Marketing Your Stained Glass Business

Carl Correll and Arlene Wright of Avalon Stained Glass write…
I discovered years ago that artists, inventors and scientists knew what they knew, usually did it very well, but were not marketers. As a retired real estate marketer turned artist this info served our company well.

So my advice to you is to PR the heck out of yourself. Here are some tips we find very helpful for us.
1. We have a website
2. We take pictures of our students and their completed projects
3. We put those pictures on postcards that say their name completed a stained glass course at Avalon Stained Glass School. You can do this also. Our telephone number and address on front. We put our name and telephone number on upper back left, stamp place on upper right corner just the way the post office does. We print 4, we keep one and post it on our Distinguished Alumni wall in the school and give them 3 to send to friends and relatives.
4. We then send a press release via email with a photo attachment of the student and their project to our local paper and if they live in a different town to their local newspaper. The press release says something like this. Avalon Stained Glass School is proud to announce that Jenny Smith of Their Town, KY just completed an 18 hour (or whatever) stained glass workshop. Jenny Smith says “this is the easiest and most fun workshop I have ever taken” or whatever quote Jenny said to us. We then say anyone else interested in taking a similar workshop please contact Avalon Stained Glass at 270 524 9567 or go to our website www.learn-america.com
Believe it or not we have had one published every time we send one in.

However you need to do it correctly. Here is the correct form.
Date
To: Your newspaper
Attention: Meet someone at your newspaper to be your constant contact.
For further information call : You name and telephone number
For immediate Publication
Headline: Here you put what you want them to say. For the above I would have said,
Jenny Smith of Munfordville, KY Completes Stained Glass Workshop
Begin Copy: here you put exactly what you want to say
End Copy.

When it is done correctly, they rarely ever change anything you say.

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Deborah Oliphant writes…
Great advice. Thank you for sharing!

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Arlene at A Glass Bash writes…
Since I have been way out of the loop for several years and am just now looking at in the next few weeks starting up again, marketing ideas are something I desperately need. Ways to advertise inexpensively and reach a wider market locally.

One thing I did do, is contact my local college that teaches 'adult" education classes and got on with them doing the occasional class up there. Small easy to finish projects that aren't time intensive and I am always looking for other ideas to pull in. Thanks
A Glass Bash
Shelton, WA 98584
www.aglassbash.com

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Carolyn Adkins writes…
Great idea. I started my business a little over a year ago and am still building my customer base. One of my students recently sold a piece at an Art Instutite and Gallery display. She was SO happy. Maybe she would be the one to start with.
Thanks so much.

I currently work a full time job and have my studio open in the afternoon and evening. I am contemplating leaving my full time job to concentrate on workshops and wonder if you have any ideas about how to make this a successful move. I recently had an article printed in our local paper about the studio. This brought me at least 20 new students. I was very excited. Some are coming back for supplies to do their projects at home and some are renting studio space. Thanks for any input you may have. Happy Holidays.
Grammy

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