Many artists keep a list of professional contacts to send news about exhibitions and events. Along with social networks these are effective at telling your regular audience what you are doing.
Email newsletters are a quick and affordable way to tell people what you are doing. You can use them to publicise:
- Exhibitions of your work
- Events that include or are about you and your work
- Significant press articles or books
- Opportunities to buy your work
- Ways to get involved with your projects
Your email newsletter
When your mailing list is small you can send emails from your own email address. Make sure you use the BCC field to hide all the email addresses. Most email services limit the number of emails you can send for each message. Their help pages will tell you what those limits are. If you send a message to too many email addresses your account may be deactivated or deleted.
A better option for larger email lists is a specialist email service. Companies such as MailChimp can manage larger lists for free, up to a certain number of subscribers. You can create a template for your newsletter so it always looks the same and is easier to send. Decide if you want to include images in your newsletter and make space in your template for these.
You can do an internet search to find more free email newsletter services too.
Avoid sending too many emails to your list – no more than once a month at most. If you send things too frequently, you risk annoying your audience and they’ll unsubscribe. Consider sending some messages on social networks instead. These are better for frequent, shorter messages and conversation. For example
- send one email to announce an exhibition
- one more as a reminder just before it opens
- use social networks for more regular updates.
Only add people to your mailing list if they have shown interest in your work and given permission
Privacy and data protection
The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) mean that any data you use for marketing has to be accessible to correct or remove. You must not send marketing emails or texts to people without their specific consent. Email newsletter service companies use the right legal procedures. You still need permission to send mass marketing information to people, even if this is from your own email address.
Email newsletters service companies allow people to sign up and leave your list themselves. This means you won’t have to remember to take people off your list. It gives people control to leave your list when they want.
Include your mailing list service on your website to make it easy to sign up. Write a note to tell people how often you will send an email. State that you won’t pass on their details to anyone else. Tell them about any other ways they can get updates, like your social network accounts.
You should have a privacy policy on your website explaning how you will use and store people’s information. A privacy policy template is available from the Information Commissioners Office (ICO). The ICO is the government body that oversees data regulation in the UK and handles complaints. They have the power to fine businesses who do not follow the rules. SEQ Legal also have a UK-specific privacy policy template. You can use this for free if you acknowledge their copyright, or pay £10 for a license.
The ICO also provides a short personal information checklist (PDF) for small businesses.
If you want to add someone to your marketing list, email them to invite them to join. Some email newsletter service companies let you send these emails from your account.
Postal mailing lists
Many artists no longer send postal invitations or press releases. Communicating via email is cheaper and easier.
Maintaining a small targeted list of key contacts who you post info to can still prove useful. Some people like receiving printed materials. An attractive invitation card can be kept, and serves as a reminder of work. A personal letter to go along with it can create a connection even with people that you don’t know.
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