Best Content Marketing For Artists Strategy

Artist Guide For Developing A Content Marketing Strategy

There are many layers involved with developing an effective art marketing plan that will build brand awareness.

Posting images on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram is not enough for building an online art business.

Creating a content marketing strategy for artists and publishing quality content regularly is how you will reach a broader audience and sell more art online.

Content Marketing For Artists Benefits

How many times have you heard me say, “You have to create and publish blog content if you want to sell art online?”

Businesses of all sizes know that if they want to compete online, they need to have a team of marketers creating a ton of high-quality content.

But you are an artist. How can you write valuable content, answer emails, paint new artwork, and maintain an artist website?

As the owner of an art business, you are one person with many jobs. You create the art, market, and promote the art, engage with potential customers, answer emails, and the list goes on.

How can you do all that work and still have time to sit in front of the computer to write a blog post?

The reality is that there will be things that you will need to get done if you would like to sell art online.

Content marketing or blogging is one of those jobs you will have to take seriously if you want your art business to succeed.

If you want to be noticed online, you will have to write much content that your target audience is searching for online.

The artists you discovered in Google’s search was not by accident.

They are not at the top of the search results because they have better art than someone else.

They are there because they are better marketers than the other artists not found on the first page of Google’s search.

If you want potential art collectors to discover you online, your content marketing plan needs to be better than ever.

Content Marketing Institute stated that 70% of B2B marketers surveyed say that they are creating more content in 2017 than in 2016.

If you want to stay in the game, you are going to have to create more content. 

The good news is that many artists do not blog consistently. 

By sticking to a consistent writing schedule, you will separate yourself from them.

And your artist website will be featured on the first page of all the major search engines.

Why Is Content Marketing For Artists Important

Carolyn Edgecomb shared some statistics in her article, Blogging Statistics: 52 Reasons Your Company Blog is Worth the Time and Effort that might motivate you to take some time to write.

Here are just a few statistics from Carolyn’s article that I wanted to share with you.

79% of online shoppers spend 50% of their shopping time researching products online. Source: HubSpot

Internet Users in the U.S. spend 3x more time on blogs than they do on email. Source: HubSpot

346 Million people read blogs throughout the world. Adding a blog to your website attracts many of these readers. Source: The Future Buzz

Read Caroyln’s article 52 Reasons Your Company Blog is Worth the Time and Effort at iMPACT.

People do not buy things anymore because they saw a commercial on T.V.

When was the last time you sat through an entire commercial without being distracted by your mobile device?

It is easy for people to research information on products and brands. 

All they have to do is grab their smartphone, and all of the information they need will appear in seconds. 

Just like you, people want to make sure they are getting the best product or service for their money.

Providing content about your products and services will help your potential buyers make a better decision. 

If you do not have a content marketing strategy, your potential buyers will discover your competition, not you. 

The more information you can write about your products, the more potential buyers will begin to trust you.

Watch this video about how content marketing saved a pool company. Very inspiring!

With over 300 million people reading blog posts, you can be noticed online by producing high-quality content.

For example, the keyword phrase, “Horse paintings,” get up to 100K searches a month.

You can potentially have your art viewed by 100 thousand people if you publish content related to horse paintings.

However, you will never reach those people if you do not publish blog posts about your art business and your horse paintings.

Content Marketing For Artists Tips

Here are some tips that will help to take your content marketing strategy to the next level.

Perfect one tip at a time before jumping to the next one.

Before you know it, you will start to see your organic traffic and art sales increase.

Define Your Content Marketing Goals

Why do you want to develop a content marketing strategy?

What are you hoping to achieve from publishing blog content?

Decide what you want before you start planning. 

The content you write will be more productive, and you will see better results if you plan.

Be specific with your goals. 

Know your business objectives, develop marketing strategies, and work towards your goals.

For example, instead of saying, “I would like to generate more traffic to my online art gallery,” say, “I would like to increase traffic to my site by 10%.”

This goal example is measurable. You will be able to track your progress and adjust your plan accordingly.

Not every strategy you implement will give you great results, but knowing what works and what doesn’t work will save you time. 

Visit Sell Art Online Basics Setting Goals if you need help writing your goals.

Buyer Persona

Have you ever heard the phrase “buyer Persona“?

HubSpot defines a buyer persona as:

“A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers.”

Here are some questions that will help you to develop your buyer persona.

Buyers Background:

• Age?
• Gender?
• Birthplace?
• Where did they grow up?
• How many siblings?
• Parents’ marital status?
• Ethnic heritage?
• Favorite childhood memories?

Understanding the background of your buyer will help you to communicate your message better.

For example, you will need to use a different vocabulary if you are writing to a female who lives in a small town versus a male who lives in the city.

Education

• Did they attend public schools, private schools, charter schools, or were they homeschooled?
• Favorite subject?
• Grade average?
• Enjoy school?
• Play sports?
• Involved in drama, band, or any other after-school activities?
• Were they popular?
• College?
• What was the major?

Understanding the education level of your buyer’s persona will also help you with your marketing strategies. 

Instead of marketing to a broad audience, you will focus on a small group of people interested in purchasing your artwork. 

Your efforts will be more productive, and you will increase your ROI (return on investment).

Employment

• First job?
• Current job?
• What position?
• Current salary?

Current

• Where do they live now?
• How many people in the house?
• Household income?
• Pets?
• Children?
• Married, single?

Finances

• In-depth?
• Net worth?
• Invest?
• Enjoy shopping?

Personal

• Religion?
• Health?
• Personal appearance?
• Political views?
• Hobbies?
• Favorite T.V. shows?
• Favorite movies?
• Favorite music?
• Motivations
• Artistic or business minded?
• Introvert/extrovert?
• Quiet/loud spoken?
• What motivates?
• What inspires?

Now that you have a clear vision of who your target audience is, you can start writing valuable content they are searching for online.

Write down your buyer persona on some notecards and place them near your computer.

The notecards will keep you focused on whom you are writing for.

Content Audit

Most businesses start creating content by blogging and with good reason. It works.

After you have had your blog up and running for a while, you will want to run a content audit.

If you want to branch out and use different mediums for your content marketing strategy, start with content already working for you.

If a post attracts many readers, the same content will attract people who enjoy videos or are on social media sites.

Start by finding your best content. You do this by looking at your Google Analytics.

Login to your Google Analytics account click Behavior > Overview.

A list of your 10 to posts will appear, showing you how many page views each post receives.

Next, simplify your content for other mediums, such as a PowerPoint, video, podcast, images, social media posts, or an Infographic.

You can even take your best posts and create an eBook.

For example, you can help many people by writing an eBook on “The Best Ways to Showcase Your Art in Your Home.”

Whom do you think they will go to first when it is time to buy art after reading your book?

Content marketing is all about building brand awareness.

Content Management System

Develop a way to keep your content schedule organized. You can use a calendar, spreadsheet, or an app.

Find out what works best for you and use it.

You do not want to find out that you wasted time creating content that you have already written.

Google frowns on websites creating duplicate content and will lower your PageRank.

Install FatRank in your Chrome browser to see if your site is already ranking for specific keywords.

FatRank is a free app that will show you if a specific keyword is ranking on your website.

After installing FatRank in your Chrome browser, open FatRank, and type in a keyword phrase, click enter to see if that phrase is ranked in Google’s search.

Google Analytics and FatRank are just a couple of free tools that will help you be more productive with your content marketing plan.

Content Ideas

For the next couple of weeks, spend some time and brainstorm post ideas to write about.

Make a list of a hundred or two hundred ideas.

At first, it might seem overwhelming, but once you get in the grove, you will find yourself pouring out ideas.

The more ideas you can develop, the easier it will be for you to write content.

Keep in mind that your topics should be based on your goals.

What would you like your readers to think about when they go to your blog?

What type of people are you trying to attract with your content?

What would you like your readers to do after they have finished reading your post?

Do you need help coming up with ideas to write about? 110 Art Blogging Ideas

Keyword Research

The next step is to do keyword research.

Keywords are words or phrases that people type in the search engine search bar.

Google and other search engines like Bing and Yahoo will list the best content relating to the keywords typed in the search bar.

You will want to do keyword research because you will want to know if people are searching for the topics you are writing about.

If nobody is searching for the content you are writing about, no one will read your post because that post will not appear in the search results.

How do you know if people are using specific keywords?

There are keyword research tools available that show you if a keyword is being used and how many times the phrase is searched per month.

My favorite keyword reseach tool is KeySearch.

KeySearch is the most affordable keyword research tool available, and it offers much more than just showing you if a keyword is popular. 

Receive 20% off your KeySearch subscription by using promo code: KSDISC.

Here is a vidio to show you how to use KeySearch.

What Medium

Now that you have your goals, and understanding of your target audience and what type of content you will be producing, decide what mediums you would like to use to publish your content.

Like I said earlier, you can write blog posts, write an eBook, create courses, make a PowerPoint, create a slide show, use images with text, video, audio, or create an Infographic.

The options are endless. You will want to decide what will be best for your art business and personal goals.

You might want to consider starting a blog because that will give you the biggest bang for your buck. 

In time your blog will be generating the most traffic over any other medium. Think long-term.

Other mediums can be used to help build an online presence. 

Don’t forget to refurbish your content. You do not have to spend time creating new material for all the mediums you will be using.

Publish And Promote Your Content

The last step is to publish and promote your content.

You must promote your content just like you are promoting your art.

After you have hit publish, go to your social media accounts and create a post about your new content.

Send an email to your email list about your new post.

You need to get the ball rolling, so share it with everyone you know.

Once people are aware of the content, they will help you share it with people they know.

Don’t be afraid to cross-promote your content on other mediums.

Someone who found your video might enjoy reading more.

Let everyone know where they can find you.

For example, your videos tell your audience that they can read more about the topic you’re covering on your blog. Provide a link to the post you want them to visit.

On your blog post, embed a video.

Always include links to your website or content on your social media posts.

People do not have time to search for links to your content.

Make it easy for them by providing a link or a call-to-action on every post.

If you do not make it easy for them they will just move on and forget about you.

Final Thoughts On Content Marketing For Artists

Selling art that you have created is fun and rewarding, but it also takes a lot of hard work.

Do not make the same mistakes most artists do.

Many artists upload an image of their newest creation and forget about it. After a while, they get discouraged because no one is buying it.

The reason no one is buying it is that no one knows it exists.

Develop a content marketing strategy and implement it every week.

In time, you will start to see your following grow and your sales increase.

Here is a recap to make the most out of your content marketing strategy.

• Set Goals
• Create a Buy Persona
• Do a Content Audit
• Use a Content Management System
• Brainstorm Content Ideas
• Decide on What Mediums You Will Be Using
• Publish and Promote

Selling art that you have created is fun and rewarding, but it also takes much hard work.

Do not make the same mistakes most artists do.

Many artists upload an image of their newest creation and forget about it.

After a while, they get discouraged because no one is buying it.

The reason no one is buying it is that no one knows it exists.

Develop a content marketing strategy and implement it every week.

In time, you will start to see your following grow, and your sales increase.

Here is a recap to make the most out of your content marketing strategy.

• Set Goals
• Create a Buy Persona
• Do a Content Audit
• Use a Content Management System
• Brainstorm Content Ideas
• Decide on What Mediums You Will Be Using
• Publish and Promote

For some tips on how to write content that ranks high in search engines visit:

• How Pillar Content Generates Traffic
• How To Write Pillar Content And Why It Is Important
• How To Increase Art Sales With Great Pillar Content

You Might Also Be Interested In:

• The Ultimate Roadmap to Gallery Representation for Emerging Artists
• How to Get Your Art in Front of Your Ideal Audience
• The Benefits Of Using Print-On-Demand For Your Art Business
• Show Your Love for Wildlife with a Fine Art Print of a Cardinal Pastel Painting
• How To Sell Your Art At Craft Fairs Like A Pro

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