marketing strategy

watercolor painting in blues purples and grays of the moon over a mountain range clouds above | on Art Biz Success

When You Don’t Feel Like Doing Art Business Tasks

Are you avoiding art business tasks because you “don’t feel like it?” Hey, I get it.

I have a long list of things I’d rather not do. But If you are trying to make money from your art, you are responsible for certain tasks that you may not feel like doing.

If you are trying to make money from your art, you are responsible for certain tasks that you may not feel like doing.

Perhaps considering a few questions might help you get past the struggle.

When You Don’t Feel Like Doing Art Business Tasks Read

20 Ways to Lure People to Your Website

It’s the darndest thing about having a website: people aren’t going to visit just because you build it.

Creating a website is just the first step. Now you have to attract people to it, and driving traffic to your site is an ongoing task.

Add some of these ideas to your marketing mix for more eyes on your art.

Best, Basic Practices

1. Write a newsletter article with a hook, which requires recipients to visit your site to read the end of the article.

2. In your emails and social media posts, tell people why they should click. What’s in it for them? Why should they interrupt their focus and visit your site?

3. Give something away to people who visit your site and sign up for your list.

4. Mention your website address on your voicemail.

5. Add your website address to the back or underside of your art! If an attached piece of paper disappears, the website will still be with the piece. (If you work through galleries, run this by them first.)

6. Blog regularly. People are more likely to return if they know there is going to be fresh content.

Social Media Strategies

7. Ask a few bloggers you admire if you could write a guest post for them. Include the link to your website in your byline.

8. Make sure your website link is visible to the public on your personal and business profiles on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. I’m surprised at how many artists don’t do this. (See more about this under One Final Lesson at the bottom of this blog post.)

9. If you have a business page on Facebook, see that it is your employer on your personal profile. It’s easy to do. Click on “Edit Profile” and then “Add a workplace.” Start typing in the name of your business page and save.

10. Change your website URL frequently on Instagram. Feature links to

20 Ways to Lure People to Your Website Read

Why Hacking Social Media Isn’t The Answer (and Why I Won’t Teach It)

Social media will not fix your broken marketing.

There aren’t enough friends, likes or followers that can help you when you have a weak foundation.

Plenty of online marketers will tell you how to hack social media, by which I mean they will teach shortcuts and tricks for “getting” followers and likes on social media.

There’s nothing wrong with learning this information, but I won’t teach it because I find it terribly uninteresting and, ultimately, unhelpful to the longevity of artists’ careers. The online marketers do it well, so I leave the job to them.

Out of Whack

For most artists, hacking social media is out of alignment with their values and it shows. Many artists are suspicious of gimmicks and tricks that reek of blatant self-promotion.

You can’t make something work for you if it doesn’t jive with who you are as a person.

Let’s start by examining the word “get” as in “getting” new likes and followers. It’s grabby. It’s icky.

What if, instead, we embrace the word “attract,” as in I’d like to attract more fans and followers.

If you agree that this approach is bundled in better energy, stick with me.

This Is More Valuable

Why Hacking Social Media Isn’t The Answer (and Why I Won’t Teach It) Read

42 Ways to Improve Marketing Results

If marketing is everything you do to build your reputation and sell your art, there are a lot of areas in which you could improve. In which we could all improve.

I share this list with some hesitation. It’s intended as a checklist to work through, not to tackle at once.

Remember, our businesses and careers are works in progress.

Your Name

1. Decide on a single professional artist name and use it consistently for your art business – if you want to be remembered. I don’t care what it is and it doesn’t have to be the same name you sign to your art.

It’s critical that people can easily find you by your name and associate your name with your art.

Networking

2. Meet more people! The more people you know, the more opportunities you will create.

3. Show other people you care about them. Focus on building trust and relationships rather than selling to everyone who crosses your path. Along similar lines …

4. Keep notes on people on their business cards and add to your database so you can personalize your relationships.

5. Send “It was nice to meet you” cards or emails after connecting with someone (unless it wasn’t nice to meet them and you don’t care if you ever see them again).

Branding & Image

6. Use the same font and colors for all of your marketing material. And please! Stay away from

42 Ways to Improve Marketing Results Read

A.B.E. (Always Be Evolving)

You might have noticed something about Art Biz Coach and me: we’re always changing.

I can’t help it. I am continually learning, so why should my services and offerings remain the same?

I always look for ways to offer more information in a fresh way that best serves my clients.

This is why there is no more Art Biz Bootcamp or Organize Your Art Biz – because I found ways to improve them.

Last year I introduced the Art Career Success System, a 5-month program to grow your art business. This year … Yep! It’s changing. It’s still around, but in a radically different format. (Stay tuned for that.)

Creative Evolution

I believe in personal and professional evolution. In fact, I may be addicted to it.

As an example, I expressed frustration with my coach recently about the fact that I seem to reinvent my programs every year. Won’t it ever calm down? I wondered.

She suggested, gently, that this is my nature. I have an artist’s soul and I like to create things.

Guilty!

There’s such joy for me in growing, planning, and improving. I’m guessin’ that you’re the same. You’re an artist, after all.

You’re all about making and creating. New! Next! Again!

New experiences add to your palette.

New visions force you to think differently.

New encounters ask you to question the same ole same ole.

Ignore these urges at your professional peril because the alternative is stagnation. Stuck-ness.

A.B.E. (Always Be Evolving) Read

Marcie Scudder's On This Very Day photograph

5 Recommendations for Online Success

It used to be that the only way artists knew to promote their art was to send 35-millimeter slide packets to a gallery. That was about $30 worth of slides with first-class postage and a return envelope with the same amount of postage.

It was expensive, and the packets often disappeared into the ether. Lots of money down the drain, and artists complained.

Now you can instantly promote your art through any number of online portals – for FREE!

Artists continue to complain because now there are too many options. You could spend all of your time online promoting your art instead of making it. Bad idea.

You’re an artist, and artists make art. Without the art, you have nothing to promote and no way to earn income from your art.

Instead of wasting a lot of time online, learn to spend your time wisely so that your efforts are rewarded and not squandered. Dedicate your online time to creating the most valuable content you can possibly share with your admirers.

Quality over quantity.

Here are 5 recommendations for content creation success, which lead to online success.

5 Recommendations for Online Success Read

Vickie Martin collage

Write a Better Artist Statement with These 3 Questions

A strong artist statement is essential to the effective marketing of your art.

There’s no shortcutting this one. You need at least one artist statement for each body of work you create.

Writing your statement is a process. Like any other type of writing or artmaking, you can’t expect to nail it in a single sitting.

And, like all good things that take time, it will be time well spent. The process helps you gain clarity about your art.

If you can’t define your art in a statement, you will likely face difficulty marketing your work. Where else will you get language for wall labels, brochure and website text, informal presentations, and conversations?

Answering these three questions will help you write a better artist statement.

1. What, in particular, do you want people to see in your work? Is it . . .

  • Your labor?
  • A special material?
  • An emotion?
  • Color? Line? Texture?

What is important to you?

Discuss how you handle this aspect of your work. The words you choose for your statement should be clues that lead viewers to these discoveries.

Declaring “I love color” is weak language. Who doesn’t love color? Show us exactly how you respond to color and use it to transfer meaning from your head and heart to the viewer.

2. What is a distinguishing characteristic of your art?

Write a Better Artist Statement with These 3 Questions Read

yep-for-sale

Yep, It’s Art and It’s for Sale

Imagine the scenario: A patron visits your open studio event, walks around for a few minutes, and asks, “Are these for sale?” Or this version: A friend shares an image of your art that you posted on Facebook. Hundreds of people see it and a handful wish they could own it. But they think they can’t afford it because there’s no price. So they forget about it and move on.

Yep, It’s Art and It’s for Sale Read

Rebecca Finch art

Multiple Websites for Multiple Businesses

Rebecca Finch asks: “I work primarily in fine art paintings, but I also do graphic design and portrait photography. Do I have to create different websites for each?” In I’d Rather Be in the Studio I write: 3 different styles of art = 3 different audiences = 3 times the marketing effort.
I’m sure this probably isn’t what you want to hear, Rebecca, but this is you. You have 3 different businesses and, therefore, 3 different audiences.

Multiple Websites for Multiple Businesses Read

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