In order to sell art, you must first learn to promote it
No one plans to be a starving artist. It is possible to earn your living as an artist; many do. You may even become famous! Sell your artwork, gain recognition and live the life you want to. Sounds great doesn't it?
You want to earn your living as an artist, but where do you start?
Perhaps you should put your artwork into one of those large "e-galleries" on the Internet. How about art festivals or local galleries in your home town? What does it take to sell your artwork? With thousands of artists competing for attention in every city and on the Internet, it's hard to stand out. Most of those multi-artist e-galleries on the Internet offer a space for your art and some marketing help combined with a bit of exposure. Unfortunately, you'll be just another artist in the crowd of other artists hoping to get noticed. It's usually not enough.
Web sites don't promote themselves and a virtual web gallery can't do for you what you must do yourself. An Internet web site is important, but is only part of the answer.
You're passionate about your art.
You love to show it and talk about it. Best of all, you love to sell it. If you're like me, you certainly don't want to be a starving artist! If you're going to invest serious time and effort toward your artistic success, you want a return on your investment!
Greetings!
My name is Gregory Peters and I am an artist like you. I've invested years of time honing my skills to produce reasonably good works of art. Additionally, I use my creative skills to provide written and visual communications for companies large and small. I know what tools are needed to get people's attention and how to use them. It wasn't always this way though.
I struggled for years to help promote my art at great cost and much wasted time. I think I tried a bit of everything! I met many other artists with the same problem. It occurred to me there must be a way to sell my artwork without having to sell my soul in pursuit of my great love. I never did stumble upon a "magic formula" for fame and fortune, but the formula I did create comes close.
Promotional Tools + Media Usage + Market Exposure = Opportunity
Proper application of this formula leads to opportunity and that's what most artists need. No one can guarantee success, but opportunity can be achieved. Opportunity is a potential doorway to artistic success.
I gathered all of my skills and experience together because of a compelling need to get my art noticed and in the process came up with a pile of information that could help other artists as well. That information is stuffed into this book I created, called DIY Do It Yourself Art Promotion.
If you have faith in your abilities as an artist, and are willing to take some time to work with the promotional tools and methods I suggest, you can increase artistic opportunities to sell your art.
No matter how good you are, you must promote yourself.
One of the things I learned (the hard way), was that you must educate yourself about the business end of art. This is a hard lesson as artists generally are not businesspeople. Some of your fellow artists are good, some are very good, and a very few are truly outstanding. How good is your art? Is it world-class? Do you see yourself as the next Picasso? It makes no difference. Even mediocre artists can sell art and some good artists don't sell a thing. Why? Here's something to think about:
You will toil in virtual obscurity if no one knows your art exists.
You must promote yourself to achieve even marginal success. Most artists don't know how to promote their talents. We rely on others to do it for us. Sometimes we get lucky. Most times we just get taken advantage of. Unrewarded talent is one of the oldest and saddest stories around. Success is sometimes achieved through great connections, good luck or fortunate timing; friends, relatives and associates do help promote our work. A few of us promote through the use of agents (for a fee of course). Do you feel lucky?
"It's not what you know, it's who you know."
How many times have you heard that phrase? An artist rises to prominence through their casual introduction to a well-known personality and their circle of friends. This actually does happen. How many celebrities do you know?
You must promote yourself.
It is not enough to be a good artist. You must broadcast your creativity and beat your own drum. You must be bandleader, life-support, coach, and cheering team all rolled into one; and there are many types of promotion as well. This is often the difference between success and failure.
Build and use the tools I suggest, follow the advice I offer and opportunities to promote your art will start to appear. Who knows? You may even become famous. While no one can guarantee this, one thing is certain.
To sell your artwork you must first call attention to it. This is called promotion.
While not everyone will buy what you sell, your ability to convert looky-loos to customers increases proportionately every time they return for more information or to see what you offer. You can easily see the potential for opportunities to sell your art to people who are interested in what you do. Many of my readers and occasional customers have become friends as well.
The best formula for living your dreams is a balanced combination of thought and action.
Nothing gives you confidence like attempting something new that is in line with your creative passion; especially when it succeeds. As you pursue your dream of becoming a successful artist, you're going to find yourself needing to spend some time promoting. You will get proportionally out of it what you put into it. Wouldn't it be nice to have some creative suggestions?
No other tool in the world for instance, works as hard or as cheaply 24/7 to help promote your art as your own web site. While not everyone will buy what you sell, your ability to convert viewers to customers increases proportionately by creating a "gallery" for visitors to go to, and then creating interest in that special place. You can do this and I've got numerous suggestions on how to create content-based interest.
How about finding your niche?
If you sell artwork that is common to many other styles of artwork, it's going to be hard to get noticed. I recommend niche markets, if your product is too similar to your competition. Specialize in something like pictures of dogs if you do animals for instance. There's a huge market of dog lovers, and niche markets for each breed of dog. Is there something truly special you and you alone create? There's probably a niche market for it.
Spend time studying and learning more about web promotion and marketing
The internet is a great place to learn about the internet. More information than you could possibly need is available. Spend some time familiarizing yourself with what other artists are doing. You won't regret the time spent. I've got loads of links in my book to point you to where you'll find information you can use.
Manage your own web site
Don't let anyone steer you away from this opportunity. A web site can be part of your public identity. The only way to have this is to own the process. Don't let some third party influence your creativity.
Don't forget that just like politics, most art is local.
Your best opportunity to show your work and talk to people directly about your work is the local area in a 30 mile radius from where you live.
Every time you meet someone, hand them a business card and mention the web site address or display location. Everyone you talk to and every piece of printed or electronic communication you produce should direct your audience to where your art can be seen. I mention web sites, but this applies to any place your art is currently on display.
Be diligent about this and curiosity will bring you interested viewers from around the world. People talk. Any organization or group of people you belong to or associate with is a potential source of interested viewers. Get talking! Expand your network!
Opportunity will rarely come unannounced; you must go out to meet it!
As lines of communication open for you, opportunities are channeled back to you through your web site via means you probably never dreamed of and through people you may never meet. Your world gets larger and you get noticed. And, that's what this is all about, isn't it? It's called "viral" marketing which is simply a means to get people talking to other people about you and your artwork. Don't you often hear about a new movie when a friend talks about it? Viral marketing. By the way, viral marketing is FREE!
My book talks about the one thing you rarely find in any of the information about selling artwork; promotion. There's lots of places to put your art, but if you're not promoting it, it won't get the exposure you hope for. Between the book and information I post on my blog site, you'll be able to arm yourself to go do battle! Ultimately, your efforts will lead to a sale.
Just because the economy is poor does not mean people have stopped buying art. Dare to be different, address the needs and wants of your buying public and you'll make art sales a reality you can take to the bank.
Promoting your art is a skill you can learn! You'll need some tools, though.
There is a range of promotional tools every artist needs. You must help your customers find you and recognize you as a professional. If these tools are not in your toolbelt, get busy!
Business Cards
Make this a priority.
Brochures, Flyers and Postcards
Gotta have 'em!
eMail, Telephone and Cellphone
You really must have email as that is a key means of communication these days. Every letter you send should have your contact information on it. Some artists are so mobile, they don't even have land-lines anymore, and have migrated fully into the wireless domain. The important thing is, make it easy for folks to get in touch with you.
Web site
A web site, even a simple one, is a means to offer everyone you meet an opportunity to see your work in an environment you control. This is truly the essence of a picture being worth a thousand words. Try 10,000 words. You simply can't physically reach as many people as you need to get the word out about your talents.
Sell at Art Festivals
There is no better way to meet and greet the buying public than a live festival or art show. Response is immediate. It is the most direct means of selling art that I know of. I talk extensively about festivals in my book, DIY Do It Yourself Art Promotion.
Publicity and Public Relations
What is publicity? Getting your name associated with an event.
Paint a public mural Win an award Donate art to a worthy cause Teach a class or workshop about your art Get divorced Gety married
Write a book
Take a trip Get a grant or fellowship Have a public birthday Donate your time
Start a business Quit a business Perform in a play Live in a strange house
Build a strange house Start an art colony
Fight city hall
Make music
Create exotic food
Start an art exhibit or show Do something with sports
Do something with a school
Become part of an association Win money Lose money
Promote your pet and go along for the ride
Be a hero Do something for a famous person
Get the idea? Any significant event could become news and you're the star. So write a Press Release (PR) and get some publicity! I'll show you how to write a decent PR.
Build and use the tools I suggest, follow the advice I offer and opportunities to promote your art will start to appear.
No one needs to be a starving artist. I want to see you succeed. This information acts like a supercharger when you must get noticed. Grab hold and pull your future one step closer. It's the shortest path you'll find to help you promote your art. Whether you want to sell artwork locally or venture into the expanding world market of the Internet, this is the kind of information you can use today.
DIY shows you a range of promotional communication tools you're probably not using. If you don't promote your art, or you don't have anyone promoting it for you, you simply can't be as successful as you might like.
Read what others are saying about DIY.
"I think your artist handbook is terrific! It should be mandatory reading for all independent artists trying to market their own work."
Rob P. (www.robpadilla.com)
"You have tackled such a vast and complex subject that I was very impressed with how organized and clear-cut your breakdown of the information was. In addition, I found the material very positive and approachable. I felt like this was information I could start using right away."
Michelle V. (www.michelevavonesestudio.com)
DIY Art Promotion includes information on:
Promoting your artwork to potential customers Selling your artwork Expanding your opportunities Web sites Promotional tools Resource links for services and free information Types of art markets The media Traffic
DIY will hopefully save you time and effort. Think of it as part of a toolkit you can use to think, act and look like a pro. I provide gobs of links to some of the best information on the Internet, so you won't have to waste your time looking for answers. In the current economy you can't afford to use traditional approaches to promoting your art anymore.
Establishing a dialogue with potential customers for instance, makes you more appealing and can lead to future sales. This is something artists often fail to do.
DIY is like a breath of fresh air to your art career. I wrote this for you!
These tools really work. I use these very techniques to promote art and keep my name in front of people, and now I offer them to you. I want to see you succeed.
You've probably got the basics; a desk, PC and a phone. Now, it's up to you to put some promotional tools together and make yourself known. Your adoring public needs you, but they may not know it yet. It's up to you to tell them.
Got a gimmick?
Recognizable logo? Slogan? Brand? I talk about the importance of branding in my book. It's important to draw distinctions between you and all the other artists who compete with you. If you don't think brands are important, you must not know who Nike, Coke and Burger King are.
Don't stop with one good campaign or promotional method. There are many. The public is fickle and has a short memory. DIY provides the information necessary to get focused on the tools you need for successful promotional efforts. I'd be willing to bet that there is someone out there who likes your art. Just like a persistent salesman, each NO is one step closer to a YES. With this information you can outmaneuver your competition and capture that YES!
Your public is waiting.
DIY Do It Yourself Art Promotion is available as an instant download for $19.95.
Order the book today. I want to see you succeed, and then I want to hear about your success.
Gregory Peters
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