Selling art online has never been easier. You have all of the tools and resources available right at your fingertips. But if you do not develop an art marketing plan, you will find yourself wasting time on strategies that do not work. Selling art starts will learning how to make a presence online.
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Why are there so many artists struggling to sell fine art online?
One of the reasons is that they do not spend time learning everything that is involved with operating an art business.
So many aspiring artists think that all they have to do is post an image on Facebook and Instagram, and sales will be rolling in because they see other artists successful on social media.
You can quickly discover success stories like how Natasha made 50,000 selling art on Facebook.
Success stories are inspiring and motivating, but they do not explain how the individual got to where they are today.
A successful entrepreneur thirsts for knowledge and enjoys learning. That keeps an entrepreneur effective and efficient. Entrepreneurs benefit from learning new skills and ideas they incorporate into their business. The smallest lesson learned can make a big difference in business. (Source: Entrepreneur)
Why Do You Need An Art Marketing Plan
The Benefits Of An Art Marketing Plan Are:
- You have a clear outline of what you have to accomplish every day.
- You will be able to revisit your goals to see if the marketing strategies are working.
- You will be focused on what is working instead of being distracted with new marketing tips and tricks people are raving about.
- You will feel more confident about your marketing decisions.
Business Plan
There is a lot that is involved in marketing art.
As an artist selling art online, you will have to develop and revise your marketing strategy on a regular schedule.
You must have a clear vision of your business goals and objectives.
You also have to keep accurate records so you can assess your marketing efforts.
A Strong Art Marketing Plan Involves:
Marketing goals and objectives – Your goals and objectives will be the foundation of your art marketing strategy. Setting goals will help you to stay motivated and keep you moving towards success.
Your Artist Brand – Branding for artists, is different than a regular business. You have to brand your art business along with you as an artist. Every artist who is successful in selling art online has developed a brand that separates themselves from all of the other artists selling art online.
Knowing Your Target Audience – Knowing who your target audience is will help you to create content that will attract them and drive them to your online art gallery.
Pricing Strategy – Your pricing strategy will be determined by your target audience and the market.
Analyzing The Numbers – Analyzing the numbers will help you to revise your marketing strategy so you can reach your goals quicker.
Art Marketing Plan – How to Make a Presence Online
In today’s post, I am going to talk about why you need to develop an art marketing plan and how to write an art marketing plan that will help you to build a thriving art career.
Avoid Time Killers
Most artists or business owners I talk with share a common challenge. The ability to stay away from time killers.
How many times have you found yourself scrolling through your Facebook newsfeed when you should have been posting on your Facebook Business Page?
How many times have you found yourself going deeper and deeper into Pinterest when you were trying to Pin your latest article?
How many times have you found yourself reading the newest “marketing hack” instead of focusing on your art marketing plan?
There are so many distractions that occur during the day that could potentially prevent you from accomplishing all of your tasks.
If you want to make an online presence, you will need to stay focused on your strategy. You can not allow distractions to get in your way.
Do you struggle with time management?
If you do, you might want to consider reading my book The Productive Artist – How to Live Your Dreams.
Visit the posts below for more tips on time managment:
- How To Be More Productive Working At Home
- How To Make More Art – 10 Productivity Tips For Artists
- How To Be More Productive Marketing On Social Media
How Much Time Do You Have?
Before you can develop a successful art marketing plan, you will need to know how much time you will be able to devote to marketing.
It does not matter if you have one hour a week, two hours a week or even thirty hours a week to spend on marketing.
What is important is that you know the amount of time you can devote.
Benefits Of Creating A Schedule:
- You will be more productive with your day, and you will be able to design an art marketing plan that will help you make a presence online.
- You will know if you have time to focus on one social media platform or more.
- You will know if you have time to devote to writing guest posts or engage on other blogs.
One mistake many artists make is they try to work on too many social media platforms.
If you want to build brand awareness and grow your audience, you will need to do more than posting a picture on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter.
You need to spend time building relationships with your followers and build their trust.
This is not done by just uploading an image.
You need to spend time engaging with your audience and learn about them.
Just as if they were a friend. Get to know them as people and discover their interests.
For you to be productive, you will need to know how much time you have to devote to online marketing.
Before you go any further, sit down and think about how much time you can devote to your art marketing plan each week.
When you have your magic number, write it down so it will be documented.
Who is Your Target Audience
One common mistake I see from many online businesses and artists is they do not focus on their target audience.
Your target audience is the people who will be interested in purchasing your artwork and products.
Not everyone will be interested in purchasing your art.
Why would you want to waste your time writing content for people who are not interested in your artistic style?
Instead, use your time wisely. Learn who your target audience is. Find out what interests them. Learn about their struggles, and give content that will help them.
Learning who is your target audience is easier than you think.
If you paint sailboats, your target audience is people who like sailboats.
Would it make sense to target skiers if you paint sailboats? No. Focus on people who will be interested in what you have to offer.
The more specific you can be the better. This is also known as niche marketing. You might have heard the phrase, “niche marketing.”
If you target people who have a passion for sailboats and you paint sailboats, you are heading in the right direction. But what if you want to narrow it down?
Maybe you specialize in painting vintage sailboats.
Who should you target? People who only have a passion for vintage sailboats.
You will have a better chance of selling a painting to a person who loves vintage sailboats than you will to someone who likes boats.
Where is Your Target Audience?
Finding your target audience will take some work.
The best place to start is where you hang out. You will have a common interest with people who are interested in your work.
For example, if you paint horses you probably spend some time at sites that relate to horses. That would be a place where your target audience is.
Take some time before deciding on what social media site you would like to promote your art on.
You might want to consider spending some time on different sites and learn who the audience is before you join. This will save you a ton of wasted time marketing to people who will not be interested in purchasing your art.
Many artists make the mistake of promoting themselves on too many social media sites.
There is not enough time in the day to market properly on all the sites that are available. That is if you would like to spend some time in the studio creating art.
You might want to consider just working with one platform at first. After you have learned everything you can about the platform you are using you can take a look at a different one. Use your time wisely.
You might be interested in taking my Niche Marketing Course if you are interested in learning more about Niche Marketing and finding your Target Audience.
Develop an Art Marketing Plan – How to Make a Presence Online
Now that you have eliminated any distractions, and have an understanding of who your target audience is and where to find them, you will want to develop an art marketing plan.
You can not achieve anything without a plan.
- Decide how often you will be sharing content on social media sites.
- Decide what type of content you will be producing and how often.
- Decide how often you will be revising old material and how you will be repurposing the content.
- Decide how you will be collecting emails and how you are going to market to your email list.
Do not be too concerned about writing a perfect art marketing plan. It does not exist. What is important is that you just start one.
While your plan is in action you will be discovering what is working and what is not working. At that point, you will need to revise your plan so you stay on track.
Successful artists are not afraid to take chances. They are willing to learn from every situation. The more you learn, the stronger your business will become.
Analyze the Results
In order for your business to grow, you will want to analyze the results from your art marketing plan.
You will want to know what posts are performing the best for your audience. Discover if your audience prefers text, images, video or audio.
Discover how much content they would like to receive in a week.
Discover what types of posts work best on your social media sites.
Schedule some time every week to view the results and adjust your marketing plan for the following week. Doing this will help you grow your business quicker than you could have ever imagined.
Google Analytics and Google Console are free tools I recommend for your blog and online art gallery. Most social media platforms include analytics for their business accounts.
You will be wasting valuable time if you do not take the time to see what is working for you or what needs adjusting.
Conclusion:
Making a presence online is work. You will want to devote some time every day to promote yourself as an artist. Every day you miss means someone else is gaining exposure. Are you ready to start your Art Marketing Plan – How to Make a Presence Online?
You might also be interested in:
- Sell Art Online Startup Plan
- Art Marketing Basics – Revise an Old Post
- 5 Writing Tips For Art Blogs
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