By Emma Wilson
There are a lot of artists that struggle to promote their art. Artists want to connect with people so that they can sell the artwork to those who love and are passionate about art. For an artist who is new to the market, selling his/her artwork can be a little daunting. An artist needs to identify and understand the market so that he can connect with prospective customers. If you, as an artist, are able to form a good connection with the target audience on a meaningful level, all the things will fall into place, and you would be able to increase your art sales.
E-commerce and Social Media have benefited many businesses by enhancing their sales. One of the best ways for artists to increase their reach is by promoting and selling art online. While art marketing and persuading consumers to buy art is not an easy process, an artist needs to be persistent with the way the customers view the art. The artist should revolve meaningful stories around the art so that it engages people to think about it. Selling your art to the right customers requires time, dedication, effort, and devotion. Below are seven strategies that can help to increase the sales of your art.
- CONTEXTUALIZE YOUR ART: The placement of your art is essential in attracting your prospective customers. You need to design a context in the gallery, art fair, or any other exhibition where you would want to sell your art. The people visiting your art gallery would be the ones who have a lot of interest in art, and they would want to have discussions with you regarding your artwork. Giving your prospective customers a deeper understanding and engaging them into healthy and interesting discussions around the artwork is an effective way of pursuing them to buy your work. You should weave a story with a proper context so that your prospective customers take an interest in your art and relate to it. However, make sure that you don’t sound pushy, rather, maintain a balance of capturing the attention of your audience and subtly promoting your work.
- TAKE AN INTEREST IN YOUR VISITOR’S CHOICES: Asking your visitors what caught their eye can help you in creating a good impression on your visitors. You can also ask them about their color preferences, or what memories would they want the artwork to bring to them. A lot of people around the world like to purchase artwork that has a link to their strong memories, therefore, you should take an interest, and enquire the same from them. The more you encourage your visitors to elaborate about their interests, the more clear your understanding would be about their interests. People keen on purchasing artwork want the feeling that the artist will understand their personality and give them a suitable piece that they want. Encouraging them to make an emotional connection with the artwork would help you in converting them into your customers.
- DISPLAY YOUR ARTWORK IN FAMOUS CAFES: There are a lot of cafes around the whole world which allow independent artists to display their artwork, getting in touch with such cafes in your city or the area where you would want to sell your art can create a positive impact on your sales. You need to do thorough research on your target audience and also on the people who can convert into being your target audience. Once you complete your research, you have to outline a basic theme for displaying your art so that your art stands out and attracts a lot of prospective buyers. Displaying your artwork at cafes is also a great way of gaining exposure to a larger audience base as you can get in touch with several people and distribute your visiting cards. You need to include your social media details so that the people can go through your artwork and then call or visit you for making the purchase.
- OFFER A VARIETY OF CANVASES: Innovating with the type of canvas used for your artwork can enhance your sales. There are different kinds of canvases available on the market, like oil canvases, absorbent canvases, and universal canvases. Selecting a canvas for a different type of artwork can make it look extraordinary. Extensive research about the different varieties of paintings that you can make can also help you in attracting a larger audience. You should also experiment with different themes that will help in increasing your sales. A single art theme will attract only selective people, while a variety of themes made on different mediums will attract a much larger number of people. A particular piece of art made on different canvases can also help to increase sales, as different people would want to buy the same artwork, but their preferred choice of canvas could differ.
- MARKET YOUR CONTENT CREATIVELY: Social Media Advertising is the new in. While the focus of offline sales lies in direct sales pitching, selling on social media is all about content marketing. Content Marketing is essential for you to increase your scale as it helps you to engage your prospective buyers through social media posts such as blog posts, videos, images, etc. An artist creates a parallel world with his/her art. Therefore, it becomes essential for the artist to market that art in such a way that it reaches out to the target market. To begin with effective content marketing, you need to have your website and accounts on various social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. The next step involves publishing content that increases customer engagement and attracts them to visit your website. Your website should clearly state all your work, and it should have a direct call to action from where the visitor can turn into your customer. If you follow these steps efficiently, you will see your sales boost in a short span of time.
- CONNECT WITH BLOGGERS: Influencer Marketing grasps the audience base of an influencer who has a solid reputation and a large number of followers. To increase visibility and sales, selecting the right influencer for your business is crucial. Selecting a list of influencers and then contacting them will give you a deeper understanding as to who will be a better advocate for your business. After selecting your influencer, you need to focus on the style of delivering information regarding your art. You would not want to be very pushy, and neither would you want to market something that does not attract many people. Therefore you need to be creative and create a balance between your art and its marketing.
- CREATE A GOOD WORD OF MOUTH: A good word of mouth from your existing customers can help to attract more people to your art gallery. If you start using the word of mouth tactics correctly, you would see your sales increase. The majority of customers trust the recommendations of their friends and family more than any other form of advertising or marketing. Therefore, if you create an enjoyable experience for even one of your customers, you will see that your visitors and customers will increase. The experience of the visitors should be unique than any other art galleries that fall under your competition. If your artwork is exclusive and unique, the customers will spread the word about it to their friends and family, which will, in turn, help in increasing your sales. Engaging your customers in your artwork and what went into your mind while creating that piece can have a huge impact on their minds. From creating a strong storyline to marketing your work effectively, you need to keep track of the amount of engagement you get from each activity that you perform for increasing the sales of your artwork. You should put effort into creating a good relationship with your customers by maintaining constant and clearer communication with them.