Artists Need to Be Marketers
So many talented artists have studios bursting with unsold art because they don’t spend enough time marketing themselves and their work. If this is you, I get it: none of us got into art so we could become marketing mavens. In fact, the solitude and quiet of creating art is usually part of its appeal! If you’re an artist, you need to create and constantly conduct a marketing plan that aligns with your personality and goals.
It Starts with an Art Marketing Strategy
You wouldn’t go on a road trip without a plan, right? The same goes for your art marketing journey. Take some time to think and do research about the various ways you can sell your art. Do you want to sell from your website? Perhaps the idea of meeting collectors face to face at art fairs appeals to you. Or would you happily give over half of your art’s sales price to a gallery in exchange for them handling the sale (please note that working with a gallery doesn’t get you off the hook regarding marketing). You may want to sell products with your art on them or license your art. There are so many ways to sell your art, but it’s important to only pursue the avenues that are right for you.
Develop a strategy that defines what ways you will sell your art. What are the tasks involved with this marketing? Be specific and assign dates and sales figures to make these concrete goals. This will help you work backwards from your big goals. For example, if you want to release three collections of original art online each year, determine how many pieces will be in the collections, what sizes and prices they’ll be, when on your calendar you’ll find the time to paint and photograph the work, and when and how you’ll publicize the release.
Add all of the relevant dates for your marketing activities to your calendar and then take a look at it. Do a sanity check: Do you actually have the time to accomplish all of the tasks in your marketing strategy? If things look dicey, consider your priorities and make some cuts. It’s better to do one thing well and then build on it later than to get sloppy and burn out.
Connect with Your Collectors
Your collectors (including those who love your art but haven’t purchased it yet) are your treasure. Learn all you can about them! You can do this harmlessly by looking at their social media profiles. Where do they live? What are their interests? Where do they vacation? What types of accounts do they follow? By researching as many of your collectors as possible, you’ll start to see some common threads. Perhaps your collectors are generally middle-aged women who are into interior design, fashion, and dogs. This can really help with your messaging! Determine how your art can relate to these interests. When you write a caption, post, or newsletter, speak to this person.
Keep in Touch!
Email newsletters are ubiquitous. But that doesn’t mean that you don’t need one of your own! Email newsletters are a way of getting your work and your story into the hands of people who have invited you into their email inbox. Their willingness to receive your email newsletters is so very valuable! Use it to further your relationship with them. Set up a regular schedule for sending out your newsletters, such as once or twice a month.
It can help to create categories for your newsletter that you regularly feature, so you’re not facing a blank screen as you sit down to write a newsletter. For example, you could include sneak peaks of new work that’s in development, behind the scenes in your studio, a painting that is for sale, and something that is inspiring you (a song, an article, a book, a movie, etc.). Boom! Your email newsletter becomes a fill-in-the-section, which gets easier every time you complete it. By the way, my favorite platform to use for email marketing is Flodesk.
Don’t hesitate to offer work for sale through the newsletter—in fact, this is a very fertile source for artwork sales!
Get Help
If you’re daunted by going this alone, I have a suggestion: Join my 6-week art mentoring program, Abstract Artists’ Series Accelerator, starting March 7, 2023! We’ll cover the ins and outs of creating a cohesive series and how to market it. If that date has already passed, be sure to get on my email list so you’ll be the first to learn of my next offering. I love helping abstract painters achieve their dreams!
Caryl