Arts Marketing : Suggestions for Students and Beginners


Many artists create art but when it comes to marketing and selling their work, well, that is another story. It may seem daunting at first but artists can do marketing easily if they just think logically and commit time to the effort.

First of all, marketing is not selling, at least not a particular work. It is about selling yourself and the quality of your work, however. If you can develop a self-confidence about that, the rest comes just as naturally. Let us examine just a few simple ways to market your wonderful art and yourself.

To do this right, know that you will have to plan on spending at least 50% of your time marketing. That's right. Marketing 50% and the rest of the time goes towards everything else, including creating the art. Also, you'll market consistently throughout the year. You continue even when sales are great because one rainy day they might not be and you want to have other options in the pipeline to pursue.

Think of your art business as a pipeline or funnel. You always want something in there otherwise there is sputtering and choking like a air in plumbing. That air or gap causes a decrease in your ability to have sales. Keep things moving. Mail out packets to galleries. Send postcards about your next exhibit to past customers. Network and enter business card information on potential prospects into a contact manager program. Always be looking for opportunities to get your name in front of people. Just seeing your name everywhere will cause a buzz for you and your work.

At an art show, whether someone is interested in buying or not, develop a relationship, make a connection. That person may not like your art but they find they like you. One day, six weeks, or one year later, they may run into someone or a situation that you and your art would be a perfect match. They pass your name along. That's called a referral and someday, we all want our business to be 100% referral based, don't we?

Another way to get name recognition and referrals is press releases. Every month, get your name out there with some interesting thing that you are doing. Announce your donations to charitable organizations, sales, new work, or workshops.

Don't overwhelm yourself. Start out easy, small, and simple. Do the best at those things then add on as ability and capability increase. The one thing you cannot do is nothing at all. Get over your fear and start to reap your just rewards.

Copyright 2005 Kathy Iwanowski. All Rights Reserved.

Kathy Iwanowski, a former cancer nurse and manager, creates art, speaks, and writes about creative living and work. Her articles, editorials, and reviews on art, business, creativity, and nursing subjects have been published in newsletters, ezines, and books in the United States.

To arrange for Kathy as a speaker for your next event or to find out more about her work, visit her website at http://www.kathyiwanowski.com