Formal Thank You Notes
 

My prices are up a bit this year, and so I thought of sending a formal "Thank You" embossed card to the clients who recently purchased paintings.

Do any of you do this? If so, how do you word them?

I was thinking along the lines of:

Thank you for your recent purchase of an
Original Oil Painting by
Renee Katherine Brown
Your patronage is appreciated.

The word portrait could be substituted for painting depending on the situation.

Renee

Hi Renee,

I think you should also advise them of the date for the pending increase...give them an impetus to commission another piece before the increase....

Chris

Chris, Hi! How are you?

I didn't make myself clear. They already paid the increased prices. What I meant was that since I am being paid more now, I feel that a Thank You note is in order, as well as being a good business practice.

Some artists believe a handwritten note is more personal, while I was thinking the embossed card stock with a printed message looks classier.

Thoughts?

Renee

Hi Renee,

Thanks, all is well, let's touch base on email soon...

Actually I think a handwritten note is better.Use beautiful stationery, or a card with one of your paintings on the front. Unlike gallery work, commission portrait painting is about relationships.

(And of course you will have new increases on a regular basis, so let them know in advance).

Fondly, Chris

I agree w/Chris, handwritten has more impact.

What has been a hit with my clients is the flower arrangement I send after the contract is signed with a note, "Thanks for the commission.."

After the project is done, I send a handwritten thank you card again, going into greater depth about how much I enjoyed the experience, etc.

They also get Holiday cards each year. I usually grow to like my clients, so the personal touch is very pleasant for me.

I've been printing (on my Epson photoprinter) 6 little notecards with the client's painting on the front and my contact info on the back. I bundle these together with 6 matching blank envelopes, tie them in a nice bow and wrap them up as a thank you present for the client.

People like to tell their distant friends and relatives about the portrait they just had done and they can use my notecards for this. It's a way for me to spread the word about my work to more people. Everyone I have given this notecard set to has been very thankful for them. The last client even asked for 12 more notecards with the picture of her daughter on the front, to send out to more of her friends!

Michelle, I just love your idea! Great promotion and a gift for the client at the same time!

I will be seeing a recent client again soon and I will have the set of notecards with their portrait on the front all ready for them. Thanks!

Chris, I saw your note in the 9/11 thread, about your recent flurry of work. No surprise with your amazing talent. Let's hope this will be a good year for us all.

Renee

I also produce notecards with photos of my work, including contact information on the back, which I consider part of my "promotional campaign". Indeed my last sale was to a fellow who had first seen the reproduction on a card sent to him by a friend. There are lots of styles, forms and templates out there, but I have very good results with Avery 3268 Ink Jet Note Cards (matte finish), two 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 in. cards per sheet.

Steven, Thank you. I found Ampad white panel #35790, 50 white embossed notecards (same size as yours) with envelopes. I just completed a set of eight, placed the client's portrait on the front of the note, placed my credits on the back, and tied them up with a beautiful ribbon.

Michelle, Thanks so much for posting this idea. My husband saw them tonight and said what a classy gift this is, not to mention the PR.

Renee

I'm thinking of giving friends of mine (not all of them clients) a set of mixed portrait images on notecards, hoping that they'll use them as thank-you notes etc and send them to their friends. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I already give a set of notecards to clients after a portrait is delivered, all with images of their painting on it. I wanted to broaden my exposure and give notecard sets to lots of other friends, too.

My question is this: would someone send out a notecard with a picture of somebody else's kid on it? I'm hoping that some of my portrait images have a broad enough appeal that people won't necessarily see the image as a portrait of a particular person but as a nice painting and that they'd actually use the notecards! (You can see what my images look like on my SOG website, listed below.)

If I give the paintings titles like "Quiet Time" for the one of the girl sitting on the grass, rather than a title like "Portrait of Megan", or "Puppy Love" for the one of the girl with the stuffed animal, do people think that would make enough of a difference so that folks would actually use the cards?

Thanks!

For Michele - An alternative notecard idea
 

Dear Michele,

$.02 from the peanut gallery.

After reading your post, I looked at the portraits of small children on your website. I probably would not use them as notecards myself because, although I like them very much, they are clearly portraits of specific individuals, not "generic" notecard-type images. My recipients might wonder, "Who's that and why is Brie sending me a picture of her?"

Also, would it make your clients uncomfortable to know that the images of their children were being used in this way? It would me.

Here's an alternative idea. What if you were to create, say, four portraits that were more generic; for instance, showing only a portion (perhaps only vaguely identifiable) of the child's face in a way that conveyed "childhood" rather than "Portrait of _____." Your painting style and skill would be conveyed in an attractive and marketable way, without any of the drawbacks of using actual portraits. The back of the notecard could point toward your website for examples of actual portraiture. - Brie