Self Promotion Gone Wild!

You believe in my work and I will help promote you!

After a year full of complete life changes, including loosing a house, a cat, and my mother-in-law, having a beautiful baby boy, and rebuilding everything, I am creating my website anew to reflect my desire to be an extremely successful artist.

See? Isn't that awesome?

Please help me out. It’s free …or you could invest in my work, but that’s later on down the page.

1 – Request a Link

Let’s link to each other! It’s good for our SEO. In layman’s terms, that means we become cooler in the eyes of Google.

In order for me to link to your site, you must have content on your site that will be of special interest to my visitors, and you must place a reciprocal link on your site. Links to your site from outside sources help to improve search engine optimization, so what are you waiting for?

Please copy and paste the HTML link below onto your site, and then shoot me an email detailing your link url and title. Spammers will be ignored, so don’t even bother.

MyPreferredHTML Link :

<a href=”http://www.rachelmcotton.com/”>Fine Art Paintings by Rachel M Cotton</a> Savannah artist sharing artwork and tips for creative growth

2 – Write a short blurb about me

You know me!

If I have done work for you in the past or if we grew up in the same town, write a your impression, your memories, or your kudos abut me and be featured in a blog post on my new site. Again this helps us both. I get an awesome blog post and you get some much deserved PR! Email your writing to rmcotton.art@gmail.com.

3 – Show your support for the Arts

In addition to being a great supporter of my own work, I am also a great supporter of the arts, including art education, collecting and business. If you or your company has done something wonderful to help support the arts in your area, please share that with us, so that we may share it with our readers. Or if you have heard of something wonderful happening, please share that as well. There are good things happening in this world, and we would love to hear the positive.

Or Invest in Artwork or Sponsoring An Artist (Me).

There are also several ways to invest in my work.

1 – Commission Custom Work

Butterfly Ballerina - A Commission

The majority of my work is from people like yourself that want an original piece of work for their home or office. I have been known to do portraits of people, pets, and homes, specialty work for nurseries and children’s rooms, as well as some pretty atypical requests. Pieces are affordable, and I happy to accept payments. As an emerging full-time artist, prices for my work have more than doubled in the last 2 years. I can only see this trend continuing as I am now in Gallery 11 in The City Market Art Center in Savannah and my commission availability is decreasing rapidly.

2 – Purchase Existing Originals

Between painting custom work, I like to work on my own projects that reflect my growth and exploration of technique and concept. These pieces mark my artistic progression. Many of these particular pieces will exhibit, but they are also for sale to art lovers and collectors. Each piece is registered with the Fine Art Registry and comes complete with a Certificate of Authenticity.

3 – Purchase Prints

Your Dad may like this one!

Most of my paintings are also available as open edition prints. Limited Edition prints are available on a limited basis. Prints are created by quality scans and/or photographs of the original piece, the colors are matched to the original, and the piece is printed either on quality photographic paper or as a high quality, archival giclee print. Please let me know if you are interested in a print of a specific painting.

4 – Sponsor a Competition

I regularly enter prestigious competitions both nationally and internationally. Entry fees can be very expensive ranging from $25 – $100 per competition. You pay an entry fee or two in return for the following:

• PR on my site with a link to the sponsor site with additional promotion across major social media outlets
• 20% of the awarded prize, 20% to a charity of your choice, if prize money is awarded
• A Full Press Release to the newspaper(s) of the Sponsors choice for promoting local arts

5 – Sponsor an Exhibition

The time and resources it takes to prepare for an Art Exhibit are great. As an artist and an entrepreneur, I am prepared to enter into a partnership with an individual or company in a collaborative marketing experience. The Sponsor may receive the following based on the partnership agreement and sponsor amount:

• PR on the my site with a link to the sponsor site as well as promotion on various social media outlets
• A Full Press Release to the newspaper(s) of the Sponsors choice
• Sponsorship listed on invitations and marketing materials at the Opening
• Tasteful Advertising at the Exhibition and Opening Event
• A percentage of the total sales of the exhibition

Please contact me with any questions or inquiries at rmcotton.art@gmail.comThank you for your interest!

Designers Wishlist at HOW.com

I am a HUGE HOW Magazine fan.  HOW Magazine is THE magazine for designers, both freelance and inhouse, offering current news and ideas for design professionals.  I get every issue, and read it cover to cover.  I absorb all of it – the design trends, the new fonts, the stories of other designers and illustrators.

How exciting for me to find myself on the HOW website!!  The question was simple – what do you want for Christmas?  Check it out here.

Online Information Tracker

Join me on Second Brain!

Second Brain has been my life saver! I keep track of everything on here.

I regularly browse the net looking for really awesome artists, reference sites, and other things that interest me.  With Second Brain I can keep track of all of these AND organize them into folders.  Plus I can keep track of RSS feeds I find online, upload documents, keep track of my social networking information, and so much more.  By marking items public or personal, you can also limit what is shared with others.

Second Brain works like bookmarking on a browser on crack! It is one of my favorite tools.  Check out my SecondBrain here.

Every Artist MUST have a Website

I have created a sample website for artists using Google Sites that should act as a guideline for artists who are in need of a website, but hesitant about the mysteries of the web and web site building.  I built this basic site in about an hour and a half.  Check it out.

Sample site with links to Tutorials

If you have any additions, corrections, or questions concerning this mock up site, please let me know!

Thanks

Establishing and Maintaining Positive Client Relationships

at Cotton Studios

Oh Boy!  I have been introduced to a marketing MIRACLE for small businesses.

Look What You Can Do!!

Imagine, 10 seconds to pick up a card or postcard, write a special message, sign it and mail it, PLUS a built in contact system with reminders of birthdays, anniversaries, etc.  PLUS, you can even upload your own photos to the card.

Interested?  Check it out by going to https://www.sendoutcards.com/cottonstudios.

Any questions – Call me at 912-655-7687.  I will be glad to answer and questions you may have.

The Economy and Your Business

With the economy in a downward spiral, it is more important than ever to market and network strategically to avoid high costs and small results.

Press Releases

Press Releases are a great way to market your business, but the information contained as got to be news and not advertising.  There are a few ways you can become news.

1. Do some pro-bono work for a non-profit organization and make it BIG!  Then both your company and the organization can become news, and you are helping out fellow community members
2. Create an Annual Award in your industry or community and publicize it.
3. Sponsor an Adopt-a-Road area in your community to help clean up roads.  The sign in the area will have your name on it, and people will see it constantly, and you are news!
4. Have your employees pick a common interest, and volunteer as a company to help in a community event or non-profit need.

For further information about writing press releases, visit about.com.  Don’t forget to include your website in the release!

Creative Marketing

There are some other tricks you can use for reviving your customers interests and gaining new ones without spending tons of money.

1. Try out some of the online advertising options such as Google Ad Sense.
2. Write a column for the local newspaper or business journal.
3. Try an email marketing campaign.
4. Create a new or improved company logo or recolor the traditional logo.
5. Join or organize a breakfast club with other professionals (not in your field) to discuss business and network referrals.

Your Website

You MUST have a website in this day and age. Obtain a memorable URL, and use it on all coorrespondance, press releases, and  marketing collateral.

There are inexpensive ways of creating a basic website.  Companies like networksolutions.com offer basic website packages with a built-in WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor. This means that you do not have to know html to build your site.

A better solution for sites involving more information and e-commerce is to have a Web Designer create a good CMS (Content Management Solution) website for your company.  This will enable you to do updates, page additions, blog posts, and many other things yourself after the initial design.  Save printing expenses and trees by using your website to contain valuable information that you would otherwise have printed – manuals, forms, informational brochures,  – put them all online and within easy grasp of your customers and your employees.

Get to it!

The experts say that our economy will face some pretty tough struggles over the next year.  Use your money wisely, market efficiently, and help others in your community.  You don’t have to pay big bucks to get people interested and supportive in your business – you just have to think outside of the box.

For more information visit these resources:

Small Business Administration – 100+ Marketing Ideas

Google – Ad Sense

Tips to Hire the Right Website Designer

Small Business Now – Entice Customers Online Using Offline Advertising