Would you like to sell your art online?
Are you interested in building an art career or just hoping to earn extra money selling your artwork?
How excited would you be if you were in your studio, creating art, and sales came in from your online gallery?
Or you wake up in the morning, check your email, and read, “You have a sale!”
The internet has made it easy for people to start an online business, but most companies fail because they do not take the time to learn about marketing art.
If you are interested in selling art for a career or just for some extra money, you will have to learn how to market artwork online.
Today, I will go over everything you need to know about developing a successful art marketing plan to land you sales.
There is no such thing as an “overnight success” story.
All the successful artists you have been watching online have worked hard to build name recognition. It did not happen overnight for them.
What Is Art Marketing
Art marketing is creating name recognition and awareness of artwork that leads art collectors to inquire more about the artist, art business, and artwork.
Providing information that connects potential buyers to the artwork personally will influence them to purchase products and services from the artist.
Artists who sell art use marketing to communicate their message, build brand awareness, promote products and services, grow their following, and build relationships with existing art collectors.
Art marketing is simply sharing your story. Telling and showing people what your art business has to offer.
If you tell your friend about a new painting you have just completed, you are marketing your art.
If you show a picture of your art to a family member, you are marketing artwork.
If you have told someone you create or sell art, you have already started your art marketing program.
An art marketing plan aims to get your artwork in front of your target audience, those who have a passion for your artistic style.
Why Is Art Marketing Important
People will not know you are an artist and have art for sale if you do not bring it to their attention.
People will not visit your artist’s website or follow you on social media if they do not know you exist.
To sell art online, you must make a presence online.
It takes more than just uploading an image to your online art gallery.
You will have to build a following on social media, create content that people will discover in search results, and develop an email marketing plan that keeps your current art collectors up-to-date with your art business.
Art marketing is not hard. All you have to do is develop strategies that make people aware of your products or services. For example, if you paint sailboats, you want to find a way to get your paintings in front of people who have a passion for sailboats. Or, if you sell tile art you want to get your work in front of people interested in purchasing unique kitchenware.
Art Marketing Basics
If you are just starting an online art business, you will want to keep your art marketing plan simple.
The amount of information related to digital marketing available online can sometimes become overwhelming and confusing.
Learn how to filter out the noise to focus on what will provide you value, which is to get your artwork in front of your target audience.
Visit Sell Art Online Startup Plan if you are just starting.
You will want to accomplish the five steps outlined in the post to build a solid foundation for your online art business.
Once you have the foundation built, you can start to work on a more advanced art marketing plan that will separate you from the crowd.
Write Art Business Goals
Now that you understand why art marketing is essential for selling art online, let’s discuss what you want to do before developing a marketing strategy.
Art Business Blueprint:
Vision
Before developing an art marketing plan, you need to clearly understand where you would like to be in five years, ten years, or even twenty years.
- What do you see yourself doing in five years?
- What type of career would you like to have in five years?
- What will your yearly income be in five years?
- Where would you like to reside in five years?
- How much art would you like to be selling five years from now?
Take some time and think about what would make you happy in life.
Don’t cut yourself short. Think big!
Write down everything you would like to accomplish in the next five years.
What you write down will be the blueprint of your art marketing strategy.
Mission
Start writing your mission statement once you have a clear vision of where you would like to be in five years.
- Why would you like to sell art?
- Why would you like to sell art online?
- What do you have to offer to your customers that no other artists provide?
- What makes you and your art unique?
- What type of value will you provide for your audience?
- What is your mission?
A mission statement is a simple statement that explains your company’s goals. It summarizes what your company does for its customers, employees, and owners. It explains how you do what you do. (Source: Bplans)
To learn more on how to write a mission statement visit How to Write an Artist Mission Statement
Goals
Now that you have a clear idea of what you want and why you want it, let’s talk about writing business goals.
Your business goals will dictate what you will do daily to help you achieve your vision.
If you do not have your goals documented, you will waste time implementing marketing strategies that will produce little or no results.
Your business goals will show you precisely what you are working for and provide a way to let you know if you are on the right path.
Ask yourself these questions:
- What do you want to accomplish?
- How much art would you like to sell over the next twelve months?
- How much money do you need to make over the next twelve months?
- How much art will you have to create over the next twelve months to generate the revenue you wish to produce?
- Will you use other income streams to help you generate the desired income?
- Where will you sell your art online?
- Where will you sell your art offline?
- What are your art business priorities?
- What challenges will your art business face this year?
The answers to these questions will help you to write your business goals.
Don’t just think about your goals. Write them down.
Revisit your goals daily, and create monthly action plans that help you achieve your goals.
Download How To Write Goals You Can Achieve Workbook for your art business.
Online Art Marketing Strategies
There are many different online mediums for you to build brand awareness and name recognition.
Each medium will have many different platforms you can use, and I will discuss each in more detail later in this post.
I recommend using one medium before moving on to another.
The objective is to learn how to become an expert in marketing your art in each medium. You can not do this if you try to learn them all simultaneously.
Start with one from the list below and learn everything about marketing with that medium.
Once that medium is on autopilot, move on to the next.
Digital Marketing Mediums:
- Content (Blogging)
- Social Media
- Video
- Podcasts
- eBooks
- Online courses
Content Marketing
To start your art marketing strategy, you will want to focus on writing content.
The best medium to start your content marketing strategy is with a blogging platform.
Successful businesses, both large and small, have learned the importance of producing content that drives organic traffic to their website.
The content they publish online is known as blogging.
If you have a WordPress website, you already have a blogging platform incorporated with your site.
Some website builders also have a blogging platform.
However, if the platform you are using to sell your art does not have a blogging platform, you will have to use a different blogging platform for your content marketing strategy.
Blogging Benefits For Small Businesses: (Resource: Lyfemarketing)
- Businesses that publish regular content receive 8x more traffic
- Blogging helps reduce overall marketing spending by more than 60
- Blogging helps in achieving 3x more leads
- Show you are an expert in your industry
- Creates value for your customers
- SEO
- A way to collect emails
- Get exposure and visibility
Visit Blogging Tips for hundreds of articles to help you build a thriving art blog.
Your blogging goal is to explain why art is essential and what makes your artwork unique so you can start driving your target audience to your website.
Even though blogging comes to mind when people hear content marketing, it is not the only form of content online.
Content marketing also includes:
- Website pages
- Art descriptions
- Newsletters
- Social media posts
- Videos
- Podcasts
- Videos
- Infographics
The internet runs on content.
The only way you will have a chance to build brand awareness is by publishing a lot of content.
Marketing Art On Social Media
It takes time for websites and blog posts to rank in Google’s search, but once it happens, you will start to have free organic traffic driven to your site for years to come.
Free organic traffic is when someone finds your link in the search results and clicks on the link.
Start marketing your art on a social media site like Facebook or Twitter while waiting for your website to rank.
Pinterest is another way to increase your website’s traffic while waiting to receive organic traffic.
Social media sites can be positive or negative for artists.
Many social media sites are available to promote yourself as an artist and your artwork.
The problem is they all take time to market on.
You will have to do more than just publish your art on your Facebook page if you want to grow your Facebook following.
Most artists are running their businesses by themselves.
They do not have people designated to run a social media or content marketing strategy.
You will want to decide how much time you can devote to learning how to market on a particular social media platform and maintaining the site.
The good news is the content you are writing for your art blog can be shared on your social media sites.
Publishing snippets of your blog posts on social media is known a refurbishing content.
I suggest starting with one platform before joining another social media site.
Learn everything about marketing your art on that platform and develop a strategy that will grow your following.
When your marketing strategy runs on autopilot, move on to a different social site.
Here are some helpful articles about social media marketing:
- 7 Social Media Marketing Benefits for Artists
- 6 Social Media Marketing Tools for Visual Artist
- 11 Ways to Build Trust on Social Media for Artists
- 10 Social Media Marketing Tips Every Artist Must Know
For more information about Facebook marketing, Twitter marketing, Instagram marketing, and Pinterest marketing, visit Social Media Resource.
You will find hundreds of articles that will turn you into a social media marketing guru.
Video
Videos are becoming more and more popular online.
You see videos on your Facebook Newsfeeds, Twitter accounts, and YouTube.
YouTube is the second most popular search engine, just under Google.
If you want to build brand awareness, incorporating a video marketing plan might be something you will consider.
Podcasts
Podcasts are becoming more popular.
People can enjoy their favorite shows while driving to work, doing chores, or exercising.
You will find more and more artists taking advantage of this medium.
eBooks
Selling books is easier than ever, thanks to Amazon.
You can write a book and sell it on Amazon at no upfront cost.
eBooks are a great way to show you are an expert in your field.
Find out what will be valuable for your audience and write a book. You can advertise it right in your online art gallery.
Courses
Online courses are also becoming popular.
You might want to create classes that teach young artists your art style.
Final Thoughts On Art Marketing
There are many different ways you can build a presence online.
Each marketing strategy has unique benefits and will help you reach a broader audience.
The best place to start is by developing a content marketing plan and writing an artist statement highlighting your fine art, and discussing the art, you create so you can start getting your art in front of your target audience.
When you have your content marketing strategy on autopilot, be creative, and develop ways to start incorporating the other digital marketing strategies.
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