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 where you should advertise your art when you’re ready to start selling it, and he gives a quick overview of the complicated subject of “branding” and how it affects selling your art to the right buyers.

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 29 >>>

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.

Eric Rhoads 0:35
Here’s a question from Kevin in Nashville, Tennessee. Kevin says Eric, I’ve been working on art and finally have decided to start selling it start marketing it Where should I advertise? Well, Kevin asking me that question is probably not very objective because of course I’m going to tell you you should advertise in plein air magazine Fine Art connoisseur artists on art American watercolor plein air today and fine art today. Lots of good stuff. options. But quite frankly, even though they’re good options and very targeted to very specific artists like fine art connoisseurs very targeted collectors, plein air reaches the plein air collectors and the artists. But I have to tell you that most advertising dollars are wasted, right? Because many people don’t understand advertising. And one of the things that happens is when you’re first learning advertising, you’re going to easily get seduced by things that people tell you which may or may not be accurate, but most importantly, not necessarily effective for you. Most people spend their time and money where they are comfortable and where their friends are. Let me give you an example of that. For instance, I have this guy named Murray, whoever, I tried to get to advertise with my radio stations one time. He owned a clothing store in Salt Lake City that appealed to teenagers. And I owned a top 40 stations that appeal to teenagers and it was a perfect fit yet he wouldn’t advertise with us. He advertised the Have a local Elevator Music station. And when I asked him who his customers were, he said their teens. I said, Well, why do you advertise on the elevator music station that doesn’t have any teens listening? And he said, Well, it’s where my friends are. It’s the friends at the country club. And it gives me a lot of status at the country club. And I said, Well, is it working? Is it bringing in teensy says no, but it’s making me very popular at the country club. His goal was ego and popularity for that it was a good move, but it wasn’t necessarily about selling product. If you really want to sell product, don’t worry about where your friends are. And if your friends are seeing your ads, what you want to worry about is are you in the right fit, for instance, if you want to reach wealthy collectors, then you want to go to something like fine art connoisseur, which has ultra wealthy collectors, lots of billionaires, lots of really, really wealthy people. If you want to reach people who collect plein air paintings and people who go on the plein air circuit, then you want to go to Plein Air magazine. If you want to reach people who are artists and specifically You want to talk to them about something that is you’re selling to artists, and you want to be in plein air magazine, or artists on art, etc. So think about that. But good advertising is about good targeting, pick a place that matches what you’re trying to accomplish. And of course, if you read my books and you watch my videos, I always am talking about how you really need to figure out what you want to accomplish. develop a strategy before you start doing a tactic. advertising is a tactic, an important one no less, but you have to be ready for it. And advertising takes some time. You got to do it right. We can walk you through how to do that. Anyway, I’ve got a section on that in my book.

Eric Rhoads 3:39
Another question from Michelle in St. Petersburg, Florida. I’m not sure I understand the concept of branding, and why it’s important. Can you explain it for me? Well, Michelle, branding is a complicated subject and I’ll try to tackle it briefly. Did you know that the top line of BMW car the top line of BMW is all So the exact same car is a Bentley, same frame, same engine, same body. The style is the body style is slightly different, but everything is about the same. The only difference is the manufacturing cost. It’s $18,000 more because they put some special interior touches and they put the special Bentley grille and stuff like that on it yet, I’m told the difference in price is $150,000 more than the BMW so you could buy the BMW for $150,000 less and get about the same car yet Bentley is the top upscale brand are one of the top and you have to be very, very rich to drive a $250,000 car yet it’s still a car. Why not just buy a Kia for $20,000? Right? Well, it’s not about transportation is it? It’s about stature. It’s about status. It’s about self image of the buyer, wanting to be known for and seen with the best and it’s not just that it’s Creating a position for instance, you could buy a Trac phone for about 100 bucks. Why bother with an iPhone? That’s 1000 bucks? Well, it’s because you want the cool stuff but you want the status with it. Most of us don’t think about the status, but there’s kind of a little hidden thing in the back of our head that we want the best right? Price appeals to certain groups. high price appeals to other groups, low prices appeal to certain groups ultra high, ultra high prices appeal to certain groups. So the brand you reinforce, helps people to determine if you fit into their world. I’ve told many times about the lady who tore up a check when the man said she asked them the man How much is this painting? He said? $4,000 she wrote a check for $40,000 he said no ma’am, you misunderstood 4000 She said it must not be very good. She ripped up the check and went away. Right. So the brand you reinforce helps determine if you fit in their world. She didn’t think a $44,000 painting fit into her world but A $40,000 painting did we can’t relate to that, because we don’t necessarily have that kind of money. But that’s how things work. And so a brand creates what people’s it reflects people’s self esteem, you got to figure out where you want to be seen. You want to stand for something. And a brand is also about developing trust in the minds of your target customers. We know people, I know people in a way you probably do too. We know people who sell their paintings for a million dollars, or for a quarter of a million dollars. And we also know paintings that are the same size, and maybe pretty close to equal quality that are a whole lot less money. But it’s because of the brand of the artist because the artist is well known the artist has proven himself or herself and developed a following. And that’s what branding is all about. So when you have a good brand, it really serves you because it helps you get better prices but you have to build that brand. That doesn’t happen overnight. We have a whole section on the book on that.

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.