I see nothing wrong with stating that a "pictured item is one-of-a-kind." Your item will be similar, yet totally unique (or however you want to phrase it). I believe that what people really want to know/see here, is the quality of your work. That old "three consecutive issues" bit has been around since Adam, but there is some truth to it in that people may see your first ad and then forget about it, but seeing it a second time, they begin to think it looks familiar, and by the third time, they wonder why it took them so long to respond to it.

I know very little about display advertising because I never had money for this kind of advertising, and very few of the home-business owners I've ever interviewed had money either, so I have very few stories of success or failure. The best information on this topic in my books will be found in Handmade for Profit, where I share the experience of several display advertisers who offered products in BH&G special crafts magazine and the results of their ads. Much can be learned from their experience. Display advertising can be such a dangerous financial route to take, so I'm delighted to hear of your good results.

KAREN REPLIES: Thanks for the sage advice on magazine advertising. I was able to negotiate with the magazine and arrange to have three different cats in the three ads. I'm also spreading my ads out through the year (Nov. 2000, June/July 2001, Sept./Oct. 200l). And, yes, I am doing portrait cats. It's a bit tricky, but I'm getting the hang of it.

Magazines -- "a dangerous route?" Maybe it was beginner's luck! I don't think my 1/4 ad was that spectacular. It appeared Nov. 200l and as of mid-January I was still getting one or two e-mails a week. My procedure is to answer any questions in the e-mail and then refer them to my website to see samples of the different breeds/colors of cats that I have created. About 70% of the time they buy a cat! The cats start at over $200, and it really surprises me how quickly they decide to buy! I have them either send me a check for the full amount or I send the cat C.O.D. I don't think I would get anywhere near the sales without my website. It makes it really fast and easy for people and my costs are minimal; i.e., I don't have to send out photos or make phone calls, wait for the mail, etc. It may also be the fact that most of these people are collectors and e-mail and the web give them one-on-one personal attention and they get their questions answered right away. I'm not sure what it is, but I've made over $2000 on that little ad and I'm still filling orders. I'll let you know the history and what happens with the next two ads.

Currently I'm trying to figure out how to build a reader response page where I can ask readers what kind and shape of cats they'd like to see and take surveys.

POSTSCRIPT. I contacted Karen again on April 17, 2001 to see how things were going. She wrote: "It's been hard to gauge how well my ads are working since I had two feature articles come out at the same time and people got confused about where they first read about the cats. I'm still debating the three-ad rule. I'm not sure it has much relevance to the one-of-a-kind art/craft market for two reasons:

(1) Collectors don't really want to see the artist as a "big" promoter (i.e., mass type marketer; 

(2) Everything I create is one-of-a-kind and whenever I place an ad I get numerous orders for "just" the items show in the ad. 

I'm going to keep monitoring the ad results and exploring other avenues. I'm still convinced that the most important tool, by far, in my sales results has been having my own Website.