How To Grow Your Art Business Online
Are you looking for new ways to increase your online art sales?
Would you like to start advertising your art to more people but do not have the money to pay for a marketing strategy like purchasing an ad in a newspaper that might not get you real results?
This post will cover inexpensive and free advertising ideas for art businesses that will potentially increase sales.
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase by clicking on an affiliate link, Nevue Fine Art Marketing may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. Affiliate relationships include, but are not limited to, Bluehost, Tailwind, Skimlinks, SareASale and StudioPress. To learn more visit Affiliate Link Disclosure Policy
Free Advertising Ideas for Art Businesses
Advertising is often one of the least used methods for artists selling products or services.
Why?
Advertising can be expensive, and the results can be unpredictable.
For example, it is easy to boost a Facebook post for twenty or thirty dollars, so more people will see the post. But if nobody makes a purchase, you will be out of the money invested in the boosted Facebook posts.
Not all art marketing strategies produce a positive ROI (return on investment). Still, if you regularly assess the outcome of your marketing plan, you will discover the best way to reach your target audience without investing a large amount of money in advertisements.
There will be many questions you will have when you get started with an art marketing plan, and if you are not careful, you could find yourself losing money instead of making a profit.
NFAM has come up with a list of ways you can start building brand awareness for little or no money so you can start to make a profit quicker.
All you have to do is be creative with your art marketing plan and thinking outside of the box. There are free marketing opportunities waiting for you.
Blogging
Blogging might be one of the most valuable tools for an artist selling art online.
Blogs are an excellent way to:
- Promote your brand
- Sell your art
- Communicate with your customers
- Have your artist website rank high in search results
- Drive traffic to your artist website
- Make it easier for your target audience to discover on search engines
- Increase revenue streams
Many artists think people will know they have a website and have artwork for sale in the beginning.
Unfortunately, it does not work that way.
An artist website is just a platform that showcases fine art and provides a way for people to purchase a product or service.
Think of your website as an online portfolio or online gallery.
To sell your art online, you will have to promote and drive people to the site.
Blogging is the best free advertising tool, hands down.
If done correctly, your blog will drive thousands of people to your site every month.
A blog post will drive people to your site for years to come, where people will see a Facebook post for a day or two.
Every blog post you publish is another opportunity for your future fans to discover you when searching for information on Google.
If you are new to blogging, take the 28 Day Blogging Challenge for Visual Artists.
Video
Creating videos about your artwork and art techniques is another free advertising idea you should consider in your art marketing plan.
Google and Bing are the most powerful search engines, so publishing blog posts is important for any business.
Another marketing strategy businesses started to implement is promoting their products and services on YouTube.
YouTube ranks #2 in search engines.
The good news is that you do not need to spend a ton of money on video recording equipment if you decide to create a YouTube channel.
Many successful YouTubers start with their iPhones.
iPhones have excellent cameras and a decent mic for creating videos.
If you plan on recording more frequently, you might want to consider purchasing a video camera.
Here are some recording tools artists are using for their art marketing strategies:
- Canon Vixia HF G50 UHD 4K Camcorder
- Mevo Start Live Streaming Camera
- Logitech BRIO Ultra HD Pro Webcam
- Technica ATR2100-USB Cardioid Dynamic USB/XLR Microphone
- Camtasia
Your marketing strategy will change as your art business grows. Investing in your art business will allow you to build a stranger, more profitable business. However, if you are just starting to sell your artwork online, you will want to focus on freeways to build a fan base.
The equipment listed above is used by artists who have spent a great deal of time building their fan base and are now at a point where they can justify the investment.
When you start a video art marketing strategy, keep it simple, and use your smartphone to create videos of you creating art or showing your art techniques.
People love to watch artwork created, and so many artists have built name recognition with their videos.
Here are just a few artists who have done well marketing with videos:
- ryanchristy arts – 2.12K YouTube subscribers
- Andrew Tischler – 316K YouTube subscribers
- April Numamoto – 131K YouTube subscribers
Social Media
Building name recognition is essential for the success of your online art business.
Promoting your art on different social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, creating videos, and publishing blog posts are the three best advertising ideas for art businesses.
Using social media correctly will significantly benefit your art business and allow you to reach a broader audience, and best of all, they are free marketing platforms.
However, if you use social media the incorrect way, it could hinder your brand.
Do your research before jumping on all of the social media networks.
Develop a social media marketing plan and research how businesses market their brand on the platforms you are going to use.
The best way to get started is by choosing your favorite social media site and create a business page.
Study what other artists are doing on their social media business pages to work for them.
Take notes on:
How often they publish posts
What type of content receives the most engagement
How many fans they have
Do they promote blog posts
Do they share videos
How often do they promote new artwork
You will discover that the artists who share valuable content more than just posts that sell art will have a larger fanbase that engages more.
The rule of thumb is to publish content about your art business 80% of the time and posts that promote a product or service 20% of the time. This is known as the 80/20 social media marketing rule.
The objective is to provide value to your fans so you can build relations with your followers. In time they will be your biggest advertisers and promote your brand with their friends and family.
Social media was created for people to socialize. You will see better results if you engage with your followers than trying to sell to them daily.
Here are some articles to get you started:
- 7 Tips on Building an Artist Facebook Page Following
- How to Promote Your Art Online with YouTube
- 7 Instagram Tips for Visual Artists Selling Art Online
- 9 Social Media Marketing Tips for Artists Selling Art Online
Guest Posting
Guest posting is another free way to get your name out there.
Submitting blog posts to other blogs will introduce you to new readers and increase your credibility as an expert in your niche.
When you are a guest blogger, you will have a link back to your site with a description of who you are.
When people have interested in your thoughts, they will visit your website to read more of your content.
Search for blogs that publish the same topics you do and reach out to them to see if they accept guest blog posts.
Many sites talk about art and highlight different artists. Take advantage of this opportunity and reach out to them. You might not hear back from some of the sites at first, and that is ok. Just keep trying, and eventually, there will be an opportunity for you to be featured on their site.
Email Marketing
Another great way to increase art sales is by developing an email marketing strategy.
Before you can be successful with an email marketing strategy, you will have to build a loyal following.
First, you will want to devote time to work on your blog, build a following on social media, write an artist statement, and create videos.
The next step is to create call-to-actions on your blog and website. Ask your customers to join your email list so they can be kept up-to-date on new products and events you will be participating in.
After you have some people who joined your email list, start sending monthly newsletters to them.
Your email list will be your business’s biggest assets. The people who join your list are the people who will be more likely to purchase from you.
Final Thoughts On Advertising Ideas For Art Businesses
Selling fine art takes a lot of hard work and discipline.
The first thing you will want to remember is that you are an artist when you create art but are a business person when you sell your artwork.
It takes more than just printing business cards and having a website to develop a successful creative business.
Take some time to write out your goals and develop a plan on how to reach your goals.
Start implementing the free advertisement ideas for artists listed above to help you build an online presence.
Visit Art Business – Art marketing Resource for over a thousand articles that go into more detail about the topics mentioned above.
More Related Art Marketing Posts
How To Write An Artist Marketing Plan That Works
Developing a marketing plan can be frustrating and impossible if you do not know what marketing involves. There is much more than just posting an image of your art on Facebook every day. This article will show you how easy it is to write an art marketing plan so you can start growing your art … [Read more…]
Instagram Marketing For Artists – Build A Following
Artists have various ways to connect with their audience online and grow a more significant following like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, art blogs, and online galleries. Over the past few years, Instagram marketing for artists has become very popular, and it … [Read more…]
How To Create A Social Media Marketing Calendar
A social media marketing calendar allows you to plan, organize, and evaluate content. Your content calendar will allow you to develop a more effective strategy that will produce better results while saving you time using methods that do not work. In just a few … [Read more…]
