The U.S. art market was valued at 30.2 billion dollars in 2022, outperforming pre-pandemic valuations. The increase in the market’s value shows that art is in demand. And with that demand comes more artists and products.
It also means you’re looking at a level of competition in the art market that wasn’t there before. Learning how to best navigate the competition and stand out with your brand and products is the only pathway to a successful art business.
Market research can provide you with the information you need to create unique art products your customers want and your competition isn’t making. It can also help you establish a personal brand that differentiates you from the many other artists out there.
Canvas prints, framed artwork, digital art, sculptures, coloring books, and original paintings are just the start of the range of art products available to consumers. Add in the hundreds of thousands of artists producing these products, and the catalog gets even more overwhelming.
You have to figure out a way to create products that aren’t like everything else in the industry to catch your customers’ attention and keep it long enough to develop relationships and inspire purchases.
For example, let’s say you create a line of original watercolor paintings with a specialty line of watercolor paints every year. After a review of customer feedback and sales data, you find that these paintings bring in half of your profit.
You could conclude that the way these paintings are created with that specialty line of watercolor paints makes them unique and that this contributes to the high sales volume. You can then tailor your marketing to emphasize these points.
Market research can help you determine how to make your product stand out. For example, the way you make use of your artist brand voice and where and how you display your product in person can all influence whether or not someone will buy your items. Market research can also play a part in helping you understand what customers want.
If you want your art products to sell consistently, you must know your customers inside and out. You need to know who they are first. Then, you need to understand their preferences and demands so that you can accommodate them.
A huge part of market research is compiling demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioral data on potential, current, and past customers. For example, knowing your customer preferences and collecting qualitative and quantitative data on how customers respond to different products can help you determine what types of products to offer. You can use what you learn about your customers to inform product and packaging designs and other creative brand elements that help you stand out.
As much as your art is for you, it must be more for your customers to be successful.
You’re obsessed with a certain art product you’ve been creating and want to introduce it to your customers for sale. But is there a space for that product in the art market? In other words, are people looking for this product and buying it?
You could go for it regardless of whether there’s a demand for the product or not. But it will likely be a long time before you see sales rolling in if you see them at all.
Market research helps ensure you’re creating products that are likely to thrive in the market. For example, sculptures, impressionist art, and contemporary art are some of the most popular among consumers.
Even if you don’t create these kinds of art, it’s good to know what’s capturing people’s attention and driving sales. You may be able to incorporate some elements of these styles into your art to position yourself better in the market.
Use market research to understand the demand for your products and what adjustments you should make over time to help your products sell more consistently.
Many artists get buried in the vast, ever-changing art industry. New artists and products are emerging every day, making it seem impossible to establish yourself. But with the help of market research, you can elevate your art products so that they stay in demand, capture your customer’s attention, and keep it.
Katie Brenneman is a passionate writer specializing in a variety of topics including marketing. You can find Katie on Twitter.
Defining the target audience for your art products is only half of the work with this core element of marketing. You must also use the information you gather about your target audience strategically to fuel connections and drive sales.
There’s a lot of data about your target audience that you can use to your advantage in your marketing content and campaigns. Generational and demographic-based information, in particular, can significantly influence what you create marketing-wise.
Let’s dive into marketing strategies that artists use to connect with individuals of varying demographics and generations.
You’ll likely have multiple generations in your target audience or one that makes up the majority.
Each generation has unique qualities that, if accounted for, can help you create marketing content that resonates with so many of the individuals in your target audience.
For instance, let’s say you’re marketing to a primarily Gen Z audience. Gen Zers are especially fond of social media and user-generated content (UGC). On average, they spent 3 hours a day on social media platforms in 2021.
With this in mind, social media and soliciting video and other reviews from customers to turn into UGC should be a core part of your marketing strategy.
Here are a few other things to consider when marketing to the following generations:
Demographics are characteristics and statistics within a given population. Gender, age, marital status, and occupation are among the most common demographic data points marketers consider for a target audience.
The way you market to your target audience is highly dependent on their demographic information. Or, at least, it should be. Here’s how to make certain demographic information work for you in your marketing:
Whether you want to speak to a specific generation or cater to a particular demographic in your target audience, effectively marketing to them depends largely on your ability to create community-focused content.
Brightspot defines community-focused content as “the practice of creating content focused on and for a specific community, whether that community is based on geography, background, interest areas or other demographics.”
In other words, you create content with your specific target audience’s needs, desires, and behaviors in mind at all times. You’ll attract a lot more people to your art business if you know who you’re targeting and the kind of content they like the most, and actually create it.
Of course, it’s important to leverage as much target audience information as possible when creating your overarching marketing strategy, individual campaigns, and pieces of marketing content. The generation they’re in and their demographic data give unique insights into people that make marketing success that much more attainable.
Katie Brenneman is a passionate writer specializing in in a variety of content. You can follow Katie on her on Twitter.
Your art is more than a way to make a living. Your art is your passion and your purpose. It’s why you are here and it’s what you were meant to do.
But, at the end of the day, you still have to keep food on the table and a roof over your head. And that means that your art is still a business and you are still a business owner as well as an artist. Ensuring that your artistic business grows, thrives, and survives takes time and effort.
It requires you to be not only a creator but also a business strategist, chief marketer, and expert customer service provider. That’s a lot of hats for one person to wear, but there is a way for you to fulfill all the roles your artistic enterprise requires while still taking care of both your customers and yourself.
No matter how gifted an artist you may be, no matter how dedicated you are to your craft, the reality is that your career would not survive without your clients. And that means customer satisfaction must be a top priority.
The good news is you don’t have to compromise your artistic vision to ensure that your clients have an exceptional experience with your business. You can offer your customers the white glove treatment through the provision of perks and benefits that the general public isn’t privy to.
The key to understanding what will engage and pleasure your best clients lies in the effort to build rapport with your customers, in taking the time to get to know them, what they expect, what they need, and what they want. Once you understand what drives your clients, you can tailor your service strategies accordingly.
For example, if you have a V.I.P. collector who enjoys networking with other collectors, then you might offer a private viewing of a new work exclusively for a handful of your best customers, affording them the opportunity to meet and engage with one another. On the other hand, if you have a patron who is a bit more introverted and eschews public gatherings, you might offer a private viewing of your latest work at the client’s own home.
Ensuring that you’re offering your best customers the white glove treatment helps you build those lucrative and long-lasting relationships on which your business depends. But that’s only half the battle. You also need to focus on continuously expanding your market reach in order to maintain a steady flow of new customers and prospects.
The good news, though, is that it’s easier than ever for an artist to raise their brand awareness and connect with prospective clients all around the world. Marketing your brand successfully takes time, effort, and strategy, however. It’s best, for example, to focus on a range of media, including blogs, podcasts, and social media platforms. This way, you can engage with an entire global community of art lovers and prospective buyers, showcasing your wares through online portfolios, social media posts, and podcast promotions.
Ideally, a strong digital presence will enable your prospective clients to connect with you more easily, and the more you are able to connect with them, the more you will care about and for them!
When you’re a creative professional running your own business, it can be easy to forget about taking care of yourself because you are so busy taking care of your customers and your art. However, if you aren’t able to maintain your health in body, mind, and spirit, not only will your art suffer but so will your business–and your relationships with your customers.
At the very least, taking the time each day for physical exercise, such as taking a daily walk through a local park or around the neighborhood, is a great way to boost your immune system, build muscle strength and agility, and support cardiovascular functioning. Best of all, when you get your blood flowing and your body moving, you’re going to reduce your stress, clear your mind, and spark your creativity.
Being both an artist and an entrepreneur isn’t easy. However, with a bit of effort and commitment, it is possible to grow your business and care for your customers while also taking care of yourself!
Katie Brenneman is a passionate writer specializing in lifestyle, mental health, education, and fitness-related content. When she isn't writing, you can find her with her nose buried in a book or hiking with her dog, Charlie. To connect with Katie, you can follow her on Twitter.
Many artists create because it’s their passion, and they love their work. However, there comes a time when the reality of paying bills and sustaining a comfortable life sets in.
While many artists pick up full-time jobs to cover their expenses, others are intrigued by the idea of turning their art into a business. If you’re the latter, a shift in mindset and an intense focus on marketing is necessary to make a lucrative business out of your work.
These three strategies can help you think like an entrepreneur and market your art effectively.
Understand What It Takes To Succeed
Your mindset is critical if you want to market your art successfully. When you decide to go from creating art for pleasure to making it for profit, it’s no longer always about what you like, want, or need. Instead, it becomes primarily about what potential buyers want, like, and need.
Educate yourself on the following as well:
Understanding what it takes to succeed online, in particular, is incredibly important as well.
Traditional marketing strategies are helpful. However, the business world is becoming increasingly digital. Knowing how to market, connect with customers, and run your business online is the only way to ensure you don’t get left behind. Start by studying the ever-changing nature of the digital world, the behavior of digital natives, and the importance of flexibility while marketing your art.
Understanding what success takes will help you think more like a business owner. It’ll also help you approach marketing with intent and strategy.
Lean Into Digital Marketing
As mentioned above, the world is becoming more digitally focused. This means digital marketing is a must. Without it, you won’t have as broad a reach, nor will you have as many opportunities to boost brand recognition and awareness.
Educate yourself on the basics of digital marketing first. After that, create a detailed digital marketing strategy. Include the following details:
Ultimately, your digital marketing channels should work together to give potential customers and fans a cohesive experience with your brand. It’s also essential to network relentlessly on your digital marketing channels and pursue other networking opportunities.
Network Relentlessly
Digital marketing can get any artist’s foot in the door, but networking can take you a step further. Genuine relationships with successful people in the industry can help strengthen your reputation as an artist and get the right eyes on your work.
Social media marketing is a tried-and-true strategy for artists and small businesses with a tight marketing budget. You can consistently post original content and take advantage of user-generated content from those who’ve purchased your art.
More importantly, social media is beneficial for not only increased traffic to your art website but also for networking. You can connect with other artists and partner with them to promote your work. You can join groups on these platforms and share your online portfolio, advice, and thoughts. You can spark and contribute to meaningful conversations with thought leaders, experts, and entrepreneurs in the art world.
Networking can also happen through crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing for any business involves getting feedback, work, or information from a large group. You can ask for feedback on works-in-progress and marketing content, opening up the opportunity to connect with fans and potential buyers.
Get into crowdfunding, as well, and it’s a win-win. You get your name and art out there while raising funds to put back into marketing or another aspect of your business.
Networking can get you and your business into doors that talent alone can’t. So, don’t neglect its importance.
Conclusion
To market your art as a company would, you must first shift your mindset to mirror an executive's. Then, lean into digital marketing and network relentlessly to turn your passion for art into a profitable business.
Katie Brenneman is a passionate writer specializing in lifestyle, mental health, education, and fitness-related content. When she isn't writing, you can find her with her nose buried in a book or hiking with her dog, Charlie. To connect with Katie, you can follow her on Twitter.
If you are an emerging artist, you should think of creating a personal website along with profiles on social media platforms. This is very important as online presence is highly recommended if not obligatory for business, art, and sports. To present your art website to the masses, you have to promote and optimize it for search engines. This article explains how you can boost your website ranking and provides more details on backlinks as the most powerful method to achieve that.
Art website: first steps
Before bringing the website to the top of searches, you should create a stable base for it. It is necessary to select a reliable site builder and assign a suitable domain name to your art online platform. This sets up a decent base for future optimization of the website.
Select website builder
While there are many website builders these days, you should rely on the most convenient and credible ones. It is not enough to proceed with the one that appears high on the search results. You should take into consideration the pieces of advice of those people who have also used website builders for creating their art websites. The website building platform should guarantee that your website loads fast, you can select the preferred domain name, and apply search optimization activities without any constraints.
As a rule, most website-building platforms offer a set of predefined templates for art websites. You could select the preferred one and adjust it to your needs at any time.
Select domain name
To reinforce the optimization efforts for your website, set a clear and recognizable domain name. There are lots of services like GoDaddy and Namecheap where you can verify whether the preferred domain name is available. Also, you can buy the domain you like and reserve a place for it on the hosting platform.
The introduction of the .ART domains in 2016 was an ingenious way for artists to differentiate their websites, from the average website domain, and to emphasize their artistry. To search .ART domains, click HERE.
Art website advancement
As your art website is designed, created, and tuned up, it is the right time to apply SEO techniques to it. In particular, you should consider investing much time and enough resources in link building.
Gain backlinks
The fastest way to make your website highly visible on the web is to gain backlinks from other online resources. Various techniques allow you to do that in different modes, though the objective remains always the same.
One of the primary methods for link building is outreach to other websites via email or other communication tools. That might not always be easy, though you establish cooperation with different instances that way.
Another popular backlink-gaining procedure is by using an automated link building service on the web. Find a credible provider that has a large database of various online platforms and websites that would gladly link back to your website.
If you are keen on writing an article, you can also gain links via guest posting. This is a reliable approach to gain traffic to your art website as well as to increase awareness of your art brand.
Control on-page SEO
Besides link-building practices, it is also crucial to guarantee that your website functions properly. Use dedicated tools for controlling the page load speed on your website, cleaning up your website code, and checking other technical characteristics. This will help to make sure that users stay on the website for long after they find it on search results and follow it.
Analyze website performance
Your website ranking progress can’t be properly estimated in case you do not use proper analytic tools. One of the most popular and effective ones is Google Analytics, which is free to use. There you will be able to see all the characteristics and user behavior statistics on your website, Based on that data, you would be able to derive what could be done better on your website to boost its ranking further.
Create e-shop
Even though the art website optimization is crucially important, you should also consider creating your small representation instance on world-known platforms for selling art objects. These could be Etsy and Artspan - the art marketplaces offering creative people the possibility to set up their online storefronts.
Art platforms for creators have embedded optimization mechanisms that allow your art products to be visible on the web by embedding certain keywords. Also, you can insert backlinks to your website from there, thus linking back from credible resources and improving your website ranking.
Mary Hunter is a successful American freelance lifestyle blogger with advanced writing skills. She is currently working for linksmanagement.com. Mary has experience in editing, marketing, and her works appear in different publications and website articles.
Read more helpful art career and marketing articles in our archives HERE.
By Veronica Baxter, Guest Blogger - Visual artists must be prepared when negotiating a contract with an art gallery. This article will discuss how to prepare for the contract negotiation. Whether you are a new artist looking to get your work noticed, or an established artist trying to break into a new space, you will find valuable tips to secure a lucrative contract in an art gallery.
Have a List of Requirements and Questions Well Ahead of the Negotiation
Regardless of the industry, you should always know what you want during a negotiation. You need to confidently articulate what you want out of the business relationship to be taken seriously from a business perspective.
This means you’ll need to ask many questions.
Questions to Ask During a Contract Negotiation With an Art Gallery
The goal of asking questions is to get a concrete understanding of the business relationship from start to finish. Your questions should be designed so that the answers clearly define your responsibilities and those of the art gallery. Your questions should range across a wide variety of topics -- from marketing to logistics and beyond.
Marketing questions to consider:
Logistical Questions to consider:
Display Questions to Consider:
Arm Yourself With Knowledge of the Contract Negotiation Process
The artist with their head in the clouds is a frustrating yet persistent stereotype. Yet, there are plenty of successful artists who possess strong business acumen. The artist who can advocate on their own behalf during negotiations will be able to dodge this negative stereotype more easily and secure a better contract as a result.
Here are some must-know contractual tips:
Try To Get an Escape Clause
Escape clauses are essential in contracts with an art gallery. They allow either party to nullify the contract when a clearly defined term or condition is not met. Escape clauses are not to be confused with breach-of-contract clauses.
The difference is that both parties can agree to nullify a yearlong contract if, say, there are no sales after six months. In this example, neither party breached the contract; however, a specific condition was not met. Therefore, it is in the interest of both parties to nullify the agreement.
Push For an Arbitration/Mediation Clause
This clause stipulates that before either party resorts to a lawsuit, a mediator must be brought in to settle any contractual disputes. Both parties must hire a mediator. These clauses are important to bring up in negotiations because they are intended to prevent a costly lawsuit.
Make Sure the Indemnification Clause Works Both Ways
Indemnification clauses are designed so that if one party misrepresents themselves, their work, or if one party breaches part of the contract, then the offending party is responsible for the legal fees associated with any ensuing litigation. Sometimes these are one-sided and apply only when the artist breaches the contract. Negotiate so that the indemnification clause applies to both sides.
Come to the Negotiation Table Prepared
This article is far from exhaustive, but it is intended to get you thinking about the negotiation process in the way a lawyer would. You must ask questions to lay out the responsibilities of both parties clearly. The more detail, the better the deal. You also need to familiarize yourself with specific clauses and legalese that will lead to a fair and lucrative contract.
Veronica Baxter is a writer, blogger, and legal assistant operating out of the greater Philadelphia area. She writes for Yao Law, an entertainment and immigration lawyer in New Jersey.
by Guest Blogger, Katie Brenneman - An online portfolio is an artist’s bread and butter in this digital age. Maybe you’ve already put a lot of time and effort into building a beautiful portfolio or website showcasing your work.
However, it’s not exactly effective if no one is looking at it.
Unfortunately, you’re facing an uphill battle. Search engine algorithms will automatically skew toward more established artists. So, it’s time to step into the world of branding and marketing.
Thankfully, you don’t have to have a lot of experience in the advertising industry to make your portfolio stand out. Let’s cover a few quick tips on how you can boost your portfolio’s presence and get your work the attention it deserves.
If you already have an online portfolio, one of the easiest ways to get more visitors is to master the basics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). You’ve likely heard of keyword searches and how important they are to getting noticed. However, there are also things you can do to optimize your site internally, including
By making your portfolio a priority, you’ll naturally boost SEO. But, if you’re still struggling to attract visitors, take the time to learn the basics when it comes to keywords and what people are searching for, and you’ll see an even bigger boost in your digital audience.
Even if you’re not a marketing pro, almost everyone is familiar with at least one social media platform. Use that to your advantage to market your portfolio.
For example, Instagram is an ideal platform for sharing photos and artwork. It’s a great place to share pieces of your work and inspire people to head to your website or portfolio for more. It’s easy to use, but make sure you’re always optimizing your photos and sharing the right sizes, or they could end up looking blurry and unprofessional.
You can also use Instagram and other social media platforms to connect with potential fans and followers. It’s a great way to spark conversation and boost word-of-mouth interest in your portfolio.
While it’s true that everything seems digital these days and you should absolutely have an online portfolio, there’s still something to be said for print media. People still like tangible things, and something as simple as a flyer with a QR code that leads back to your portfolio can be impactful and interesting. Consider leaving flyers or brochures in places like
You can also choose to work with an existing publication that caters to art lovers or even other artists. Doing so will help you hone in on your target audience and can bring your brand and portfolio to life in a way that digital can’t always capture.
Whether you’re a budding artist trying to get your name out there or you’ve enjoyed a long career but need a marketing boost, use these ideas to boost the presence of your online portfolio, and engage with those who want to support you and your work.
Katie Brenneman is a passionate writer specializing in lifestyle, mental health, education, and fitness-related content. When she isn't writing, you can find her with her nose buried in a book or hiking with her dog, Charlie. To connect with Katie, you can follow her on Twitter.
As an artist, you want people to see your work. After all, the more people get to appreciate your art, the more you can advance your career as an artist and ideally sell more art. One way to do this is by marketing yourself online, either on your own or with someone’s help. Read on to find out the top 10 marketing tips and trends you can use to increase your art website traffic.
#1 Master SEO Basics
Start by learning all the SEO basics. You need to know how to perform keyword research and how to use these keywords in your content. Learn about on-site optimization to further improve your website (e.g. proper navigation, creating a sitemap, etc.)
#2 Optimize Visual Content
Pay special attention to all the visual content you publish because it is crucial for you as an artist. Your images and videos need to be of high quality, but you should also add all the right details to them for SEO (e.g. alt tags for images, descriptions and keywords for videos). Don’t forget to add social sharing buttons to let your audience share your artwork elsewhere.
#3 Start Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is one of the best ways to get more backlinks to your website. If you don’t have time to do it yourself, there are professional writing services you can reach out to for assistance. When you publish your content on someone else’s website or blog, you can include a link to your own site which will guide their audience to you.
#4 Develop Your Link Profile
In addition to getting more backlinks, you should also develop your link profile by using both external and internal links in your website content. Internal links will help you keep users on your website longer while external links (especially to the sources of the facts or statistics you used) will help you look more reputable in the eyes of your audience.
#5 Utilize Social Media
Social media is essential for marketing you and your art. Create your profiles on different social media platforms and regularly remind your followers about your website. Don’t forget to use social media marketing techniques to successfully promote your content on those platforms (e.g. hashtags, tagging, locations, commenting, live streaming).
#6 Promote Word-of-Mouth
Word-of-mouth can easily spread the word about you, but instead of waiting for someone to start talking about you, you can promote word-of-mouth yourself. Reach out to your fans, followers and collectors of your work and ask them to provide a review or testimonial of your work. Then, you can post these on your website and share on your social platforms to get people interested in your art.
#7 Connect with Other Artists
Instead of relying solely on your own efforts and being a lone wolf, it’s a good idea to reach out to other artists like yourself and promote each other. You can partner with other artists to create unique art, host giveaways, and promote each other in different ways. Having these connections will also play a role in helping you advance your career.
#8 Engage with Your Audience
Engagement is important not just for your metrics but also for connecting with your fans. Encourage discussions in the comment section on your website and social media profiles, reply to comments, and so on. All of this shows that you are a friendly person who is happy to engage and connect with their audience.
#9 Make A Posting Schedule
To stay consistent, you will need to create a posting schedule for all the content you publish on your website or social media profiles. This way, you will always have a steady stream of content for your audience to discover and consume.
#10 Measure Performance and Improve
Last but not least, don’t forget to measure the performance of your web content and your website itself to improve your future digital marketing activities. Your updated strategy needs to have the necessary changes that will improve your metrics. Take into account everything – traffic, average session time, conversion rate, comments, social shares, and so on.
Wrapping Up
There are quite a few ways you can successfully reach a wider audience, but the most important thing is to be consistent with your marketing activities. Use the tactics in this article to help you generate more traffic on your website and find new fans and, ideally, buyers of your art.
Anna Medina is a specialist in different types of writing. She graduated from the Interpreters Department, but creative writing became her favorite type of work. Now she improves her skills while working for the writing services review websites like Best Writers Online with content of any type, but, mainly, assisting students all over the world.
As an artist, you probably cringe a little when someone says the word "marketing." It just sounds so sales-y. But even if you think of yourself exclusively as an artist and not a marketer, there's no denying that marketing and selling are interconnected. Thus, if you're desperate for a marketing approach that is not sleazy or shouty, you should consider delving into video marketing. In this article, we'll share some tips to get you started with this strategy and help you get over your fear of marketing. Let's dive in!
What is video marketing, and why do artists need it?
Video marketing is utilizing videos to promote or market a product or service. In the case of artists, you can leverage videos to display your work, connect with fans, and, most importantly, convert them into regular clientele.
People love watching videos on the internet - whether it's for entertainment or educational purposes (or both). Not only does it allow you to share your work with the world, but it also builds a connection with potential fans and customers. So if your goal is to promote your art online in hopes that more people will see it and buy it, then video marketing should be part of your strategy.
Popular video content types of marketing your art
If your opinion about video marketing is complex because it’s challenging to develop content ideas, worry no more! Here are some video content types that you can use:
1. Meet the Artist
Introduce yourself and explain why you love creating art. Let your viewers know you as an artist and learn about your process. You can also share some exciting facts about your life that aren't directly related to art, such as where you grew up and why you started painting in general terms.
2. How-to Create Art
If you have a knack for teaching, this video content fits you. You can create a tutorial on specific art mediums (watercolor, acrylic, oil) or different styles (abstract, realism, etc.) and provide tips on creating a masterpiece.
3. Art Demo video
This video is a perfect opportunity to demonstrate your artistic techniques. Film yourself in action and post a time-lapse video for your audience to get a glimpse of how much hard work you put into your pieces.
4. Art history/theory lectures
If you are an art history/theory enthusiast, do a famous artist/movement course. You can introduce your favorite artist and how impactful their influence is to you.
5. Behind the Scenes
Filming behind-the-scenes will give viewers an inside look into your creative process - from inspiration, sketching ideas all through production time until finished work is displayed at galleries/exhibitions, etc.
6. Q&A Session
Allow viewers into a more personal side of you by doing a question and answer session where you talk about anything and everything. You can answer questions about your artwork, hobbies, or anything else that comes to mind.
7. Tools/Art Supplies review
Introducing the art supplies or tools you use can be valuable for artists looking to purchase new materials. Showing how you work with different mediums and tools can influence people in deciding what might work best for them.
8. Documenting exhibitions or events you are participating in
Attending gallery openings and exhibitions is a regular occurrence for many artists, so why not film it and turn it into a video? Doing so gives viewers a virtual experience of what it's like being at one of these events while indulging them with the inside story of the featured art collection.
9. Artist talks/interviews
Get insights from other artists about their creative processes and inspirations. You could talk about how they got started in the industry. If two people are working together (like a collaborative piece), interview each other, and discuss how they combine efforts for the project.
Video creation tips for effective marketing content
1. Choose a topic relevant to your artwork and create content that adds value to your target audience.
2. Make videos that are short and sweet. The attention span of internet users is shorter than ever, so you want to capture their attention within the first few seconds.
3. Include interesting visuals. Don't just rely on talking head videos. Display your artwork, studio, tools, etc., to keep viewers engaged.
4. Include a CTA (call to action). Ask your viewers to do something after watching your video. It can be anything from visiting your website or social media page, subscribing to your channel, or leaving a comment.
5. Be yourself! The way to connect with viewers is to be genuine and authentic in your content. Let them see the real you, and they'll be more likely to stick around for more.
6. Make sure your videos are high quality. It means editing your footage to get smooth and free of glitch videos.
7. Use keywords in your description box when uploading videos to YouTube so that they'll have a better chance of being found by the search engines and people who are looking for content related to those topics.
How to share your videos online?
Once you've made your video, it's time to share it with the world! Here are some tips for promoting your art through social media and other platforms:
1. Facebook
There are a few methods to share your videos on Facebook. You can post a link to the video on your timeline, post it as a status update, or share it in a group or page.
2. Twitter
You can post a link to the video, embed it in a tweet, or post a video tweet. Use relevant hashtags so that your video will show up in searches.
3. YouTube
Uploading your videos on YouTube can get more views since it's the second-largest search engine in the world. Plus, including links to your videos in blog posts and other online content contributes to driving traffic your way.
4. Instagram
To share a video on Instagram, you can post a link to the video, embed the video in a post, or post the video as a story. You can also use relevant hashtags to help people find your videos.
In conclusion, you can use video marketing to share what you're selling online and encourage individuals to appreciate your art (and ultimately buy them). An artwork is an end-product of hard work and talent; thus, it deserves a formidable marketing strategy. And video marketing can be your passage to growth in sales over time instead of just getting some one-time customers.
Roxanne Panibio is a PR Outreach Specialist at VEED.IO. She's an avid reader, mostly found with a book in her hand. When not reading, she enjoys watching crime mystery movies to satisfy her inner detective.
Every January here at the Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery we post an article with ideas and suggestions for artists to kick start their New Year’s art marketing goals. Our mission as a gallery is to help artists advance their career goals and market their art.
Many of these ideas have been presented in previous “kick start” posts but they are basic, however, consistently implementing them is not. They are essential for artists as a means to market themselves and their art successfully.
1. Evaluate & Update Your Website
For artists who are looking to advance their art careers and increase sales, it is important for them to have a modern, professional, up-to-date website to display their art.
For those of you who already have a website, if you haven’t reviewed it in a while, now is the time. When was the last time that you went page by page and link by link through it? We all need to do this to find broken links, pages that do not load quickly, graphics, images and other items that have moved or been deleted, along with pages with misspelled words and similar issues.
The presentation of your art is as important as creating it. Take some time to review your site and make any necessary changes and corrections. Make sure all of the images on your website are sized properly and have a low resolution (a resolution of 72 helps your site load more quickly and protects your art from being copied by unscrupulous people). The images should also be color corrected if necessary, as some cameras and lighting do no always capture an artwork’s true colors. There are many free programs on the internet for this.
Also, do you have better images or graphics to replace what now exists on your website? Do you have new artwork that you just have not had time to photograph and add to your website? Do it.
While checking your images, make sure that they are labeled and tagged properly with good image descriptions. Search engines will only index your images if they have descriptions. By doing this, your images will show up in the image search results and when the images are viewed, viewers will be directed to your art website.
For those artists that don’t have a website, now is the time to take the next step and get one. The annual cost to purchase or renew a website domain is typically less than $20. The cost of basic website hosting can be as low as $3-$4 per month. A website is an investment artists need to make a priority.
2. Rewrite/ Update your Artists Bio and Statement
A well-written biography and/or artist statement is also essential for artists and now is the time to review and update them. An artist does not have to be an accomplished writer to create a well-written biography and artist statement, but it is necessary for an artist to have at least one. It is also important to know the difference between a biography and artist statement as many artists mistake one for the other. Please read our article “Comparing an Artist’s Biography to an Artist’s Statement” for clarification.
Also, update your CV by adding any new exhibitions, new awards and/or new publications or other pertinent information that has taken place since the last time it was updated.
3. Use Social Media
Social media is a part of our everyday lives and is an important platform for all artists to employ in order to help market themselves and their art. Why is this? In our opinion, it is easy to identify and connect with the art community when using social media.
It is also an effective medium because it is a visual and simple way in which to present your art. Particularly now, Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedin, Instagram and even Twitter provide artists with opportunities (if targeted properly) to reach viewers who were previously unreachable.
Read our articles “Top 10 Reasons Why Artists Fail with Social Media”, “Using the 70-20-10 Rule to Succeed at Social Media Marketing” by guest blogger James Baxter, and “How to Write Social Media Posts That Sell Art” by guest blogger Frank Hamilton, along with various other social media articles on the LST website, for further advice and instruction on how best to use social media to grow your audience reach.
4. Press Release Marketing
Press release marketing is a low-cost way artists can market their artwork to a wider range of potential viewers, particularly when they have an award or exhibition to announce. There are many “Free” press release websites, which take, publish and market an artist’s press release copy. One such site is PRLog.org. PRLog’s free press release submission includes a PDF version to send to your mailing list, a search engine optimized page, hyperlinks in the content, and the option to select location/industry and tag listings. In addition, companies like Star One Public Relations offers press release distribution services for as low as $10.00 for distribution to 70+ press outlets. Read our article “Successful Press Release Marketing for Artists” and 6 Benefits for Press Releases for Artists to help guide you in these efforts. Also check out our article “5 Ways Artists Can Promote Their Art Online” for more ideas.
5. Start a Blog
Artists should seriously consider starting an art blog as a way to attract and direct additional interested viewers to their art websites. An art blog is a great way to expand an artist’s target audience. It is also an effective platform to help artists market their art.
Read our articles “Top 3 Reasons Why You Should Have an Art Blog” and “How Artists Can Attract Readers to an Art Blog” in order to fully understand the power of a well-executed art blog.
6. Have Your Art Portfolio Reviewed Professionally
A professional Portfolio Review provides an artist with an evaluation of their art and a critique of how their art is being presented to others. Usually, during a portfolio review, the reviewers provide artists with additional ideas on how they can effectively market their art.
Much like art competitions, a portfolio review is an additional way in which artists can have their artwork evaluated and measured against other artists. While some artists don’t see this as valuable and can sometimes find it discouraging, it is a way to help artists improve their presentations and their craft.
In 2022, we hope you will make at least some, if not all, of these suggestions part of your art marketing efforts. By implementing these recommendations, artists can experience increased traffic to their websites, find more people interested in their art and ultimately, sell more of their work.
However, as with any marketing program, it is important to focus your efforts. All artists should view the marketing of their art to be as important as the creation of it and an art-marketing plan needs to be well planned and performed consistently in order to be successful. Check out our article “5 Tips for Creating an Effective Art Marketing Strategy” by guest blogger Wendy Dessler, for more suggestions.
A new year can be a fresh start for artists with their planning and executing an effective art marketing strategy. Even if you haven’t previously implemented any of the above suggestions, it is never too late to start.
Good luck and have a creative, successful and prosperous 2022!
We’re thrilled to announce that the Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery (LST) and its parent gallery, Fusion Art, are moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico on January 1, 2022.
After over 8 years based in Jupiter, Florida and then 3 years based in Palm Springs, California, LST is relocating to the Santa Fe area. Considered one of the largest art markets in the United States, Santa Fe is recognized worldwide for its rich culture and diverse art community.
The city is home to over 250 art galleries as well as an assortment of museums and performing arts. Art collectors from all around the world visit the city looking to buy fine art of all media and subject matter including all forms of contemporary, Native American, and western art.
In addition to the galleries and museums, throughout the year Santa Fe hosts a collection of art markets and festivals and boasts the largest proportion of artists, performers and writers of any U.S. city.
As 2022 dawns, LST reconfirms its commitment of helping artists, worldwide, to market and sell their art. Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery conducts monthly themed online art competitions and art exhibitions for new and emerging artists on a worldwide basis. It is the gallery's mission to identify talented artists and help them to successfully market their works to the art world.
You can read the entire announcement on the Fusion Art website.
Thank you to all of our artists for being part of our LST and Fusion Art families. We wish all of you a very happy and prosperous new year!
By Cassandra Rosas, Guest Blogger - The British writer Graham Greene once wrote, “Sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.” For many, art is a form of therapy, but it can also be a source of income or simply an enjoyable hobby. Having a place of one’s own to create art is a convenience that can enhance the creation process. By setting up a home art studio or art room, you can carve out space for working on your art projects and for safely storing your art supplies while ensuring they’re accessible when you need them. Here, we’ll explore how to create an art room at home so you can more easily channel your creativity into completed art projects.
Depending on the size of your home, you may or may not find it challenging to assign space for your home art room. In fact, you may not have a spare room you’re able to devote to the creation of your art studio. That’s okay, as many artists have improvised and created unique art studios in even relatively small spaces by sectioning off part of a room or transforming a niche into a place for making art. Here are some key considerations to keep in mind as you plan your art studios and avoid design mistakes:
How much are you willing to spend to create your home art room? Establishing a budget will enable you to make a working plan for building your home art studio. Designing a functional space for your work may require some investment. Consider your studio’s needs and whether or not you can fulfill them with existing or new resources. Typically, your studio will need:
You may already have some of these elements on hand or can repurpose items inexpensively to suit your project. However, creating a budget will help you plan for each aspect of your studio and its needs.
Good lighting is typically a critical element of any art studio. Whether you work with oil paint, watercolors, clay, or some other medium, you need to have the best lighting possible to see what you’re doing. If you can site your studio near a sunny window that will allow for good natural light during the day, but your space may not have window access. According to the Artists Network, art studio lighting should have a balance of cool and warm light. Try to install bulbs that have a color-rendering index (CRI) of 80-100, as these bulbs will provide vibrant lighting that is ideal for mimicking natural light.
Additionally, you may also require spotlights for working in detail. Overhead lighting and table-top fixtures will allow you to light up your art room brightly. You may also want to invest in good photography lighting if you want to photograph your work to showcase or sell online.
If you work with paints and associated art supplies like paint thinners and cleaners, you’ll need to be mindful of ventilation. If you wood carve or grind materials, you should also keep your space well ventilated. Depending on the chemicals and materials you are involved with, a ceiling fan and open window may simply not be enough to create a healthy environment for creating art.
One method that artists often use at home is to purchase an industrial fan from a home improvement center. According to Professional Artist Magazine, “the fan pumping in fresh air will be behind the artist, blowing fumes away from the artist’s face and toward the fan exhausting the air outside in order to create a continuous stream of clean air for the artist to breathe in.”
Another ventilation method is to invest in installing local exhaust ventilation, which is a superior option, particularly for controlling semi-toxic or highly toxic fumes. This type of exhaust system, placed above your workspace, will remove fumes and tiny particles through ducts, blowing it through filters before it’s released outdoors.
If you grind materials or work with dust-producing mediums, an exhaust system is more conducive to health safety. A professional exhaust ventilation system is recommended for many types of art, including photograph development, woodworking, silkscreen painting, welding, spray painting, and acid etching.
Although you can transport your paintbrushes or other supplies to a utility sink in your home, having a sink and faucet in your art studio is a decided convenience. You might even consider siting your art studio near a utility sink that you share with your laundry space. If you’re designing your art space outside of your home in your garage or shed, you can purchase a portable sink that you can attach to an outdoor spigot.
Privacy may or may not be a priority for you as you design your home art studio. However, you should consider some type of barrier simply to protect your projects in the event you have company. If your studio is in an open space rather than enclosed by its own four walls and door, you can create privacy by installing draperies, floor-to-ceiling shelving units, or half walls to protect your workspace.
Regardless of the medium you use, you are likely to need floor protection. If you work with paint, you might choose inexpensive paint tarps. On the other hand, you can also protect your permanent flooring by installing vinyl sheets (without adhesive) atop your existing floor. Vinyl is easy to clean, and because it’s relatively cheap ($25 for a roll of 9’ x 15’ vinyl flooring), you can replace it easily every few years if you choose to.
Designing your workspace is of paramount importance. Consider the type of workbench or other apparatus you’ll need to do your creating. If you paint and work on an easel, you’ll probably want to have a cart or table nearby to accommodate your supplies. Your space should be comfortable, well-lit, and stable to reduce the risk for spills.
As you view your home, you may have more than one option for creating your art studio. Which is best? Keep in mind some of the considerations we discussed above, such as lighting, ventilation, and access to a sink. These may help you choose the ideal site for your art space. Some spaces you can consider for installing your home art studio include:
If you paint or draw, you’ll need a wide range of materials for creating art along with appropriate space to store them. Oil painting at home or sculpting at home involves many types of supplies. If you make art using different mediums, be sure to consider how to best store your supplies, so they’re well protected. Generally, if you paint or draw, you should plan to supply your studio with:
Depending on the type of art you create, you may need many items to supply your studio. If your studio is a family space for art, you can use this link to help you supply it. It includes the most commonly needed supplies for elementary students, middle school students, high school students, and adults.
Keeping your art room tidy requires some specialized knowledge about how to clean paintbrushes or other items that you work with. Having access to a sink and faucet will help. You may need to handle many of your supplies with special care to clean up after projects. Be sure that you know which items require specialized discarding. You may, for instance, have to drop off old paint somewhere in town or your city to dispose of it properly, and check if any of the disposed materials can be recycled, if that is the case, take them to your nearest recycling center, this will help reduce your carbon footprint. Try to set aside an area of your studio where you can stow your cleaning supplies and materials to be discarded.
A home art studio can afford you the ideal space for painting, drawing, sculpting, or creating other art types. Creating art or crafting is a great way to de-stress, so you don’t have to be a professional artist to design a home art room—you just have to enjoy making art. Use these tips to create a home art studio that’s ideal for you.
Cassandra Rosas is a content writer at Porch.com. She is passionate about art, painting, sculpting, health and wellbeing, reading, writing, and music.
This article is written by Guest Blogger, Y. Hope Osborn – reprinted with permission from Fusion Art.
"Blessed are the weird people: poets, misfits, writers, mystics, painters, troubadours for they teach us to see the world through different eyes." - Jacob Nordby
If you are like me and your art education consists of a lifetime of hobby photography and expression through a multitude of avenues not typically connected to art as it is to artisan, you may balk at the idea of writing an artist statement or biography. You either avoid those competitions or grants where they are required, or you throw something together afraid of your own writing because you remember all those red ink pen marks in English class.
Artist Lisa Golightly wrote, “There is no ‘right’ way to make art. The only wrong is in not trying, not doing. Don’t put barriers [such as a red pen] that aren’t there—just get to work and make something.” There are a lot of good guidelines Fusion Art and Light Space & Time provides in their blogs and newsletters, and I could get into those, but this is about the importance of writing the artist statement and bio. Get to work and make something.
Think like artists’ Georgia O’Keeffe, “… Making your unknown known is the important thing” and Jacob Nordby, “Teach us to see the world through different eyes.” Think of your artist statement and biography as an extension of you and your art. How you write about you and your art is important because they show the juror or curator that you are an intentional artist. This is not a whim. The juror or curator wants to see what true artists like yourself can do, making your unknown known—who you are in your life in your bio and teaching us to see through different eyes—how you see the art in your artist statement.
“Every artist was first an amateur.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I am not a ‘typical’ artist with a degree or a lifetime of experience to introduce myself in a bio. However, I have all my life been interested in photography and crafting things. I also had the tenacity to get a masters’ degree though it is in writing nonfiction. Make what you have been doing as a person and as an emerging artist work for you, because if you are truly an artist, you have done something all your life to prove it, even if in a different medium. Show your audience of art lovers, curators, and jurors who you are as a person, including your quirks, your loves, and the latest, and you connect with them personally. Introduce us as if someone else is introducing you before you go on stage.
"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light, and shadows." - Jim Jarmusch
Art lovers, jurors, and curators want to converse with you over your art in your artist statement. Georgia O’Keeffe “found [she] could say things with color and shapes that [she] couldn’t say any other way—things [she] had no words for,” so it can be difficult to write an artist statement. Did the sun glint off a stained-glass piece hanging in your window? Did the wind stir windchimes making you feel alive or sad? Find those keywords about yourself that represent you and your art. We want to know the essence that comes from you both in general artistry and specific art. What do you feel? What do you know that we don’t know? Leave room, though, for the art enthusiast’s imagination. Welcome them into yours as a pitstop on the way to their own.
Your bio and statement are important for opening doors. It introduces you to the general art lover, juror, or curator, and other artists. Think of it as something that influences beyond this art competition or this experience. This is what they might discover of you in our web-fueled world, and it may just be your ticket in for you to get a call about another opportunity.
Think of the artist statement and bio as the third leg in a three-legged stool of your art. Your art falls flat if we don’t know who you are and what you are about as an artist. Forget the red marks, make your own art education, tell us who you are, and you will stand tall among fellow artists.
Y. Hope Osborn is a photographer, digital artist and writer. She helps artists and other creatives with writing, editing and revising their artist statements and bios. Hope can be contacted through her email or her website, where you can also see her photography and digital art.
By Rodney Laws, Guest Blogger - Every industry was affected heavily by the outbreak of COVID-19, and art is certainly no exception. So much of the art world has typically revolved around in-person demonstrations and sales. Museums and galleries have always worked through bringing in foot traffic, with money made through selling entrance tickets, refreshments, and gift-shop items. Then there are street performers (caricaturists, for instance) who have always made money through tips.
At the moment, the continued need for social distancing (along with the lingering fears concerning travel) means that even those places that can afford to open are finding it hard to attract interest. The artists, though, do have options, and they have drawn upon them (no pun intended) to keep afloat during the past year. By operating online, they can still make money doing what they love.
Trying to succeed exclusively online as an artist presents a very different challenge, though. The tactics required for reaching the right people (and ultimately prospective clients) are largely distinct. In this post, we’re going to look at four solid strategies an artist can use to grow their brand and attract some interest online. Let’s get started.
Use a combination portfolio and store
Taking client work is often the typical way of making a living as an artist, since you have clear creative direction and set terms. It is simply a matter of receiving and fulfilling a brief: you don’t need to worry about the commercial viability of what you are producing. But that doesn’t mean that should be the only way in which you make money. The more routes you have to profit, the more stable your financial situation can become.
Due to this, it is a great idea to build an ecommerce store that’s also your portfolio. You don’t even need web-design skills to create such a store these days. If you already have an art blog in WordPress (the platform that dominates blogging), you can install a free plugin called WooCommerce (take a look at this WooCommerce review) and start selling products.
Whenever you make a sale, promote it through the blog side of the store: this will reinforce your value as an artist in the eyes of prospective clients. In addition, whenever you pick up a notable client, add their testimonial to your store homepage: this will reassure potential buyers that you’re truly as good as they think you are. It’s a win-win situation.
Get into the habit of asking for referrals
You can’t add testimonials to your store if you don’t have any testimonials, and they don’t tend to appear spontaneously. If you don’t ask for them, you won’t get them — so get into the habit of asking for them. Do this carefully, of course: don’t bug people, come across as desperate, or push them to shower you with more praise than they think you deserve. Just ask politely.
It is a good idea to fold the feedback-collection process into your general client-handling sequence. When you’re wrapping up a project and ensuring that all the details have been handled, you can have an automated email go out to provide a survey (HubSpot has some good tips on this process). You can even throw in some kind of basic incentive to prompt a reply: 10% off their next commission and/or purchase, for instance.
Share your process on social media
People who don’t understand what goes into art can easily end up undervaluing it. You are likely familiar with the common effort to “pay” artists in “exposure”. It is commonplace to joke about at times, but it is a sad indication of how little people understand the difficulty of producing high-quality art. They assume (for some reason) that most artists live frivolous lives of luxury — and those who don’t, well, they should just be grateful to get some attention, right?
To help people accept the complexities of what you do, and show just how good you are, you should combine your blogging efforts with social media comments concerning your process. You don’t need to engage with social media in general, just offer some commentary on how long certain pieces of art take you, sharing progress on art you are currently working on, the decisions you need to make along the way, the obstacles you need to overcome, etc.
In addition, when you have a piece you are particularly proud of, you should enter it into some online competitions, both through social media and other sites. It won’t cost much, and the risk is minimal: if you don’t win, it won’t matter, but it will give you something you can talk about it through social media and get even more attention.
Join a forum of like-minded artists
The best artists tend to support one another because they know that great art should be appreciated and supported and the internet is full of fantastic communities that can help you promote your services. This is something that can go unnoticed due to the assumption that artists will all be hyper-competitive, eager to undermine one another. Not so.
In truth, there is plenty of demand for art, and those who produce it often end up spending some of their money on commissioning it as well. Artists can collaborate on pieces through which they can all profit, and expand their audiences through building professional associations. You also need to remember that great artists never stop learning. However much you’ll learn from your new community, the existing members will learn just as much from you.
And when someone out there expresses interest for art in the exact style that you’ve mastered, you’ll find that other artists will often point them in the right direction, knowing that you’ll do the same for them in return. Put your trust in community spirit. You won’t regret it.
Rodney Laws is an ecommerce expert with over a decade of experience in building online businesses. Check out his reviews on EcommercePlatforms.io and you’ll find practical tips that you can use to build the best online store for your business. Connect with him on Twitter @EcomPlatformsio.
In recent years, artists have been seeking alternative means and low-cost ways in which to present and showcase their artwork. One of the most effective ways to do this is through the internet and one of the most successful ways of doing this is by entering online art competitions/contests.
What is an online art contest and what are the benefits for an artist when entering online art contests? Online art competitions may be organized and operated by “bricks and mortar” art galleries, online art galleries and by other art organizations. These groups have chosen to promote their art contest, accept entries in to and present the winning artist’s work all online.
The more traditional way has been to handle entries with paper forms, snail mail and the traditional opening, exhibition and closing at a physical location or art gallery. However, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the world has seen an exponential rise of online art galleries as artists and arts organizations look for new ways to exhibit art.
Launched in 2010, the Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery (LST) was already far ahead of the curve. Having previously hosted over 120 online art competitions and exhibitions by the time the pandemic started, LST and its parent art gallery, Fusion Art, are industry leaders in the hosting of art competitions and contests.
What are the advantages and benefits for artists to enter and compete in an online art competition? The following are the top benefits for an artist when entering online art contests:
1. Ease of Entering
Online art competitions make it very easy for an artist to enter and compete. Art organizations and art galleries that conduct online art competitions and art contests have easy online forms and online upload portals that in many cases an artist can fill out, upload and complete within 5 minutes.
The more traditional way is for “regular” art galleries to conduct an art contest where they administer and accept entries that are loaded onto a CD, with a paper entry form filled out, a return postage paid envelope included and then the package is mailed to the organizer of the art competition. Other organizations and art galleries often use a combination of email entries (attach images) and paper entry forms. Any of these methods can be time-consuming for an artist to complete and may discourage an Artist from competing.
2. Results are Published Online
Online art competitions post the results online and are presented to the competing artists, the public, and general Internet traffic. Many regular art galleries which conduct art competitions have been slow to embrace technology and are still mailing the results to the artists and many cases, they still do not even post the results online. As a competing artist, whether I got in or not, I was always curious to see what art and which artists won or placed in a competition. There are still art organizations that are unable to show the results of their art contest unless they have a printed exhibition program (many do not even have this available to competing artists).
3. Exposure for the Artist
Online art galleries, due to their inherent structures, operating goals and their use of technology, use the Internet to the artist’s advantage in that their exposure for the artist is far superior to that of a regular art gallery. Online art galleries, through the use of keywords, PPC, other online marketing and online promotions, winning artists are exposed to a much larger audience then a regular art gallery can ever provide.
Depending on the online art gallery’s exposure and the traffic to their website, an artist’s artwork can be exposed and presented to thousands of visitors each month. Other than an opening of an art exhibition, traffic and visits to a regular art gallery is usually minimal, thus the overall exposure for the artist is too.
4. Low Cost of Entering
The cost of entering an online art contest with an online art gallery is a fixed and known cost to the artist. When competing in a regular art gallery competition there are the entry fees (which are generally higher), any costs for reproduction of the art and finally, any mailing costs will need to be absorbed by the artist. After that, if the artist is chosen, they will need to pay for the printing, framing, insurance, and packing/shipping to the art gallery. If the art is not sold at the exhibition, then the cost of returning the art back to the artist will be paid for the by the artist as well.
With expenses and shipping costs going higher each day, entering art competitions (unless they are local to the artist), can be a very expensive proposition for the normal artist. I believe that an artist should also consider their own time involved with this process as a cost when they determine their overall expense for entering a regular art competition too.
5. Conclusion
Overall, online art galleries are becoming a viable alternative for artists to compete and to expose their artwork to a larger audience. More than ever, today, online art galleries are providing low-cost competition and exhibition opportunities for artists that were not available in the past. Regular art galleries, with their built-in overhead and expenses, just cannot compete with online art galleries when it comes to lower artist entry fees, lower artist exhibition costs and providing more exposure to artists who compete, win and exhibit their artwork.
Artists that regularly compete and exhibit their art should consider the benefits of entering online art competitions. By competing and exhibiting in this manner, artists have a greater opportunity for exposure, particularly during this unprecedented time.
To see the current competitions accepting entries by the Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery, please click HERE. To see the current competitions accepting entries by LST's parent company, Fusion Art, visit the website HERE.
This article was originally posted in 2011 but has been updated as of February 2021.
The New Year is a time for artists to look ahead to how they can grow and advance their art careers. Although 2020 is technically behind us, there are still some challenges to overcome as the world continues to work its way out of a terrible pandemic. This has been enormously difficult for everyone but artists and the arts community has been hit particularly hard. However, with the release of vaccines, there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel and it is time for artists to look forward.
At the beginning of every New Year, we post an article with ideas and suggestions for how artists can to make plans for how to kick-start and best to tackle your art career goals in 2020.
Have you set up your art marketing goals for the New Year? If not, the following are 5 things you can do to kick start 2021 and improve your chances of success.
Many of these ideas have been offered up in previous “kick-start” posts but they are elementary and consistently implementing them is not. They are critical for artists if they are to market themselves and their art successfully.
Evaluate & Update Your Website
While the past year has given some artists the time and opportunity to either create or update their websites, for many it has been difficult to concentrate amid the worry of the ongoing pandemic. However, in today’s art world, particularly with all its changes, in order to be taken seriously, it is essential for artists to have a modern, professional, up-to-date website to display their art.
The annual cost to purchase or renew a website domain is typically less than $20. The cost of basic website hosting can be as low as $3-$4 per month. A website is an investment artists need to make a priority in order to be taken seriously.
For those of you who already have websites, if you haven’t reviewed it in a while, now is the time. When was the last time that you went page by page and link by link through it? We all need to do this to find broken links, pages that do not load quickly, graphics, images and other items that have moved, along with pages with misspelled words and similar issues.
The presentation of your art is as important as creating it. Take some time to review your site and make any necessary changes and corrections. Make sure all of the images on your website are sized properly and have a low resolution (a resolution of 72 helps your site load more quickly and protects your art from being copied by unscrupulous people). The images should also be color corrected if necessary, as some cameras and lighting do no always capture an artwork’s true colors. There are many free programs on the internet for this.
Also, do you have better images or graphics to replace what now exists on your website? Do you have new artwork that you just have not had time to photograph and add to your website? Do it.
While checking your images, make sure that they are labeled and tagged properly with good image descriptions. Search engines will only index your images if they have descriptions. By doing this, your images will show up in the image search results and when the images are viewed, viewers will be directed to your art website.
Rewrite/ Update your Artists Bio and Statement
A well-written biography and/or artist statement is also essential for artists and now is the time to review and update them. An artist does not have to be an accomplished writer to create a well-written biography and artist statement, but it is necessary for an artist to have at least one. It is also important to know the difference between a biography and artist statement as many artists mistake one for the other. Please read our article “Comparing an Artist’s Biography to an Artist’s Statement” for clarification.
Also, update your CV by adding any exhibitions, new publications or other pertinent information that has taken place since the last time it was updated.
Use Social Media
Social media has become a part of our everyday lives and is an important platform for all artists to employ in order to help market themselves and their art. Why is this? In our opinion, it is easy to identify and connect with the art community when using social media.
It is also an effective medium because it is a visual and simple way in which to present your art. Particularly now, Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedin, Instagram and even Twitter provide artists with opportunities (if targeted properly) to reach viewers who were previously unreachable.
Read our articles “Top 10 Reasons Why Artists Fail with Social Media”, “Using the 70-20-10 Rule to Succeed at Social Media Marketing” by guest blogger James Baxter, and “How to Write Social Media Posts That Sell Art” by guest blogger Frank Hamilton, along with various other social media articles on the LST website, for further advice and instruction on how best to use social media to grow your audience reach.
Press Release Marketing
Press release marketing is a low-cost way artists can market their artwork to a wider range of potential viewers. There are many “Free” press release websites, which take, publish and market an artist’s press release copy. One such site is PRLog.org. PRLog’s free press release submission includes a PDF version to send to your mailing list, a search engine optimized page, hyperlinks in the content, and the option to select location/industry and tag listings. In addition, companies like Star One Public Relations offers press release distribution services for as low as $10.00 for distribution to 70+ press outlets. Read our article “Successful Press Release Marketing for Artists” and 6 Benefits for Press Releases for Artists to help guide you in these efforts. Also check out our article “5 Ways Artists Can Promote Their Art Online” for more ideas.
Start a Blog
Artists should seriously consider starting an art blog as a way to attract and direct additional interested viewers to their art websites. An art blog is a great way to expand an artist’s target audience. It is also an effective platform to help artists market their art.
Read our articles “Top 3 Reasons Why You Should Have an Art Blog” and “How Artists Can Attract Readers to an Art Blog” in order to fully understand the power of a well-executed art blog.
In 2021, we hope you will make at least some, if not all, of these suggestions part of your art marketing efforts. By implementing these recommendations, artists can experience increased traffic to their websites, find more people interested in their art and ultimately, sell more of their work.
However, as with any marketing program, it is important to focus your efforts. All artists should view the marketing of their art to be as important as the creation of it and an art-marketing plan needs to be well planned and performed consistently in order to be successful. Check out our article “5 Tips for Creating an Effective Art Marketing Strategy” by guest blogger Wendy Dessler, for more suggestions.
Good luck and have a creative, successful and prosperous 2021!
