The Secret To Successfully Marketing Your Art
Are you an emerging visual artist struggling to figure out the best way to market your artwork?
Have you tried a few strategies but aren't sure which one to focus on, or if what you're doing is making a difference?
You're not alone.
Many artists struggle with marketing their art and feel like they’re spinning their wheels without any real progress.
Marketing visual art can be incredibly difficult, especially in today's crowded market.
With so many artists and galleries competing for attention, it is essential for individual artists to get their artwork noticed in order to make a living from it.
However, following particular steps, in the right order at the right time, takes the guesswork out of your marketing activities.
In this blog post, we'll cover the key points for successful art marketing so that your beautiful art will reach the audience it deserves.
Step by Step
You have a variety of marketing strategies available that can help build an audience and increase your exposure, but the strategies you choose will depend on your personal goals and objectives.
Let’s get started.
Assess Your Goals and Resources
When considering a marketing strategy for artwork, it is important to assess your goals and resources first.
This means taking the time to think about what you want to achieve with your marketing efforts, such as increasing brand awareness or selling more art pieces. It is also important to consider what resources you have available, such as budget and time.
Get Clarity With Goal Setting
Setting ambitious goals can be an effective tool to help you achieve success in both your personal and professional life.
When setting goals, it’s helpful to utilize the SMARt acronym. SMART goals are:
Specific: Be as specific as possible. Having a clear and specific idea of what you want to achieve can make the journey toward success much smoother! When your goal is concise, it's easier to develop the right plan of action that takes into account all aspects needed for a successful outcome.
Measurable: By working units of measurements into your goals you are able to manage your progress and keep yourself on track.
For bigger projects, break them into several bite-sized portions that are easy to tackle - before you know it, those little steps will have added up achieving something big!
Achievable: If you want to reach the stars, take it step by step! When starting on any journey, setting achievable, yet challenging goals is key - think big but start small. Going big can be daunting, that's why it matters to break down your dreams into achievable steps.
As you gradually progress and reach each milestone, not only will confidence soar but also the ambition for new goals!
Realistic: If you have your sights set high, it's important to remember that small steps can lead to great achievements.
Before the Tate Modern or New York Times comes knocking on your door, there may be exciting milestones along the way – use them as opportunities for growth and setting yourself up for bigger successes in the future!
Timely: Crafting timely goals is key to making progress, so make sure you give each goal an achievable timeline that fits into your lifestyle. This way, you can work towards achieving them with ease and enthusiasm!
Start by defining a clear goal that you want to reach.
Once you have identified your goal, it's time to break down the steps needed to achieve it into smaller, more manageable pieces.
Finally, commit yourself and take action on this goal every single day until it has been accomplished.
➤ This means that you need to be willing to put in the effort and make sacrifices where necessary in order to ensure success.
➤ It also means being consistent with your efforts and not giving up when things become challenging or if progress seems slow at times; staying focused on the end result is key!
Once these goals are identified, it is then time to get to know your target audience. This is key when marketing your art.
A Little Note Of Caution
➤After 25+ years of working with artists, I’ve discovered this:
Most artists love the idea of selling their work and making money, but they refuse to do what's necessary to create a strong foundation for their art business.
Being interested in achieving goals is a great start, but it’s not enough. You need to be committed.
If your ambition is fully fueled by commitment then nothing will stand in the way of your success. Commitment will break down any obstacle standing between you and your dreams and nothing can hold back your success.
Finding Your Customers
As we all know, without customers who want to buy art you have no art business.
To get your art out into the world, you need to establish a target audience and learn everything about them.
Find their likes, dislikes, lifestyle choices and even what they can afford – this will make sure that whatever content you create truly resonates with them!
Start by making use of the resources right at hand. Looking back over previous customers is a great place to begin piecing together data that will help direct future marketing activities - more information equals better clarity!
➤ Consider including the following elements in your client profile:
Motivation
Understanding what members of your target audience want to accomplish with art, can help you communicate the features and benefits of YOUR work. After all, it's important that they understand why your artwork is just right for them!
So take a step back and ask yourself: How could this piece make their goals come true?
For example:
If members of your target audience are motivated to build a distinctive collection on a budget, you speak to the beautifully unique statement your art makes. While highlighting your aim to give everyone access to our amazing collection - and that means keeping prices reasonable and even offering payment plans!
Every consumer has a need or an objective, whether it is in their personal life or professional career.
What is your ideal client’s driving motivation?
Pain points
Whilst working at the art gallery, I would often have conversations with customers who worried they were too old to appreciate certain types of art because they didn’t understand some pieces.
Feeling left behind by society, that's a fear shared universally; culture savvy or not--we all want to stay connected and feel important.
This does not just apply to ageing art buyers.
Maybe the celebrated art critic might fear becoming passe in a world where everyone with a smartphone and internet connection can share their opinion with the world.
If you want to build meaningful relationships and better serve your customers, it's key to understand their pain points - the fears or frustrations that drive them toward buying art.
Influences
Get to know your target consumers by taking an in-depth look at their personal and professional lives. By gathering data on education, hobbies, likes/dislikes you can paint a full picture of who they are - from what kind of job they do to how they spend their free time. Crafting that perfect profile will provide crystal clear insight for better marketing results!
Demographics
Where do they live? What age are they? What gender are they? What is the average income?
Your marketing message should reflect the personality of your target audience.
Are they:
hip and trendy?
Laid-back but smart?
Or, do you want to deliver an air of sophistication with elegance?
No matter what tone best resonates with them, make sure it rings true!
A Purpose
You can tell a lot about a person by their values, the standards they uphold and what they find important in their lives.
Recently, I spoke with a woman who described her work as Christian art with a mission to uplift others.
She is looking for an audience that can connect deeply with her message. By targeting galleries, exhibitions, fairs and buyers who share similar values as hers she optimizes the possibility of finding just that!
Online Activity
How do they like to communicate? What social media platforms do they use? Are they tech-savvy?
Using Your Customer Profile
By this point, you should have a clear picture of your target audience.
Now it’s time to put all your hard work to good use and sharpen the focus of your message.
Why?
We need to ensure you reach your audience with enough impact to make them open your email, stop scrolling or go to the website and get involved with your art.
Your potential customers are swimming, drowning, and suffocating in marketing and sales messages.
We all are!
However, when you put the time and effort into learning exactly who your potential customers are, you can create a highly targeted marketing message that is going:
Resonate with your ideal customer, compelling him or her to become engaged with you and your art, and book that studio visit or complete their purchase.
➤ The term message sounds a bit vague and can actually refer to serval related things. Just to be clear, your marketing message includes all kinds of communication.
For example:
How you talk to the public about your art
How you communicate your values to your audience
How you differentiate yourself from others in the field
The number one rule is: Make your message relevant to your audienc
.With every piece of communication, answer the key questions at the top of your customer’s mind:
Why should I care?
variations of that questions could be:
Is it worth my time and attention?
What’s in it for me?
It's easy to forget that most people have a natural tendency towards self-interest. While they may be impressed with your art, the reality is that their appreciation and admiration will always come from how it benefits them in some way.
Therefore it is key to understand your customer. Once you have these powerful insights you need to articulate how your work meets their criteria.
This will help you create effective messaging that penetrates the wall of indifference and burrows deep into the heart of the art buyer which is where the majority of purchasing decisions are made.
Put The Spotlight On The Benefit
When marketing art, many artists focus solely on the qualities of their works, completely ignoring the benefit given to the potential buyer. It is vital to speak to the reason that makes people appreciate, support or buy art in the first place.
Therefore, I strongly suggest you put more importance on the “WHY” rather than the “WHAT” when crafting your message.
Let’s get a better picture of what to aim for, for example:
If you target The Homeowner
Home sweet home! Making your abode a sanctuary that reflects your personal style offers an unparalleled refuge from the constant hustle and bustle of everyday life. Decorating accordingly is a great way to express yourself and create some truly unique spaces filled with character, warmth and comfort, it showcases the distinctive styles, tastes and points of view of the owners.
So, whether your art excites, relaxes, confounds, inspires or challenges, it will benefit you to know which elements are important to your customer. You'll want to emphasize your relaxing colours and distinct materials. How your pieces will add that extra bit of uniqueness to their home surroundings!
If you target The Intellectuals
From art critics and scholars to discerning collectors, curators and museum directors - many of those in creative circles view art not just as a visual expression but as an intellectual pursuit.
They want intellect to be stimulated, challenged and surprised by unique and interesting points of view combined with expert craftsmanship.
For this group in particular, you must know what you are saying with your art and speak in their language.
If you target The Status Seeker
Some people collect art for its status. For them, collecting art isn't just a hobby but an aspirational pursuit. From high-end galleries to serious collectors and museums alike; having access to rare works is a sign of distinction that can come with great prestige.
This type of buyer is interested in rare, one-of-a-kind or limited-edition works only.
While status-seekers may not be the initial target audience for you at the moment, it may be a long-term goal to show up on their radar.
If you target Interior Designers
If you are aiming to work with interior designers who want to establish an iconic, luxurious brand, you'll want to emphasize your rich textures and materials. How your pieces will add that extra bit of exquisite grandeur needed for even the most lavish surroundings!
Pay it up, have fun be bold, be fearless, get outside your own head and learn to see the beauty and the benefits of your art through the eyes of the viewer.
You are not just shouting Art For Sale, instead aim to actively build a relationship with your audience. Determine who they are, where they are, how you can reach them and most importantly how you can deliver value to their lives through your art.
But Claudia, I have no customers, what should I do?
Where can I get all this information?
This is a very common question, especially if you’re just starting out.
You can still learn a lot about your potential customer, you just have to do a little research and dig a little deeper.
Valuable information can be found across all your social media accounts and by checking your websites’ analytical data.
For example:
Instagram analytics could be a valuable tool for you. If you have a business account with over 100 followers you can access the analytics tools via the dashboard. With this tool, you can access demographic information such as age and gender, location data, and connection rates among your followers.
By tracking your daily interactions and audience engagement, you can gain insights into who your followers are and how they respond to your content. Analyze the types of posts that have been most successful in terms of engagement - likes and comments - over a particular time frame.
.With this information, you can create targeted content that appeals to the right viewers and guides them through an effective journey to engage with your art.
Facebook Analytics is another great way to better understand and target your audience. With Facebook Analytics, you can closely monitor clicks and page views.
In addition, you can find out where your readers and buyers are coming from—which is especially helpful You can even see data on the types of devices your followers are using, such as computers, tablets, or phones.
With this information, you can keep track of who is viewing your art artist and tailor your communication accordingly.
Additionally, tracking trendlines in post interactions can also help you learn what type of posts gain more traction among your target audience as well as understanding when would be the best time for maximum engagement.
YouTube
Utilizing YouTube analytics gives you valuable insight into your target audience. To get started, access the analytics dashboard on YouTube. Once you have access to your analytics, you can learn more about your target audience by exploring three main points: viewing duration, viewership demographics, and viewer engagement.
Viewing duration will show how much time people spend watching particular videos or channels – a great way to optimize engagement with viewers.
You can also view the demographics of people watching your content in terms of location, gender, and age which allows you to better understand these groups' interests.
Last but not least, viewer engagement will provide the most comprehensive understanding of viewership behavior—sharing statistics, subscribers info, comments data are all accessible here. With this information at your fingertips discovering great insights about your audience has never been easier!
Twitter Analytics is an invaluable tool for any artist looking to expand their follower base and refine their content. With Twitter Analytics, you can learn so much about your target audience and how to engage them effectively.
Visit Twitter Analytics for post-level data on retweets, impressions, tweet activity, and more. Heatmaps allow you to see how different tweets resonated in different countries or geographic regions over time - allowing you to pinpoint what content works best in which locations.Utilizing these tools will allow artists to take their content marketing game to an entirely new level on Twitter.
Google Analytics
If you have your own website, leveraging Google Analytics can be a powerful way to understand your target audience. First, you'll want to connect your website to google analytics to set up the basic tracking code, so that you can capture vital data such as page views and engagement metrics.
Second, use Analytics' advanced features like Goals and Segments to confidently measure the impact of any changes or improvements you make. You can create custom segments for specific visitor groups to see how they interact with your artist directory.
And lastly, diving into analytics reports allows you to quickly identify trends in user behavior so that you can spot potential opportunities for growth. With Google Analytics at your fingertips, understanding and engaging with your audience has never been easier!
Ok, this is it.
How simple is that?
You can easily create a message that speaks directly to your target audience
And you can do it once – you can do it again.
And again.
And more and more people will start to engage with your work.
Not every potential customer is looking for the lowest price: Most customers want the best value. Customers will always be willing to pay a higher price if they understand how your art enhances their lives.
(Read that again)
Therefore, it’s imperative that your communication clearly highlights your greatest value with crystal clarity.
Again, this is why all that work you did in the last few steps is so valuable
Next step:
Create Your “Ideal Client Profile”
Feature your work’s benefit in your communication
You got this!
Thanks for reading!