Americana Week.com

I’m pleased to announce that we’re partnering with Eric Miller of Urban Art & Antiques to increase audiences for named antiques week shows across the country. The initiative is based on content, distribution and gratification.

We begin with New York’s  Americana Week.com, which comes up in January and kicks off a year’s worth of shows and commercial exhibitions. From Americana Week.com, we are branding the other weeks that so far have been comprised of multiple campaigns, each geared toward one established audience.

By trending towards a larger picture of the weeks and providing the first overview of them, ever, we will be serving the trade no one has attempted before.

We’ll be reaching out through informative content, much of it provided by the dealers and experts who join the campaign.

The website is destination oriented, even offering tips on places to stay.

We’ll be reaching out via social media, with targeted messages.

And, come Americana Week itself, a mobile app will let people on the go know where to go.

AmericanaWeek.com Travel Tips

You’ll find more about Americana Week at Americana Week.com

The second round of the program is already in place as we begin to negotiate Nashville Antiques Week and you’ll find that information at Nashville Antiques Week.com

Be sure to keep up the show weeks at Twitter: @americanaweek and @nashivlleantiquesweek.

@americanaweek

Like us on Facebook at Americana Week and Nashville Antiques Week.

To get involved as a sponsor, partner or advertiser, drop me a line at regina@americanaweek.com or eric@americanaweek.com

Both Eric and I are looking forward to making these weeks stronger than ever before.

Career Women by Beatrice Wood

60 museums. Working together. A  Getty Research Institute initiative.  Pacific Standard Time.

PST offers a new generation an opportunity to understand how the rush of European refugees to the land of the laid back drove changes in architecture, abstraction, film, performance art and more.

It makes me remember Johnny Carson’s late night lament that there was no culture in L.A.  Clearly, there was a roiling pot of creativity that simply did not get the press that the East Coast artists got.

The Getty is to be commended, as are the participating museums.  At last, the West Coast’s contribution to art is being recognized as a whole.

Beatrice Wood in her Studio

And do you know what she said of greeting the unexpected every time she opened a kiln?

Beatrice Wood said opening the door of the kiln was the most exciting part of the process.

Copper Luster Teapot

It is called “aspirational marketing.”

You see it all the time on HGTV, where realtors and decorators have created formats that make people want to buy a home, and redecorate the one they have.

You see on American Pickers, where Mike Wolfe makes junk look good. And if you think he’s not following  up those marginal picks with merch – check out his website’s line of accessories. The  guy is making people aspire to be him!

And later this week, the Keno brothers will launch Buried Treasure and people will get turned on to their brand of knowledge.

What these shows have in common is that they  educate  consumers.

They also have a distribution format – national TV – that gets the word out to millions.

And what happens then? The educated in the distribution pipeline are not content with what they learn – they want to own something that reflects their new-found knowledge.

Or, success by association with a product.  Your product, be it antique chair, Chinese jade, contemporary art.

Aspirational marketing. It doesn’t preach to the choir or attempt to mine an already established audience. It reaches new audiences and turns those new audiences into buyers.

Why? Because human nature being what it is, people want to be close to the things they like. And if they impress a friend or  boss in the process-so much the better.

So, think about aspirational marketing and how it can boost your sales.

And if you need expert guidance, you know where to come. PRT3 has several aspirational campaigns going now. There is room for another.

Refreshingly, most are generalists. (Of the two that specialize, Hong Kong Auctions – which has been around for about 5 years – handles only Chinese, particularly paintings.  Gene Shapiro Auctions on the Upper East Side specializes in Russian art, with  successes in American and Continental art.)

Among the wholesale houses, the properties come from estates on Park Avenue, Fifth Avenue and the nearby tri-state area. They run to the types of items rich people collected in the 60s, 70s and 80s. For instance, mid-century modern designer furniture by Hans Wegner, Finn Juhl, Tomi Parzinger and others is being spit out by the truck load. Modern paintings too.

The condition is often excellent and while the provenance must often be discretely handled, almost all the auction houses state the addresses property was taken from.

Because most of these guys run monthly sales, you can’t buy glossy  image laden catalogs, so it is imperative to visit their websites often.  The sites tend towards bare bones, linking to catalogs posted on Live Auctioneers.com. The best way to see what they are selling is to visit the previews.

• Roland Auctions in Greenwich Village is street level. Its location is prime, near the corner of Broadway on E. 11th Street, within blocks of the 14th Street subway hub.  The owners, Bill and Rob Roland have been in the antiques business for at least 3 decades and know their  way around.  The September 24 sale has 16 vintage guitars, including at least one pre-CBS Les Paul and an autographed Les Paul.

• Hutter Auctions is on the West Side in midtown, not far from the Alvin Ailey School of Dance. It’s in a warehouse building, so you can’t peak in the windows. You must take the elevator and poke through a warren of holding rooms. Best buys tend to be traditional furniture, much of it by big name manufacturers.

• Capo Auctions in Long Island City bills itself as a neighborhood auction houses. It draws from Long Island estates and recently featured weird items from the old Steinway Mansion. I can’t say what their best buys are but it’s easy enough to find out by checking the website and clicking  to prices realized.

Best advice – visit these venues and bid. As of this writing, you are competing mostly with dealers and that makes good odds that you will get what you want at a decent price. Another thing, often the items that don’t sell at auction get posted to 1st Dibs, where their  price increases.

The ones that impress me now are Sean Blanchette’s new Antiques Near Me, Meg Wendy’s New Focus On and Eric Miller’s Urban Art & Antiques and Calendar of Art and Antiques. They’re social because they invite feedback.

These sites offer shoppers with alternatives to 1st Dibs, the grandaddy of the “online antiques show” and arguably a leading factor in the decline of attendance at live shows. the thing that made 1st Dib was its photography and exclusivity. Not only is 1st Dibs a pricey bet for the dealers, it locks them in to an exclusive contract that prevents them participating in other antiques online sites.

The new sites tend more in touch with the buying public. Here’s a quick rundown of their features:

A traditional approach to selling antiques

• New Focus  On.com would like to re-direct the eye for appreciation by offering a pretty site and content with a lifestyle bent.  It offers dealer gallery of tried and tested sellers. The advantage Meg Wendy brings is  having spent a lifetime in the business of producing shows, which means she knows the dealers coming on board.

A blog approach to selling art and antiques

• Urban Art & Antiques.com bills itself as a blog about art and antiques, with visits to antique shows and  flea markets. Although it does have a sales section for art and art prints, the site is more about enjoyment than selling. Eric Miller’s strength is that he is a show promoter / producer and brings a  genuine love of collecting to his work.

Simple but effective

• Calendar of Antiques.com is much needed event site with map views..  Participants post their  own events which are the moderated by the site administrator.  The News Section is helpful but primarily press releases.

The functional approach with back end videos

• Antiques Near Me.com was recently shortlisted to be one of Boston’s hottest new start ups. Here, you plug in your zip code and up comes a list of galleries in that zip along with a map. If you prefer, you can find businesses by type, i.e. antique malls, antiques shows, auctions, flea markets.  Dealers are listed by the site administrator but can enhance their listing by “claiming” their business. So far the News is mostly press releases. The Video  section seeks to be relevent. Sean Blanchette is a young but knowledgeable dealer with vision, drive and no fear of the Internet or its capability.

All of these sites are trying to reach new audiences. Whether one has found the formula yet, is still to be determined. Together, they are educating people about the benefits of shopping for the old and combining it with the new.

This morning, WWD (the fashion retailing bible) alerted readers that “Retailers Brace for Tougher Times.” Their resources said a spate of sales is forthcoming.

Tor the clientele PRT3 serves, the real news is in the sub-text.   The competition is much broader  than you thought.  It includes  retailers who cultivate current customers and mine new audiences with  sales, promotions, discounts and special offers.

Your best defense is a good attack. Get your sales machine in gear now. When back-to-school cost increases  hit their peak, people will be less inclined to spend.

Your campaign for customers should begin today.

Longer days offer you longer selling hours.  Take the tombstone our of ads and promote a benefit. Or test the frequent shopper model. Go for collective buying power – test  a coupon on Groupon.

In outreach efforts – social media, eblasts, Twitter, Facebook – optimize your communications with bona-fide reasons to spend.

• Announce longer hours to go with longer daylight hours.
• Deploy emails with benefits and meaningful offers
• Be on the new antiques online sites that offer visibility and a strong presence. Examples: New Focus On, Urban Art & Antiques.com, Calendar of Antiques.com , and Antiques Near Me.com

Of course, there’s nothing better than building name recognition through a daily blog, press releases and articles.

Bottom line: borrow ideas liberally from the big boys,  the retailers who cannot afford to sit out a season.  As people start to take in Suze Orman’s “stand in your own truth” advice, they will base buying decisions on affordability and future gain.

Finally,  Ms. Orman says the foundation to healthy family economics is spending with cash.

Now that’s good news.

The IBM Institute for Business Value Analysis recently released results of a 2011 CRM Study, and the fallout leaves plenty of room on to make better use of your Facebook page.

To put a few of the more common perceptions in line, let’s start with the fact that more than 73% of business owners believe fans come to their Facebook page to learn more about new products. In contrast, only 51% of fans actually use Facebook fan pages for this reason.

71% of Facebook fan page owners load the page ups with general information because they believe that’s what fans want. Only 53% of fans log on for general info.

61% of site owners think fans come because they want to be part of a community.  Only 22% of fans want to be part of a corporate community.

How Business and Fans Disconnect on Facebook

The closest fan page owners and fans come to being in sync is when it comes to actual purchases. 60% of businesses believe fans like them because they want to buy something. 55% of fans come to purchase.

The main reason fans come to a business page is to for a discount. 61% of your fans come for the discount and 60% of fan page owners realize this.

The new results of the what may be the most comprehensive social media study to date is sure to make all of us re-think our use of Facebook fan pages.

That said, see you on Facebook. (BTW, we recently posted discounts.)

P.S. To enlarge the image above, click on it.

Here are the new ground rules for making the most of Facebook.

The best day to publish is not a weekday. It’s the weekend. Good information that is published on Saturday and Sunday pulls in the widest audience.

The best time to post is 8:00 a.m.  Like you, people are more receptive to information before they get caught up in the day’s activities.

The content that gets the most traffic is related to sex. Since you’re selling antiques, the best content is positivity. Coming in at third place is learning. And coming in at last place, work.

The most sharable word is Facebook. Since you’re probably not going on and on about FB, other words with a high share rate are: why, most and world. Video, health, how, big, bills, says all rank about the same in shareability.

The least shared words are vs, apple and review.  Down, poll, Twitter, game and york are next in line for least shared.

And, here’s a clincher, the best frequency of posts is every other day. (Whew! That gives us all more time to get some real work done.)

Since it’s  Friday , I’m going to hold my next post until Saturday morning at 8:00 and then I’ll share some positive information you can learn from  on Facebook.  And you can be sure to find out why, most things that happen in the world of antiques are big news.

Be sure to check PR To the Trade out at Facebook.

Whether you’re going to use PR To the Trade or use your own time and talents to make an impact, here’s what you should strive for.

First, unify your Brand.

Unify your brand.

You may not have considered this, but everyone in your company needs to know exactly what your brand stands for.

If you’re an auction house, ask yourself: what sets us apart? If you’re a dealer, what makes your inventory different? If you’re an appraiser, what is the one quality you’d like most people to remember after they meet you?  Everyone in the company, from the President to the associates, needs to know the 10 words that define your company.

Next, simplify your message.

Simplify

This can get tricky, especially if you’re hyped up over the coming auction of 300 lots or you have just unpacked a container. No matter how stoked you are, you must simplify. This often means using a different approach to the message.  Instead of listing all the inventory you want, talk about the overriding flavor of the offerings.

Third, amplify your message.

Amplify Your Message

Know where you’re going to place your press releases. Do you have a list of journalists eager to hear from you because every press release you have ever sent them has been meaty? If not, this is the time to check your list and ask what the journalist or blogger is writing about next.

Now I won’t give you all our trade secrets, but there are platforms that give you access to tons of journalists and alert you to their most recent and coming projects.

Don’t forget the power of the Internet. Your message may not be timely for some, but it will always find audiences on the Internet, provided you have an enticing headline, a unified voice and a simplified message.

More trade secrets ebb out. Be sure to monitor the traction you’re getting on the Internet. Know how many impressions you are getting, how many full reads and where they’re coming from. And, definitely, make sure you know who is picking up your message.

Ultimately, the three most important words in your PR campaign are: unify, simplify, amplify.

]]> http://prt3blog.com/2011/04/19/how-to-say-i-love-you-with-pr/feed/ 0 Reggie Unified Cube Simplify Amplify Your Message http://prt3blog.com/2011/03/15/a-benefit-for-japan-at-arts-of-pacific-asia-preview/ http://prt3blog.com/2011/03/15/a-benefit-for-japan-at-arts-of-pacific-asia-preview/#comments Tue, 15 Mar 2011 12:36:04 +0000 prtothetrade http://prt3blog.com/?p=862 ]]>

As the spring Asia arts auctions roll around and NYC galleries prepare for an influx of uber affluent collectors and art lovers, the usual excitement is colored by the sad and devastating news from Japan.  As founder of Asian Arts Week – the campaign to unify and amply  the many aspects of spring Asia Week in New York – I am particularly struck by this.

So, in a spirit of humanism, Asian Arts Week is collaborating with Arts of Pacific Asia producers, Elizabeth Lees and Bill Caskey, to turn the opening night preview into a benefit fundraiser.  Both exhibitors and guests are being asked to donate a suggested amount of $50 to the relief efforts.

Turning a Preview into a Benefit

With access to the quake and tsunami zones still limited, Doctors Without Borders has dispatched two teams of three already.

At this time, relief organizations are saying funds cannot be earmarked for Japan specifically. But it is our belief that Doctors Without Borders, which appears on the  CNN list,  historically performs well. Donations made through the Arts of Pacific Asia initiative will fund their work.

I join Liz Caskey in saying that it is most appropriate for lovers of Japanese art and culture and the galleries that have benefited from the work to be among the leaders of givers in  art and antiques world.

Contributions may be made by check or cash.  Any organization participating in the week’s events but not coming to the Preview but desiring to donate can get more information by sending an email to asianartsweek@gmail.com.

As for myself, I will be contributing my time to get the word out and making a financial contribution as well. (Any  PR people who would like to donate time to help spread the word can contact me at prtothetrade@gmail.com.)

For the past several years, Arts of Pacific Asia, unlike most high level antique/art shows, has not had a benefit opening.  It is most fitting that this year, exhibitors and guests rally around our friends to the East.

Arts of Pacific Asia preview party is Wednesday, March 23 at 7W.  (That’s 7 West 34th Street.) NYC, of course.