Back from a weekend convention
Two of your artists spend a weekend at a big convention. They tattoo booked clients on the Saturday and Sunday and, between sessions, talk to lots of people at the booth who love their work. Some take a business card. Some give their Instagram handle. One artist types names into her notes app until her battery dies. On Monday she has a stack of cards, a half-finished note and a vague memory of a woman who wanted a large botanical piece and lived nearby.
A week later, a few people have messaged. Most have not, and the artist has no way of contacting them.
The same weekend, the studio was quieter than usual, and the front desk had no clear picture of when the artists would be back or how their diaries looked for the following fortnight.
Conventions generate leads with no way to catch them
Conventions are about visibility, and the best leads are people who have just seen the artist's work in person. The studio's usual enquiry process does not travel.
- The booth has no quick way to capture a person's details and idea.
- Business cards rely on the person getting in touch, which most do not.
- Convention sessions themselves are booked by DM and not in the studio diary.
- Deposits for convention sessions are taken by the artist personally.
- The studio does not know the artist's convention dates until late, so the diary shows them as available.
A good weekend with a thin follow-up
Conventions cost money and time, and the leads they bring are often the most enthusiastic. Losing them means much of the value of the weekend is lost. Double bookings happen when the studio diary does not know the artist is away. Deposits taken at the convention are hard to reconcile with the studio's records. And nobody can tell which conventions are worth attending.
How we build convention booking and follow-up
- Convention dates are entered in the studio diary as soon as they are agreed, blocking the artist's studio time and creating a convention calendar.
- Pre-booked convention sessions are taken through a link with the studio's enquiry form and deposit step, so they are recorded like any other session.
- At the booth, a QR code on a small sign or the artist's phone opens a short form: name, contact, idea, placement, size, and whether they want to book at the studio.
- Each lead is tagged with the convention name, so the studio knows where it came from.
- After the event, each lead gets a follow-up message in the artist's words, with a link to the enquiry form or books-open window and some recent work.
- The studio can see, per convention, how many leads were captured and how many became bookings.
| At the convention | Before | With convention booking |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-booked sessions | DMs and personal deposits | Studio link and deposit record |
| Booth conversations | Business cards and notes | QR code form, tagged by event |
| Studio diary | Artist shown as available | Convention dates blocked |
| Follow-up | Wait for people to message | Message sent to every lead |
Conventions that feed the diary
The artist gets home with a list of leads, each with an idea and contact details. Follow-ups go out the same week, while the memory of the booth is still fresh. The studio diary never shows an artist as available when they are away. Over a year, the owner can see which conventions bring bookings and which are mostly for show, which helps decide where to send artists next year.
Convention clients who book sessions at the event arrive in the same records as studio clients, so their paperwork, aftercare and touch-ups all run the same way.
Does convention season go like this?
- Leads from conventions end up on business cards and phone notes.
- Few convention contacts turn into bookings.
- Convention sessions are booked by DM with personal deposits.
- The studio diary does not show when artists are away.
- You cannot tell which conventions are worth attending.