Are you having a difficult time reaching people online who would be interested in the style of art you create? Are you frustrated because nobody besides your friends is visiting your artist’s website? In this post, you will discover how to sell your art online by knowing who your audience is. The selling art online tips I will talk about will help you build a solid foundation for your online art business so you can sell more art.
Sell Your Art Online By Knowing Who Your Audience Is
Are you inspired by the artists selling their art and handmade crafts online?
Are you trying to find ways to sell your creations besides selling your art at craft fairs?
If you said yes to the questions above then you should focus on building an online art business.
Selling your art online is easier than you might think. All you need is a platform to showcase your art (I strongly recommend building a website with WordPress).
Setting up a WordPress website is the easy part.
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After you have your website build and your art is uploaded to your site you will have to focus on driving traffic to your listings. There are several different areas you will want to concentrate on when it comes to driving traffic to your site like SEO, how much content you are uploading (blogging), email marketing and social media.
Today I am going to talk about online marketing 101, knowing who you are marketing to. Marketing to people you do not know is like shooting at a target that is not there.
The more you learn about your target audience (people who are interested in your artistic style) the more effective your art marketing strategies will become.
Know Your Target Audience
The first step is to identify who your target audience is.
- Who has a passion for the subjects you paint or draw?
- Who likes the medium you use to create your art?
- Who likes your artistic style?
The answers to the questions above will be a key starting point for your online marketing strategies.
Below are some additional questions that will help you to be more productive with your art marketing strategies:
- What is the primary gender of your target audience?
- What is the average age range of your audience?
- Where do your customers live?
Answering the questions above will help you to create an avatar.
A customer avatar is a fictional character that represents your ideal prospect. Your customer avatar will help you fine-tune your marketing efforts and help you understand why some products sell better than others. It also helps expose important gaps or conflicts in your marketing messages of which you may be unaware. (Source: Hubspot)
Why do you need to create an avatar if you are trying to sell your artwork online?
Creating an avatar will help you to stay on track with the type of content you are delivering on your art blog and social media accounts.
For example, if you paint flowers you would have a better chance if you wrote content that females can connect with.
If your paintings are being sold for $1,000.00 you would have a better chance of selling those paintings if you attracted people who are art collectors. The majority of high-end art collectors are older and have financial security not young adults in college or young adults starting a family.
The content you deliver has to be directed towards your ideal customer. If you can connect with them on a personal level, you will have a better chance of selling your art.
Where Does Your Audience Hangout
Now that you have a good idea of who will be purchasing your artwork, let’s talk about where they might be hanging out during their free time.
Before you can determine what sites your audience visite online you will have to know what they like to do offline.
- What venus would they visit?
- What books do they enjoy reading?
- Where do they go to relax?
- Where do they go for excitement?
- Where do they eat?
- Where do they go to socialize?
The answers above will give you a good idea of what sites your audience visits when they are online.
The information you gather will also make it easier for you to connect with your audience by writing about some of the topics they enjoy. I strongly recommend to only write about topics that reflect your artwork and your brand.
For example, if you paint custom dog portraits you can write about the different dogs you paint, local dog shows, dog shows in different towns, different sites about dogs you like to visit, your favorite books about dogs and the list goes on.
When you are writing content for your blog and social media write as if you were having a conversation with someone you know. The only way you can be successful at this is by taking the time to learn more about your audience and create an avatar for your art business.
Find Your Audience Online
So many artists think that once they post an image on their website or social media account that their target audience will find them and purchase their art. I thought the same thing when I started.
I soon realized that there was much more to it than just uploading an image. You have to take some time out of your week and find your future art collectors. They are out there you just have to find them.
A good place to start is your favorite social media site.
Let’s use Facebook as an example because I am sure that most of you are familiar with Facebook.
Come up with a list of words that best describe your art, your artistic style, what message you would like to get across with your art and what medium you use to create your artwork.
Type in a word or phrase into your Facebook’s search bar and click on the Groups link just underneath the search bar. A list of groups that relate to the words you typed in will appear.
Scroll through the list to find any groups that relate to your artwork.
Take a week or two to get to know the people in the group before you start showcasing your artwork.
Take note of the topics they are writing about and the verbiage they use. This information will be valuable when you write social media posts and blog posts.
After a couple of weeks introduce yourself as a new person to the group. Many times people in the group will welcome you which will make it easier for you to share your products when the time is right.
Remember that you are joining the group to learn more about your target audience. You are not there to sell your art. The information that you gather from the groups will help you to make better marketing decisions in the future.
You can use the same strategy mentioned above with all of the social media sites you are on.
Tips For Selling Art
Selling art can be very rewarding as long as you put in the hard work.
Creating art is the fun part of the job, selling your art is the challenging part.
If you want to succeed at selling your art you will want to focus on the basics and build a solid foundation for your art business.
Below are some areas you will want to focus on:
- Website design
- Learning who your target audience is
- Branding
- Email marketing
- Content marketing (blogging)
- Social media marketing
Related Posts:
Free vs Premium Themes for WordPress – Art Bloggers
Simple Strategy For Finding Your Target Audience
Create an Artist Brand Workbook
Ultimate Email Marketing Guide for Selling Art Online
28 Day Blogging Challenge for Visual Artists
Easy Social Media Strategies For Artists Selling Art Online
How To Write Well-Written Art Descriptions
Conclusion:
Selling art online takes a lot of hard work.
You have to find a way to get your art seen by people who are interested in your artistic style.
The best way to get started is by knowing who your target audience is.
Now that you know how to sell your art online by knowing who your audience is it is time to take action and start finding where they hang out so you can start showcasing your art on those platforms.
