Miriam Schulman is the Founder of the top-ranked podcast The Inspiration Place, where she teaches others her signature process for creating beautiful commissioned art pieces. As a renowned watercolor and mixed media artist, Miriam’s artwork has been showcased on NBC, featured in art magazines and home decor books, and collected worldwide. After transitioning to full-time art following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Miriam has become an authoritative voice on art, creativity, entrepreneurship, and marketing. She is the author of Artpreneur, which provides practical steps for turning creative ideas into a thriving business.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- [03:38] Miriam Schulman’s insights into marketing beyond Instagram and embracing authenticity
- [11:18] How to effectively use your Instagram bio to initiate conversations
- [13:34] Strategies for automating Instagram messages without losing the personal touch
- [15:22] The power of Instagram’s algorithm over sheer follower numbers
- [17:59] Prioritizing email over social media followers in your marketing mix
- [20:43] How to use live streaming and DMs to connect and potentially close sales
- [22:15] Time-saving hacks for engaging followers without sacrificing time
In this episode…
Do you struggle with converting your social media followers into paying customers? Have you ever wondered how top marketers transform casual likes into meaningful connections that lead to sales? What if you could learn the secrets of this from a seasoned expert who has successfully done it for over two decades?
Miriam Schulman, an experienced art business expert and artist, shares her journey from a disconnected corporate life to becoming a thriving artist and coach. She reveals that the key to success on platforms like Instagram isn’t about amassing a massive following but connecting deeply with a highly targeted, engaged audience. Miriam emphasizes moving followers from social media to an email list for better engagement, as email’s open rates far surpass those of social media. She offers practical strategies like using DM automation tools, personal welcome messages, and engaging content that prompts followers to interact meaningfully.
In this episode of the Timeless Marketing Podcast, host Brian Kurtz welcomes Miriam Schulman, Founder of The Inspiration Place podcast and author of Artpreneur, as they talk about mastering Instagram marketing for direct response. Miriam shares how to set up effective Instagram bios, use direct messaging strategically, and leverage automated tools. She also discusses the importance of moving social media interactions to email and how to craft compelling, permission-based conversations.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Brian Kurtz
- Brian Kurtz on LinkedIn
- Chris Mason on LinkedIn
- Miriam Schulman on LinkedIn
- The Inspiration Place
- The Inspiration Place Podcast
- SchulmanArt.com
- Free Artprenuer Chapter Offer
- Artpreneur: The Step-by-Step Guide to Making a Sustainable Living from Your Creativity by Miriam Schulman
Quotable Moments:
- “Selling techniques can be used to sell anything, including art.”
- “The better you are at connecting, the fewer people you’re going to need.”
- “It’s much easier to make money building an email list than trying to build a huge Instagram following.”
- “The techniques that can be used to sell personal training packages can be used to sell anything, including art.”
- “Email is still the king; it’s still the cockroach of marketing.”
Action Steps:
- Craft an engaging Instagram bio: Creating a bio that encourages direct messaging and connection is a proactive strategy that invites engagement and the first step in building a relationship.
- Automate with authenticity: This strategy blends efficiency with personalization to scale outreach without losing the human element crucial for trust.
- Leverage email lists: Always aim to move the conversation from social media to email to maximize visibility and control over the relationship, bypassing social media’s changing algorithms and low engagement rates.
- Utilize live streams and DMs: Engage your audience during live events by encouraging them to DM for more info or gifts for stronger connections and a seamless opportunity to close sales.
- Embrace warm outreach: Welcome new followers personally and initiate conversations to make them feel seen and valued, converting passive followers into active community participants and laying the foundation for future sales.
Sponsor for this episode…
This episode is brought to you by Titans Xcelerator.
Titans Xcelerator is a private mentorship program for direct response marketers.
It is one of the most giving communities and serves as the de facto board of advisors and marketing insurance policy for over 250 of the best and brightest direct response marketers, copywriters, media buyers, marketing agencies, senior executives, anyone in direct response marketing, who is committed to growing and scaling their business.
And you don’t need to spend 10s of 1000s of dollars either.
Titans Xcelerator is 1/10 of the price of most groups of its kind.
And with a private membership, you’ll receive access to the full presentation from today’s episode, along with the Q&A and discussion that followed.
As an added bonus, you’ll receive access to a vault filled with many more private calls just like this one.
The bottom line: you don’t have to grow your business alone.
If you want to see how Titans Xcelerator can help you grow and scale your specific business, go to BrianKurtz.net/help
Episode Transcript
Intro 0:03
Welcome to the Timeless Marketing Podcast with Brian Kurtz, your connection to insights from some of the top direct response marketing minds on the planet.
Hey, it’s Brian Kurtz here, host of the Timeless Marketing Podcast. Today’s episode is a clip from one of the two-hour calls inside Titans Xcelerator, my private mentorship program for direct response marketers. Before we get to that, I have one question for you. Do you have a marketing insurance policy? If you don’t, you need one. And that’s why I created Titans Xcelerator, which is one of the most giving communities and serves as the de facto board of advisors and marketing insurance policy for over 250 of the best and brightest direct response marketers, copywriters, media buyers, marketing agencies, senior executives, anyone in direct response marketing, who is committed to growing and scaling their business, the bottom line, you don’t have to grow your business alone. And you don’t need to spend 10s of 1000s of dollars either.
Titans Xcelerator is 1/10 of the price of most groups of its kind. I know because I hosted a group that was over $20,000 a year. If you want to see how Titans Xcelerator can help you grow and scale your specific business, go to briankurtz.net/help. That’s B-R-I-A-N Kurtz [dot] net [slash] help. And with a private membership, you’ll receive access to the full presentation from today’s episode, along with the Q&A and discussion that followed. As an added bonus, you’ll receive access to a vault filled with many more private calls just like this one. Again, if you want to see if Titans Xcelerators are fit for you with no obligation. Go to Briankurtz.net/help. That’s B-R-I-A-N Kurtz [dot] net [slash] help. And feel free to email me directly. I respond to every email with questions about this episode. Or just to say hi, brian@briankurtz.net.
Now onto today’s episode. Okay, now the artpreneur extraordinaire, Miriam, I know this is going to be more than just marketing on Instagram, because Instagram is teaching. Instagram is actually off-brand for me, because I’ve made that my enemy is the Zuckerverse. Ah, cool, but we do you Yes, yes, I get it, okay, but I know that you’ve got something great for us here again, when I, when I sent out the email and the Facebook post yesterday, when I said that, you know, Miriam just chime right in when I said that. You know, I saw Nicole Johns Burke produce incredible Instagram videos in the gardening niche. And I encourage you to look at her stuff, everybody. But we’re talking about Miriam Schulman now, and Miriam is closer to a lot of your businesses being sort of a coach to the artpreneurial market, and we all have our own audiences, and she’s, she’s basically killing it on Instagram. So whatever, however you want to go, Miriam.
Miriam Schulman 3:38
Okay, I’m going to go because I have a lot to say. Okay, good husband wants to go out to lunch today. All right. All right. This is less about Instagram, it’s more about connecting. You can use what I’m talking about on other platforms, but I will be sharing some automation so very fast. I’m Miriam Shulman. I’m the author of Artpreneur, and I’m host of the Inspiration Place podcast. And back in the 90s, I was working in the World Trade Center. I worked on Wall Street. You would have seen me in my anteller suits. I made a ton of money that way, but I felt really disconnected. I don’t know if anyone here can relate to that. If you were in the corporate world and left that, can you see my slides? First of all, everyone sees my slides. Okay, cool, all right. When 911 happened, I decided I wasn’t going back to that, and I still didn’t believe I could make a full-time living from art. Are you kidding me? So my Jewish mother said you can’t study art.
So at first, I painted on the side. I took a job as an applied instructor at the New York Sports Club. And while I was there, they were introducing me to selling strategies, to sell personal training packages. Anybody got hit up by a gym to buy their training packages? Well, I had my aha moment when they were trying to teach me how to sell personal training packages. And that’s when I realized I was selling 10. Techniques can be used to sell anything, including art. And so I’ve been at this for over 20 years, versus a self-representing artist selling my own portraits, but I’ve also made an additional and if I update this, it’s probably closer to $2 million selling online art classes and also coaching other artists. So what I’m trying to say to you is I sell art and I’m not starving. So I was making six figures as an artist before I started doing the other things, and I also sell to starving artists who have a scarcity mindset. So if what I teach works for me and my niche, it will definitely work for you in whatever niche you’re in. I have, well, I have almost nothing to sell today.
So this is not, it’s going to be a teaser for an Instagram course. It is not a teaser for a bots course. So you can relax. I’m going to be teaching you everything that I teach my clients, if you like what I have to say. There’s more of that on my podcast, the inspiration plays and in my book, Artpreneur so that means I lied. You can buy the book, just saying. So before we start, let’s go over it really fast. I don’t think I need to spend too much time on this section for this audience, but this is why you can’t just rely on social media. So Instagram, it does work best socially as a connection tool. Okay, why do most people struggle to make Instagram work? Because they believe the problem is they just need a bigger audience. They want a huge Instagram following. But the fact is, the better you are at connecting, the fewer people you’re going to need. It’s exactly what I wrote this down. Everything is a relationship event that Brian said earlier. Instagram is for connection. So here are just some quick stats about Instagram. The average engagement rate on Instagram is only 0.6% that’s six people out of 1000 the average engagement rate for an influencer, those people who are trying to teach you to get better engagement rates, it’s still only 1.2% just say, Okay, so the fix is always going to be whoever you’re connecting with. Move them to email where you can close the sale. So we all know this, so I don’t have to spend too much time on this.
The open rate on email is about 24%. That means if you have 100 people on an email list, 24 people will see it. Compared to Instagram, you need 1000 followers to get six people. Let me just, let me just skip all the way to my chart. Instagram versus email. Email is still the king, it’s still the cockroach of marketing. So anything I say here, it’s always about moving people to where you can do your direct response stuff. It’s not a substitute. It’s much easier to make money building an email list than trying to build a huge Instagram following. That said, we’re doing a lot of sexy things with Instagram, and yes, you want to send emails to make your money. All right, also, Instagram is based on algorithms, not followers, and this is true of every platform. Now, someone you can have a million followers on Tik Tok, and nobody even knows who you are, because once you follow some there’s no guarantee you’ll ever see their content again. So you can’t depend on followers. So that’s not what we’re talking about today, is how to build a following. So here’s what we are going to cover, hosting your bio and initiating the conversation.
All right, so this is what we’re going to cover, and we are going to go over some more advanced stuff. For those of you who say you’re already using it, but you’re disappointed with your results, we’re going to talk about how to use it when you’re doing a Zoom call, like a webinar call, and how to engage on a live stream. I’ll even share some cringy real-life DMS and emails that failed at what, like, how not to do things. Okay, so you guys ready to get started? I am a fast talker, so there will be a replay. Okay, all right, let’s go. All right, let’s start with your bio. So if you’re setting up a bio, you’re going to want to put something in your bio that gets them to send a direct message. You remember, we always want them to connect with you on that level. And those of you who do have an Instagram account, you can DM me the word believe. So, chapter one of my book, I will send it to you absolutely free if you DM me the word believe. So we can try that right now. I’m @Shulmanart. And those of you who do not have Instagram yet and want chapter one for free. You can still get that. Go to shulmanart.com/#freebies, and I will send you chapter one.
Okay, so now that we’ve done that, all right, this is what my automated sequence looks like. Looks like this. And you will be getting these templates for free. I will tell you how to do that in a bit. So somebody sends me, believe I say, hey, sounds like you want a free chapter of my new book? Do you want them to tap, yes, please. Oh my gosh. I can’t wait for you to dive into this. Let’s introduce ourselves. And they give me their name. So nice to see you. I give them a chance to change their name, and then I ask for their email address, because, remember, that’s what we are, that’s really our ultimate goal is to get them to where we can start doing direct response marketing to them. Okay, so then we also give them what we promised and move on, okay? And blah, blah, blah, all right. So you can get this many chat templates absolutely free if you buy my book. So this is a Titans exclusive. I have actually a bunch of templates that I’m demonstrating today that you can get just by ordering them and send, to my team by email. I’ll tell you a little bit more. How about we get that, and we will send it. And this is just for Titans. Okay, so who here I just want to see in the chat. Who here does, likes, sells, things over zoom, like webinars. Just let me know, in the chat, just so I can see or, okay, so more than one person, yes, okay, so if you do like a live webinar, you’re going to want to add a slide like this to your webinar, and you can actually try this out right now and find out what happened.
So those of you who have an Instagram account, if you DM me the word hide-ins. You can let me know you’re watching, and then you’ll find out what I do. Now this is great, because you can end up making this personal connection with somebody inside your DMS. You can often close the sale that way. All right, I usually have several hundreds of people on a livestream. So I will send out an automated response using many chats after they DM me that whatever my keyword is, we have to wait an hour for it to actually happen so they can watch the live stream before I write back to them. And we send them a follow up. And it looks like this. So if they send me the word inspire, I say, thanks for attending my masterclass, any questions about the program, and then they ask me a question, oh, you mentioned this. Do you think that this is an actual conversation? By the way, we screenshot. Do you think it’s valuable all around the world? I’m in Ireland, and I haven’t spoken to any artist who has one, just wondering if it’s something I could work on, and then I’ll do so after this first one, thanks for attending. That is an automated message.
But after they respond to it, we don’t use bots anymore. We become humans again, and we respond to them individually, either me or my assistant. So yeah, my client used that here she’s mentioned in the case study. Okay, so, like I said, you’re going to get the templates that we’re sharing today as an exclusive Titans bonus for you, 100% free. Okay. Next thing I want to cover is hosting. But how are there any Titans? DM? Oh, okay, so what happens when you send the DM Titans? Nothing will happen, because it’s waiting an hour for me to finish talking, and then you’ll get a response. So there we go. So it will work, I promise you, miles, whoever said that. Okay, all right, so you want to ask them if this is about posting on Instagram. So instead of DMing necessarily, you can ask them to comment on a keyword under your post, or you can ask them to DM you the keyword. So I’ve pulled a couple of examples, not just from me, but from other people, just so you can see how this might work. So this is The house of Valentina, and she’s an influencer. She’s a decorator, but she also makes money with her affiliate income.
So she made a post here, and she said the comment shot below to get the room links. So what happens is, when you tell people to comment on the algorithm, the algorithm knows that this is getting more engagement, and then when people comment with the word, with the keyword, something like many chats can be used to message them automatically. If you have a small account and a small following, you don’t need automations. Selena Sue. I don’t know if anybody knows Selena Sue, so her post says to comment on Forbes, and I’ll send you the details. And then this one was mine. Hey all. Artist. If you haven’t read Artpreneur yet, comment “believe”, and I’ll shoot chapter one for you absolutely free. So that is another way to use it. This one is to get somebody onto a masterclass. Comment with the word sell more art to join my free masterclass. So this is more effective than just putting a link in here, because Instagram, first of all, the links aren’t clickable, but you also want people to engage with you, and the more they direct message you, then the algorithm knows that they care about what you have to say.
So not only will you be able to interact with them in the DMS, but the algorithm will show them more of your content. All right, here’s another example. So this is Carrie Schmidt. She’s an artist, and she has both a product based business as well as an online class business. She said comment club for link for more info. And she has a pretty large following. But I checked her stuff out. She actually does not use automation, so she must be either doing it herself or she has an assistant helping her. But you see people comment at the club and then she follows up. This one is just in all she’s doing an IG live. She says, message me for a discount code. So she’s encouraging people to directly message her, because she knows that’s what works. All right, once somebody comments, now, what happens? So here’s your follow up strategy. You’re going to send them a DM that looks like this. Now this is why I’m saying this is some strategy you can use on other platforms. If you’re on LinkedIn, you can use it on LinkedIn. You can say, hey, comment below with the word whatever video if you want to know how to use video marketing and nonprofits.
So they comment below now you direct message them on LinkedIn or whatever platform you’re using. Hey, it looks like you’re interested in learning how to use video to get more donations, or whatever it is, is that right? Wait for them to respond. You’re not going to send them a sales pitch. Yeah, I was inspired by Grace’s story. Where can I see it? Or where can I get it? Terrific. I’ll send that right over. What’s your email address? Remember, that’s our goal. We want to turn them into somebody we can stay in touch with in the future. If you’re asking people to comment below a post and you’re not doing something automated, you might want to ask a few people to check their Dads. Okay, if you’re using many chats, many chats will automatically add a reply underneath that says, check your D apps, and it will actually, you can have it cycle through a few things. But if somebody, if you’re using the strategy work, comment below this post with the word video to learn more about how you can use video marketing to, you know, help increase your donations. And then underneath their comments, they check your DMS, and then you can have a personal conversation with them in whatever inbox it is that you’re using. All right. Any questions about that so far? Keep going. We have a smart group.
Okay, keep going. All right. Next strategy is, you initiate the DMS, but we’re not cold calling, not cold calling. We’re not going to be like the perfume lady. When you walk into Bloomingdale’s, it starts spraying you. So here is your welcome strategy. You want to welcome somebody. So here’s what I do. I do this, or a team member does this for every single person who follows me on Instagram, and I think I have 30,000 followers there. So what I do is, when somebody starts following me, I say, Hey, new friend. So glad you’re here. I’m Miriam. I teach artists how to sell more art so they can become more successful. Did you find me because of the Inspiration Place podcast or because of my new book, Artpreneur. Now what I’m doing here is I’m welcoming them, I’m letting them know what I do, and I’m also dropping in a credibility marker. It’s not because I’m really trying to take a poll of how they found me. I’m just kind of slipping in something that maybe I want them to know about. So now this person says, Oh, actually, I found you because of blah, blah, blah, and I haven’t yet listened to the podcast, so I already asked them, Do you listen to the podcast? They said, No. I says, Oh, great. Have a listen to my podcast. So I’m helping them right away with something that I know will eventually lead them to drink my Kool-Aid and become part of my ecosystem.
Okay, same question. So this is a canned thing, and I will share a tool that will be helpful to you to use this. Hey, your exceptional book led me to discover your podcast. I’m so grateful for the wisdom. So I have this response, oh, okay, they already know about this. Podcast. They already know about the book. They like my book. Oh, thank you so much for liking my book. Would you take a moment to leave a review? Because I have some free gifts if you do go to the podcast. Oh, by the way, there’s a free masterclass about selling art. Have you seen it? So this is, this is always going to be based on what they said. What is the next most logical step you can take in their journey with you? So there’s a free class. Have you seen it? Nope. Haven’t seen it yet. Okay. Well, here’s the free masterclass. Check that out. This one from the book. Okay, so it’s from the book. Have you listened to the podcast yet? Oh, no, not yet. Okay, well, here’s the link. So always helping them get to the next step in the journey. All right, time-saving hacks, because we don’t want to be glued to our phones, not the purpose of this. So Breevy is a desktop Text Expander. This one works on the PC. There are other ones that work on the Mac. I don’t remember what they are, because I don’t have a Mac, but there are text expanders, and you can also use the text expander on your phone. So I have programmed into my phone and onto my desktop that if I type the letters X, W, E, L, it will expand into that welcome message you saw. And then I taught my team to do the same thing. And all those responses, those typical responses I have, I use text expanders for all of them, so it doesn’t take as long to respond. And my team is trained on how to do it if you need to rely on a team to do it. So you can use the test expander on your smartphone. You can use many chats for automations, of course, but you don’t have to use automations if you have a small list and you’re just getting started. Start out. If you’re just starting out, I always say don’t get a Ferrari when a Honda will do so. When you’re just starting out, you can do this manually. All right, I’m going to give you an example of what not to do, but before I do that, oh, so it is called a Text Expander for the map. That’s great. My email address is Miriam at the inspirationplace.net. Susan and let them know you want that marketing playlist. And that’s fine. They will help you out with that.
Are there any other questions? I haven’t had any. No? Okay, so this next section is called, don’t be afraid. So I got this in my Facebook DMS, hi, Miriam. I hope you and your family are well, I have a friend I am mentoring who’s recently launched an innovative art prop forum giving you expertise. I thought it’d be very helpful if you could have a chat with him. Can I send you some more details? If you’re open to taking a look? Thank you in advance. No, no, no, no. It’s very nice. He said, hope your family is well, but he should have waited. If you’re doing an outreach for somebody, yes, ask them first how they are doing and wait for them to respond. Maybe they just lost a spouse. Maybe, like me, they have a kid who’s in Gaza. Okay, so you have to wait to find out what’s happening with them in their world before you continue pitching to them. So I was like, not pleased. Oh, Hi Fred. You know, I think I charge money for those types of conversations. Is he looking for something for free? I have a podcast. I don’t know if Fred read anything at all, but this is what he sent me back. He basically sprayed me with perfume like this is, do not do this. This is not what I’m teaching you guys to do. I’m teaching you to be humans and to interact in a human way. Okay, so I told him no, and he still pitched me.
This was a three-scroll message. You do not want to do that, by the way. I still don’t know what’s in it for me. I’m not going to, I’m not going to elaborate on this. Okay, so here’s what Fred did wrong. Didn’t wait for me to respond. Didn’t get permission to continue, because it’s always got to be permission based marketing, and he didn’t let me know what was in it for me. Okay, so don’t be a fret. I didn’t if I was doing it the other way around. This is how I would initiate it. So this is a way you can, you can. This is not cold outreach, by the way. This is warm outreach. Hi, name. I was just thinking about you. How do you wait for them to respond? Hi, Miriam, thanks for checking in. I’ve been dealing with my husband’s passing, but I’m slowly getting back on my feet. If they’re in a negative place, you do not move forward with the business side of the conversation full stop. You can say, I’m so sorry to hear that. I’ll keep you in my thoughts.
Now, if they are in a good place, that’s when you can move forward. If you already have their email address, just make sure that’s the email they want to use. So an example of mine. Be, I don’t know if I hit the slides or what happened, but an example might be, I’m having an art show next week, and I wanted to invite you, or I see you’re doing work in a nonprofit. Would you like to hear how I help other nonprofits with my video marketing miles? You’re getting an extra bonus, because you’re at the top of mine. Okay, so then you might say, Yeah, whatever it is, yes, I hope it’s okay to be a friend and Okay, okay, is this still the best email Oh, no, I haven’t used AOL since the 90s.
This is my new email address. Okay? If you do not have their email address, then you can say, perfect. What’s the best email address to send this information to? Okay, again, don’t be afraid. All right. Let’s wrap it all up. Let’s recap the strategies we talked about today. You want to ask people to DM you or comment with a keyword, which, again, like I said, this is not just Instagram, it’s whatever platform you’re using, or whatever platform they start using five years from now. Add a DME to your bio. Welcome new people as they start following you, and ask people to DM you a word during a podcast or during a live stream or during a presentation. So you want to turn those casual likes into meaningful connections and future customers, one interaction at a time. Remember, if you like what I had to say here today, there’s more of that Kool Aid in my podcast. It’s the Inspiration Place, and it is not just for artists who paint. It’s for all creatives, as well as inside my book art or know art.
Outro 26:51
Thanks for listening to the Timeless Marketing Podcast with Brian Kurtz. Visit briankurtz.net, and click podcast at the top of the page for a full transcript and show notes. If you’re interested in working with Brian personally inside of Titans Xcelerator, go to Briankurtz.net/help to see how Titans can help you grow and scale your business. That’s B-R-I-A-N Kurtz [dot] net [slash] help.