or I need to get really clear on what’s bothering me right now.” It’s those kinds of protocols, but once she put me through a few protocols on planning my meals and not emotionally eating I thought, “You can bring these into business.” And so I started to think, “How can I set up some protocols for business as well?” The procrastination one was at the top of my list.
Amy Porterield:
Well, my favorite way to procrastinate, I call it procrast to learning.
Miriam Schulman:
Oh, that’s a good one. I like that one too.
Amy Porterield:
I like procrast to cleaning as well. I’ll clean my whole entire office before I’ll sit down and write the email or whatever.
Miriam Schulman:
I wish I had that problem. You only see six inches right now of my studio, but the rest of it, it’s not pretty.
Amy Porterield:
That the creative in you.
Miriam Schulman:
Well, sometimes I wish I was a little less creative in that sense. If you love what you heard today, you can find Amy on the Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast. She’s got some wonderful resources for those just starting out, whether it’s building your email list or developing the right business mindset, and because there’s so many episodes, I’ve linked to a few favorites that I think you’ll love in the show notes. For example, if you enjoyed my conversation last week with Laura Belgray, then you should definitely check out Amy’s interview with her, which was about what makes you unique. As with many of Amy’s podcast, it comes with an amazing freebie called your unique personality worksheet. I know you’re going to love it. All right Amy, do you have any last words for my listeners before we call this podcast complete?
Amy Porterield:
Yes. The last thing I want to say is that you just got to get started. You can keep it simple. Email marketing does not need to be complicated and your goal is to get 1000 people on your email list. One of the best ways to do that, that we haven’t really talked about is with some kind of freebie. I know we’re at the end here, but do you suggest that too? Do you have a freebie that you use to grow your email list?
Miriam Schulman:
I do and it’s very different. I’m glad you brought this up so we can spend a few moments talking about it.
Amy Porterield:
Okay, good.
Miriam Schulman:
Because our conversation is not complete without this. It’s very different for artists than if you’re teaching how to paint or if you’re doing something that… I know a lot of the businesses that you teach where it’s a checklist or something like that. I always find that the best thing is either to send them a postcard. You just say, “Hey, if you give me your email list and your address, I will send you a postcard.” That is the easiest way to give them a free sample. The only people who are going to sign up for that are ones who truly love your art.
Amy Porterield:
Great. I would have never known that for artists. That’s great. The goal is you need to create something of value that they’re going to want in exchange for the name and email. And so this idea of the postcard, that’s perfect, but that is one of the first steps you want to take.
Miriam Schulman:
It works both in person as well as online. The other thing I tell artists as well is, during that awkward conversation you’re having, whether this is somebody you’re talking to at your kid’s school or at the art festival, when they say to you, “Oh, I like your art, can I have your card?” That’s actually your cue to say to them, “Oh, can I take your email address? And I can add you to my email list and then I can invite you to my next show. People don’t always need a freebie because the whole idea of being invited is enough for them.
Amy Porterield:
I love that you obviously, you’re successful at it. You know your industry so well. Email marketing is important for all industries, but when you get very specific for artists, you need to know what works versus the industries I teach, so this idea of; “Let me get your email. I’ll make sure to invite you to my next showing.” That is perfect, but this is what’s important and the last thing I’ll say, you want to have your email list be part of your conversation with everything you do, when you’re in person, when you’re online, you want to invite people to join your email list, but you have to have a reason why. “Because I’m going to invite you to my next show, because I’m going to send you a postcard, or because I’m going to keep you updated so you can know more about the story and my inspiration of why I created this piece.” You’re not just saying, “Join my newsletter.” No one wants to join a newsletter.
Miriam Schulman:
Don’t even call it a newsletter. That’s what I say [crosstalk 00:34:28].
Amy Porterield:
Don’t even comment.
Miriam Schulman:
It’s not a newsletter.
Amy Porterield:
I teach all my students, let’s not even call it… No one wants a newsletter, but they do want to be a part of your world, so invite them in. The email, beyond social media is the best way to do it, it’s your most important asset. What I always say is the strength of your email list is directly tied to the strength of your business. The two go hand in hand, they’re correlated, but you don’t need a big email list. Keep that in mind, but get started. Just get going. It gets easier once you get it the ball rolling.
Miriam Schulman:
I love it. Thank you so much for being with me here today Amy. It was so much fun for me.
Amy Porterield:
Thank you so much for having me. I love this and thanks for being a part of my world as well. You are always just such a light in our community, thanks again.
Miriam Schulman:
Don’t forget to check out the free portrait painting masterclass, schulmanart.com/masterclass. Imagine what you can do with this time if you were painting your loved ones and there’s no better way to distress than with the magic of watercolor. You’ll find a link to the free masterclass as well as my painting of Amy and her dog Scout, in the show notes. Basically links to everything we talked about today. You’ll find at schulmanart.com/88. Now, we have some amazing episodes coming your way. In a few weeks, we have on the one and only Tarzan Kay and she’s a total firecracker.
Trust me, you do not want to miss it. Make sure you hit the subscribe or follow button in your podcast app, and if you’re feeling extra generous, please leave me a helpful review on Apple Podcasts to let us know what you loved most about the show. Now, it’s a little tricky to search for the Inspiration Place, scroll down and you’ll see ratings and reviews, hit five stars, write a review. And most importantly, don’t forget to hit the send button. By the way, if you put your Instagram handle at the end of the review, I’ll even give you a shout out over on my IG Stories. All right, that’s all for now. I’ll see you the same time, same place next week. Make it a great one.
Thank you for listening to the Inspiration Place Podcast. Connect with us on Facebook at facebook.com/schulmanart, on Instagram @schulmanart, and of course on schulmanart.com.
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