Last Updated on March 6, 2020

Most artists do not like to hear the words art marketing. Do you want to sell your art online? Would you like to make money from your talents? Would you like to have someone enjoy your art in their home? If you answered yes to these questions you will need to market your art. You need an art marketing plan. Before you can develop an art marketing plan you will need to answer the question – What is an art marketing plan?

What is an Art Marketing Plan?

Marketing Plan Definition

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.”

Your art marketing plans are the goals you set for your business.

Yes, if you are selling art, you are running a business. It does not matter if you are selling your art on eBay, an Etsy store, Facebook, a blog, website or even at a fair. Once you have exchanged a product or service for revenue, you are operating a business.

Before you can develop an art marketing plan you need to understand the difference between promoting, marketing and marketing strategy.

Promoting – to encourage the sales, acceptance, etc., of (a product), especially through advertising or other publicity.

Marketing –  the total of activities involved in the transfer of goods from the producer or seller to the consumer or buyer, including advertising, shipping, storing and selling.

(Promoting and marketing definitions courtesy of Dictionary.com)

Marketing Strategy – (defined by Wikipedia) has the fundamental goal of increasing sales and achieving a sustainable competitive advantage. A marketing strategy includes all basic, short-term, and long-term activities in the field of marketing that deal with the analysis of the strategic initial situation of a company and the formulation, evaluation, and selection of market-oriented strategies and therefore contribute to the goals of the company and its marketing objectives.

To make it easy to remember,

Develop a Marketing Strategy

Before you can begin a marketing plan you need to understand your marketing strategy, goals and what you want to fulfill.

A marketing strategy is an explanation of the goals you are hoping to achieve from your marketing.

The marketing strategies need to compliment your art business goals.

Do you have goals? Do you have a clear vision of where you want to be in three years, five years or even ten years?

If you do not have business goals please take my free How to Write Goals Online Video Course.

The goals you write will keep you focused, motivated and inspired to achieve your vision.

I have met many people who do not like to write goals, only because they are afraid to fail.

There is no such thing as failing. Every plan you put in place will not give you the results you will be hoping for. What you learn from the process will be priceless. You will learn what works and what does not work. The plans that showed little results can be tweaked until you are happy with the outcome. Plans that are not working can be tossed away.

The only plans that fail are the plans that have not been put into action.

Vision

Before you can develop your art marketing strategy you will want to have a clear vision of where you would like your art business in three, five and ten years.

• What would you like to be doing in five years?
• Would you like to sell enough art to be able to enjoy a nice vacation every year?
• Would you like to sell enough art to put your children through college?
• Would you like to have an art business as a career?
• Would you like the revenue from your art sales to be put into your retirement funds?
• Would you like to sell art so you can buy things you can not afford?

Everyone has different dreams and visions and will change over time.

The vision you have today will be the start of your journey.

For help on writing a vision statement read, Artist Vision and Mission Online Business.

Goals

Now that you know where you would like to be, you will want to write specific goals that will guide you towards your vision.

Break down the goals into long-term goals, mid-term goals, and short-term goals.

Each goal needs to be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely.

For help writing your goals read Sell Art Online Basics Setting Goals.

If you prefer video, take my free video course How to Write Goals.

Develop a Marketing Plan

If you are going to bake a new cake that you have never baked before, would you just grab stuff from the cabinets and start mixing ingredients together? No, you would research what you would need and develop a plan.

The same goes for your marketing. If you start trying different strategies without having a plan you will become disappointed and frustrated.

Now that you can answer, “What is an art marketing plan?”  It is time to start writing one.

Specific Objective

The first step is to write out specific objectives you would like to accomplish.

What would you like to achieve with this plan?

Let’s say you want to sell five extra paintings this month. This will be your objective.

Take some time to decide what you would like to accomplish. It can be one, two or even three different goals.

Having a clear vision of what you are working for will make it easier for you to develop a plan.

Tasks

After you have listed your objectives you will want to write specific action plans you will take to achieve your objectives.

Let’s break down the tasks you might take for the example we are using: selling five extra paintings this month.

1. First, you will need five extra paintings to sell. Your first task would be to create the art.
2. Next, you would need to upload them to your online art gallery so people can buy the art.
3. You might write separate blog posts that will tell the story behind each piece of art.
4. You might promote the art and blog posts on your social media sites.
5. You might send an email to your email list.
6. You might have a sale for the art.

Review

When you are done writing the tasks, review them with your objectives.

Make sure they complement your goals.

You want to be productive with your time.

Every job you do should lead you closer to completing your objective.

Calendar

When all the tasks complement your objectives write them on your calendar. Decide what tasks need to be done first. List them by importance.

For example, you would not promote art on your social media sites if they do not exist yet.

Be realistic when you are writing tasks down on your calendar. Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to accomplish each job.

It is easy to get discouraged and give up if you feel like you cannot get anything done.

Tools I use for my planning:

The more organized you are, the less time it will take you to carry out particular tasks. I have found over time these work best for me.

You might like to use something different and that is ok as long as you write your art marketing plan every month and have it logged down so you can review the progress. In order for your art business to reach its fullest potential in a timely manner, you need to plan and access.

Find what works best for you and stick with it.

Action Publishing 2017 Minimalist Day Planner, Large

House of Doolittle 2017 Monthly Desk Pad Calendar, Classic, 22″ x 17″

Assess

The last step is to assess your plan. Is everything going as planned?

It is important to review your daily to-do list every day to make sure you are on track and go over the progress of what has already been done.

Are you getting the results you were hoping for?

If not, what changes can you make to see better results?

Reviewing your progress daily will prevent you from falling behind.

Conclusion:

Now you can answer the question – What is an art marketing plan?  You also have learned how to write an effective art marketing plan.

Take some time every month to write out a plan for the following month.  You will be amazed by the progress you can make if you stay focused and organized. The bottom line is, if you would like to sell art online, you will need to develop an art marketing plan.

The Productive Artist How to Live Your Dreams The right mindset and time management skills are essential for any business. These topics are often not talked about but are key elements for your success. You will learn how to have a winning mindset and time management skills necessary for operating a successful art business. Available at Amazon or Download today.

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