The Best Way to Sell Art Online

According to the latest from the marketing gurus, a consistent, engaging e-newsletter is best way to build your customer base and make online sales.

"Properly utilizing an email list to have meaningful conversations with your followers is currently the most powerful online marketing strategy artists can pursue." ~Clint Watson

I am happy that my website provider (Fine Art Studio Online) provides me with a built in, professionally designed newsletter that I can send to up to 1000 subscribers. I send out my

 newsletter once a month, and occasionally more frequently if I have a special event to promote.

Since studies have shown that a well written, engaging e-newsletter is THE best way to make sales, you'll want to create a  newsletter that is personal, newsy and showcases a few art pieces – and, perhaps counter-intuitively – doesn’t try to “sell.” You want to keep your collectors (and potential collectors) engaged, intrigued and informed.

How does this convert to sales?  People are more likely to buy from a trusted source – someone they feel they know and to whom they feel a connection. Your newsletter is your ticket into the hearts and homes of people interested in your art – and you. 

A few don’ts, before I get to the do’s of your newsletter. 

1. Don’t use your newsletter as a platform for whining (Please buy my art. Please, please please! I need the money. It's so hard to sell art. I’m depressed.) 

2. Don’t use it to spout off your political views (unless that is a part of your art…) 

3. Don't write a book.  Most people just skim.

4. Don't just write an email and send it out using your email program (ie. Outlook) - you might get marked as a spammer, and besides, you will look like an amateur.

The do’s are so much better!   

1. Do write about your personal process – do you use unusual materials, paint blindfolded, sing while you create? 

2. Do write about what motivates you. Write about what inspires you. Give us a glimpse into your heart and soul. 

3. Do share your successes, and don’t be afraid to share the work of another artist if you think your readers would be interested.

4. Do keep the newsletter short – create a link to your blog/website if you want to write something more in-depth.

5. Do showcase your artwork – but don’t put prices in your newsletter. Create a link to the image on your website or your gallery’s website.  (That also allows you to see how many people have clicked that link, which helps you determine interest in a particular piece).

6. Do be consistent! And let people who sign up for your newsletter know what to expect – how often, what type of content, etc. 

7. If your website host doesn't provide a newsletter platform, use an opt-in template emailing program such as Mail Chimp or one of these. 

So… you’re ready to write your first newsletter...

How do you get people to sign up? 

1. Start with friends and family. 

2. If you do Holiday shows, create a sign up to capture emails (always helps to have a giveaway).

3. Have a newsletter sign up button on your home page and on your Facebook (business) page. 

4. Create a Facebook ad to get more people to sign up for your newsletter.

5. Whenever you meet someone who is interested in your art, ask if you can send them updates on new paintings – via your newsletter. 

 6. Include buttons on your newsletter to make it easy for your readers to forward it to friends and share on social media. 

 

Kate Dardine is a professional artist and has been helping artists and photographers with their printing and marketing needs for over 25 years. She invites you to sign up for her monthly newsletter here.

Give and Grow

by Kate Dardine

Reciprocity. Webster’s Dictionary defines the word as “a mutual exchange of privileges.” In this article, it refers to the act of giving something in order to get something in return – specifically, to give away something in your art show booth, at your gallery show, or from your website – in order to receive something – a sale!

Glenn and Cherie McBride, of Yellowbird Studio in Texas, report on some findings from their own five year “survey” of marketing techniques:

No sales could be traced to business card handouts!
Few sales were generated directly by brochures.
Few sales were generated directly by magazine advertising
Few (almost no) sales were generated by newspaper advertising.
But ...

They have received an incredible rate-of-return from small give-a-ways.

And, they have high sales during face-to-face interactions (such as at Outdoor Art Festivals and Art Expo).

There is a psychology to the free giveaway: when someone has gotten a “gift” from you, they feel, perhaps subconsciously, that they need to give something back, and that is most likely to be in the form of a purchase.

One way to handle the free giveaway is to give something free with a purchase. G. Brad Lewis, a photographer and long-time Fine Print customer has been practicing the art of reciprocity for many years. His habit is to slip in a free matted 5x7 when a customer purchases a large print from him. 

Another way is to have a prospective customer DO something to get something for free. Like sign up on your mailing list to receive your free e-letter. Or sign up on your mailing list to get into a drawing for a print or a small painting. (I have found that the latter is the most likely to get people to sign my mailing list.) This option works in your booth as well as on your website and social media.Whether you choose one of these techniques I’ve listed or have a trick or two of your own, “give something and get something in return” works. Not with every customer, every time, but enough that it will make a difference in your sales. 

This blog post has been updated from the original published in 2008. 

Kate Dardine has been helping artists and photographers with their marketing questions for over 20 years. In addition, she is a professional artist. You can see her work at www.katedardine.com.

The Creative Journey - Part Four

The interesting thing about finding one’s artistic voice is this – its not really lost. Perhaps hidden (did you look behind the milk?) or misplaced (I have no idea why I put the car keys in the silverware drawer!) or put away (you know, in that place where it'll be safe.) But not lost.

Your artistic voice is not something that you have to buy and it’s not something that someone can teach you. Although the right materials and techniques play into communicating your voice effectively, the thing that makes your paintings uniquely yours is something that grows inside you like a seed, informed by your life experiences, shaped by your temperament, nourished by your soul. It is a passion for something, a unique way of seeing that is entirely your own perspective. Your artistic voice is something you are born with.

I believe all people are born with this kernel of self-truth within them, but as we become self-aware, the kernel is hidden by layers and layers of self-protection, encrusted in doubts, fears and the distractions of living. Only those of us who are artists – whether we are visual artists, writers, dancers, actors or musicians - have this compulsion to peal back the layers to find that pearl of universal truth that we carry inside. When we’ve found that truth, if we can communicate it, others will resonate with it.

So one leg of the journey to “finding one’s artistic voice” is the journey within, to find what it is we passionately want to communicate to the world. How do we discover this? One way is writing in a journal. In her book, “The Artist’s Way,” Julia Cameron encourages readers to write three pages in a journal everyday for twelve weeks in order to break creative blocks. In this journal you write about anything, everything and sometimes nothing. I had a couple of days where I truly wrote about nothing, as in “I have nothing to say today. I am unmotivated to write. This is stupid…” The funny thing is, about 1-1/2 pages of writing Nothing, Something would just about write itself on the pages, usually something I had no idea in my conscious mind that I was thinking about.

Reading and doing the writing exercises in a book called “Writing the Artist Statement,” by Ariane Goodwin is another way to home in on what you truly want to say with your art. Coming up with a succinct, meaningful and personal artist statement is a crucial piece of the Artistic Voice puzzle. There is nothing like having to “reveal the true spirit of your work” to get you to focus on what that spirit really is. For me, writing my artist statement not only helped me describe my work to others, but, more importantly, it gave me a focus. A-ha! This is what my work is about. This is what I’m trying to communicate.

In Part Five, I’ll talk about the other leg of the journey to finding one’s artistic voice – visual journaling to find the outward expression of the inner passion.

Kate Dardine
Marketing Consultant

The Art of the Give Away - by Kate Dardine

Reciprocity. Webster’s Dictionary defines the word as “a mutual exchange of privileges.” In this article, it refers to the act of giving something in order to get something in return – specifically, to give away something in your art show booth, at your gallery show, or from your website – in order to receive something – a sale!

Glenn and Cherie McBride, of Yellowbird Studio in Texas, report on some findings from their own five year “survey” of marketing techniques:
No sales could be traced to business card handouts!
Few sales were generated directly by brochures.
Few sales were generated directly by magazine advertising
Few (almost no) sales were generated by newspaper advertising.
But ...
They have received an incredible rate-of-return from give-a-ways - direct and from other customers. (We picked up this technique from the publisher of our book, Mark Victor Hansen in LA.)

They have high sales during face-to-face interactions (such as at Outdoor Art Festivals and Art Expo).

There is a psychology to the free giveaway: when someone has gotten a “gift” from you, they feel, perhaps subconsciously, that they need to give something back, and that is most likely to be in the form of a purchase.

There are a few ways to handle the free giveaway. One is to give something free with a purchase. It is the “Buy Two Get One Free” approach. You can try it with small matted prints such as 4x6 prints matted to 8x10.

Another way is to have a candy jar out in your booth, and bottles of cold water (especially on a hot day!) If you have a customer in your booth, offer the water. Two things will likely happen: The customer will linger longer and…find something to purchase!

A third way is to have them DO something to get something for free. Like sign up on your mailing list to receive your free e-letter. Or sign up on your mailing list to get into a drawing for a print or a small painting. (I have found that the latter is the most likely to get people to sign my mailing list.) This option works in your booth as well as on your website.

G. Brad Lewis, a photographer and long-time Fine Print customer from Hawaii has been practicing the art of reciprocity for many years. His habit is to slip in a free matted 5x7 when a customer purchases a large print from him.

Whether you choose one of the techniques I’ve listed or have a trick or two of your own, “give something and get something in return” works. Not with every customer, every time, but enough that it will make a difference in your sales.