Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Marketing Ideas

I've been thinking about marketing ideas lately, and decided I'll post the links of any of them that I can remember and find links for. One of the most obvious is cafepress. You can have your images printed on T-shirts, mouse pads, tote-bags, mugs, lunch pails and a large assortment of objects. In the past they only had T-shirts and mugs, but recently they've updated the variety of objects to print the images on and sell them. I need to update my own cafe-press site.
Another obvious thing is Post cards. Most illustrators highly recommend Modern Postcard .
One thing I plan to do, but need to find a reasonably priced source for, are bumper stickers, &/or magnetic car stickers. As artists, we have such an advantage in creating fun, attractive bumper stickers and magnets.
Another idea I've wanted to follow up for years has been to make some jigsaw puzzles. There are printable puzzles that you can print your images on in your own computer. I haven't bought these (in the link) but that's one example of what they are like.
You can also print your own art on iron on T-shirt transfers. These used to be limited to use on white or light colored T-shirts, but there are now iron on transfers that have a backing on them so that the image can be placed on darker or bright colors.
Then of course, you can show your work off with your own Pins, magnets, stickers, buttons (the kind with pins on the back).
Free Coloring Pages are wonderful too. I've thought of printing some up and leaving them at places that kids frequent. (with permission of course) such as dentist and doctor's offices, emergency rooms (did you ever notice how there are never many things for young children to do there?) Libraries may also be open to allowing children's illustrators to leave coloring pages there. Just make sure to put your web address, name and copyright notice on these.

I know that most art directors say not to include fancy inserts in submission packets, but I think stickers could be a nice touch, if the image is strong and catches their eye.
Rubber stamps of your art is another idea. I've done this before and had a blast with it. I need to redo some. You've just got to research the rubber stamp companies that produce them for the best price. (the companies that produce them for personal use.)

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