Last Updated on October 15, 2019

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Do you have a clear vision of where you would like to go with your art career? Would you like to sell your art online? In this article, discover how to optimize your art marketing plan so you can spend more time in the studio while your art is selling online.

Can you imagine being in the studio creating art and sales are coming in from your online art gallery? Or you wake up in the morning, check your email and read, “You have a sale!”

Yes, you can sell your art and make money while your art sleeping, thanks to the internet.

The internet has made it easy for people to start an online business, but most businesses fail because they do not take the time to learn about marketing.

What is Art Marketing?

Barney Davey Describes Art Marketing in his article, What Is Art Marketing – Why It Is Important as,

“At its basic level, art marketing is a systematized process of creating awareness and interest for an artist or artwork that leads to a desire to engage the artist, gallery, or company, to own its products, use its services, or all of the above. Businesses, large and small, use marketing to communicate their offerings, promote their brands, identify new prospects, and strengthen bonds with existing customers.”

Most artists that I meet and work with say, “I am an artist, not a sales person. I don’t want to waste time marketing. I would rather spend my time in the studio.”

I have to explain to them there are only two ways to sell art. One way is to hire someone to market their art or they can save money by marketing their art themselves. The common word between the two solutions is, “marketing.”

If you want to sell art online you will have to make a presence online. People will need to learn about you as an artist. It takes more than just uploading an image to your online art gallery to be noticed on the crowded internet.

Art marketing is simply sharing your story. Telling people what you have to offer them. 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 your art. If you have told someone you create art or you sell art you have already started your art marketing program.

Art marketing is not hard. All you have to do is make people aware of what products or services you have to offer.

Art Marketing Setting the Foundation

If you are just starting your online art business you will want to keep your art marketing plan simple. The amount of information available to us can become overwhelming at times. You will want to learn how to filter out the noise so you can focus on what will provide you value.

Visit Sell Art Online Startup Plan if you are just starting. There are five steps you will want to accomplish in order to build a solid foundation for your online art business. Once you have the foundation built, you will be able to start developing an art marketing plan that will separate yourself from the crowd.

Before You Can Start Art Marketing

Vision

Before you can start to develop an art marketing plan, you need to have a vision. You need to have a clear vision of where you would like to be in five years, ten years or even twenty years.

What do you see yourself doing in five years?

Where would you like to be in five years?

What type of career would you like to have in five years?

Take some time and really think about what would make you happy in life. Don’t cut yourself short, think big!

Read more about vision at Artist Vision and Mission – Online Business

Mission

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 offer?
What makes you and your art unique?
What type of value will you provide for your audience?
What is your mission?

Once you have a clear vision of where you would like to be in five years, start writing your mission statement. Your mission statement will be the guide for your art marketing plan.

To learn more on how to write a mission statement visit How to Write an Artist Mission Statement

Goals

If you want to be productive with your art marketing plan, you have to have goals.

What do you want to accomplish?

When would you like to accomplish your goals?

How will you accomplish your goals?

For more information about the importance of goals read Sell Art Online Basics Setting Goals.

I also go over in detail about goal setting and writing goals in my book The Productive Artist – How to Live Your Dreams.

Art Marketing – Know Where You Want to Go

I am in contact with many people throughout the day. I engage with artists from my website Nevue Fine Art Marketing, my social media accounts and my guitar students. I will often ask them what their goals are or where they see themselves in the next couple of years.

I am shocked at how many times I am looking at a deer staring at headlights after I ask that question. They honestly do not know. They have no dreams or desire to accomplish anything. It is as if they are just stuck in a timeless space.

This story has happened too many times to count. When I start a new guitar student, my introduction is always the same. My strategy allows me to know where to start with them. After I introduce myself, I ask, “What are you interested in learning?” More often than not their reply is, “I don’t know.” I can understand that they might know what would be the best way for them to start learning is so I follow up with, “What kind of music do you like?” Fifty percent of them answer with, “I don’t know.” With those fifty percent I try to make it easier for them, and I ask, “Who is your favorite band?” If I get nothing, I will continue with, “What songs do you listen to?” The answer for some is still, “I don’t know.”

I have taught guitar for many years and have learned that the best way to start them off is with some basics, during that time I am coaching them to start thinking of some goals. I will have them go home and listen to some music and write down some songs that they would like to learn.

By having them write down some songs that they would like to learn, I am teaching them how to vision where they would like to be from their guitar lessons. They will also have their goals documented. While I am teaching them the songs that they have written down, I am introducing music theory that relates to the songs that they are learning.

At the end of a month, they are playing a couple of songs that they are interested in. They know the music theory behind the songs they are playing. They have learned that having goals and writing them down becomes a reality.

For anyone to accomplish anything in life, they must first know what they would like to accomplish. If you do not have a clear vision of what you would like in life how can you plan for it? How can you decide what you should do to take you closer to your dream life?

If you do not have a vision, you will be in the same place that you are in today ten years from now. The only change that will occur is that you will be ten years older.

Every large change in my life was accomplished from a vision that I have had. I knew what I wanted and where I wanted to be. I did not know how I was going to get there, but I knew where I wanted to be.

Knowing where you want to go applies to every aspect of your life. It applies to your health, wealth, location, career, relationships, and morals.

My wife loves Disney and vacations to tropical islands. I know that I want to be able to provide that for her. By knowing what I would like to provide for my wife allows me to plan for the vacations. With a plan in action, the vacations will be a reality. All of the hard work that we do every day is rewarded by the memories that are created on our vacations.

We are working towards owning our dream home. By knowing what we want for our future allows us to plan for our future.

Plans might take the time to accomplish, but if you do not have a plan, you will never achieve.

Art Marketing Be Noticed

I am going to assume you already have your artwork available for sale online. If you don’t visit Sell Art Online Startup Plan. In five easy steps, you will have your art ready to be purchased.

There are many different mediums available online for you to build your brand awareness. Each medium will have many different platforms you can use.

I recommend using one platform before moving on to another platform. You will not get more business by using many mediums. You will generate business if you learn how to use each medium to attract your target audience.

Content
Social Media
Video
Podcasts
eBooks
Courses

Content

To start with your art marketing strategy you will want to focus on writing content. It does not matter if you want to market your art on social media platforms, video, podcasts or eBooks. You need content and a lot of it.

A strategy that successful business have learned recently is they need to produce content that will direct traffic to a landing page. This is also known as blogging. You can find endless success stories about businesses implementing a content marketing strategy.

If you need some motivation I recommend listening to this Podcast, Content Marketing Success: Why Answering Questions Sell.

After you have been motivated by Marcus’s story I challenge you to take my Content Marketing Course for Artists Video Corse.

Content Marketing crucial for all businesses to be noticed on the over populated web.

This course is for the artist who wants to grow a strong online art business and who are new to content marketing. If you are ready to take your business to the next level and want to be found on the internet, this course is for you. Learn how content marketing will help you to attract your target audience and learn basic and easy to implement content writing strategies that will make your audience wanting more.

Content Marketing for Artists Course:

Introduction

Module 1 Content Marketing Basics

21 page downloadable PDF Content Marketing Basics
About Content Marketing – video
Business and Storytelling – video
Content Marketing – video
Art Blog Checkoff List – video

Module 2 Content Marketing Fundamentals

Setting Goals – PDF
Artist Blog Vission Statment – PDF
Schedule Time to Write – video
Blog Post Structure – video
Unique Writer’s Voice – video
Blogging Platforms – video

Module 3

28 Day Blogging Challenge

28 Day Blogging Challenge for Visual Artist eBook
Day 1 Vision and Goals – video
Day 2 Create a List Post – video
Day 3 Research Your Niche – video
Day 4 Promote Your Blog Post – video
Day 5 Comment on Blog Posts – video
Day 6 Showcase Your Art on a Blog Post – video
Day 7 How to Write an Outbound Link Post video
Day 8 Choose One Social Media Platform – video
Day 9 How to Create a Social Media Calendar
Day 10 How to Write a Review Post Part 1 – video
Day 11 How to Write a Review Post Part 2 – video
Day 12 How to Brainstorm Post Ideas for Art Blogs – video
Day 13 How to Create a Blog Editorial Calendar – video
Day 14 How to Monitor Your Niche – video
Day 15 Revise Your Top Blog Pages – video
Day 16 Write an Instructional Post – video
Day 17 Create Headlines That Attract Readers – video
Day 18 Keyword Research Introduction – video
Day 19 Write a FAQ Page – video
Day 20 Solve a Readers Problem – video
Day 21 Email Marketing – video
Day 22 Call-to-Action Strategy – video
Day 23 Revise an Old Post – video
Day 24 Analyze Other Blogs – video
Day 25 SEO Basics – video
Day 27 Google Analytics Basics – video
Day 28 Plan Next Months Blog – video

Module 4

Content Marketing Strategies

What Are Website Backlinks and How to Build Them – video
Content Marketing Basics – video

Note: I will be adding new material to this course as needed.

Social Media

Social media sites can be a positive or negative for artists. There are so many social media sites available for you to promote yourself. The problem is they all take some time to operate.

Most artists are running their business by themselves. They do not have people designated to run a social media marketing strategy 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 as well as maintaining the site.

The good news is the content you are writing for your art blog can be shared on your social media sites. This is also known a refurbishing content.

I suggest that you start with one platform you like to be on. If you are already spending time on the platform, you have already learned how people communicate on the particular platform. That is half the battle. Knowing how to get your message across.

Here are some helpful articles about social media marketing:

Video

Videos are becoming more and more popular online. You see videos on your Facebook Newsfeeds, Twitter accounts, and of course 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 want to consider.

Podcasts

Podcasts are becoming more popular. People can enjoy their favorite shows while they are driving to work, doing chores or even 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 costs to you.

ebooks are a great way 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 on your online art gallery.

Courses

Online courses are also becoming popular. You might want to create courses that will teach young artists your art style.

Conclusion:

You can see there are many different ways you can build a presence online. Take some time to decide what will best for your schedule and goals and start writing your art marketing plan today. The longer you wait. the longer it will take you to reach your goals.

You might also be Interested in:

Content Marketing For Artist Course

Are you interested in learning more about content marketing?

Are you ready to reach a larger crowd and attract your target audience?

Do you want to rank higher in Google’s search?

I created the Content Marketing For Artist Course to help you to implement a content marketing strategy that will help you to save time and see results. There are over 40 videos, a downloadable eBook and PDF’s packed with easy to understand and follow tactics that will help you grow your art business and start separating yourself from the competition.

Complete the course at your own pace. The material will always be available for you to go back to.

To find out more visit, Content Marketing For Artist Course.

If you are interested in learning more about growing your art business, visit Nevue Fine Art Marketing Courses. New material is being added regularly.

The Productive Artist How to Live Your Dreams The right mindset and time management skills are essential for any business. These topics are often not talked about but are key elements for your success. You will learn how to have a winning mindset and time management skills necessary for operating a successful art business. Available at Amazon or Download today.

Are You Struggling with Your Writing Skills?

If you are struggling with your writing, you might want to consider reading Ann Handley’s book Everybody Writes: Your Go – To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content. (Amazon Affiliate Link)

When I first started writing posts and content for my art businesses, I struggled. Writing posts was never one of my strong points. I would sit in front of a blank screen for hours. I knew how important writing content was in order for me to grow my business but I had a difficult time writing even four hundred words.

I remember hearing someone recommending Ann’s book, so I decided to give it a try. Ann’s book has helped me in so many ways and was one of my best investments. Not only did she show me the best means to write for my audience but she also gave me the confidence I needed to write great content my audience would love.

I enjoyed the book so much I also purchased the audio book and periodically had it on while I am in the studio drawing. I will never claim to be a great writer, but Ann has helped me to get my points and views across to help my audience.

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