What do I look for in a Private View invite?   What makes for a successful Private View?

A private view is an opportunity for people to see an exhibition before it opens to the public.
I get lots of invitations to Private Views and asked to feature exhibitions around the world on my blog
​Some are more successful than others - and it starts with the invitation......
This page provides a SUMMARY of:
  • why PV Invites fail to be effective
  • what an effective PV invite looks like
  • 10 ACTIONS for creating an effective invitation to a Private View
  • 5 THINGS TO AVOID when sending out invites to a Private View
and finally - The Private View.....

What a Private View is, who should be invited and who should not get in the way of the serious collectors!
  • It should be about selling art to collectors and followers of the artist - and generating red spots.
  • ​Instead too often they are social events for the artists and gallery's 'hangers on'

The Problem with Private View Invitations
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What does an effective PV Invite look like?
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The problem I have with invitations to private views is that it's self evident from many PV Invites I receive that the person or people tasked with creating, organising and sending out invitations to a Private View has/have:
  • never had any training in marketing
  • don't bother to think about what people need to know
  • don't know the people they're sending the invites to - and/or whether they are the right people
  • just copy the last one sent and try to remember to change the dates and the title of the exhibition
These are the exhibitions where you don't tend to get a lot of people who buy art or write about exhibitions coming to Private Views.....

In my opinion, there is no better way to give a BAD impression of an exhibition - and by implication both the artist and the gallery - than to send out a poor quality invitation to the Private View to the wrong people

​So - how do you avoid creating a bad impression....?
Effective invitations to Private Views tend to share the same characteristics.

THE CONTENT
  • summarises succinctly who the artist is and what the exhibition is about - including key facts and excluding pretentious art speak
  • includes a link to a virtual online exhibition with a selection of images of work included in the exhibition.
  • states venue (including post code), date and time very clearly - and not at the end!

THE LOOK
  • the covering email is fully formatted and very easy to scan read and/or print out 
  • branding for the invitation reflects that used by the website and all other correspondence

THE COMMUNICATION
  • arrives in good time
  • always tailored to how well the artist/gallery knows the recipient - which means maintaining an effective mailing list which can be categorised
  • email include all the basic 'need to know' data in the actual invitation making it easy to call up via a mobile device
  • if in a less well known area or somewhere difficult to find the email and/or invite includes tips/directions on how to get there 
  • make it easy to "share with a friend" via email, Facebook and Twitter
  • link to a well designed gallery website that provides just enough and not too much information.

10 ACTIONS for creating an effective invitation to a Private View
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  1. DO give me enough notice.  If you fail this one the rest is irrelevant!  ALWAYS make sure invitations are sent out in good time for your target audience. This is not about how much notice you need for an event. It's about how much notice the people you are inviting need! Some people - particularly reviewers - have very crowded diaries. Last minute invites may generate some positive responses but most people will stay away.
  2. DO prove your value to me - You need to supply some credentials as to why I should read your invite. Do you know me? (ie remind me who you are). Am I on your mailing list? (ie include the unsubscribe link as required by law). Who are you? (i.e. give me a link to a site which explains)
  3. DO include all the information I need in the email - you get precisely one chance to interest me!
  4. DO lure me with good images of the art. You need to make sure it's a good quality digital image which is sized for the web (ie 72dpi); of a decent size (no tiny images please!) and is incorporated into the invite rather than sent as an attachment. Preferably more than one image.
  5. DO include a link to where I can see more images by this artist on the gallery website and/or find out more about them. I'd love a link to a good selection of images included in the exhibition.
  6. DO make sure you provide ALL the basic details for the PV - location, date and times and how best to get there - in a way which is quick and easy to find and read.
  7. DO keep text short and to the point. Aim to tell me in no more than 100 words what's special about this artist. Use the same principlesas you would use for the opening paragraph of a press release.
  8. DO include a link to a press release (in advance) if you expect me to write about the exhibition.
  9. DO offer me the opportunity of interviewing the artist. PVs aren't always the best places to talk to an artist and besides I tend to think they should be talking to buyers rather than journalists and bloggers. The big galleries do PVs for those writing about art at a different time to those for everybody else - and it's much appreciated!
  10. DO create a dialogue with me in advance of sending me an invite. This course of action is only, in my exerience, used by the very experienced and the very professional!  Those who ask first whether it's OK to write to me.

5 THINGS TO AVOID when sending out invites to a Private View
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  1. DO NOT send me an attachment and expect me to open it. That's after you've read up on basic security and viruses on the Internet!
  2. DO NOT send me an invite on the same day as the PV! (You can however send me a reminder if you've written to me before and I've said I'll come)
  3. DO NOT make me read important details in small print - because I won't.
  4. DO NOT send me the same invite you send to everybody else if I don't know you. Those are the ones I delete first. If you can't be bothered to link it to my interests then why should I be bothered to read your email? I have to say this one is borne out of very many invites which land in my inbox on a regular basis which aren't about the sort of art I like or gets covered on this blog sent. They always completely lack a preamble or attempt to link it to my interests - because there isn't one.
  5. DO NOT leave out the essential details I need to have to get to the venue at the right time on the right day! 
Three problems with your invite:
1. You're never going to get me to a private view for an artist I don't know on the strength of one image.
2. Your PV invite needs to have a website link included
3. Plus the invite is far too late - some of us have diaries which get booked up!

An email I sent to a gallery in response to a Private View Invitation
This page is based on my blog post Dos and Don'ts for Invitations to a Private View written back in 2010 straight after I got a really BAD invitation to a Private View following on from some merely sloppy ones.

The Private View
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The Private View is for promoting your art.

​Those who want to be business-like about their art and their career would do well to remember it's NOT a jolly for your family and friends.  They are NOT your target market!

Those who are just there for the free drink never look at the art and never talk about it!  

Many artists and art students see PVs as important networking events - but galleries are likely to be extremely unimpressed with people who come to such events intent on aggressive marketing of their own art!

If the PV event is for a large group show be sure to separate a private view for the serious art collectors who have bought art previously from the private view which will include all the artists, their family and friends. Collectors do NOT tend to buy art in noisy crowded rooms where the art is obscured by lots of bodies!

Some hold two PVs on the same day with different starting times - with the first being for collectors on a strictly "admission on presentation of  invitation only" basis
The people who need to be invited to a PV include:
  • people who have previously bought your art - it's much easier to get a sale from a past buyer than from a new collector
  • people who have admired or expressed an interest in your art - but have not bought any
  • people who are knowledgeable and who can speak with authority about your art - to potential collectors
  • people on the gallery's marketing database who are interested in similar art
  • people who might be influential in terms of publicising your art or writing about it
REFERENCE:

Interestingly very little is written on the Internet about how to organise a private view, who to invite, how to behave etc.

Most of it is written by people who are NOT trying to sell the art

​So take most of what follows with a pinch of salt!