Artists’ Newsletters: 15 Ideas For Creating Valuable Content and Promotional Opportunities

Businesses, nonprofits, and entrepreneurs have known for decades that newsletters are a terrific way to keep in touch and nurture relationships with clients, customers, donors, members, and volunteers. As an artist, are you taking advantage of this art marketing marvel? Writing and distributing an artist newsletter (whether by mail or email) is one of the best ways to continue to air your name and to update your raving fans about your progress. Interesting solid content can help you make a reputation for yourself. A well-written newsletter also becomes a valuable promotional piece to include in your artist portfolio and to hand to guests at your studio and art exhibits.

You don’t have to purchase fancy mailing lists or hire slick designers in order to have a great newsletter. All you need is news! And almost anything can be developed into interesting (that’s the key: interesting) content. Here are fifteen ideas to get you started.

1. Your art technique or medium—if unique, understandable, interesting
2. Expanded information on one of your subjects
3. Your new work and how it is relevant to the community or larger art world
4. New exhibit of other artwork related to your ow

5. The history of a color, art medium, or technique
6. Art and politics
7. An upcoming fundraiser for a local arts organizatio

8. Art educatio

9. Donations of artwork you made for a charity auction and why
10. Public funding of the arts
11. A new public sculpture in tow

12. An interview with a curator or collecto
13. Creative projects for those who are not artists
14. Feature article on a nonprofit organization you have donated to or that has a mission you agree with
15. Rebuttal to an art review in the newspaper (while you’re at it, send it to the paper as well)

The main goals for your artist newsletter are to generate sales and opportunities, toot your horn, provide information to your collectors, and create goodwill by including other columnists and community activities. Even more importantly, the reason you distribute an artist newsletter is to keep your name in front of people. If done well, your newsletter will be a powerful promotional addition to your regular emails, postcards, and letters. If it’s really good, it will be kept and shared with others.

Copyright 2008 Alyson Stanfield, All rights reserved.