Email Marketing Guide for Artists

Email For Artists Complete Guide

Are you discouraged because your social media posts are not reaching your fans?

Would you like a low-cost way to communicate directly with your art collectors?

It is becoming more difficult for emerging artists to make an online presence with the number of artists uploading new art for sale daily.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are becoming oversaturated, with businesses trying to grow their fan base.

Not too long ago, Facebook drastically changed its algorithm to minimize the number of business page posts in personal newsfeeds.

Before the algorithm change, business posts reached 10 percent of their following. Today businesses are lucky if they reach 2 percent of their Facebook fans.

The only way you can have your social media posts seen by more people is to pay to “Boost” your Facebook posts or to purchase advertisements.

The good news is that there is a way for you to reach your fans, and that can be done free by implementing an artist email marketing strategy. 

I am going to show you how to be more effective in growing your email list and some newsletter strategies that will increase your chances of landing a sale in this ultimate email marketing guide.

Ultimate Email Marketing Guide for Selling Art Online

How often did someone say to you, “I love your work, but I can’t buy it today.”

What steps do you take following comments similar to that?

Do you say thank you and just walk away?

Do you tell them about your online art gallery and hope they will remember to visit your site someday?

Do you hand them a business card?

If you want to have any chance of them purchasing your art in the future, you will need to stay in contact with them, so they do not forget about you.

A newsletter will be your best weapon for generating sales and build a long-term relationship with future collectors.

Many artists shy away from art marketing, mainly because they just do not understand the real meaning.

Art marketing is just creating a bridge between your target audience and your artwork through conversing and or online content.

• You do not have to wear a suit and tie.
• You do not need a bullhorn.
• You do not have to push your artwork on them or come up with cheesy sales pitches.

All you have to do is communicate your story with your audience.

That is art marketing 101.

Selling art via email is an art marketing strategy that is often overlook by artists.

Your email list will be the biggest asses of your online art business.

More sales will be generated by your email list than all social media platforms combined.

Let’s talk about how to make the most out of your email marketing strategy.

Benefits Of Email Marketing For Artists

Many artists fail to see the importance of email marketing and often put it on the back-burner.

I know some artists that have collected emails but have never sent one newsletter.

I can almost guarantee they are losing sales.

Selling art online takes a lot of work and it takes a lot of effort to build an audience online.

Your days will consist of writing content, creating videos, creating images for social media, and engaging with your followers on social media.

After you have caught someone’s attention you need to build their trust.

Someone is not going to give you a large amount of money for an original painting they saw online or give you their personal email address if they do not know you.

You have to earn their trust.

What is an email list?

An email list is a group of people who trust you and are interested in your art and or services you offer.

They are the people who will be more willing to purchase original art and art prints from you.

You work every day trying to make a presence online and generate traffic to your online art gallery.

When they visit your artist website, your job is to build their trust and inspire them to join your email list.

Related Post: 7 Email Contact List Benefits for Artists

How To Obtain An Email Address Offline

• There might be a time when you are standing in line at a grocery store, and someone will strike up a conversation. If they ask what you do and seem interested, ask if they would like to join your email list. You never know who will be your next collector.

If possible, get their email address before they leave if it is nor feasible, give them a business card and ask them to join through your website.

Do you have an elevator pitch?

What is an elevator pitch?

An elevator pitch is a brief, persuasive speech that you use to spark interest in what your organization does. You can also use them to create interest in a project, idea, or product – or in yourself. A good elevator pitch should last no longer than a short elevator ride of 20 to 30 seconds, hence the name. (Source: MindTools)

Have one or two sentences of a speech memorized that describes what you do for any occasion that pops up.

I can not begin to tell you how many opportunities I lost before I wrote my elevator speech. 

An elevator speech does not take long to write. All you have to do is dedicate five or ten minutes to write one.

After you have written your speech, place it where you see it every day.

Soon you will have it memorized, and you will feel confident sharing it when the time is appropriate. 

• Always have an email sign-up sheet handy when you are showcasing your art at fairs or art shows. While you are conversing with people, ask them to join your email list.
• Have a few business cards and flyers on you at all times. Opportunities arise everywhere, especially when you least expect it.

How To Grow Your Email List Online

Now that you know how easy it is to grow an email list offline let’s talk about how you can build your email list online

Opt-in Email Forms

Best opt-in Form WordPress Plugins: 

• OptinMonster
• Thrive Leads
• Convert Pro

The opt-in plugins listed above will make it easy for you to set up an email marketing strategy.

You will have the option to:

• Build a popup
• Build a notification bar
• Create forms for your content
• Build forms for your sidebar
• A/B testing
• Analytics

Best Places to Add an Email Opt-in On Your Artist Website

The best strategy for building an email list is to produce high-quality content. 

You want your readers to enjoy your content so much that they will want to revisit your site on a regular basis while waiting impatiently for your next post to publish.

When you have your readers hooked, it will be easy for you to collect their email address. However, you will want to make it easy as possible for them to opt-in. People are busy and will not take the time to search around a site to join an email list. In fact, it will never cross their mind.

Here are some of the most common places that professional bloggers place subscription forms on their websites. You might want to consider using all the suggestions or try a couple at a time and assess the results to see what works best with your audience.

Homepage

A homepage is the main page of your website and is the first page a visitor will see navigating from a web search engine. 

The Homepage will be the most viewed page for your returning audience and will be a great opportunity for you to get them to opt-in to your email list.

There are three common places on the homepage for newsletter opt-in forms.

Decide what will be more appropriate for your audience and the look of your site.

Top of the Homepage

Here is an example of an opt-in form on the top of the page. 

It is not distracting, and the reader has the option of clicking the link off if they find it distracting.

One benefit of having this opt-in form is that it follows the page as a reader scrolls down to read the content. 

If the reader enjoys your content, they will have an easy way to join your email list.

Footer

The footer of the homepage is a great place to add additional resource links for your site. 

Some people will scroll down to the bottom of the page to see what other resources the site has to offer. 

If the guest enjoys your site they might be willing to join your email list when they see your opt-in form on the footer.

Sidebar

The sidebar is another option for an email opt-in form. Some homepages do not have a sidebar and in that case, an email opt-in form will not be an option.

A key tip is to place the email opt-in form above the fold on the sidebar. 

Above the fold is the space that you see once you land on the homepage before scrolling down.

Most people will not scroll down on a page. Placing the opt-in email form above the fold will ensure that everyone sees it when they land on the page.

About Me

Many people will visit the “About Page” if they are interested in what the site offers.

Artist websites might receive more hits on their homepage than other businesses. 

People who buy art want to get to know the artist, and a good way for them to do that is by visiting the About Me page.

Two places to put an opt-in form on an “about” page is in the sidebar or the end of the content.

Most people who visit an “About” page will read all the content. Placing the email opt-in form at the bottom might be the right decision. 

If the reader enjoys what they read, they will be more apt to join your email list.

Post

A good strategy is to put an email opt-in at the end of every post. 

Most people who visit a blog post do not read the entire article. 

Many people will skim through the article and gather the critical points of the content.

Other people will leave the page after reading just the introduction of the article if a person is very interested in what you have to say if they will read the entire post.

Placing an email opt-in form at the end of a post is an excellent way to collect an email from someone very interested in what you have to offer.

Pop-ups

Google has stated that they will lower Page Rankings of websites that use call-to-action pop-ups by early 2017. 

Google wants to provide quality content and an enjoyable experience for each visitor.

The reason for this change is that more and more people are using mobile devices to search for content online. 

The pop-ups on mobile devices can make it an unpleasant experience for the viewer.

Pop-ups were an excellent way for businesses to get emails, but it will be a thing of the past. 

If you want to rank higher in search engines, you will have to play by Google’s rules.

If they punish businesses that use pop-ups on their sites, find a different way to collect emails. 

Placing email opt-in forms in strategic places on your website will increase the sign-up rate.

Other Platforms

You will want to research all the options you have for collecting emails if you are not using WordPress as your blogging platform. 

Study what other people are doing on the same blogging platform that you are using.

You might want to seriously consider switching platforms if you’re blogging platform does not support email opt-ins. 

An email list is vital to the success of your business.

If you are not using WordPress for your artist blog and you are ready to take your business to the next level, I recommend Bluehost for a hosting service.

Why should your WordPress artist website have opt-in forms?

Sending newsletters is one way to make sure your online audience does not forget about you.

They might not purchase an item today, but by keeping in contact with them, you increase the chance of landing a sale in the future.

Your artist blog and online art gallery should have a few different ways for your audience to join your newsletter.

People are not going to spend time searching for an opt-in form to give you their email addresses.

You have to make it easy and convenient for them.

Lead Magnets

Lead magnets are another great way to provoke readers to sign up for your newsletter besides just having opt-in forms.

What is a lead magnet?

A lead magnet is a landing page or a free offer designed to give your visitors something of value for their contact information in return.

Lead magnets are a common tactic used by many successful businesses of all sizes.

How often have you seen “Click here to receive this free…”?

Many artists send postcards, prints, desktop wallpaper, or screensavers to people interested in joining their newsletter.

Related Post – Benefits Of Postcard Prints For Artists

Offer a little taste of what you create to your new audience.

Be creative and think of ways to provide value for your audience in return for their contact information.

You will be able to produce sales once they have opted-in to your email list.

How To Send Newsletters

Use an EMS (email management service) for your newsletters.

Some artists think it is okay to send bulk emails via their personal Yahoo or Google accounts.

This is not a good practice and might damage your business.

Sending bulk emails through your email provider could end up in a SPAM folder and looks unprofessional.

Free EMS services are available for small businesses to use for their newsletters and paid services.

Email Marketing Services

AWeber.

AWeber Features:

• Sign Up Forms
• API And Integrations
• Import a List
• Split Testing
• Email Marketing Tracking
• Email Deliverability Rate

As your email list grows, you will have the option to purchase a monthly plan or a pay-as-you-go option.

FREE PDF from AWeber – What To Write In Your Emails

MailChimp

MailChimp is a top-rated email service for bloggers and small businesses. 

Some of the great features Mailchimp offers are an easy drag and drop designer that will allow you to brand your emails to match your art gallery, marketing automation, advanced analytics, mobile options, integration with apps, multi-user accounts, subscriber profiles, social sharing, A/B testing, and segmentation.

You can start building your email list with their forever free plan that allows you to have 2,000 email subscribers. 

Constant Contact

Constant Contact is the first email service that I started many years ago. 

You can try their services for free for sixty days. 

If you are planning on marketing events or shows, they will help you with that. 

One feature that stands out is the ability to create surveys so you can learn more about your audience. 

Other features are similar to other service providers. 

Their pricing plan is reasonable and well worth your time to see if they are a fit for you.

More Popular Email Marketing Services

• iContact
• Vertical Response
• Emma
• Campaigner
• CakeMail

One benefit of using an EMS service is that you can track who opened your newsletters and the number of clicks each generates.

When familiar with using your EMS service and writing newsletters, you can be creative and design an auto-response email for your audience.

This is an advanced tactic used by many successful businesses.

An auto-response email is a group of emails automatically delivered to your list.

What To Look For In An Email Marketing Service

Cost 

The first thing anyone looks at when deciding on a purchase is the price. 

When you seek to build your email list, do not search for the cheapest alternative initially. Instead, look at the cost after you have grown your list. 

You do not want to save a few cents today if it costs you more in the future.

Whatever decision you make, you are not locked in. 

You can always change services in the future. 

However, it will be lots of work, depending on how extensive your email list is.

Email Branding 

When writing to an email list, you want to ensure that email design is easy. 

You do not want to spend hours creating an email when you can be more productive doing something else.

Most excellent services will have a drag-and-drop feature to make designing a breeze. 

Before subscribing to a service, double-check how user-friendly the email design wizard is. 

You will be happy that you did. Also, check to see if you can incorporate the look of your art gallery.

Delivery And Analytics 

Look into how easy it is to deliver emails. 

Most services will allow you to schedule a date and time for the delivery so you can create your emails ahead of time. 

Along with the delivery, you will want to be able to assess the progress of the email. 

You will want to know how many people opened your email and who they were. 

This information is essential for your future marketing strategies.

You will also want to know if you can separate your list into specific groups. 

Separating your list will help you deliver the best content to the right people.

Support 

Look into the support that the service offers. 

You do not want to spend a day trying to fix something if their support service is poor. 

Find out if they provide forums as well as live support.

Social 

Most services will provide links for people to connect with you on your social media networks or share your email with their friends and family. 

The option to share your emails is a great way to build your list with new people. 

The email should also include an Opt-In for the reader to join your email list.

Best Email Provider For Artist

Each artist’s goals and financial status will determine the best email provider.

Do your homework before jumping into anything.

Trust me, doing your homework beforehand will save you headaches in the long run.

Make a list of your goals and objectives for your newsletters.

Go through the artists’ top email providers and see the best fit for you.

When Should You Get An Email Provider

I recommend signing up for a provider once you build your artist email list.

You can start to email art and stories about your art business once you have one email address.

The people who sign up for your list do not know how many are on the list, so don’t tell yourself, “I only have five emails, so I am not going to waste my time writing a newsletter.”

The people who gave you their email addresses did so because they wanted to see more art.

Show them you appreciate them by sending them a newsletter. You never know when your fans will decide to purchase an original piece or a giclee print.

Artist Email Marketing Basics

Now that you are motivated to build your email list let’s start by defining what you would like to achieve with your emails.

Ask yourself the questions below before you start writing your email:

• Are you trying to promote new are?
• Are you hoping to sell some art that has been hanging around?
• Would you like to generate some extra income selling prints of your art?
• Are you advertising a sale?
• Would you like to share with your audience a craft show you will attend?

Marketing your art online starts with a clear vision of what you want to achieve.

You need to clearly define your objectives before developing an art marketing plan.

Every newsletter you write should have a purpose.

If you do not know why you are writing to your email list, you are wasting your reader’s time and time.

Related Resource: How to Write Goals You Can Achieve Workbook

Be Consistent

Just like anything in life, consistency wins. It does not matter if you send out a newsletter once a week, once every two weeks, or once a month. Consistency is the key to success.

Decide what will work best for you and your schedule. Write it down on your calendar and stick to it.

You might want to consider increasing how many newsletters you send after you have been consistent with your schedule.

If you notice your ROI (Return on Investment) increases the more newsletters you send, it would be in your best interest to write more newsletters than spend time on something that does not give you anything in return.

Test the waters and see what works best for you. Whether you are selling your art locally or selling art online, your email list will be your big money-maker.

What Should Be In Your Newsletter

Deciding what to write in your newsletter will take some trial and error. 

Track the results. 

The data will allow you to make better decisions for your future newsletters.

Both free and premium EMS services have analytics that will show you what is working for you and what is not.

Let’s talk about some different topics you can include in your newsletters.

Blog Posts

You might want to consider adding a section for your latest blog posts. 

Include the blog post’s title, a few sentences, and a “Read More” link to the blog post.

Highlighting your newest blog posts will increase the traffic to your website and give your readers a chance to catch up with what is new with your art business.

Including evergreen content throughout the year works well also.

Evergreen content is content that does not age and is always relevant to your art business.

Examples of evergreen content:

• How To Frame New Paintings
• How To Store Art
• How To Clean Paintings

The examples above are evergreen content that will help your readers.

Some artists write a post like the ones outlined above and only share it once.

Keep in mind that there will always be new people who join your email list who have never seen those types of posts.

Including them will provide extra value, and they will be more likely to continue to open your newsletters.

Don’t worry about upsetting readers who have already read the posts.

If they don’t want to read the post, they skip over it.

Events

Include a section for your upcoming shows.

Some artists include a yearly schedule of events. This is a good idea and gives the readers plenty of time and options to plan.

A section could be added underneath the schedule showcasing past events. Show your readers what to expect by including pictures and highlights of the day. If you wrote a more detailed article, include the link.

Featured Art

Every newsletter should include a featured piece of art or print you promote.

Add a nice image or two of the artwork you are featuring, a short description, and a link to where they can learn more and buy the art.

Art In Progress

People love to watch art come to life. Progress images have always done well for me.

You might want to consider adding a section for work in progress. I have heard about some artists selling their artwork before it is completed. That is a win-win situation.

Art News

If you are on top of what is happening in the art world, you might want to add a section about trending topics. Many readers enjoy learning about what’s new in art. You can talk about upcoming art events, shows, gallery news, featured artists, and endless possibilities.

Strategies That Keep Your Email List Opening Your Newsletters

Your email is valuable because it keeps your name in front of the people interested in your artistic style and message.

Many artists spend a lot of time building their email list but do nothing with it after people subscribe.

As a result, their most significant asset for their online art business goes ice cold.

Below are some easy-to-implement strategies that will keep your email list looking forward to your next newsletter.

Publish Your Newsletters On A Regular Schedule

Every artist is going to have a unique audience.

Knowing who your audience is will help you determine how many times a month you should send newsletters.

I recommend you send at least one newsletter a month. Anything less will increase the chance of your subscribers forgetting who you are.

Related posts:

Sell Artwork Online By Knowing Who Your Audience Is Part 1

Sell Artwork Online By Knowing Who Your Audience Is Part 2

When you decide what works best for you and your audience, stick with it. Consistency is the key to success.

Write Enticing Subject Lines

Your subject lines will be the first thing your audience will see when they open their email.

Your subject line’s objective is to grab your subscribers’ attention.

Subject lines that tend to perform the best are descriptive and personal and give the subscriber a reason to open the newsletter.

CoSchedule has a free email subject line tester that will show you how compelling your subject line will be.

Visit CoSchedule Email Subject Line Tester to see how effective your subject line will be.

Provide What You Promise

Providing an exciting subject line is one way to get your subscribers to open your newsletters, but if you do not deliver content that backs up the subject line, they will be less likely to open future emails.

One of the best strategies you can use is consistently producing valuable content above and beyond what you provide on your site. You can accomplish this by writing new content for your audience or just providing links to posts you have written. A/B test to see what works best for your subscribers.

How To Improve Your Newsletter

One of the best ways to improve your newsletters is to write as if you were writing to a friend.

How many emails do you delete without opening them because you know it is just another email trying to sell something to you?

Your subscribers get bombarded with the same number of emails you do.

You can stand out by providing a personal newsletter that lets them get to know you. Doing so will not only improve your email open rate, but you will also build their trust and connect them to your artwork on a more personal level. They will think of you when they are ready to purchase artwork for themselves or as a gift.

Tools For Building An Email List

There are many different strategies you can try to build your email list, like offering free products or services, but today I would like to talk about two tools that will help you to increase your email subscribers.

The first tool I would like to share with you is Thrive Leads

Thrive Leads is a lead generation plugin created for WordPress.

Thrive Lead Features:

• Easy to design opt-in forms with a simple drag-and-drop editor
• Increase conversions by showcasing highly targeted offers
• A/B test to see what works best with your unique audience
• Actionable insights that will help you to be more productive with your opt-ins

The following WordPress plugin I would like to share with you is OptinMonster

Over 700,000 websites are using OptinMonster to build their email list, including Harvard University, McAfee, Pinterest, and American Express.

OptinMonter Features:

• You have a choice of pre-built templates, or you can build one from scratch with an easy drag-and-drop builder
• Target and personalize your offers with behavior automation
• A/B testing, edit in real-time

Email Marketing Solutions

The ability to connect emotionally with your target audience and your artwork starts with telling a story.

Instead of stating you are selling the art you are showcasing, start by telling the story behind the art.

• What motivated you to start the project?
• What was your inspiration?
• What is the message you are trying to get across with your creation?
• What makes the finished piece unique to you?

Important tip:

Remember that you only have limited time to connect your art with a potential buyer.

Keep your story short and to the point. Make every word count.

If you become long-winded, you will lose your reader, and you will lose a sale.

Email Marketing Tip – Create Urgency

After the story, you will want to transition to why you sending your email.

This is when you will want to create a sense of urgency.

If you can create a stronger sense of urgency on your landing page or website, you can successfully spur people to do what you want them to do on your page (i.e., convert). Urgency causes people to act quickly. Many of the problems that affect conversions are cognitive friction — people think too hard, wait too long, or simply don’t respond to our calls to action. Raising the urgency level cuts through a lot of this delay to significantly improve conversion rates. (Source: Marketing Land, Post written by Neil Patel)

 Here are some examples I have used to create urgency for my email list:

“For A Limited Time Save 20% Off This New Drawing Only Available To My VIP Collectors.”

“Buy Now And Save %15 Off Your Prints. Sale Ends Soon.”

“Now That You Know Why It Is So Important To Me To Help Protect Wildlife,  I Will Donate 25% For Each Print Sold by Sunday.”

Call-to-Action

Every newsletter should have one clear call to action. Do not overwhelm your readers with multiple options.

It has been shown one call-to-action will produce better results than offering several.

Develop an art marketing plan for the year, mapping out what you would like to carry out.

Final Thoughts On Email Marketing For Artists

The last thing I would like to cover in this post is the importance of reviewing the statistics of your marketing strategy.

Not every strategy will produce the same results for everyone.

You will want to log the results of every tactic you implement.

Over time you will start to see what works best for your unique audience.

Your efforts will be rewarded with increased sales in just a few months.

The best way to learn is by learning from your mistakes.

A mistake is not a failure. It is another step closer to reaching your goals.

Instead of being discouraged because an email did not produce the results you were hoping for, think of it as a learning experience. The following email you write will be better and more productive.

Are you excited about selling your art or increasing the sales you already have?  This Email Marketing Guide will help you build your email list. Start spending your energy on what will give you the best return.

Be patient. It will take time for you to learn what works best for your audience.

I hope you enjoyed this Email Marketing Guide. Let me know how it is working for you.

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• Get More Eyes on Your Art: 7 Proven Strategies for Online Visibility
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• Art Consultants vs. Art Advisors: The Pros and Cons
• How to Stand Out in a Saturated Art Market
• Making Money on DeviantArt: Tips for Selling Your Art