Art Branding Basics – For Selling Art Online

Branding For Artists

Are you frustrated with the lack of traffic your artist website is receiving?  Do you feel like you are wasting your time on Facebook and Pinterest? Do you want to sell more art? In this post, discover the art branding basics you need to know to increase art sales.

Art Branding Basics

The staff from Entrepreneur defines business branding as:

Definition: The marketing practice of creating a name, symbol or design that identifies and differentiates a product from other products.

An effective brand strategy gives you a major edge in increasingly competitive markets. But what exactly does “branding” mean? Simply put, your brand is your promise to your customer. It tells them what they can expect from your products and services, and it differentiates your offering from that of your competitors. Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be.

Visual artist branding differentiates your art from other artists.

Unlike a corporate business, your artist’s brand is about you as an individual and will include your ethics, philosophy, and beliefs.

Designing an art branding strategy for your business will give you a significant advantage over your competition.

Customers who purchase your art will know what to expect, including the quality, value, and services you provide.

With so many artists selling online, you want to take every step necessary to build an online presence that separates you from the crowd so you can be noticed.

Art Branding Benefits

Many artists wonder why they should take the time to work on a brand and believe that a brand is for larger corporations.

That is simply not true. A branding strategy is important for any size business.

Here are five reasons creative people should be focusing on branding their business.

5 Art Branding Benefits:

Build customer recognition – People are generally more likely to choose a brand they recognize over something they are unfamiliar with.

Competitive edge – You will be able to compete with the top artists the more recognition you receive and the more people start to trust your brand with higher prices.

Productive release dates – The stronger your brand is, the more loyal your customers will become. It will be easier to promote your new art to your audience. Your loyal art collectors (your tribe) will help you to share your new art with your friends and family. Think of how well Apple built its brand and how productive its release dates are.

Customer loyalty – Most of the time, brand loyalty lasts a lifetime. Think about products you still purchase today because the business built your trust ten, fifteen, or even twenty years ago.

Increase art sales – People purchase from companies they know, like, and trust. It will be easier for you to land a sale if your brand is credible.

What Reflects Your Art Brand

Everything you do reflects your brand.

You communicate with your audience on social media networks, customer service, the articles you write, the look of your website, logo, and tagline/slogan make up your brand.

Your brand tells the story of you and your business.

It is essential to pay close attention to how people perceive your story.

How To Brand Yourself As An Artist

Concentrate on these questions when you are designing your branding strategy:

• What is your mission?
• What style of art do you create?
• What value does your art offer?
• How is your customer service?
• What is the quality of your product?
• What are your policies?
• What do customers already think about your business?

Answering these questions will help you design your branding strategy.

You might be wondering how to brand yourself as an artist.

Branding yourself as an artist starts with your artwork and your signature so people will start to recognize your art with your name.

The next step is to create a website logo and tagline.

Art Branding Basics – Logo

A logo is a symbol, image, or letter that will allow people to identify your art business. Your logo will be the foundation of your brand.

Let’s talk about the BMW logo, for example. It is simple, elegant, classy, and recognizable.

Anyone who sees BMW’s logo knows the company’s quality and values.

Take your time and think of a logo that you would like to have for your business. If you are a solopreneur, you might use your initials, an image of your artwork, or design a symbol that reflects your artwork.

Your logo should be prominent on your website, blog, social media sites, packing, and promotional materials like business cards, flyers, brochures, etc.

There are many jobs associated with operating an art business. Outsourcing jobs, so you can focus on more important tasks is smart, like hiring a freelancer from Fiverr to create a log for your website.

Art Branding Basics – Tagline

After you have designed your logo, you want to start working on a slogan or tagline. Your slogan’s primary focus is to describe your business that will separate your artwork from your competitors.

When you are writing your slogan:

• Keep it simple
• Make it memorable
• Keep it honest
• Describe your brand

Here are some examples of slogans:

• M&M’s – “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand.”
• Snickers – “Snickers satisfies.”
• Disneyland – “The Happiest place on earth.”
• Subway – “Eat fresh.”
• Taco Bell – “Think outside the box.”
• Nike – “Just do it.”
• Red Bull – “Red Bull gives your wings.”
• McDonald – “I’m loving it.”
• BMW – “The Ultimate driving machine.”

Ronda Counts

Ronda’s slogan (tagline)

Natural Impressions…”I create a textured canvas, and then I paint.”

Ronda’s slogan accurately describes her artwork. You even get a sense of her style without even seeing her artwork.

Visit Ronda Count’s website

How To Write A Slogan:

Schedule a couple of hours when you can have some quiet time. You will want to avoid any unnecessary distractions.

Before you write anything down, consider your art business’s value and what makes you different from your competitors.

Start writing down adjectives that best describe your business and artistic style.

For example, if you are a graphite artist. You might use a pencil, graphite, animals, wildlife, dogs, portraits, realism, etc to describe your artwork.

Visit Thesaurus.com for more adjectives.

After you have the list of adjectives, start making sentences with the chosen words. Do not spend too much time trying to make them perfect. This is only a rough draft. Put your list away when you cannot think of any new sentences.

In a few days, take out the list.  Read all of the sentences that you have come up with.

Take the best three or four sentences and revise them if necessary. Start showing them to your friends and family and ask them for their thoughts. They will be able to tell you the one that they like best or give you something else you can work with.

Take your time with this process. You want to be 100% satisfied with your slogan. You want to be proud to start sharing your slogan with the world.

Now that you have a blueprint for your website, brand, and slogan, it is time to start building your artist’s website.

How To Build Brand Awareness

Many online tools help you start marketing yourself as an artist.

Marketing and creating an artist name for yourself is easier than you might think. Your mission is to develop strategic plans to get the word out that you are an artist and showcase your work to people who are passionate about what you create.

After they have become loyal fans, your job is to keep them informed about upcoming events and new art.

The three tools utilize for your artist brand strategy are:

• Social Media
• Artist Blogs
• Art Gallery

After you have your brand, you will need to start building brand awareness. Your goal is to have everyone talking about your art and you operate your business.

There are many places where you can start building brand awareness online.

Social Media

Social media sites are a great place to start making a presence. Share your artwork’s images and links to your blog posts on sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Pinterest is a great site for artists to build brand awareness.

For tips on selling art on Pinterest, visit How to Start Selling Art on Pinterest

Videos are becoming very popular. YouTube is the second largest search engine. Build brand awareness by making videos and posting them on YouTube.

Artist Blogs

Your blog is a great way for you to build brand awareness. This is where you can tell your story as an artist. The more that people get to know you and trust you, the more they will want to buy your art.

Here are some helpful articles to help get you to get the most out of your blog.

• 5 Writing Tips For Art Blogs
• Use Internal Links To Increase Art Blog Traffic
• Increase Blog Traffic With Great Titles
• How To Brainstorm Art Blog Post Ideas

Would you like to learn all the strategies I used to generate over 100,000 monthly page views for my artist blog in just over two years? If you do download the 28 Day Blogging Challenge for Visual Artists.

Art Gallery

Your art gallery is another place where you will build brand awareness.

Develop a strategic art branding strategy to incorporate all the different ways you will market your business. Your brand should be the same for your social media sites, blog, and art gallery. You want the look and the feel to be the same, or you will start to confuse your audience.

Final Thoughts On Art Branding 

You will want to take your business seriously if you are just starting your art business. Having a passion for what you do is great, but it is still a business. Take the time to develop a strong brand for your business. Take pride in everything that you do. Be creative with your art branding.

The quality and recognition of your artwork are the formula for increasing your sales.

Always remember that branding for artists starts with art and a signature.

Art branding basics for increasing art sales overview:

• Art branding benefits
• What reflects your art brand
• Art branding basics for artists
• Logo
• Tagline
• How to write a slogan
• How to build brand awareness

Now that you know how to brand yourself as a visual artist, it is time t take action so you can start separating yourself from all other artists selling art online.

More Art Branding Related Posts

• How to Build An Artist Brand That Attracts Collectors
• How to Create a Logo with PicMonkey for WordPress
• 3 Easy Tips To Help Artists Build Their Brand Online
• Why Sell Art Online And How To Start
• How To Write Well Written Art Descriptions