Artists Sunday is your opportunity to shout out about your art: What makes it interesting, unique, decorative, useful, playful, creative, and why people should purchase it during the holiday season? Also, think about you. What makes you interesting? As an artist you are unique. You are passionate about your vision, your work and what you create.

Devise A Promotion

The best way to leverage the Artists Sunday shop art message during the holidays is to devise a creative promotion or “event” to showcase your work.

During the fall holiday shopping season consumers are conditioned to look for promotions. In fact, the Thanksgiving weekend is considered the largest shopping weekend of the year. So, we’re going to play into that and spread our message of shopping for art this holiday season, promoting that message.

Picking A Time Frame

This fall, we hope consumers will be able to interact with a range of art and craft specific promotional activities across the country, leading up to and through the Thanksgiving weekend.

With that in mind, don’t feel like your promotion has to just take place on December 1.

Events (or virtual events) and promotions can run for several days or even weeks during the holiday season. Just like Black Friday specials are not just on Black Friday any longer. Create something that works best for you and your customers. If need be, consider collaborating or hosting something with a partner or an established event.

Promotion and Event Strategies

Promotions can vary widely, from individual artists hosting specials during certain time periods to encourage consumer interaction, to an arts district promoting its artists in specific and unique ways, to an artist revealing new work at a specific time.

Suggestions of Artists Sunday Related Events and Promotions:

> An Artisan announces they will debut exciting new work for the first time on a specific date and time

> A County arts commission hosts a virtual art festival during Artists Sunday week or weekend.

> An individual Artist discounts select work on their web site on Artists Sunday until noon only.

> A Chamber of Commerce and City collaborate, creating a pop up store/gallery for a specific time period.

> An Artist holds appointment-only bookings at her studio at specific times and days.

> A City department starts a series of artist showcases in early Nov, leading up to December 1.

> An Artisan or Craftsperson offers specialized commissions starting in October leading up to the holidays

> A City cross-markets Artists Sunday with Small Business Saturday© creating a dual message of Shop Local and Shop Art.

Remember these are just ideas. Create your own or talk to organizations or other artists in your community to see if there is an opportunity to collaborate. Look for more ideas in other areas of this Toolkit.

Give your Promotion a Name

It’s a good idea to give your promotion a name. Be specific and unique so it stands out.

What is it you wish to achieve? Sell more of your work obviously but don’t be afraid to wrap something around that to achieve your goal. Play into a theme or leverage something in your community or local environment.

Of course, it could be as simple as “Artists Sunday Showcase” or “Artists Sunday Sale”.

Describe Your Promotion

Tell people what’s going on and why. Discuss the theme and your objectives or who’s participating, if more than one individual. A sentence or a paragraph will do.

Set a Date and Time

You’ll want to set a date or range of dates for your promotion so people can market it on their calendar. A date implies a sense of urgency. This could be as simple as reminding people to shop for art or shop with you during Artists Sunday. Or if you want to run a promotion for a longer time period, that’s okay too. Provide an end date as well as a start date. You can always extend an end date, if the promotion/event is virtual.

Set a Location

A location could be anything from inviting customers to visit your web site (a virtual promotion or event) to inviting customers to visit you at a physical location (a physical event promotion).

You may have your own promo/event, or you may be working with an organization, or both.

> If you’re hosting a physical or virtual event or even a promotion. Please consult the Event Production Checklist in this Toolkit for tips and ideas.

> If you’re hosting an online or virtual event, you’ll want to consult the E-Commerce Holiday Best Practices Checklist elsewhere in this Toolkit.