One of the many benefits of our relationship with Single Entry Point Marketing is their online sweepstakes platform and data collection and analysis capabilities. Aside from offering buyers and collectors of antiques fun and interactive contests with great prizes, we are able to learn a great deal about the audience which informs marketing and website efforts for both World Class Antiques and our dealers.
For example, this heat map from our Spring Sweepstakes shows the concentration of entrants across North America, useful for planning marketing campaigns, or if you’re debating about where to open an antique shop. Based on this information, we’d place our bets on the East Coast! Geographical data allows us to segment and offer targeted messaging to different people in different locations.
In addition to geographical data, we also collect information on the popularity of certain categories of antiques. If you had to take a guess, what do you think the most popular response was to the question, "What type of collectibles are you most interested to collect?" Coins! Followed by stained and blown glass, clocks, and sports memorabilia. We were surprised to find fine art so low on the list – were you?
Hot or Not? Predicting Antique Trends
The most popular response to the question, "What type of collectibles are you most interested to collect?" was coins, followed by stained and blown glass, clocks, and then sports memorabilia.
As a buyer or antique aficionado, how do you keep abreast of trends and decide what type of antiques to buy or sell at a particular time? Of course, no one can predict the future, and there is no guarantee that an antique will appreciate, but there are some tried and true guidelines for collecting.
Collect What’s Coming
Dr. Lori, the star antiques appraiser on the Discovery channel's Auction Kings, says in her article Predictions & the Antiques Market that when it comes to collecting art or antiques, her "first bit of advice is to collect what’s coming. What does that mean? Collect those objects that are sure to be part of the next art or antiques revival. Trends are temporary, but history and the objects that highlight history hold their value."
The cyclical nature of antiques means that buying pieces early can be a good investment for when their time comes around again. Her example: 1950s Eames chairs, so inexpensive and accessible in the 90s, are fetching top dollar now.
Dr. Lori also recommends that you avoid "eclectic collecting" (amassing diverse, unrelated works of art or antiques) and stick to collecting a few specific items.
Buy What YOU Like
Melanie Wright from The Telegraph writes that you should only invest in antique pieces that you will enjoy in your home for years to come.
A spokesman for Miller's Antiques Handbook and Price Guide tells Wright that "although you will no doubt have some interest in the financial value of your collection, this should be seen only as a bonus. Just like any market, fashions and tastes change over time. This means that something that is not valuable now may become so in the future, and vice versa."
Though you may be investing in antiques and collectibles for the financial gain, it makes sense to collect pieces you enjoy and want to hold on to. A golden rule of antiquing, along with, buy the best you can afford!
Running sweepstakes and contests helps us acquire new customers and engage our existing audience, while keeping their data safe and private. We build our opt-in email database this way, and gain actionable insights into the performance of the promotions with in-depth, visual analytics like these.
If you are a business or antiques dealer looking to run sweepstakes and collect this type of data from your customers and target audience, give Single Entry Point Marketing a holler. Contest campaigns create high levels of awareness as they tend to be shared virally, and Single Entry Point’s unique blend of expertise, proprietary technology, and intelligent application of data delivers incredible results