by Becky Sciullo | Mar 8, 2021 | Artist Websites, Learning
Here are some marketing ideas for your Monday morning.
Four Art Marketing Ideas
1 – Check those links. It happens to the best of us. You don’t want a broken link on your website or, even worse, on an external site featuring your work. Anytime you are getting significant press or exposure, please double-check those links!
2 – Are you great at streaming your demos or workshops? Don’t just keep them to yourself—partner with a company that you use for art supplies. Offer to do free live demos for them on their social media pages. You could instantly gain hundreds of new followers.
3 – If you are looking to build a following for workshops, consider the Instructables platform.
4 – Ask your social media followers to share and tag a picture of themselves with your work or product on social media. Then, include everyone who shares into a monthly giveaway: the more shares, the better.
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by Becky Sciullo | Mar 1, 2021 | Learning
Here are some marketing ideas for your Monday morning
Four Art Marketing Ideas
1 – Can you offer royalty-free downloads as a source of revenue directly from your site? Or, paid downloads can be a good option for interior designers, publishers, corporate art buyers, and others searching for specific images for a particular project or decor. You will have to come up with a licensing agreement. You can keep it simple by making it royalty-free, which means they only pay for the image once. Then, you outline the access they can have for the use of the image after that.
2 – Offer a personal appointment for local customers who prefer minimal interaction and distant customers wishing for individual attention. Allow clients to schedule a private session with you, in-person or virtual, to look closely at the pieces they are considering. This approach allows you to discuss the stories behind your work and help them to find the perfect piece for purchase.
3 – Do you have a business where you are serving two distinct audiences? For example – you may be a fine art photographer and also provide work for an industry such as real estate. Don’t hesitate to maintain separate profiles on social media. Yes, there can be some overlap and cross-marketing, but defining these platforms can help you attract customers rather than confuse an audience.
4 – Be available to your fans. Having an online presence means that people around the world can discover your work 24/7. To make the most of this opportunity, you must be accessible. Make it a habit to respond to all art inquiries that come in overnight. Make time on your schedule to speak with people or set up Zoom meetings. It may be outside regular business hours for your time zone, so consider this when setting up your schedule.
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by Becky Sciullo | Feb 22, 2021 | Learning
Here are some marketing ideas for your Monday Morning.
Five art marketing ideas:
1 – If you actively seek commissions, offer an in-person Zoom meeting with prospective clients to discuss their projects. People who find your work online may be more likely to choose you for the commission if they can make a personal connection. Zoom offers a free service that anyone can use. Publicize this service on your blog and social media.
2 – If you have a decent Twitter following, create email newsletters that followers can subscribe to with Twitter Revue.
3 – Does your county have an economic development office? They may put out a newsletter to local businesses, and if so, they are probably looking for news. Do some research on your county to find it. Then, add the publication to your media contact list.
4 – Create interest in new work with a “Work in Progress” collection on your website. Offer collectors the ability to reserve a piece that is in the works.
5 – Present a virtual studio tour right from your blog? Yes, you can! Look at this excellent example I found from Starpoint Studio.
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by Becky Sciullo | Feb 15, 2021 | Learning, Social Media, Tools
Here are some marketing ideas for your Monday Morning
Five Art Marketing Ideas (and suggestions:))
1 – Dig into Pinterest with Pinterest Presents, a free virtual summit.
2 – Speaking of Pinterest. Convert your personal profile to a business profile. Business profiles offer better data and you won’t lose any of your pins by switching over.
3 – Gain exposure and revenue with Patreon. Allow fans to support your work. Build yourself a profile and get paid for things you might already be creating.
4 – Consider live-streaming your process.
5 – Don’t overlook LinkedIn. I recently read that posts with images get 94% more views. Your work can easily stand out on this platform.
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by Becky Sciullo | Feb 8, 2021 | Learning
Here are some marketing ideas for your Monday morning.
Six Art Marketing Ideas
1 – Figure out how to create marketing moments with your online presence.
2 – Research what other artists are doing with their websites. Seek out artists working in your niche, medium, or another area where you relate. Do they have a useful page that you could also add to your site? Or, so they organize their gallery in a way that would also work for your work? You can get all kinds of marketing inspiration through research.
3 – For your events, including virtual events, make sure you add them to event discovery sites such as Eventbrite or Facebook Events.
4 – Also, for events, don’t be afraid to reach out directly to groups or organizations where members might be interested in the event.
5 – Social media platforms are becoming search engines. People search for business and contact information within social media platforms. Be sure to have all pertinent information on contacting you and finding your website in all of your social media profiles
6 – Consider niche platforms to promote your work.
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by Becky Sciullo | Feb 5, 2021 | Artist Blogging 101, Learning
*This is an post from April 2020 that has been updated.
How to Choose a Platform For Your Artist Blog
Before you can start blogging, you need to decide which platform you will use. Your platform is the software or system that manages all of the content that you publish. Platforms can also be referred to as content management systems or website builders.
Do you already have a website?
If you have a website for your art business, it may already have a blog function built-in. Many artists build sites on blog platforms but don’t use the blogging feature. If this describes your website, then it isn’t too difficult to start blogging. For artists, some common platforms with blogging features include Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, FASO, WordPress.com, and WordPress.org.
By using the Help or Knowledgebase of your current website platform, you should be able to find detailed instructions on how to use your blog feature.
Do you need a new website?
If you are happy with your current platform, don’t reinvent the wheel. However, you have an outdated website that does not offer a blogging feature, or you are starting from scratch, you need to decide on which platform to build your blog. If you have a site but find the platform difficult to use or not meet your needs, consider a switch.
Recommendations.
My top choice for both artist websites and blogs used to be self-hosted WordPress.org. WordPress.org is the most popular platform in the world. It offers the most flexibility for design, and it is what I use for Artisan Advantage. However, it takes longer to master than some other platforms. And, it is self-hosted, which means you have to find pay for a service to host your site. WordPress.org gets easier to use over time, however, so if you can commit to a longer learning curve, then it might be the choice for you. If you choose to go with WordPress.org, then I recommend checking out Christina Hills and her Website Creation Workshops.
Most of the artists that I help are eager to get started and don’t want to invest a large amount of time learning a system or building a site. Platforms that offer a more straightforward setup and more than adequate features for your blog based website include WordPress.com, FASO, Squarespace, Weebly, and Wix. Of these, WordPress.com and FASO are my favorites for artists.
Confused about WordPress.com vs.Wordpress.org?
You might be confused as to why I’m referring to two different platforms called “WordPress”. Check out this video from Christina Hills at Website Creation Workshop. She does a great job of explaining the differences.
Just Do It!
Your blog will never be perfect. You will always be changing and improving. In my years of blogging, one thing I learned is that sometimes you just have to start.
If starting a blog for your visual art business is something that you’ve wanted to do, I encourage you to get started today using one of the resources above or following allowing with Artist Blogging 101.
Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers.
