As an artist, you must do more than just create art; you need to market and promote your art. If you don’t make the effort to put your artwork out in the world, it won’t reach the right audience of potential buyers. Art marketing begins with a decision about what you want to achieve. It’s not an overwhelming process when you break it down into small steps.
If you are a new artist, you want to focus on building your reputation in the local art community. If you are a seasoned artist, you may be ready to target a national or international audience. For all artists, you must reach a community that connects to your medium and reach people who are interested in the theme of your art. Think about where you are in terms of your art career and your connections and then decide what goals you want to achieve. When you reach this point, then you can market and promote your art accordingly.
Do This First
The cutting-edge art marketing strategy is getting your artwork displayed on a digital wall frame that has a monthly subscription. It’s known as a digital art frame subscription service. It is a large digital picture frame that features artwork collections from new and old artists in a digital format. People buy the digital frame, subscribe to the art service, and create an art playlist that rotates the art. You can submit your artwork to a company such as Nimbus Frame that manufacturers digital frames and offers an art subscription service, and your artwork is displayed on their client’s digital picture frames which are located in homes and businesses. To submit your artwork and get more information about this type of art marketing, please visit https://nimbusdigitalart.com/for-artists/.
A digital art subscription service is similar to other technology shifts, such as the music industry moving from CD’s to digital downloads, or the publishing industry moving from physical books to e-books and e-book readers. Art collections are also shifting, not only to digital art but also where historical art is digitally replicated and displayed for a lower cost or free on digital art frames.
After your art has been submitted to a digital art frame subscription service, try out some of these ideas to market and promote your art.
Art Galleries
Art galleries are your extended sales force. Like most retail stores, art galleries take a percentage of the sale price as their commission. However, art galleries help evangelize and build your story around why your work is interesting and valuable and why your art is worth collecting. If you are an up and coming artist, an art gallery can promote your art by showing how its value will increase, and if you are an established artist, the gallery attracts many buyers who are looking for your art brand.
Getting your art into an art gallery requires you to contact every gallery in your city or town. It’s easy to get frustrated with this process, so you must be confident that at least one gallery will like your art portfolio. Remember to follow up with a phone call. When you are accepted by an art gallery, you have to discuss the fine print such as does the gallery have exclusive rights to sell your art, is there a geographic restriction, how will they represent you, or do they sell similar work.
Local Exhibits
Most artists want to make it big in the art world, and all of these artists started small. Your local art community is your first target market. People love to support local artists. You can find many opportunities to start building your reputation and showing your art in your hometown by volunteering in your community.
- Community projects. Many towns have projects to improve the look of the community, such as trash clean up days or park restoration. Volunteer your skills and expertise by offering to paint or sculpt a visual reminder of the community’s beauty.
- Local schools. Art teachers are more than willing to host a local artist to spend time with their students in the classroom. Volunteer to work with the students and teach them something new. This is a great way to build your reputation in the community.
- Charity events. Get information about local charity events and fundraisers and offer to create a piece of artwork as a donation to the cause. It’s also good to volunteer your time at the event itself because you meet new people in the community.
- Public areas. Create your art in a public place. This is a great way to showcase your work because strangers will approach you and ask about your art. Have a business card ready to present to these potential buyers.
- Local galleries. Visit all the galleries in your community and talk with the gallery owner about your work. Local galleries have an established clientele, and they are always looking for new artwork to exhibit. Local galleries are also small businesses, and they can offer individual attention to both artists and patrons.
- Small business. Not everyone visits local art galleries, but most people go into stores, banks, libraries, cafes, restaurants and other small businesses. These locations provide a way to show your art to new eyes.
- Art council. Many cities and towns have an arts council that sponsors events and manages art activities in the community. Art councils often give funding to local artists for community projects. This is a great opportunity to show your work and be recognized in the community. It’s always about who you know, so go to every local art event and introduce yourself and your work.
Join a Business Network
You may be thinking that artists don’t join business networks. Your art is your business, and joining a business networking group is an untapped opportunity to market and promote your art. A business network such as the local Chamber of Commerce may offer a “leads” group. This is a group where local businesses make referrals to one another for goods and services. As an artist, when you attend the leads group meetings, you will be a rarity and a talking point among the other business owners. Artists don’t usually join these groups, which means you will stand out. This is an excellent way to build your network and your reputation in the community.
After you make connections in the local business community, you will have an opportunity to display your artwork in local businesses. Businesses love to be seen supporting the arts, and every business has an office or store that needs pictures, paintings or sculptures as part of their decor. Building the relationship in the networking group is the first step, and then those businesses will be more likely to promote your art for you.
Call the Press
Most towns have their own communication system, whether it’s a local newspaper, newsletter, or social media page. Reporters who work at a local newspaper are always looking for articles to write about unique people and events in the community. As an artist, most people think of you as unique, so getting an article featured about your work is a great way to promote your art.
If your work was featured in a new exhibition or you won an art contest or you donated your artwork to a local charity, write a press release about it. If you worked with students at a local school, ask the school to feature you in their newsletter, and then write a press release about your volunteer work. Write and send all these press releases to the local newspaper or community newsletter and ask to be featured and published. If there is a neighborhood social media page, you can join the page and post there.
Art marketing is all about making sure your artwork is frequently seen by your target audience. When you are featured by local media, you establish yourself as a credible artist who people trust, and they will recognize your name when they see your work in local galleries and businesses.
Art Competitions
Art competitions are an effective way to market and promote your art because you get exposure to the art world. Investigate local and regional art competitions and enter the ones that best fit your art career goals. If you are working towards making a name for yourself with a specific medium, you want to enter art competitions that feature your medium. You also want to introduce yourself to other artists in that medium.
These are some of the benefits of entering an art competition.
- Display your work among your peers. The best way to push yourself as an artist is to get feedback from other artists in your medium. The insight you gain from this feedback will enable you to grow as an artist.
- Display your work among curators, gallerists and art editors. Exposing your art to these types of business professionals in the art world can positively impact your art career. Art competition winners are often promoted by the gallery who is hosting the event.
- Display your work to gain visibility. Participating in an art competition puts your work out in the world. Even if you don’t win, your participation in the competition goes a long way to market and promote your art. Entering an art competition is a cost-effective way for new artists to gain experience and build their reputation.
Digital Art Marketing
All industries benefit from digital marketing, and the art industry is no exception. Digital art marketing is a very important part of promoting your art. There are different ways to use digital marketing to promote your art.
- Online galleries. Most physical art galleries also have an internet presence. An online art gallery is perfect for promoting your art because it attracts new art collectors and art enthusiasts from around the world.
- Art websites. Many art websites feature an artist’s page that will promote your art. An artist’s page is an easy way for art enthusiasts to find you online and see your artwork. If you are regularly featured on an artist’s page, remember to add that website address on your business card or postcard. When you send emails to your customers, remember to include this link in the email. When your artwork is featured on a third-party site, it improves your credibility and reputation as an artist.
- Social media. It goes without saying that social media is one of the most popular ways to market your art. Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest are the best options because they rely on visual images, and art marketing is all about the visual component. Social media allows you to reach new fans and stay in touch with current customers. Having a website and staying active on social media can make a huge difference in marketing your art.
Digital Art Frames and Art Marketing
Remember that a digital art frame subscription service is the very latest technology for marketing your art. This avenue for promoting your art can build followers around the world. Digital art is new, cutting-edge technology that is quickly gaining momentum around the world. To submit your artwork and get more information about this type of art marketing, please visit https://nimbusdigitalart.com/for-artists/.
