Each week, Eric Rhoads answers two art marketing questions from listeners like you during the Marketing Minute Podcast. Browse the marketing minutes here to learn tips on how to sell more art.

Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 57

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 be concerned about finding new customers right now, and thoughts on the market for nocturne paintings.

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 57 >

 

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:
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:

So I made a deal with my team I said you put the questions in and I’m not going to read them until I actually record live on the podcast because I want to just go off the top of my head rather than having any scripted thing. So this is from Ellen Jean Dietrich, in Fargo, North Dakota, who says right now my single biggest marketing challenge is that I am not meeting new customers, almost all my shows have been cancelled. And very few came to my last event, what’s the best alternative for finding new customers right now? Well, it’s a misnomer. New customers are the thing everybody wants to chase. We all tend to focus on new business all the time, but the people who bought from you are the best possible people to buy from you again, because they already have shown that they love your work and they’re willing to spend money for it, I would suggest a campaign that really reaches out to past buyers and makes them aware of things that you’ve done recently. Because that’s really where the money lies. And probably more than new customers, new customers are a challenge because you got to find them, you got to reach them, you got to sell them, you got to teach them about yourself, then you got to find people to love them. And of course, if you want new customers a place to go is where there’s a deep rich group of people who love the kind of art that you do. And that’s places like plein air magazine, or Fine Art connoisseur or other things like that, where you can find a concentrated group of people who buy art, you can also focus on doing some things locally shows will come back and and of course, people start coming to events again. But in the meantime, I would go after existing customers because they’re a lot easier to sell.

Now, here’s a question from Matthew Calavera in Lincoln, Nebraska, who says I love to paint nocturnes, but I don’t know if there’s a specific market for this. If there is how do I find my way into it? Well, you guys are asking a lot of the same questions. And I think the answer to that is don’t look for the market. Let the market find you. If you love to paint nocturnes, then that’s what you should paint. And if that’s if you’re painting for a market if you’re trying to paint because you know people are going to buy little red barns and you don’t love painting little red barns I highly recommend against that. It’s going to show in your work. I remember there was a an artist who decided he was going to conquer the western market and he started painting all this Western stuff. And you could just tell his heart was not into it. You know, if somebody’s hearts into it, you can see it in their work. And so if you love Nocturnes paint Nocturnes you know, Carl Gretzke does paint other things. But he’s known as the Nocturne guy, and he he sells a lot of Nocturnes a lot of people buy him. So is there a place you can go? Is there like a Nocturnes magazine? No, no, you’re gonna go after people who love great paintings. And if you find people who love great paintings, in certain places, that’s where you want to be you want to be doing art shows you want to be promoting locally, you want to be promoting nationally, I think every artist should have a local international strategy. Because, you know, let’s say that you live, you know, at the time I’m recording this quarantine is still going on in California, right? So if you can’t get out in California, people can’t get out in California, that’s your only gallery you got a little bit of a problem. And that’s your local market. So but if you had a gallery in, say, Florida and Florida is open, then everybody’s out and about and business as usual. So you can make sure that you have a local international strategy have two or three galleries in two or three different places where there’s stuff that’s going to sell and that will make a big difference. And so rather than trying to find a specific market for Nocturne, somebody asked a question last week about finding a specific market for for modern or abstract kind of things. And I kind of had the same same answer. You know, abstract is a little bit broader. So you might find a place where you can advertise and get to abstract people. But advertising is key if you really want to get seen. Anyway, hope that answers your question. Thanks for asking about marketing.

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.

How to Submit Your Art Marketing Questions: 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.

By |2021-02-04T08:42:26-05:00March 1st, 2021|Art Marketing Minute Podcast|0 Comments
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Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 56

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 with Eric Rhoads, find out when you should start marketing your art prior to holidays and the best way to market your art if it’s considered “unusual.”

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 56 >

 

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:
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:

Thank you Jim. In the marketing minute I try to answer your marketing questions you can stump me if you want. You can email them to me [email protected], which is a good website with lots of marketing stuff on it that we’ve that we’ve put together anyway, artmarketing.com. Here’s a question. And by the way, these are unscripted. I have I’m reading this for the first time. It’s from Gabe Little in New Jersey, who says when should artists start their holiday marketing? And are there other holidays that makes sense sense to use for marketing? Well, every excuse that you have to get your name out there is a great excuse and so whether it’s Fourth of July, I do this program called Art Marketing in a Box, it’s a program designed to make people the superstar well known artist and sell a lot in their local communities. And it’s got a lot of stuff based on every possible holiday you know, you can do birthday marketing, if you know marketing birthdays of Mark know the birthdays of people who bought your paintings, but you know, always the holidays, whether it’s July 4, or whether it’s Father’s Day or Mother’s Day, getting things out their way in advance. People are always looking for the ultimate gift and they never know what to get right. This is always a problem. And so you want to start it early. Now I always have done a Christmas in July kind of thing. And the reason I do Christmas in July is because I say you know if you want to commission a painting, start get me working on it now so I can have it ready for Christmas. And so you could start that now it’s still you still got time, but you want to be getting a head start on all marketing, all holiday marketing, and I like to work three, four months in advance and minimum and in cases of commissions and things you might need more time so all holidays make sense. I hope that helps, Gabe.

Here’s a question from Jackie, Jackie Bryant in Sacramento, California who says, my work is somewhat unusual. And what’s the best way to find the right market that would be interested in buying it? Well you know the the thing about art is it’s pretty hard to categorize someone as the kind of person who would like abstract painting or the kind of person who would like realistic painting, let my you know, my household would be a really great example of that my wife likes things that are more colorful, more bright, more, more abstract, sometimes a little bit wild. And I tend to like things that are a little bit more subdued, a little bit more traditional in nature. And you know, the kids like all kinds of different stuff. And so every household is going to have a little bit of a mixture. And, there are people like me who I have very tight paintings, I have very loose paintings, I have a couple of abstract paintings, I do have a little bit of everything. So I don’t think it’s so much about finding the right market for your work, I think it’s just the idea of getting yourself out there, you need to market yourself, go after, if you think that, you want to market yourself to people who buy abstract paintings, then, maybe advertise on a website or in a newsletter, or email newsletter, or, a magazine or something, like art news or something that that’s going to appeal more to people in the in that kind of a world. Whereas, my publications probably appeal to people more than traditional realism kind of world. But that’s a really great place. The point is, you want to find concentrated audiences of people who are known art buyers, because if you just put yourself out there in the universe, that’s nice, but you’re gonna pay a lot of money, you’re gonna have to reach a lot of people to find, one shiny penny in the in the crowd. And so you want to go for concentrated audiences where there are known people who love and buy art and so that’s probably the best the best answer I can give you, Jackie. I hope that helps. Anyway, this has been my opinion on how you can deal with marketing.

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.

How to Submit Your Art Marketing Questions: 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.

By |2021-02-22T06:43:55-05:00February 22nd, 2021|Art Marketing Minute Podcast|0 Comments
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Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 55

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 shares the best way to approach a former buyer about new paintings you have available, and if you should use your donations as a marketing point.

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 55 >

 

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:
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:
Yeah, buy my book that would be pretty cool. In the art marketing minute I try to answer your art marketing questions. I always answer them whether or not I get them, right. I don’t know. But anyway, email your questions to me, [email protected] we’re always looking for questions. Here’s one from Russell Martinez in Boise City, Idaho, who says, What’s the best way to approach a former buyer about buying a new painting? Well, first off, Russell, it’s a great question and some important question. You see, we are all always focusing on how we get more new business. But the reality is that most businesses make most of their money on repeat business. And so if you can figure out a strategy to get repeat business, that’s important. I teach that in a lot of my art marketing, bootcamp video series, and I also teach it in my book, but the idea is that you want to find ways to engage people to buy more in the future. Now there’s a couple of things. First off, I have two answers. The first is to understand that the very best time to sell someone a second painting is when they’re buying the first one, you know, think of McDonald’s and they always say, what do you want fries with that, you know, they suggest something. The theory is that people buy more during the peak of enthusiasm if they are already on a dopamine high, because dopamine is triggered when you’re buying things, all kinds of research about that people like to buy more, that’s why they put all this stuff at the checkout counter at the grocery store. Because they’re buying stuff that just make they want to buy more stuff. And it doesn’t seem practical, but it works. And so they love you, they love your work, so why not? So another thing so here’s what you can do after you get a commitment on the first painting, you can say hey, by the way, you know, I want to show you a couple other paintings that would go really well with this one, because I kind of intended these to hang together now Don’t lie to anybody. If it’s not true, don’t tell them that. But you can say, here’s some paintings that I think would go well with that painting and a little grouping, you know, in your living room or something, and then you pull it out, create a little grouping, see how they react, they might want to buy it, they might say, you know, would you give me a discount on those or something you can decide what to do. I like to also think that a great way to do this is to say hey, you know, you bought a painting from me, I’m really honored that you would do it, you know, I make my living as an artist, it’s nice to find people like you willing to buy, I’d love to reward you by giving you a 10% or 20% off on any of the other paintings. If you buy them today, you know, and if you buy a whole bunch of them, I might, I might give you a really special discount. This is very effective. And people like to take advantage of that. And it’s a good thing to do. The other thing to do is to stay in touch with collectors and buyers over time. You know, when you get a buyer, send them a nice note, send them some note cards with their painting on the note card, stay in front of them touch base by email or mail don’t become a pest, but stay in touch. Because you know, even though I’ve bought painting, sometimes I don’t remember the names of the artists. That’s that’s not so much true anymore. But when I first started doing it was true. And, you kind of blend in with everybody else and they go What was the name of that person. So you want to stay visible because they might be going well, I got to get a gift or I got a birthday coming up or something. So I created a whole program called Art Marketing in a Box, which was designed to reengage buyers. And also to get local buyers and collectors more engaged and works really effectively. We had one artist who bought it and they doubled their sales in the first year using the strategy. Anyway, the idea is to stay visible. We use different pre written things. And you can of course adjust them. But the idea is that you can put things in front of buyers to stimulate purchases at different times a year when they’re seeking gifts or when you know other things are happening. And it’s just nice to stay in front of them. The more you stay in front of them, the more they will eventually buy. It’s just proven, proven science. I was talking about science earlier. Don’t be afraid to ask too. You know, if they love your work, they probably would love more. And you say you know, I’d love to see a couple more paintings go out the door with you today. Is there anything we can do to make that happened? And let them say, you know, yeah, maybe if you did this, or maybe if you did that? Don’t be afraid to ask. And also the other thing we all make a mistake of it’s don’t assume that somebody does not have money. Because they might have money and they might have a lot of money. You never know what they’ve got. And so just go ahead and never hurts to ask. If you don’t ask you won’t get right.

Now here’s a question from Amanda Lewis in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, Amanda says, I make an annual donation from my art to a nonprofit can can or should I use that as a marketing point? And I would say Amanda, absolutely, yes. Here’s what I like to do. And I love to donate paintings, to auctions and to silent auctions. And I don’t care if it’s costing me a painting and sometimes I’ll do a really big one. And why? Well, because it’s a great marketing opportunity. And don’t look at it as how much this is costing you say, Well, if I give them a $2,000 painting, can I get two or $4,000 worth of marketing value out of this? Think about this. Most art marketing situations like I mean most high art marketing, where am I going with that most of these nonprofit situations where they’re doing a, they’re doing an auction or something a charity auction, they’re attending to attract local people who have money, and not always, but oftentimes, and those people are willing to spend because they want to give money to the organization. And so you can make yourself highlighted, what I oftentimes will say is, look, I would love to give you a $5,000 painting, I’ll give you a really big one. But in return for that, here’s what I want, I would like to be the featured. I’d like my image of my painting, maybe even my picture with my painting, I would like to have it on the cover of the website, right right up front, you know, when our opportunity to win a $5,000 painting from Eric Rhoads. Now, the other thing you want is you want to be on their postcard, you want to be on their emails, you want to be on everything. And so you’re getting that the second thing I like is, I want an introduction at the event before my thing is auctioned off. And that way they stand. Here’s Eric. And that way, at the cocktail party, I get to meet people, and they have something in common, they can talk to me about, oh, I loved your art. And then I can collect business cards. The third thing is I always give them a second painting to give away in the silent auction or for a drawing and I’ll put cards in there, you know, I’ll put a thing in there to put your card into win. And that way I get the names and draw it. Now another thing I oftentimes will do this is sometimes effective sometimes not is I will actually suggest to them that I’d be willing to do a little bit more for them in exchange for the names in you know, or would they do an email blast on my behalf? You know, here’s a beautiful painting from this artist. He donated it to us and we want to make you aware of his work and his website, that kind of thing. So, anyway, it’s a great question, and it’s something you should do and look for an opportunity to use in your marketing.

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.

How to Submit Your Art Marketing Questions: 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.

By |2021-01-29T19:32:59-05:00February 15th, 2021|Art Marketing Minute Podcast|0 Comments
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Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 54

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 shares insider tips on doing market research to sell more art, and advice for artists who don’t have years of experience but still want to build their brand.

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 54 >

 

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
In the marketing minute I try to answer your art marketing questions and you can email yours to [email protected] Here’s a question from Kelly Johnson in Omaha, Nebraska who asks, If you’re the only one doing your marketing, what are some suggestions you have on doing market research to find out what really matters to your buyers? What do you think about sending surveys for example? Well, that’s a great question Kelly. And the number one thing that most marketers miss is understanding that they need to listen to their customers, your customers have all the answers that you need. Now in selling art, it’s a little bit more difficult in that because it’s not real cut and dry, because it’s an emotional response someone’s having to a painting typically. So surveys can be great, but most of us aren’t very good at surveys, most of us are not trained in how to do them properly. And if you don’t do them properly, you get biased answers. And if you get bad information, you get bad. you respond badly, you don’t do things properly. I’m trained, I was trained in research years and years and years ago, I used to do a lot of research and I’m still not very good at it. And I don’t rely on it a lot. I do ask survey questions from time to time and I do get some answers. But I’m looking for things that are, more like what artists would you like us to do a video of or what artists would you like us to bring into a convention versus understanding the psychology of things a little bit more? You’re really looking for the things that people say that might help you in your marketing to get attention from others who are like them, like how do they talk about your work or what it means To them or why they wanted to own it, or maybe why they bought it or something, if somebody can articulate that some of those are difficult. Surveys are usually only valid with big big samples too. So usually a very small number of people participate in a survey, you know, like 1% 2%. And so you’ve got to have a big sample for it to have any meaning. Right? So, if you’ve got 1000 people, yeah, and you probably don’t, then you’ve got to have you know, 1% of 1000 people which is 100 people and or I mean, 10 people. Man, don’t ask me to do math, but that the idea is that you you want to have a decent enough survey size, most people don’t get the answers that they need. So one of the best ways to do it and I learned this a long, long time ago from a buddy of mine is that he hired somebody who called his buyers and asked them to just talk to them about their their work. Now you don’t have to do that. You can do it yourself. But people are not going to tell you the complete truth. Because they don’t want to hurt your feelings if there’s anything that would hurt your feelings. But having somebody else call for you, you know, it’s like saying, Hey, you know, I’ve got this friend, her name is Kelly Johnson from Omaha, Nebraska. And she said that you bought one of her paintings. I’m doing a little bit of market research for her. Would you be willing to spend a couple minutes on the phone with me? And I want to ask you some questions to understand it because I’m trying to help her with their marketing. Some people would say yes, some people would say no, and you’re being perfectly transparent about that. And then you can just ask them questions… I’m just kind of curious, what was it about that painting that you liked? And how are you feeling about it? And did you feel like it was a good experience and you know, things like that, but what you want to do is try to have permission to record it because you want that’s a great tool because you’re looking for terms. You’re looking for things that people say, you know, so I was doing some marketing for our real Islam live conference and I did a thing where I asked people to, to record some testimonials for me and I was listening to things they said and how they said them. And then I’m able to use that kind of language when I’m marketing it that because they’re very similar to the people I’m trying to attract. Right. So this is all very difficult, but art is you know, art is again, a little different animals. So typical research if I’m doing a widget, you know, I’m trying to sell the easel brush clipper. The value specs are something that I can do some research about, you know that a little bit more and I can apply that in mass marketing, but if I’m selling a painting, because it’s so personal, so a little bit more difficult. So, anyway, give it a try. See what happens.

Now here’s a question from Ryan Davis in Cape Coral, Florida who says, when you look at the great contemporary master artists, it seems to me that that time is the only way to build a big brand. What advice do you have for those of us who don’t have so many years of experience? Well, first off years of experience are invaluable. Of course, and big brands are built over time, of course, but it’s not always just time you see, I can tell you I could probably name a lot of people I know, who have got a lot of time but don’t have a lot of success, and, they’re good artists. And so why is that? Well, it’s because they’re not combining time with repetition of message and they’re not doing the right things that are going to get them noticed and known the one thing that the people who are contemporary masters who are well known understand is that these are that you have to do certain things on a regular basis you got to be doing shows on a regular basis got to be doing books or articles you got to get exposure you got to do advertising got to do things that draw attention to you and and it’s never just one thing. You know, the tendency today is to make it about well, I’ll just do social media. Well, social media is the most misunderstood advertising medium around, it can be very effective. I use it, but I don’t use it for all things. Because first off, I would never do only social media, because you don’t want to have everything reliant on one particular thing. Because if that one thing changes, or there’s laws passed or whatever, then it’s no longer going to work for you. But also, because there’s a lot of different things that you would that we as artists have to do. And so look for the things that are going to move the needle forward, and that’s marketing in different ways. Remember, also social media on a typical Facebook account. For instance, I’ve got my max which is 5000 on my Facebook account. I know that every time I tweet something out or post something as it is in Facebook’s world, I know that only 2% of my audience is going to see it now. That means only 2% of that 5000 are ever going to see what I post now, I have some tricks that I have learned about and employ that get me actually pushed out there to a higher percentage, but it’s probably still only six to 8%. And that’s because I work very hard at that. But, you’re not necessarily going to accomplish your marketing with social media. The other thing was social media. And again, I’m not anti social media, I use it a lot. But most of us as artists don’t have most of our followers are not collectors, most of them are fellow artists. And that’s so you’re kind of preaching to the choir, the people who may or may not be buying art from you. And so there’s a lot of things that you’ve just got to do. So, Ryan, I think the answer to your question is, it’s not time, it’s time plus time plus repetition of advertising of messages. You know, I just had a situation where a an artist had been advertising with us decided to move all of the the advertising dollars out and move the advertising dollars into social media because that artists didn’t feel that the results were there. But the artist got into several galleries as a result of the advertising, the artist got invited into several shows as a result of the advertising. And as a result, the artist is feeling well, I haven’t been able to track direct sales. Well, the direct sales may not be happening. And usually if something isn’t happening, it’s because you’re doing something wrong. I can have two advertisers. And I can have them do the same amount of advertising. And one advertiser will get really brilliant results, another advertiser won’t get results. And it’s because of what they say in their ads, how they structure their ads, what the call to action is, what are the things they’re trying to motivate people to do. Of course, it also has to do with the art Is the art any good? And we all believe our arts good, but not everybody else believes that. And so, we kind of have to fight that battle. But the idea is that when you’re when you’re in a group of let’s say, you’re in a cluster of the right kind of people, so I’m in a cluster Fine Art Connoisseur magazine last month went out to 500,000 people, big audience, very unusual. We normally don’t have that big audience, but we did it for that one issue. And, but the people we typically are going to if somebody came to us and said, We want to send this magazine to, you know, a bunch of school art teachers, you know, we might, we might say, yeah, that’s nice. Maybe we’d like for them to have it but they’re not going to do any good for advertisers, because advertisers know that those people are not likely to have the income. No offense to anybody just being practical here might not likely have the income to buy a you know, a five or $10,000 painting. So you know, when you You look for targeted clusters, you know, like Fine Art Connoisseur, for instance, has a targeted cluster of people who are known to spend a lot of money on paintings are known to be collectors they known, they are known as a concentrated group of collectors, it’s very desirable. So it’s not about big numbers as much as it is about the right people who can buy the right thing from you. And that’s what you always want to be focusing on. So I’m not sure I answered your question. I probably got to it in a roundabout way, Ryan. But if you’re seeing great contemporary masters. And they’re succeeding. Yes, they have been around a long time and time is one thing that, you can cheat time a little bit, you can speed things up a little bit. But, time is on your side, but if you’re not doing the right things that time isn’t going to help. So I hope that helps.

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.

How to Submit Your Art Marketing Questions: 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.

By |2021-01-21T09:27:37-05:00February 8th, 2021|Art Marketing Minute Podcast|0 Comments
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Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 53

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 shares advice on using social media for marketing versus paying for advertising, and tips on branding consistency.

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 53 >

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFgtBSczing&feature=youtu.be

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
In the marketing minute, I answer your art marketing questions and the way to submit them is just email me [email protected] there is no stupid question. That’s how we learn right? Okay, here’s a question here. This is a stupid ques- No, I’m just kidding. This is a question from Amy in Chicago. Amy is going to hate me she’s never going to write in again. Anyway, she says isn’t social media marketing enough? Why would I ever pay for advertising? Well, I’m not suggesting you should pay for advertising. You have to figure out all of us have to figure out what our strategy is and what our tactics are and what you’re trying to accomplish what you’re, do you want to sell art Do you want to brand yourself to want to get invited to events, what is the purpose of your marketing? And then that will determine what you need to do. We have these misperceptions about social media there are a lot of people think, well, all I got to do is put my stuff on social media and my stuff will sell. It’s kind of like saying, does anybody remember phone books? It’s kind of like saying, well, I just put my name in the phone book, and people will call me Well, the phone books filled with lots of people. It’s like having a website. Oh, I just got to put up a website and everybody will discover me. No, that’s not true. I mean, some might buy an accidental search. But the reality is that they’re going to discover websites when you promote them. And, and so the same is true with other things. Now, if you’re promoting on social media, and you’re doing it properly, and it works for you, and you’re making money and you’re getting your goals accomplished, then that’s all you need, quite frankly, why would you pay for advertising? Why would anybody Why do 10s of thousands of businesses advertise? It’s because they get a return on their investment. They’re trying to reach people. They don’t have, we have this belief that everybody on social media is getting our posts and the reality is on Facebook, only two to 3% ever see any post that you do that means if you had 5000 followers, which is their Max, only two to 3% will ever see that post. And sometimes it’s the same people all the time because there’s these algorithms that they use. And so as a result, you want to be aware that you’re not necessarily reaching people. Now, there’s a lot of strategies. I teach in art marketing Bootcamp, at the conventions about how to penetrate that how to make that work for you. But the reality is, you also need to make sure you got the right people following you and you’ve got to have the right messaging. So if you’re going after collectors, for instance, or people who are buying art, you got to get go after people who you know are going to be the kind of people that you want, and so you got to fill up your followers with that. You can’t be talking to artists, other artists and talking about Artists stuff that other artists are interested in you got to be talking to things that other collectors are interested in. So you got to change your tactics and most of us have our Facebook pages or Instagram pages filled with our friends and as a result we’re not necessarily getting the right kind of followers and that’s why it typically doesn’t work for people it might work for you and that’s great if it does but advertising is about reaching people you’re not reaching and the ability to target to reach people that you that are in a particular category you know, like if I if you want to target people who are known art buyers or known art collectors, then you go to places where you know they are you know, like my magazines plein air magazine, fine art connoisseur, etc. So I pay for advertising I spent a lot of money on advertising I can’t even say how much it’s a lot but I it works for me and I get a return and so the more I spend the more return I typically get. And it takes time it builds up over time but then it just keeps return. As long as I feed it, so that’s why I do it.

All right. Next question comes from John in San Francisco, who asks, How important is it to have consistency in the way that you market your brand? Do you have any tips for being consistent and branding? John, good question. Thank you. Well, think about your favorite brands think about any brand. What are the biggest? It used to be? I don’t know if it still is, but the biggest most well known brand in the world was McDonald’s. What if they started using green arches? Or what if Apple started using yellow on their logo instead of black or silver, whatever they use? These are little things that matter. People are creatures of habit, they want to be comfortable, they get to know you. It’s like a friend that you know, you recognize, right? I remember some actress can’t remember who it was had plastic surgery. And it’s like, I didn’t recognize her anymore. And so it was very uncomfortable for me and I’ve never gotten used to it. So I think the idea is that you create a look a consistent look and you want to stick with it. You want to be careful Though a lot of artists are using their signatures as their logo, and that’s okay, but you don’t want us to use signatures alone because the ad needs to have or the logo needs to have the name under it. Because people can’t usually read signatures unless it’s very, very easily readable and even that I would not assume they can read it, you know. So it just doesn’t hurt to make sure you do that. But you want to look for things like consistency, color, theme, consistency, same look, same type everything on your business cards, website, you know, everything you do your brochures, everything you want, that comfort of consistency. Also, you just want to make sure that you’re reinforcing your brand constantly. You’ve got to, we all think that everybody knows who we are, you run one ad and you think everybody knows who you are. That’s not true. You have to build it up over time. It takes time and time and time again, I always talk about repetition is the key to everything. You’ve got to have repetition to the same audiences. People don’t even read respond to things until they’ve seen you seven times in a short amount of period of time. So you got to figure out how do I solve that problem? It’s about repetition. All right. Anyway, that’s, that’s my tips on art marketing today.

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.

How to Submit Your Art Marketing Questions: 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.

By |2021-01-19T12:21:03-05:00February 1st, 2021|Art Marketing Minute Podcast|0 Comments
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Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 52

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 shares new advice on if you should list your prices on your website, and thoughts on fame versus success.

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 52 >

 

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

In the marketing minute I try to answer your marketing questions. I haven’t been stumped yet but I’m sure somebody will stumped me at some point I’m it’s bound to happen right? Anyway, email your questions to me [email protected] And if you want to check out the website artmarketing.com has tons of articles I’ve written about art marketing. Here’s a question from Kathy in Indianapolis who asked Is it a good idea to list your prices on your website for your paintings or on your social media? And if so, why or why not? I’ve always wondered this because if people don’t see the price, how are they supposed to know how much it is and some artists don’t do it? Some do it. So what’s the right way? I don’t think I can say there’s a right way or wrong way. I think that the way to say it is you got to make your choices. Now I will tell you a story. A dealer friend of mine in the I’ll just say into Texas dealer friend of mine in Texas, was having this great debate about whether or not he should put prices on his website because no dealers were doing that at the time this a few years back. And I said, I think you should I would put my prices on there because the internet is all about instant gratification. And if I am in another country, or if I’m sitting up at four o’clock in the morning, I browse around, I see something I want to be able to buy it. I don’t have to pick up the phone and call you. And his argument was, yeah, but I if I get them on the phone, I can talk to them and talk them through it and help sell them. And my argument was, yeah, but you might not get them on the phone. Most people don’t want to get on the phone anymore, and some will some won’t, but you need to be able to sell it anyway. So he took a chance on it. He did an experiment and he put his prices on the website right away right away. I just felt so totally vindicated here, right so right away. He gets a An order that came in at like four o’clock in the morning, just like I said it would happen it was from some foreign country. And the order was for get this $650,000 for a big piece of sculpture. This is a top tier gallery $650,000. Now, when he arrived the next morning, he had a wire transfer for the money in his bank account. And he was able to confirm it and be able to send the sculpture and pack it up and send it to wherever it was Brazil or something, I think. And and so, from that point forward, he always put his prices on his website. Now some dealers still don’t do it. Some artists don’t do it. I you know, I think it’s debatable but I think, in this this culture, we’re going on Amazon and we’re shopping for things we want to be able to have instant gratification and I think that art is Really is the same way. And so I would do it, that’s what I think is the proper way to do it. And you also can have opportunities to upsell for framing or you know, pick a different frame or things like that. Most of the website providers provide things like that now, so I think it’s a really good idea. I, you know, again, it’s debatable, but I think it’s worth a try. And if you have a reason why it’s a bad idea, let me know, I’d like to hear it.

Next question comes from Randy in New York City, or Randall, who says it seems that the best artists rise to the top and are working and that working on your art and getting to the highest possible level of development is the most important thing to become famous. Would you agree? Well, I think there’s a couple of things in here. First off, this sounds like a trick question. I know it’s not random but the famous you know, what’s more important? Is it more important to be famous or is it more important to be successful? Is fame successful, you can be famous and not make any money is that You want? Do you want to be famous and successful financially, you know, you got to figure out what you want. But here’s the problem. It seems like it should be the case. I mean, you would think that the universe would do that you spend your life working on your work, you get really good at it, and you put it out there, and then it just automatically gets recognized. And that happens sometimes. I mean, people do get discovered they do get recognized from the quality of their work. And clearly quality tends to rise to the top and gets the higher prices. But if you don’t put it out there, sometimes it’s not going to be seen you know, what if you don’t just get discovered what if you don’t get a gallery? What if you don’t find an agent? What if you don’t get seen? I have seen so many instances and learned about so many people throughout my career of people who are brilliant painters who have never been discovered. I had I was had an opportunity I was asked to come to England to try and talk a particular painter into getting out there and going into the market. And because he was so shy, he didn’t want to do it. And he had, it was a brilliant artist, and he wouldn’t even sell his work. And he’s in his particular case, he just didn’t want to do it. And but there have been so many instances of people who wanted to do it, but they didn’t, that, you know, they just never got anybody interested in. Um, so I think the thing is that, that selling your work is a lifetime effort. As long as you’re going to be selling your work, you’re going to have to be somewhat assertive, some would say aggressive, you have to be willing to put yourself out there. I mean, let’s say you’re at a cocktail party, and you meet an art dealer and you’re so shy that you won’t even say hey, I’m an I’m an artist, and I’d like you to look at my work. Well, first off art dealers get that so many times they may not pay attention to it, but they also might say, Yeah, I would like to look at your work but some people are social You know, marketing is sometimes just a matter of raising your hand and telling people what you’re up to. It doesn’t have to be anything beyond that. But a lot of people think marketing is something they don’t need to do. They don’t need marketing skills. They think marketing is crass, for some reason, but some have been lucky and gotten out there. Some have not. So I would say that you’ve got to be really sensitive to the idea that learning marketing is important. Let’s let’s say this, you know, I think a great thing for an artist is to eventually get a two or three great galleries, maybe more or to get a great handler, maybe somebody to work for you, maybe somebody to be your your agent. But you know, the reality is that usually you have to do some marketing and build some some awareness before somebody wants to do it. It’s like galleries want to go after successful people. They want proven people sometimes they’re not willing to take the risk and so you got to get out there. So learning and discovering marketing, go to artmarketing.com. Check it out. See if You can find some things that might be of value to you. I think you might find it to be helpful. Anyway, I think that’s, I think that’s the answer.

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.

How to Submit Your Art Marketing Questions: 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.

By |2021-01-15T10:00:31-05:00January 25th, 2021|Art Marketing Minute Podcast|0 Comments
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Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 51

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 shares advice on where to begin when it comes to marketing, and how to change your limited perception of what buyers are willing to pay for a piece of art.

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 51 >

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgtvgNEja64&feature=youtu.be

 

 

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
In the marketing minute I answer your marketing questions you can email me anytime, [email protected] Here’s a question from Jacob in Cincinnati who says Where do I begin when it comes to marketing, social media, advertising, having a website? Well, Jacob, I get this question a lot. It’s a very normal question. And it’s an important question because nobody knows where to begin. It’s like what do I do? I’ve got to start selling my work. I think the most important thing is to ask yourself what you want to accomplish, set some goals and try to figure out how you’re going to accomplish those goals. Now you don’t have to set giant goals yet. Just set some goals. You know, what’s the number one thing you want to accomplish? You want to sell paintings. You want to build a brand you want to do Something else get names for your website so that you can email people your newsletter, try to figure out what it is you’re looking for. Once you set those goals, then you’ll have an idea what you’re going for. Because you cannot do any marketing, until you really understand what you’re marketing to accomplish. But if you have a framework, let’s say you know that your number one goal is branding, you’ve got to build your name, while you’re going to think differently about branding than you are about how to capture names for your website, so you can send them emails, or how to how to sell specific paintings. It’s all different. So the very beginning part of everything is set some goals figure out your strategy, what is it I want to accomplish? How am I going to accomplish it is more after the strategy because that’s tactic. But strategy first is what do I want to accomplish? Now it’s easy to say, Well, I want to accomplish everything and I get that But the reality is you can’t accomplish everything all at once. You’ve got to start somewhere. And I think that what you’ve got to do is figure out what’s the most important thing for you to accomplish. It’s I can’t answer that for you because it’s different for everybody, but start there. Good question. Thank you.

The next question comes from Beatrice in Sedalia, Sedalia, I believe Missouri. Beatrice says I feel like I have a limited perception about what buyers are willing to pay. Can you speak to this in regards to pricing? Well, the best way to understand this, Beatrice is to understand that there are people who have more money than I have or more money than you have. And we tend to base our pricing based on what we would be willing to pay or what we could afford. But what if somebody has 100 times more money, or 1000 times more money or 10,000 times more money. Suddenly, those Things change. And so what you want to do is ask yourself, first off, what do I need for this painting? What What is my dream price for this? You may not get there in the beginning, but you want to start and ask yourself, where do I want to be and then you want to craft a plan on how to get there. Now, galleries will tell you that they don’t want you to start out too high because they want to build a collector base. Get those people to keep investing in you more and more over time. If you’re selling direct online, it depends on the environment you’re selling in. If you’re selling in a high end online gallery, for instance, that sells big expensive paintings and you’re really really low priced, it actually might hurt you instead of helping you versus if you’re the most expensive thing and a low end, you know, kind of a crummy online gallery or environment then it might hurt you. So again, it comes down to understanding your strategy. I realized a long time ago that only A lot of people had a lot more money than me and I would limit my thinking by that I would say, Okay, well, I’m only making $40,000 a year, how can I possibly sell something that’s gonna somebody’s gonna pay $50,000 for that’s more than I make in a year. And yet there are people out there who would look at a painting and say, Well, what do you mean? It’s it’s $2,000 It can’t be any good if it’s $2,000 it but if it were $20,000 I might consider it and it’s hard to believe that people think that way because you know, everybody, including wealthy people want a bargain. But why does somebody who’s wealthy buy a Mercedes instead of buying a Kia? Well, Kia is a great car. It’s a good looking car, but it doesn’t have the brand that Mercedes has right and why is it somebody will buy a Rolls Royce instead of a Mercedes? Well, the people who buy Rolls Royce probably look at Mercedes as a low end brand or a lower end brand. Why is it some people will buy a Ferrari for a million dollars instead of a Rolls Royce for 250 or $300,000. And again, it kind of goes back to their stature in life. So a lot of that depends on who you’re talking to where you’re talking to them what your environment is, all those things matter. So you need to understand that. So start by asking yourself, where am I selling it? If I’m selling it on my own website, that’s a little bit of a problem because you have to establish some relevance to the buyers and you don’t even know who’s visiting the probably so you want to try and figure out who’s visiting where you want to be. I look for ways to put myself in front of fluent people. You know, my magazine, Fine Art Connoisseur has over 300 billionaires that read it, and lots of upper one percenters very affluent people. And so I know that if I put something expensive in front of those people, they’re not going to blink twice. I mean, yeah. Maybe if it’s too expensive, but what’s too expensive, you have to a billionaire. Now, not every person is going to buy that painting. They have to look at it and say, This lives up to my perception of quality. But you may be telling yourself stories about I’m not good enough yet, and maybe you’re not, but you might be good enough. And if you are good enough, somebody looks at that and says, Well, this person’s got, you know, a $5,000 painting, that’s no problem for me. And you might be thinking I’d never pay $5000 for a painting, I could only pay $200 for a painting. Well, I get that. And that’s part of where we all have to kind of get our mindset in the place. I have a saying that I say in my book, Make More Money Selling Your Art and that is always stand in the river where the money is flowing. We tend to hang out with people that we hang out with. If we don’t have a lot of money, we tend to hang out with people who don’t have a lot of money. People who have a lot of money tend to hang out with people who have a lot more money. And so you want to make sure that you’re standing in the river where the money is flowing. Anyway, I hope this helps.

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.

How to Submit Your Art Marketing Questions: 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.

By |2021-01-19T07:51:51-05:00January 18th, 2021|Art Marketing Minute Podcast|0 Comments
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Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 50

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 shares how to know if your website is up to par in order to effectively sell your art, and understanding why collectors might pass on your work even when they compliment it.

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 50 >

 

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
Thank you Jim Kipping and in the marketing minute I try to answer your questions. I do answer them. I don’t know if I answered him well, but you can email your questions to me [email protected] And here’s a question from Robert, in Norfolk, Virginia, who says I know it’s important to have a website. So I do have a simple one. But how do I know if it’s good enough? Well, the way you know that, Robert, it’s a great question. You can’t know if it’s good enough unless you know what its purpose is and when What the purpose is going to use and how it’s going to serve you. So you need to know how you will measure success, right? So some websites are there to get your work seen others are there to sell work. Others are there to gather names of potential customers, there’s a lot of different strategies you can take. But you want to start with your goal in mind. All right, so if I’m building a website, what do I want to do? I’ll in my particular case, I wanted to communicate information and then I’ve got to make sure that I’m gathering names and so I, I oftentimes offer a free incentive of some kind. So somebody has a reason to, to offer me their email address and they can get on my newsletters or whatever I’m offering at the time, but you want to start with a goal in mind and then determine what is success now if I have a website and I get no visitors, it’s not a success. How many visitors Do I need and want How many? How easy is it to find my stuff? How is how many names do I want how you know what kind of sales Do I need or you know what’s considered Good sales from your website, you know, if it’s costing you money, and it’s not bringing you any value that’s of no value to you really, you know, it’s kind of like imagined, in the old days, we had what we call phone books, you probably remember those some of you do. And, you know, there were, you know, three inches thick in a city like New York, probably, you know, six inches thick of phone book with thousands, 10s of thousands, millions of names in it, and addresses. And, you know, it doesn’t do you any good to be in the phone book unless somebody’s looking for you. And so you’ve got to find a strategy to make them want to look you up. There are literally probably hundreds of millions, if not billions of websites now. And so the question is, how do you get them to find you? What’s your discovery tool? How are they going to find you? What What do you want them to do when they get there? What actions do you want them to take? So I can’t really answer your question about how, whether or not it’s good enough, because good enough is defined by your goals. And so you first got to start out with your goals, then.

Next question comes from Katrina Gorman in San Antonio, Texas. Katrina has sent us a whole bunch of questions. We like her a lot, because we like questions. Here’s one of them that she sent. And she says, if people tell you over and over, they love your work. But you notice these same people are buying work from another artist, what’s a good way to find out? Why, or should you not even worry about it? Well, Katrina, I think first off, people are generally good. And they mean to compliment you because they, it may not be an expression of interest, they may they may genuinely like your work, but they don’t want to own it. Or maybe they’re complimenting you a lot, because maybe they’re thinking you’ll give it to them. I mean, that could be possibility. But liking something and wanting to own it or different things. Owning art is very special, something that speaks to really only just one person, if there’s one original, it’s for one person, so sometimes it needs to find the right buyer. Now, I wouldn’t overthink this, you know, appreciate the compliments, pay attention. If the complements are over the top or come in frequently or a lot on a particular piece, because then you can kind of take it to the next level. So you can find a way to ask, you know, maybe so you don’t put them on the spot. You don’t you don’t have to say, Hey, would you like to own that? Because they might, you know, they might not know how much it would cost or be embarrassed if they can’t afford it or whatever. But you can say, you know, the old remember, I’ve got a friend who is asking for me kind of thing. You know, you could say, Do you know anybody who would love to own it, I’d like to find it a loving home. And if you happen to know somebody who would love to own it, you know, I’m trying to get, you know, certain amount of money for it. And you know, if you know, or you might say, you know, you you seem to like the slot, do you have interest in it? And if you do, tell me what you’re thinking about in terms of what you’re thinking about paying, you know, the reason to do that is because they could be thinking about $1 and you could be thinking about $100 or they could be thinking about 200 And you could be thinking about $100 and so the nice thing to do is just to say you know what, what have you got in mind? And if there’s a big gap then that’s gonna make it a little uncomfortable you can say wow, you know I was hoping to get $100 and you’re only willing to pay $5 you know please understand I need to make a living on this and so you know if you want to come up a little bit maybe I can come down a little bit but please know that you know, I’ve got to get a certain range and I’m sure you understand that this is how I make my living. So anyway, you can keep it third party by saying you know if if you know somebody who thinks it’s a fit, you know, that kind of thing or you can just be honest and say hey, you know, what are you thinking I noticed you bought some other art you seem to be interested in this but you haven’t. You haven’t expressed interest in buying it if you want to buy it that’d be cool with me we can figure that out. You know, sometimes just straight out upfront, be honest as possible is probably the best way. A lot of people play games. I don’t like to play games anyway. I’m paying attention to signals as well. important though, you know, if people if you’re in a gallery setting, and people go back and look at it a couple times, if they’re talking about it, or if they’re looking deeply, you know, look for things that they’re showing signals of interest. And then you can engage them, you know, maybe you don’t say, hey, do you want to buy it? That’s a little awkward, but you can say, Hey, does that painting remind you of anything? And maybe they’ll say, yeah, when I was a kid, there was this mountain with a river going through, you know, that kind of thing. And so you can look for ways to deepen that conversation. So they tell you that you said, Well, tell me a little bit more about that, you know, well, I really had this wonderful childhood, you know, when I visited my grandparents, and that house in the painting reminds me of my grandparents really tell me more and you know, so they’ll, they’ll deepen, and as they deepen, they will tend to deepen their commitment and interest and talk themselves into it because sometimes people just need to talk themselves into something you can’t ever talk anybody into anything. Don’t even try. It is not it’s not in in your DNA. It’s not an My DNA you know, I might, if I see somebody is interested in something, I might highlight something, but I’m not, you know, I can’t twist somebody’s arm and talk them into something. I mean, you don’t want to be that person. You don’t want to be talking people into things that they don’t want.

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.

How to Submit Your Art Marketing Questions: 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.

By |2021-01-04T14:02:24-05:00January 11th, 2021|Art Marketing Minute Podcast|0 Comments
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Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 49

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 shares tips on how to become popular with galleries and collectors, and tips on when you should enter an art competition.

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 49 >

 

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
Thank you Jim Kipping. And you know that book. It just keeps surprising me because it keeps selling on Amazon and other places. It’s like every time I turn around, they’re selling out we have to print more and so that’s a pretty cool thing. It’s a nice feeling. Thank you for making that happen. My goal in the marketing minute is to answer your art marketing questions and you can email me anytime [email protected] a.nd try to use your name and your town so I know who you are. It’s a little easier that way. This one is from Jesse. I don’t know if that’s a Jessie she or he in Jesse in Santa Fe who says if I want to become a big name, the kind of artist who’s getting invited to all the best shows the best galleries and getting pursued by people. collectors, how do I do it? Well, Jesse, that is a great goal. It’s very doable. But it is a process and you have to look at marketing as a process. You know that all great things take time, nothing happens quick nothing happens overnight. persistence and consistency are important. I can spend hours on this topic alone i have i’ve spent hours and hours and hours on it in my videos and talk a lot about it in my book, I talk a lot on artmarketing.com, you know, with a lot of ideas and things that you can use. I don’t have enough time to do that here. But you need to spend as much time and effort as possible getting great as an artist you want to be as good as you possibly can be. But at some point, you got to just get out there. And you need outsiders to give you advice on when your work is ready to be promoted. And then you need to know that this is a lifetime commitment that if you’re going to continue to sell paintings or try to sell paintings, you’ve got to be committed to a lifetime of marketing. Next you need to start getting noticed a great thing to do is to end As many art competitions as possible, like the plein air salon or the artists and selfie competition, and and get some wins under your belt, even if you’re a category winner, it doesn’t have to be the grand prize you can be a runner up, you can be a second place a third place a fifth place, it doesn’t matter. What you need is something to help building your brand help you help you build your brand and have something to talk about put on your resume branding is the big thing. A known artist is an invited artist, a known artist is a higher priced artist. The more you repeat your visibility campaigns, the more you get noticed, branding is a lifetime commitment, as I said over and over and over and over again for years. Now you can speed it up with with some advertising and things like that. But you also need time. You need publicity, you need shows you need to do things that stand out, get noticed. Sometimes it’s controversy. Sometimes it’s you know, awards. I talked a lot about this and the things that I just mentioned the books and the videos just keep pounding that marketing drum. Time cannot be completely overcome, but advertising can help you speed awareness. And then you just got to keep building on that awareness.

Now the next question comes from Cindy in Bar Harbor, Maine Who says I see a lot of art competitions, but I don’t know if I should ever enter them. Which ones I should enter? Cindy, it’s a great question. The answer is Yeah, or no. There are a lot of great competitions and prize money is nice, but it’s not a reason to enter anything. I know that sounds awkward. But if you want to enter art competition, you want to win something that’s going to further your career. For instance, many art magazines like mine, Fine Art Connoisseur does artists and selfie competition, Plein Air magazine does the plein air salon competition. And though we have big prize money and a lot of other prizes, what you really want to do is end up with validation. You want to end up with something you can talk about, and most importantly, you want to end up with publicity. So if you got an award, let’s say you got the main weight award from Plein Air salon, you know, we’re doing stories about you, we’re putting you on the cover of the magazine, we’re doing stories about the people who are the the secondary, and third winners and so on. We’re doing stories about category winners. And so you’re getting publicity. And publicity is more valuable than money. I know that seems odd. But you can’t necessarily buy publicity. You can buy advertising, but you can’t buy publicity. And so when you get that opportunity, it’s more valuable. So it’s okay to apply to things that just have prize money and you know, but if they’re, if they’re not going to be able to promote you by giving you articles and things, maybe they’re giving you articles to their list of other artists, but you want to be seen by collectors, you want to be seen by gallery owners. And so, you know, if you win from something like a National Art magazine, like ours or others, then you’re going to be seen by a lot of people by a lot of the right people, museums, collectors, galleries, etc. The key is to enter and then to milk When What I mean by that is that even if it’s a small category, like a still life category or Nocturne category, they don’t get very many entries. And so you might have a better improve chance and a smaller category. Although sometimes you enter the same painting in two or three categories if it’s a fit, and then you want to do press releases, you know, Eric Rhoads just won the best doctor in painting for this national competition, you know, you want to put it on your website, your business cards, everything. I just did a full hour YouTube video on this and you can find it by going to YouTube and searching streamline art video, and look for the one that talks about how to win art competitions. A good marketer looks at every opportunity and asks if there is value to be obtained for it. You could look at it as something to build credibility. You can tell others about it. You can use it to build your list, whatever it is, so don’t focus on the money. Big prizes are nice. But the real thing that you know, I’ll tell you something that the cover plein air magazine is worth a whole lot more than $15,000. To your to your career. I mean, I’ve watched careers launch because they won the plein air salon competition. I’ve watched people go from locally known to nationally known and getting invited to everything. And that’s happening because they’re on the cover that’s happening because they’re featured. It’s not so much happening because they won the $15,000. But that’s getting them there. So think in terms of what can do what you can do to help build your credibility. And I hope that I hope that makes sense. Anyway, if it doesn’t make sense, it should make sense.

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.

How to Submit Your Art Marketing Questions: 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.

By |2021-01-04T07:53:21-05:00January 4th, 2021|Art Marketing Minute Podcast|0 Comments
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Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 48

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 shares ways to “do your homework” when it comes to getting your art into a gallery, and tips for making commission sales.

Click Here to Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 48

 

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
I answer your questions and you can email your questions to me, [email protected] I’d like to know your first name and where you’re from, and if you want to use the last name, that’s good too. Some of you want to remain anonymous. It’s okay. But I like to have names. Here’s a question from Robert and Boise, Idaho, Sue says I’ve consistently emailed images to many galleries and they’re unhesitatingly reply. That’s a good word on hesitant is that my work is beautiful, lovely, but not interested in the style. What should I do? Well, first off, nobody’s going to tell you if your work is awful, nobody wants to hurt your feelings. And if they don’t like it or they feel it’s not living up to par, never going to tell you that there’s no reason for them to do so. They don’t want to hurt you. And so oftentimes they just say, it’s not a fit. They’re not interested in your style or whatever. Robert, no offense, but you are making the ultimate blunder. Have you not been listening to the podcast? If you’re not been listening to all the discussions about getting into galleries, maybe not. Anyway, I’m not trying to scold you galleries typically do not want random artists submissions. They get literally thousands of them. It’s annoying to them. It takes their time. Most of them are bad, even if they’re good, they just, you know, they’ve got what they want and they’re going to seek what they want. And so don’t necessarily solicit them. That’s the big number one mistake, do not go and visit galleries and ask them to look at your work. Do not send them emails, do not send them packages in the mail. They do not want that. And there are a lot of different issues here, but this is not the way to get into a gallery and you don’t want to annoy them. And of course they probably won’t remember you anyway, because it gets so many. But sending things to them is not their style. So start by doing your homework. Have you looked at their website to see what kind of work do they sell? You know, if you’re sending an abstract gallery, a bunch of realism or vice versa and you don’t fit, you’re wasting their time. So know your gallery before you do that. Furthermore, like I said, solicitation is the mistake. You don’t want to do that. The odds are stacked against you when you do that. So go back and listen to the podcast I did with Jane Bell Meyer. Recently, she talks about very specifically how she selects artists. And she goes after artists who are advertising and promoting themselves and she’s watching them and seeing how they promote themselves, they watch their work and see how it develops. In other words, you’ve already gotta be marketing yourself before you’re going to get pulled in and you’re thinking, well, well, I don’t need a gallery. Then we’ll share you. Do you need, you need all the help you can get. We all do so be patient and learn about marketing. Read my book, read my, watch my videos, watch the YouTube videos I put out there at streamline art video. And just remember that this is a process you want to get invited in. You want to make sure that you look for ways to get invited in. And I’ve got a whole bunch of strategies on that.

The next question comes from Katrina Gorman in San Antonio, Texas. Katrina sent us a couple of questions lately. Thank you, Katrina. This is a commission request question. Our cold calling cold calling by the way means, you know, contacting someone who doesn’t know who you are. They’re not aware of you. They’re not interested. Cold calling, right? Warm calling would be somebody who’s interested in you, but Cole are cold calling and emailing businesses to make them aware of your artwork effective. To let them know you are open for commissioned work or making a letter to send that to them directly. I remember this in art marketing boot camp, but I wasn’t really, I didn’t really see which way would be better to you as well. Katrina. I just did a long video on YouTube. I’ve been doing every day. I’ve been going online at noon on a social media, Facebook live Instagram and YouTube. And I have been doing videos on our marketing. And depending on when you’re listening to this, I might still be doing them, check them out. But I just did one on how to get commissions and it’s on YouTube. I know cause it’s fresh in my mind. I just did it a couple of days ago, but it’s worth finding it at streamline art video on YouTube. The commission marketing is like all marketing. It requires a strategy, a target, a plan and artists who do commissions can make it a very high percentage of their income and make a lot of money on commissions. If you do it right now, all marketing is not a single item, like a single letter or a single email. Usually like all things, it takes repetition. And so you’ve got to have repetition, but first you need to know your customer. Do your research find out about these businesses. If you’re going after businesses, what do they have in their offices or their buildings in their lobbies? What kind of art do they have are, do you think they’re opening up new locations? Look for things that you think will be a fit. So you don’t waste a lot of time on mail or email or otherwise. Also commissions are a really great way to upsell people, to leverage existing customers into more purchases because everybody’s got a special occasion or an event. And you know, you might be doing a house portrait or a portrait of somebody or something for a business. You just never know. But if you’re going to cold call, make sure you eliminate your waste by doing your homework. Find out about commissions also from various city and government associations. They’re doing commissions all the time. But look for the people. You know, the people you have contact with, that’s going to give you your very, very best opportunity for selling commissions.

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.

How to Submit Your Art Marketing Questions: 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.

By |2020-11-30T11:04:35-05:00December 28th, 2020|Art Marketing Minute Podcast|0 Comments
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