You may be wondering why you should learn more about marketing for artists. Making people aware of your work and your products for sale is crucial. Marketing is making people aware of who you are, what you do, and how they can purchase your products.
The most common challenge artists have to promote their art is figuring out how to get their work in front of the right people. Promoting your work can be difficult when you don’t know your target audience or what strategies will work for you. In this blog post, you will learn how to identify your target audience, and tips for promoting your artwork.
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What Is An Art Marketing Plan
- What are marketing plans, and what should be included in them?
Wikipedia defines a Marketing Plan as:
“A marketing plan is a comprehensive document or blueprint that outlines a company’s advertising and marketing efforts for the coming year. It describes business activities involved in accomplishing specific marketing objectives within a set time frame.”
Wikipedia defines Marketing as:
“Marketing is the study and management of exchange relationships. The American Marketing Association has defined marketing as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, client’s partners, and society at large.”
An artist marketing plan should:
- Outline your goals.
- Define your target audience.
- Define your brand
- Include strategies on how to reach your target audience.
- Include strategies on how to separate yourself from your competitors.
- Included strategies for building an online presence
- Include a plan to build name recognition
Why Is It Important To Have An Art Marketing Plan
Whether painters, sculptors, or photographers, artists need to have a marketing plan to promote their work. It can be challenging to make people aware of who you are and what you do and even more challenging to sell your work. Marketing is the process of making people aware of your work and your products. It is essential to have a marketing plan because it will help you identify your target audience, reach them, and sell your work.
When you have a marketing plan, you can focus on your goals and strategies for reaching your target audience. A plan also allows you to track your progress and adjust as needed. It is important to remember that your marketing plan should be flexible, and you should always be open to trying new things.
Professional artists who have thriving art careers have created marketing strategies that build name recognition. They understand the importance of having an art marketing strategy and using it to their advantage.
The Basics of Marketing for Artists
You need to understand the marketing basics to make a successful career as an artist. Marketing is making people aware of who you are, what you do, and how they can purchase your products. It is essential to learn about marketing because it will help you identify your target audience, reach them, and sell your work.
Marketing Basics
- The Importance of Marketing
- Defining Your Target Audience
- Strategies for Reaching Your Target Audience
- Building an Online Presence
- Building Name Recognition
Business Goals
Before developing a marketing strategy, you need to clearly define what you want to achieve.
Marketing your art starts with having business goals.
What are your long-term goals for starting an art business?
- Do you want to sell fine art in Galleries?
- Do you want to sell your art at craft shows?
- Do you want to sell art online?
- How much art do you want to sell?
Everyone has unique goals, so you will want to draft an outline of your objectives.
Write your objectives down on paper or in a spreadsheet to look at them while developing your action plan.
Your unique goals will help you develop an art marketing strategy that will be catered to your objectives.
Many talented artists dream of selling artwork full time but fail to start with the basics.
Before you get started, write down everything you want to accomplish. Developing an effective art marketing plan will be more productive if you know what you are working towards.
To learn more about writing business goals, visit, How To Set Art Goals You Can Achieve.
Target Audience
A target audience is a group of people passionate about what a business offers.
Your art sales will increase by focusing on people passionate about your artistic style.
Defining Your Potential Buyer
One of the most critical aspects of marketing is defining your potential buyers. You need to understand your ideal customer’s needs and wants. You can create messaging that resonates with your target audience and reach them more effectively when you know them.
Here are some questions you will want to be able to answer:
- Does your art attract mainly males or females?
- What is the age range of your audience?
- What is the yearly household income of your target audience?
- What is the marital status of your audience?
- What inspires your audience?
- What motivates your audience?
- What common problems can you solve for your audience?
- What are your customer’s values?
- Where does your audience shop?
- What fun activities does your audience like to do?
- What social media sites does your audience hang out on?
Here are some articles to help you learn who your target audience is:
- How To Sell Your Art Online By Knowing Who Your Target Audience Is
- Sell More Art By Learning Who Your Audience Is
- How To Find Your Target Audience
- Simple Strategy For Finding Your Target Audience
Strategies for Reaching Your Potential Clients
Once you have defined your target audience, developing strategies for reaching them is essential. There are many ways to reach your target audience, and the best way to get them will vary depending on your business and products. Some standard methods of reaching your target audience include advertising, PR, social media marketing, word of mouth, entering an art competition, and content marketing.
What Makes You Different
There are no two artists that can create art the same way.
- The subjects might be the same, but slightly different colors will be.
- The strokes of paint will be different.
- The amount of paint applied to the canvas will be different.
- The use of light will be different.
- The main focus of the painting or drawing will be different.
One of your long-term goals is to build name recognition. When people start to know that you are the artist who created the artwork they admire, you know your marketing strategy is working.
Answer the questions below before you write your marketing plans.
- What makes you different?
- What are your strengths?
- What are your weaknesses?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors?
Understanding your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses will help you develop a plan to separate you from other established artists selling and marketing art online.
Visit Research Your Online Art Marketing To Boost Sales to learn how easy it is to find your competitors.
Find out what separates you from all other artists online and create a way to highlight the differences. Get the word out by writing popular posts showcasing your artistic style and sharing them on all social media platforms so you can start making a social media presence.
Building an Online Presence
To reach your audience, you need to have a robust online presence. An online presence means having a well-designed website that is easy to navigate and looks different from all other art websites online. You will also want social media profiles that are active and engaging.
It would be best to use search engine optimization techniques to ensure that your website appears near the top of search engine results pages.
Develop social media strategies that will drive traffic to your website. And make sure you blog regularly, providing exciting and engaging content that will keep people coming back for more.
Building Name Recognition
One of the most critical aspects of marketing is building name recognition. People who know who you are and what you do are more likely to purchase your products. There are many ways to create a personal brand; the best way to do it will vary depending on your business and products. Some standard methods of building name recognition include advertising, online portfolio, media coverage, PR, and social media.
Selling art online starts by making people aware you are a professional artist making art for sale.
Pricing Art
Many artists struggle when it comes to pricing their artwork.
You will want to address many factors before deciding on your prices.
While you are studying your competition, become aware of their prices.
You do not have to copy their prices, but knowing how much they sell their art will give you an idea of what people are willing to pay.
Most young artists’ first impulse is to compete with prices and lower the costs of their products.
Lowering prices is not the only way to increase sales.
When people buy original art, they look for something special and unique. Something that makes them feel a certain way when they look at it.
You will be fine if your prices are similar to other successful artists with equivalent art skill levels.
Rather than reducing your prices to compete with your competitors, develop new skills.
Develop a distinct artistic voice and style that will separate you from everyone else.
Here are some posts to help you with your pricing strategy:
- How To Calculate The Selling Price Of A Product
- How To Price Your Artwork For Better Sales
- Show Your Art Prices To Increase Sales
- How Creating A Pricing Chart For Your Art Will Increase Profits
- 7 Art Pricing Rules To Stick With
Writing Your Artist Marketing Plan
Now that you have your goals, know your audience, and have your prices in order, it is time to write a marketing strategy to inspire potential buyers to buy art.
Start by writing down what you would like to accomplish in one year.
What is one thing that will help you to grow your art business?
- Maybe you want to sell ten pieces of art.
- Maybe you want to grow your email list.
- Maybe you want to build traffic to your artist blog.
Your next step is to decide what you would like to accomplish in the first six months.
For example, if you want to sell ten art pieces in one year, you will need to sell five art pieces in six months.
- How are you going to do that?
- Are you selling your art online, at craft shows, or in galleries?
- How will you inform people where you will sell your art?
- Are you writing content that will let people know where they can purchase your art?
- Do you have an artist statement that lets people know who you are?
- Are you going to send emails to your email list?
- Are you going to share news about your art on your social media sites?
- Do you have different marketing strategies you are going to start implementing?
Decide on what actions you are going to take and write them down.
You will want to do the same steps for three months and one month.
When you are done, you should have a list like this:
1 Year Goal –
6 Months –
a.
b.
c.
3 Months –
a.
b.
c.
1 Month –
a.
b.
c.
Focusing on smaller goals will help you stay inspired and focused on what needs to get done and adjust any marketing strategy that is not working before it is too late.
Make sure that every plan focuses on your long-term objectives, like selling a specific amount of products.
Tips for Promoting Your Work
There are many ways to promote your art, and learning as many as possible is essential.
The more you know, the more likely you are to sell art.
One way to promote your work is to create a portfolio and an artist’s website.
A portfolio is a collection of your best artwork that you can use to show potential buyers.
An artist website can share your work, biography, and contact information.
You can also create a blog to share your artwork, thoughts, and inspirations with potential buyers and other artists.
Another tactic is to join an art community online or in your local area.
Art communities are a great way to connect with other artists, learn new skills, and get feedback on your work.
Conclusion:
Marketing your art is not as complicated as you might have thought. The goal is to get your work in front of people interested in your niche.
It would be best if you spent time learning about the people searching for art like yours, creating a plan to get your work in front of them, building brand awareness, and finding a way to drive them to your artist’s website.
There are so many artists like you trying to find a way to sell art online. Successful artists are the ones who take time to build name recognition by sharing popular blog posts on social media, sharing their work on multiple platforms, learning SEO to increase their search results, and taking time to learn about the market.
It is possible to build a successful art business and write a successful business plan for illustrators and artists as long as you are willing to put in the time to work on marketing your work.
FAQ
Can you share any tips on how to price my art?
It is important to remember that you are selling a piece of art and your time and talent.
Pricing your art too low may devalue your work, and pricing it too high may make it difficult to sell.
The best way to price your art is to research and find out what other artists in your area are charging for their work.
You can also check out art galleries, websites, or online marketplaces to get an idea of what people are willing to pay for art like yours.
Remember that you need to make a profit, so don’t price your work too low, or you will lose money.
What is the best way to increase sales of my art?
You can do many things to increase your art sales, but some tactics are more effective than others.
You can create a mailing list and send emails about your new artwork, special promotions, or upcoming events.
Related Post – How To Turn Visitors Into Buyers With A Cakemail Email Newsletter
Another tactic is sharing news about your art on your social media sites.
You can also participate in art shows and festivals where people are likely interested in your work.
Making a solid connection with buyers is essential, so make sure that you are easily accessible and willing to answer any questions they may have.
What should I include in my artist statement?
Your artist statement should include a brief biography, artistic influences, and a work description.
It is also helpful to mention why you create art and what you hope to achieve with your work.
Ensure your statement is well-written, articulate, and easy to understand.
Most website builders have areas where you can include a biography and other important information regarding your art business.
What should I do if my marketing efforts are not working?
If your marketing efforts are not working, it is essential to diagnose the problem and make changes as necessary.
You can analyze your audience and find out who they are and where they hang out online.
You can also revise your marketing strategy or try different tactics until you find something that works.
It is also essential to stay positive and keep working on your marketing plan.
There is no magic formula for success, so keep trying new things until you find what works best for you.
What should I include on my artist website?
Your artist website should include your biography, artwork, and contact information.
You can also create a blog to share your artwork, thoughts, and inspirations with potential buyers and other artists.
Another tactic is to join an art community online or in your local area.
Art communities are a great way to connect with other artists, learn new skills, and get feedback on your work.
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