by Becky Sciullo | Jan 8, 2021 | Artist Blogging 101, Learning
I recently read this article, 8 Ways to Overcome Imposter Syndrome as an Artist, from one of my favorite resources, Artwork Archive. It got me thinking about how blogging is an excellent way for an artist to overcome this common anxiety.
We all start somewhere. No matter where you are in your art business journey, give yourself the credit you deserve. If you struggle with this, read this article. Then consider how blogging can support the recommended solutions to overcoming it.
How Blogging Can Help Artists to Overcome Imposter Syndrome
Blogging helps you to achieve the proper mindset about your work. The act of proactively writing about your work will help you to get into the right mindset about your position as a professional artist.
Starting a blog can feel like taking a risk. It gets you out of your comfort zone. However, the reward of consistently blogging about your artwork is much more than the risk.
It functions as a “brag box” – what better place to showcase your awards and successes.
Blogging helps you to become more comfortable sharing your work. And, you can be as selective as you want about which pieces to show.
Blogging allows you to mentor your audience. You can do this by sharing a technique, posting a video of a demonstration or an artist talk.
Finally, blogging helps you to find your voice. The process of writing about your work regularly better prepares you for communicating in other areas of your business.
Hopefully, you feel the confidence you should about your work. If not, consider blogging to help shed “imposter syndrome.”
Want to learn more?
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Photo by Tamara Gak on Unsplash
There are affiliate links in this list for some of the products and services that I recommend.
by Becky Sciullo | Jan 4, 2021 | Learning
Here are some art marketing ideas for your Monday morning.
Six Art Marketing Ideas
1 – You’ve probably heard of the “wedding singer.” Have you heard of the “wedding artist” – an artist who paints live during a wedding. Even if painting portraits or images of people or painting live aren’t your jam – there are other ways this could work. What about a custom painting of the wedding bouquet? Could you do an abstract inspired by the couple’s first dance? There are endless ideas if you put your mind to this one. Many weddings are on hold right now. Get out in front of the wedding wave that will eventually happen with your concept.
2 – Focus on existing customers. Based on their experience, the chances of an existing customer purchasing from you is far more likely than with a new follower who is still getting to know your work.
3 – The new year has me thinking about calendars. Have you ever consider selling a calendar featuring your art? What an inexpensive way for people who love your work to enjoy it throughout the year.
4 – It’s been a bit dreary where I live. Help your fans beat the winter doldrums with a virtual studio tour using Zoom or Facebook live.
5 – Subscription boxes are all the rage. I purchased this one for my daughter. Maybe you could create a version for your art business? Put that thinking cap on again and see what you come up with.
6 – Make sure you include social sharing links at the end of your blog posts to make it easy for your readers to share your work and content.
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by Becky Sciullo | Dec 28, 2020 | Learning
Here are some art marketing ideas for your Monday Morning.
Five Art Marketing Ideas
1 – Do you welcome commission work? If so, it would help if you announced to your audience that you are actively taking new clients in 2021. Then, give them some details on the process and share some past work. Explain that there are limited spots. Get on top of mind with your clients in the new year.
2 – Subscribe and participate with the platform Talenthouse.
3 – Do a year-end review. Google “year-end marketing review,” and you will find plenty of information on how to do one. You mainly want to cover what went well, what not so well, what you want to do better next year.
4 – Consider 2021 holiday marketing NOW. Take a final look around at what other artists did this year. Are there any ideas you can use for next year? Please make a note now and then plan it out in advance. It would help if you started planning for holiday marketing in July.
5 – Consider an artist residency. While many are paused now, it’s still a good time to research if there are any that interest you. Residencies are a great way to expand your practice and make new contacts.
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by Becky Sciullo | Dec 21, 2020 | Learning
Here are some art marketing ideas for your Monday morning.
Ten Art Marketing Ideas
1 – Cultivate patrons. You can use a platform like Patreon or set something up right from your own site. Patrons pay a certain amount each month in exchange for free lessons, the first look at new art, or simply supporting an artist they love.
2 – Does your work lend itself to a coloring page? Create pages and offer them as free downloads in exchange for joining your email newsletter. Then, encourage people to post completed pages on social media while tagging you.
3 – Pitch an idea for stories involving your art to a local morning or special-interest news shows in your town. Offer an interesting idea, and you are likely to get asked to appear.
4 – Have you invited ALL your Facebook friends to like your business page? Don’t overlook this step. You’ll be surprised at the support you receive. Then, encourage them to share it with other friends.
5 – Submit your work for a profile in an art magazine. Then, once they publish about you and your art, share the news far and wide through all of your channels.
6 – Pre-build a press list for future press releases. Having a list ready to go makes it easier when you are ready to share the news. You can include all kinds of media, including newspapers, blogs, and podcasts to your list. Just make sure the list includes places where YOUR audience hangs out.
7 – Feature your best work from 2020 over the last ten days of the year on social media and blog posts. This way, if your followers missed a great piece, they’ll have another opportunity to see it.
8 – Not to discourage you from having your own website…but if you don’t have one yet, and want to get selling online – a quick way to do this is with SquareUp You can set up your own “storefront” and create a purchase link to share directly in email or social media posts.
9 – Be clear and consistent with your pricing. Post it on your website. Some people don’t like to ask about the price, and you might miss out on a sale if someone is afraid to ask.
10 – Don’t stop networking. Can you attend a virtual networking event? Many chambers and business groups are doing them virtually.
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by Becky Sciullo | Dec 14, 2020 | Learning, Resources
Here are some art marketing ideas for your Monday Morning.
Seven Art Marketing Ideas
1 – Use the power of video to grow your art business by creating a YouTube channel. Then, you can upload videos of demos, a visit to your studio, or creative slideshows featuring collections of your work.
2 – Create a Google My Business account. It lets you show up on Google Maps, and it’s free.
3 – Have an experimental mindset. Do you want to try a new platform or have an idea to market your work but are afraid to leap? Try something new for a time and be willing to let the chips fall where they may. This mindset can help with procrastination and might open up a whole new opportunity for selling your work. An experimental mindset led to this.
4 – Do you create a line of functional art (think ceramics and glassware)? Consider setting up a wedding registry on your site. You can do this right from your website using password-protected pages for each registrant. In addition to encouraging more sales of your work, you might make some new fans for your work.
5 – Resist reducing prices. In my work with artist Robert Yonke, we increased prices in 2020 and continued selling art. Look around when you are shopping, the cost of most goods is not going down, Neither should the price of your work. If you do have art that you would like to move out, consider limited time only sales where you create a sense of urgency to encourage sales from people who love your work.
6 – Stay organized. I use and am an affiliate for Artwork Archive. It is probably my number one favorite tool for managing an art business. In addition to organizing your work, you can create custom viewing rooms, keep track of your clients, maintain a history for each piece of work, plus much more. Give it a try with a free trial period.
7- Participate with your state or town’s artist registry. Most of them are free and will allow you to create a detailed public profile about you and your work. An artist registry is just one more opportunity to get found.
Get More Art Marketing Help
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by Becky Sciullo | Dec 11, 2020 | Learning
Let’s Talk about Artist Websites
While working, I come across a lot of abandoned artist blogs and websites. What do I mean by abandoned? Imagine something along the lines of a ghost town. You can tell someone once lived there, but they left and haven’t been back for a long time. An artist builds a site with good intentions. It includes information about the artist and interesting work, but you can tell that it hasn’t been updated for some time.
One of the likely reasons for this is that many business owners, including artists, assume that it will automatically bring them business if they get a website up and running. When it doesn’t do this, they are not motivated to update or maintain the site.
An artist’s website is not a field of dreams. Just because you build it, it does not mean they will come.
This post is not meant to discourage you. It does not have to be this way. But, you have to do more than just build it.
Think of your website as a brick and mortar gallery. A first time visitor is interested because they’ve never seen the work before. But, if they visit a second or third time and the display has not changed, will they want to come back? You need to keep your site fresh so that people want to engage with it time and time again. Then, you need to go out and attract some visitors.
Here are three things you need to do to make your website a successful component of your art marketing strategy.
1 – Start blogging.
Adding a blog to your website allows you to update it frequently with new information about your work and business. This encourages visitors to know that your content is updated frequently. And, your site will rank higher with search engines when you are adding new information regularly.
2 – Identify your Target Audience
Who are the people most likely to purchase your art. Read more about this topic here and here.
3 – Identify the Best Marketing Channels for Your Site.
Depending on your audience demographics and interests, you should identify the places you will find them online. Once you do this, you can then share your website and individual blog posts in these places.
Build it Right and They Will Come!
You can’t wait for your audience to find you. You find them, and then when you do, engage with them and invite them to visit your vibrant and informative site. Without targeted paid advertising, this is the most powerful way to drive people to your site.
If you’re interested in seeing how all three of these actions work together to make a cohesive art marketing system, sign up for my free Blogging to Build Your Art Business presentation.
Photo by Bob Bowie on Unsplash
