Promotion

[bwal]

What forms of promotion have members of the forum used in the past. Workbook, Theispot.com, etc.

Also... anyone have an Artist Representative?

I'm curious what other forms are out there and what kind of return investment illustrators have experienced.

Are these promotional avenues good for technical work?

[clint]

Great question, I'm curious on this myself. I keep landing myself full time jobs even when I try to freelance but I know the day is coming when I will freelance full time so I'm curious how to go about finding the kind of work you really want to get.

[jhatch]

I personally don't pay for any listing, just try to take advantage of the free listings. Google is pretty huge for traffic. James has the self promotion thing nailed it seems like he is everywhere! Early in my career I contacted some of the larger Rep agencies back when they were still relevant and they were nasty as hell to me. Telling me no one wanted my kind of work and meanwhile they had 3 pages of women who glued cut paper into pictures of chickens and crap! I didn't get it, as I was doing some pretty high profile work at the time. I think the Rep era is over and they are trolls and thieves, RIP. Word of mouth is the most valuable advertising you have.

[clint]

Yea, james is all over the place, so is hulsey. That guys knows how to set up a site so search engines find it. It makes me think I should have kept my domain name going just to keep it active instead of letting it expire.
It makes me wonder how art directors are finding illustrators. Are they just searching google or are they going to all the illustration directory sites if they are looking for someone new?

[JamesProvost]

Early in my career I contacted some of the larger Rep agencies back when they were still relevant and they were nasty as hell to me. Telling me no one wanted my kind of work and meanwhile they had 3 pages of women who glued cut paper into pictures of chickens and crap!

Haha, too funny!

I've thought about looking for a rep because the idea makes sense - I spend my time doing what I'm good at, and they have or find contacts that need it. But the internet has leveled the playing field, it's not about who you know anymore.

The standard used to be buying a mailing list (like AdBase) and mailing postcards with samples to art directors 4 times a year. A postcard is cheap, physical and marginally harder to ignore or trash than an email. If the AD liked the work, they would pin it up at their desk or file it in a drawer. I've only sent out one postcard, with weak results, but like any marketing it takes time and determination.

Like Jim, I don't pay for ads, catalogs, portfolio sites, etc. There are plenty of free portfolio sites that get way more traffic and are usually more navigable and searchable than the paid ones. Take advantage of those Flickr is a great place to start. There's a huge community of illustrators (including us!) and lots of meta tagging, searching and organizing tools. I've had a few clients come to me via Flickr.

I really don't see an art director taking a big catalog like Workbook off their shelf and flipping through it endlessly to find an illustrator anymore, but maybe I'm wrong.

The best return on investment is your website. It should be user- and search engine-friendly and really show off your work. If you don't know how to make your site do that, it pays to get professional help (or learn - it's a useful skill). Google will be your friend.

We're working on a post that covers a bit of this, but it's likely going to turn into a series of posts.

[kentleech]

I used to have a few agents. Theoretically I still do. But I only hear from one from time to time (he is also a friend and has an old MG). Yes, they are a dying breed.

I used to go in the workbook and sometimes the blackbook. But for the 1000's of $ they charge, all I saw was diminishing calls. Stopped it ~8 years ago.

I tried the postcard mailing thing ~11 years ago. few calls. I used old stamps (lots of them) for 'effect'. My tongue tasted of stamp gum for a day. But as James said, you have to keep doing it. I just couldn't stand licking any more old stamps!

I just pulled the plug on i-spot, too. Got fewer and fewer contacts thru it. I always ask callers for work where they found me. Always the same answer now- a google search.

It's all about the googles and your site.