In the Art Marketing Minute Podcast, you’ll learn how to sell your art, how to market your paintings, and everything else you need to know in order to have a successful art career. Each episode answers questions from artists by host Eric Rhoads, author of “Make More Money Selling Your Art,” publisher of several art magazines and newsletters, and author of ArtMarketing.com.

In this Art Marketing Minute, Eric Rhoads explains if you should change your medium if it seems less popular than oil, for example; and what percentage you should be spending on advertising your art.

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 21 >>>

Submit Your Art Marketing Question:

What questions do you have about selling your art? Email Eric today at [email protected] (include your name and where you’re from) to hear your question answered on an upcoming Art Marketing Minute Podcast.

FULL TRANSCRIPT of the Art Marketing Minute:
DISCLAIMER: The following is the output of a transcription from an audio recording of the Art Marketing Minute. Although the transcription is mostly correct, in some cases it is slightly inaccurate due to the recording and/or software transcription.

Announcer 0:02
This is the Art Marketing Minute with Eric Rhoads, author of the Amazon best selling book, “Make More Money Selling Your Art.” In the marketing minute we answer your questions to help your art career brought to you by artmarketing.com, the place to go to learn more about marketing. Now, here’s your host, arts magazine publisher, Eric Rhoads.

Eric Rhoads 0:23
Thank you Jim Kipping. And thank you for joining us today. My goal is to eliminate the idea of the starving artists. So let’s get right to today’s questions. Here’s a question from Brenda, of Kingston, Ontario. She says I paint in acrylics and I’ve noticed a certain response when I tell people that for business purposes, should I change to a different medium? Well, let’s start with the fact that there are tons and tons of successful acrylic artists and galleries all over the country. And so I don’t know I’m not so sure I got I think it kind of depends on your gallery owner. But, you know, actually there are more acrylic painters than there are oil painters. And I think there’s more acrylic painters than there are watercolors but I may be wrong about that maybe flipped on that anyway, you can succeed very much in acrylic, and there’s so many amazing acrylic products out there now that you can do a lot more things with them. One of the reasons acrylics got a rap with oil painters is because you know, they dry fast. Well, there’s now all kinds of acrylics that don’t dry fast, and as a result, you can kind of mush them together like oil and they stay wet a little bit longer. So I wouldn’t worry too much about it. But you know, you might want to ask your advisors, you know, if you have a gallery, then they may have an opinion about it. But acrylic is archival, it’s going to last forever. It’s beautiful. It just depends. I think acrylic also sometimes gets a name because some people paint very garish colors and very crazy things and, you know, that’s okay too, but it it just kind of depends. But now you can do so much more with them. So I think it’s cool. And as a matter of fact, we’ll probably start adding more and more acrylic. We’ve got some acrylic painters now at the convention, but we’ll probably add more because there’s so many acrylic people out there.

Eric Rhoads 2:09
The next question is from Leslie M. I worry about spending too much on advertising, what percentage of sales? Should we be spending on advertising? Well, that’s a loaded question, Leslie. And the reason it’s loaded is because advertising is about what you need to accomplish at the moment. For instance, if you’re a new business and you’re trying to create awareness, you’re gonna have to do a lot more advertising than you would normally if you’re maintaining it, or it also depends on, the kind of business like an art school, it depends on your margins, how much money you’re making. Some businesses have a high margin, like the cosmetic business, they make about 90% on cosmetics, because there’s no cost to put that stuff together. So they spend, 30-40-50% on advertising, and you notice cosmetic companies all around while you’re trying to gain market share. That’s why they do that. If you’re, you know, you’re only making 10 or 20% on your money, then you got to be more conservative. I think, you know, roughly a lot of people kind of depends on the business 5-10-15% of what they net on their advertising, but again, depends on the time in place, what you’re trying to accomplish? There are times if I’m like launching a new business, I’ll spend a lot more on advertising, there are times that I’ll cut back because I can kind of maintain it, but I never stopped because the minute you stop, people forget about you. So anyway, just kind of judge that. I’m sorry, I can’t give you more of a very specific answer. But you’ve got to get the word out. Because if you don’t get the word out, nobody’s going to show up and then you’re going to have expenses without customers.

Well, this has been the art marketing minute with me. Eric Rhoads. My goal in life is to eliminate the idea of the starving artists to help your dreams actually come true. So if you want to submit questions, simply email [email protected]. And to learn more about marketing ideas, you can visit Artmarketing.com. Thanks for listening.

Remember to Submit Your Question: What questions do you have about selling your art? Email Eric today at [email protected] (include your name and where you’re from) to hear your question answered on an upcoming Art Marketing Minute Podcast.