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The art of networking – April 2008

Whether or not you find yourself working in isolation, you need to meet other people, fellow artists and other professionals to increase your chances of success. Ideally you want to meet both: other artists so you can learn from each other and support one another, and professionals whose skills, services and support might be the key to your own success.

Networking is all about creating and nurturing relationships which will create in due time direct sales opportunities (you sell your artworks directly to the people you meet) and indirect ones (the people you network with will refer clients to you).

If you're serious about promoting your business you network. Period.

Simple arithmetics: the more people know you the more recommendations you are likely to get.

The main objective of networking is really to build the relationships in such a way that when the people in your group think "artist" they immediately think of you. What a wonderful world it would be if everybody you knew would recommend your artworks to other people! Well, you might not be able to get everybody to do this for you but if you work at it you will certainly have a number of people doing just this. And you'll be so pleased of the results that you will be compelled to return the favour... everyone wins.

To make networking worthwhile you need to consider a number of things:

Networking is a serious investment in time. You don't build a fruitful relationship in a single meeting! Typically it will take weeks and possibly months of regular networking before you see any tangible results and your investment in time pays off.
It will also be a financial investment. You will typically pay for a breakfast, lunch or dinner, or, at the very least a drink on a regular basis and of course transport costs and usually a membership subscription to a networking club.
Good preparation is essential if you want the networking sessions to be fruitful.
Your presentation is important. The people you meet will notice the way you dress, introduce yourself and what you say about what you do. Perhaps showing the artwork itself or a photo will help.
Try to help the others in your networking group. Being an artist doesn¡¯t mean you can¡¯t help other people and their businesses. Everybody has ideas.

Setting basic objectives for your presentations is time well spent.

There are two kinds of networks to consider.

Meeting-based networks

You mainly meet people face to face regularly (perhaps weekly or monthly).
Most face-to-face networks organise regular meetings either at breakfast, lunch or evening time so you can choose the kind that suits your lifestyle. The meetings are structured and they follow the same pattern each time. The format of the meeting usually includes a short (one minute) presentation by all attendees (who you are and what you do), a longer presentation by one of the participants, leads and testimonials and informal discussions during the meal or afterwards.

This regularity creates good habits and forces you to be creative in what you say about yourself and your artworks and how you say it! Somehow create an impression and people will remember you more easily. Give suggestions how your artworks can enhance workplace or a room in their home.

It’s not enough to meet people in a group. If the group you belong to is successful you will not have enough time to get to know the people well enough to make the relationship fruitful. You will need to arrange separate meetings (immediately after the group meeting is a good idea to save travelling time!) with individuals. These one-to-one meetings are your real opportunity to build long-lasting relationships. It's only through these meetings that you will discover how you could assist these people, what is the extent of their expertise and how they can assist you.

Most networks allow only one person from each trade or profession to join a club.

Meetings-based networks are for example:

Useful links:

Social Networks

Online social networks are the other variety. You join a social network on the web. Most well known social networks such as MySpace and Facebook are probably not ideally suited for artists.

Why join an online social network? Well, in the old days would you have set up an art gallery in an area of town with no passing trade? Well, today, your passing trade is online – hanging around in online networks. Can you afford to ignore it if you are serious about promoting yourself?

How do you go about joining online networks? A quick search in Google will give you an immediate start. Look around those promising networks where perhaps there are already other fellow artists, hang around to see how the members participate and interact, and once you feel comfortable join in, participate and contribute to the community.

Most networks give you the opportunity to build a “profile”: it can be your CV and or an online brochure – your chance to advertise yourself and your artworks.

You will need to invest time for online networking, perhaps force yourself to sit in front of your computer an hour or more very day, attempting to make contact with remote people you will probably never meet. Not you perhaps? If this is how you think just be aware that the Web redefines the meaning of a community. No longer the community is made up of local people within driveable distance. Online networking allows you to belong to worldwide communities where your nearest neighbour and friend can be in Australia. Many have groups or clubs dedicated to artists.

Online networking has its advantages: you don't have to get up early or travel any distances! You can network any time of the day by leaving messages to your contacts. You are very likely to get a load of free support and have a lot of fun “meeting” people from far away!

Here are a few social networks where artists will not be out of place:

Other useful links:

If any of the above mean anything to you, please get in touch with EAB on +44 (0)1727 751445 or email us. It’ll probably a useful conversation which could easily change your attitude to the web and your fortunes.