By Barney Davey, Guest Blogger - The latest uproar in the online art marketing community is raging due to changes on Instagram. You no longer get follower updates presented chronologically. Instagram, following in its owner, Facebook’s path, is using algorithms determined by data points to display what you see.
Recently, there was angst over changes at Etsy. It’s a continual pattern of online marketing. More than ten years ago, anger at eBay employing new rules was the issue. Users of online sites that help artists promote and sell their work will always deal with inevitable, unpleasant changes.
The concept of digital sharecropping has been around for years. It implies the inherent danger of building your business on borrowed land. At any time, the owner can make changes that are not in the interest of artists using the site to grow their business, ala Instagram.
So What’s an Artist to Do?
I urge artists to take control of their businesses and their marketing. When I began in the art business in 1988, it was career suicide, at least for artists who sold through galleries, to market to buyers directly.
As the Internet became the most massive disruptive agent ever seen, it rolled over the traditional ways art was sold through dealers and galleries. Consumers responded to online retail, including buying high-end luxury items such as diamonds, jewelry, and fine art. Concurrently, new social media platforms created unique ways for artists to engage prospective buyers.
Suddenly, artists could connect with buyers and sell their art to them without going through third-party channels, such galleries. All kinds of simple-to-use, affordable tools make it possible for artists to build a database of interested prospects and customers.
Problems arise when artists choose quick, easy methods to build a following dependent on social media platforms. If they have no contacts and email addresses under their control, they are at square one when Instagram changes crush their marketing plans.
Carpe Diem Artists!
Artists who take control of their marketing position themselves to sell their art with few disruptions. The Art Marketing Mastery Workshop was developed with the idea of helping artists and photographers build their businesses around finding and selling to collectors. Think of it as being in the business of collecting collectors.
The online training offered through the Art Marketing Mastery Workshop is based on the content of the Guerrilla Marketing for Artists book. The information in the book is broken into the 8-Steps to Art Marketing Mastery.
The Art Marketing Mastery Workshop is built around the book’s concepts. I created it because I knew from experience, including my own, that people get a book and don’t finish reading it. Or, they don’t follow much of the advice in it.
Constant Improvement Is the Only Way
I wanted something better for artists so they could get more from the knowledge I packed into the book. The result was to create the Art Marketing Mastery Workshop. I wanted to go deeper, to inspire action and to give artists a more fruitful and sustaining outcome from the information I have for them.
The first version of the workshop is webinar-based. I soon realized while the material is helpful in that there are better ways for artists to learn it. So, I’ve found myself in the adult education business. That means researching, buying and studying all kinds of new learning management system tools so I can present this information in a better way.
Now, artists will have new and exciting ways to learn the concepts of Art Marketing Mastery. I’ve broken the content into 40+ learning modules. Each with videos, worksheets, resources, and quizzes. These changes make the content easier to access and allow me to go much deeper on the topic.
I am improving the learning so artists get more useful, easily accessible knowledge. The new program goes deeper to instill wisdom, inspire action and to provide artists with fruitful and sustaining results.
Because the upgrades to the learning system and attention to ongoing updates and additions are costly, I can no longer offer lifetime access at a one-time low price. After March 19, the workshop will close for an indefinite period. It will reopen as a monthly membership site. Take advantage of the best price and best offer ever on the Art Marketing Mastery Workshop.
About the Art Marketing Mastery Workshop
The workshop is the culmination of the advice, wisdom, and experience Barney Davey has attained in serving artists for nearly 30 years. He calls it his masterpiece. Artists using the workshop learn art marketing about the best tools and techniques suited to them. It is a lifetime system meaning once learned artists can continue to use the systems to find buyers, sell art, market efficiently and operate profitably throughout their careers. The program is set to undergo a major overhaul and upgrade in how the information is delivered. Artists who join by March 19 are grandfathered into the program with lifetime access for a low one-time fee. Go to http://bdavey.co/career to join or for more details.
Barney Davey began his career advising artists in 1988 as a senior account executive with Decor magazine and the Decor Expo trade-shows. He helps artists and photographers find buyers, sell art and operate profitably. His mission is to provide artists with systems they can use to create successful, sustainable and rewarding careers. You will find numerous ways to grow your career through his books, blog posts, workshops, online training, consulting and more. http://barneydavey.com
