Don't beat 'em - join 'em! A collaborative self-promo campaign can turn your competitors into valuable marketing allies.

Marketing is often difficult for creative types, especially when they have to handle everything themselves. The good news is: They don't. Alliances and partnerships are all the rage among big corporations these days; individuals can also come together to pool their resources, learn from each other and do the "dirty work" of marketing. All that's needed is an open attitude about collaboration and a few enthusiastic colleagues.

That's the idea behind Monster, a group of 10 San Francisco-based illustrators who collaborate on their marketing efforts. They aren't a "rep group," just a collective of artists who met through their local chapter of the Graphic Artists Guild and decided to team up in 1996. They have different illustration styles, but they promote themselves to the same market of art directors and designers.

"We wanted to tie our work together and reach more people," says Marcos Sorensen, one of Monster's founding members. "We wanted to send mailings that people would get curious about, and actually look forward to, instead of using for free-throw practice."

The basic tenet of Monster is that the artists aren't really in competition because their styles are so different. "Instead of competing, we're helping each other along," says Michael Wertz, Monster's coordinator. Sorensen adds," It feels great to face the fact that I'm not perfect for every job, but maybe one of my friends is."

For Monster member Bud Peen, the project is a way to avoid reinventing the wheel. "We can combine our mailing lists and share the pain, and the costs, of promoting as a group. We learn from each other, and it expands our work."

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A HEALTHY DEMOCRACY

From upper left, clockwise: Susan Gross, Adam McCauley, Isabel Samaras, Marcos Sorensen, Lloyd Dangle, Michael Wertz, David Gordon, Gordon Studer, Brian Biggs, Bud Peen, Pamela Hobbs

 

 

The shared mailing arrangement is one of many advantages of collaborative self-promotion. Furthermore, the Monsters don't have to pay commission, as they would to a rep (although some of the Monsters also have reps). Also, because members aren't contractually bound to the group, they can leave at any time. And, as Wertz says, "We get to drive the ship. We don't have to do promotions according to a rep's schedule and aren't required to be in certain books."

Still, the group effort has its challenges, particularly in developing promotional concepts and dealing with money. "Working democratically can be difficult," Sorensen acknowledges. "But we try to consider everyone's ideas. Everyone in the group is allowed an enormous amount of leeway to work the mailer the way they want to. Of course, the smaller the group, the easier it is to make decisions, so for the moment, we're keeping it to 10 Monsters."

The group deals with finances informally and democratically as well. The artists contribute to a Monster kitty so that coordinator Wertz doesn't have to pay incidental costs out of his own pocket. Wertz tracks the expenses using Quicken, a simple accounting software program, so that information is available for any Monster member who wants to see it.

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THE JOY OF JOINT MAILING

Monster's first promo was simply based on the artists' existing market materials. "At first we thought it would be cool to pool our resources and get rid of that heap of reprints we'd all been meaning to mail," Sorensen says. So they sent out a package of reprints to a combined mailing list. The next year, they sent out a selection of postcards created around the theme of "Seven"- the number of Monsters in the group that year.

In 1999, the group mailed the Monster Millenium Countdown Calendar, a four-color, fold-out calendar, with each month featuring a different illustrator. "There are so many mailers flooding the desks of art directors that it's no longer enough just to send out a simple postcard," Peen says. "New ways have to be found to make a splash."

The calendar has been the group's most successful mailing thus far. "We got a huge number of responses from old and new clients," Wertz says. "Everyone got work. Also, with the calendar, we were visible all year. Every time I walked into the offices of one of my clients, they had the calendar hanging up."

"I've gotten work and lots of response," Monster member Susan Gross says. "Some folks think we're a rep group. The Black Book even offered us a group rate."

CLIENTS LOVE IT

According to Sorensen, the calendar is like a mini-sourcebook, and art directors appreciate the ease of one-stop shopping. That's true for Monica Fuentes, an art director at the Houston New Times. "I like the Monster mailings because I like to see different illustrators take on the same theme," she says.

In addition, the project creates a positive reputation for the artists by reputation. "I love Monster," raves another fan, Joey Rigg, an art director with the San Francisco-based Examiner Magazine. "I can't keep track of everything, so it's convenient to have the mailer. And they're all talented, so you know they'd all do a great job."

But what really made the calendar effective was the fax-back reply card, which was designed to make it easy for recipients to say, "I want more," "Take me off this list," or "Here are some other folks you should mail to."

And it worked. Recipients faxed it back with request for more samples and the names of colleagues to add on to the list. "I'd rather slap something on the fax machine and be done with it," says Fuentes, who claims to be the worst about mailing back replies. "Monster made it easy for me."

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ONLINE PROMOTION

The Monster Web site, www.monsterillo.com, is also a collaborative effort. The simple site offers either an email link or a URL for each artist. According to Wertz, the next iteration of the site will be a "virtual illustration extravaganza."

The members also plan to expand the Monster concept to other venues, such as gallery shows and books. Already, Pam Hobbs, a recent member of the group, arranged to have the calendar mailer included in Successful Direct Mail Design, a book published by Japanese publisher, P.I.E.

Regarding the near future, however, the Monsters won't say much. "I can't reveal too many of the dark secrets lurking behind the new mailing concept," Wertz says, although he discloses that monsterillo.com offers a sneak preview.

The real question, of course, is: Does this collaboration pay off? While many of the artists have received work from the mailings, Wertz notes that "the Monster project is just another drop in the bucket, but the ripples have an additive effect."

Beyond the concrete payoff of actual jobs, the collaboration has intangible, perhaps more valuable, benefits for the members. Sorensen sums it up when he says, "The project is like a big hand lifting us all up together - a big, shiny, Monstrous hand."

Hoboken, NJ-based self promotion specialist Ilise Benun publishes a quarterly newsletter, "The Art of Self Promotion" [www.artofselfpromotion.com]. Her new book, Self-Promotion Online:Marketing Your Creative Services Using Websites, Email and Digital Portfolios, is available from North Light books (800) 289-0963.

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