help me collaborate on a name for my art business and ideas for marketing?

[Terra]

hey everyone, i'll start off with a short background. my names terra. im 19. i do a lot of painting and drawing. i work in a lot of mediums, such as acrylic, oil pastel, graphite, spray paint.. and i do mostly realist-type art, such as portraits, still lifes, landscapes, ect but my favorite subject is people. i love capturing the emotion and character in someones face.

now my current situation..
ive done some commissioned work, and started marketing myself a little.. (handing out business cards, creating a facebook page for my art, ect) but ive been talking to my sister who went to school for graphic design about expanding my little art "business"
she needs to build up her portfolio, so shes agreed to help me make business cards, post cards that promote my art, pamphlets that would have my artists statement, ect.
im really looking forward to working on these things with her and we have some good ideas already, but i thought i would open up the collaboration further to all of you.

first thing i would like some help with, is choosing a name. with my old business cards, i just had my name and information and featured one of my pictures on the card. my sister and i have some ideas for the design (although, feel free to chime in) but i was thinking, i should create a name/title for my business.

an idea i had was to play on the word "heart" and have a name like..
art beat(s)
art's desire
art attack
art rate?
kingdom of arts
queen of arts

i was also thinking of fitting my name into my business name some how (ie: terra's art, ect) but kind of gave up on that


another thing i could use advice on is ways to market my art. along with the ideas i posted above, i was thinking of making a post card or pamphlet i could hand out to coffee shops, dentist offices ect explaining that i could rent their wall space/ display my art in their place of business. i think that would be more professional then just going around promoting myself and taking up peoples time.

oh, and eventually, i would like to have a "showing" for my art. so i could use some help planning that. should i find a space to rent, or network with other artists to share costs and set up an event.. maybe at someones house or studio

also, since im just starting out, it would be very helpful to collaborate with other artists, so to anyone who has experience with this kind of thing, let me know if you want to exchange emails or something so we can perhaps keep in contact and turn to each other for advice?

anyway, i think that's enough for everyone to think about, and thank you in advance for the help, i know this is a somewhat long question.

[Ed Atun]

A Slice Of Heaven

The Dream Maker

Tomorrow Today

Tara's By Design

Call the local tv station and offer to go on their morning show at 6am to talk about your art and your new business. Take examples of your work. If they like you, they will invite you back to talk about art.

[G C]

Hi Terra,

Depending on what size city you live in, pamphlet space renting could be good, or could cost you a fortune in stuff that just gets thrown away when the patient gets 'called in'.

How about 'donating' artwork for waiting rooms with a little brass plate saying who the artist is & cards in a holder below. A sign next to the work could say that "Terra does commissioned works, please take a card".

I'm soooo sick of hearts! Two or three times today I came across articles that said something like "I (heart) dobermans" or I (heart) Atlanta... That's sooo old!!

My town has at least 6 "craft", "festival" or "art" venues a year. Many of those folks travel around the country hawking their wares. Usually there's a $25 vendor fee to pitch your tent or table and sell. I remember one artist, can't think of her name now - 0430 in the morning, that used to show at these things, and now I can recognize her art in a heartbeat and kick myself for not springing the $50 she was asking at the time!

Can't really help you with a snazzy name for your biz. Terra - fied, Terra - dactyl, Terra - zo, seem to be the only things that come to mind at this hour with your name in them, but you'll think of something!

Good Luck to you,

GC

[Billy Alley]

Hey Terra. I love your drive. You are very motivated and you have some good ideas about how you plan on marketing your project. It looks like you want to do both online and local marketing for your art.

You are on the right track by talking to people and persistently doing so and as you build relationships with people, I believe you will become more successful. The Facebook thing can be a real gold mine too.

If you really want to market your art and get people to buy, I believe that you will get success by finding a real specific market that may be already interested in the specific kind of work that you do.

I will give you an example. You say you love to paint people and capture emotions and character. This is a niche market to focus on.

On your facebook page, you might want to name it a name that speaks specifically to that niche, or give it a slogan that speaks specifically to people that are wanting this done. Ex: Terra's Painted Portraits That Captures their Emotions and Character. This might be a niche market for someone that wants to get a gift of a portrait for a family member or friend. The phrase tells your service and how it benefits your customer: Painted Portraits + Captures the Emotion and Character of the person they are getting the painting done for.

So for the name of your business, you could also do this by naming it a name that speaks to your specific market. For example: Jiffy Lube *this tells people they will get their oil changed fast, because the niche market is people that want it done fast. (If not in the name, it can be your slogan) But think of who you are wanting to reach when you think of your name.

I personally like your name "Art's Desire" because it just sounds cool! Mine is Live My Art!

Most importantly to market your business, I believe you can do really killer at it is by continuing the Facebook page and build a bunch of relationships with people starting there. You see, when you've built relationships, and people already like you and what you're all about, then it will be easy to sell your art because they will just be naturally interested. Just like if I were already wanting a cup of coffee, then I'm already interested in doing business with Starbucks.

This is what I am learning too because I've studied up a bit with modern marketing courses and programs, and I want to live my passion too. I'm learning this and teaching it too, as I learn it, while I work full time. I've even created a project for it.

But I would love to connect with you and share and exchange some ideas.

You can connect with me on Facebook if you want, and also send me your fan page so I can become a fan. I'll put a link to my page below and I'm going to share more of this stuff, like I said, as I learn.