Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 7
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, you’ll learn if you might want to consider using a different name, and how to make the most of Instagram.
Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 7
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. Well, here’s a question from Joan Barnum. Now, I normally don’t use last names, and I don’t know where Joan is from but in this case, it’s relevant because she says thanks so much for your podcast and for the marketing minute. I tune in every week and I’ve learned so much value from both. I’ve been learning what I can about selling my art and I’ve been trying to establish some kind of online presence, but I discovered recently However, that there is a well known watercolor artist out there whose name is very similar to mine. She’s Joanna Barnum. And I’m Joan Barnum. I wonder if it will make it difficult for people to find me online. And if I should consider changing the name, under which I do business, reverting to my maiden name, for instance, I’m just in the beginning stages of the process. And so I’m going to make this sort of move now would be the time.
Well, I couldn’t agree more. It’s a great question. It happens more than you think I can think of several. What comes to mind is Scott Pryor. And then there’s Scott W. Pryor. Both artists, there’s Charles white, and there’s Charles H. White, both artists. And Heck, there’s even another Eric Rhoads. Who was, well, an adult film star. That wasn’t me thankfully. Yikes anyway, he’s dead. I might not be after I mentioned that. Anyway, if you already established the name and then you discover somebody else’s got the name or then you got a little bit of a problem. And you if you’re starting out though this is a good time to avoid confusion and brand yourself under a name where there’ll be no confusion. Now I grew up in radio and we used to do stage names all the time, and you might want to invent a name that sends a signal of confidence to your buyer. Some people pick names that are about their brand, you know, like if you’re a spy, you could be Roger danger. Or you know, remember Jonny Quest. He was an adventure in the cartoons, Richie Rich. But seriously, go out there and come up with a name that really works for you. Now, I wouldn’t call yourself Monet, though there are people out there who’ve done it. There’s an actress whose name is Monet. I wonder if it’s real. I doubt it. But anyway, come up with something distinctive. Stage names are pretty common and there are a lot of artists actually who you Stage names it and if your maiden name works, it’s great. But if it’s hard to say, or it’s hard to spell or hard to read, like if your maiden name is Roberto, it’s, you might want to do something easier. Like I have this friend who’s a radio person and her name was Rabinowitz. And you know, how do you spell it? So she changed it to Robin’s. And you might do something like that. Or you could just be distinctive by saying, you know, your middle initial. The other thing you’ve got to your advantage is that you want a name that’s memorable and you have a name that’s memorable. Right? Who is memorable PT Barnum is memorable. Why not be L. Barnum or PT Barnum or some variation on that or there may be you play off of that, you know, Linda Barnum, like you know, like PT Barnum, the greatest show on earth, you know, you can have some fun with that. So give it some thought. Anyway, it’s a good time. Remember, you are a brand we invent names for brands. And why not do it for artists brands now I think authentic and real is best. But in a case like yours, where there’s going to be confusion, and the names are close, you might want to consider distinguishing yourself with a different first name at least. And don’t forget, there is some gold in that name Barnum, because you want something that people remember because everyday names like Jones and Smith and so on are not very memorable. But if you say you introduce yourself or your website says, Hey, you know, it’s Linda Barnum, like PT Barnum, and then they’re trying to remember who you are, they’re going to remember that.
Here’s the next question from Adam. In Los Angeles, Adam says, I’ve noticed everybody’s moved over to Instagram from Facebook. How can I get a lot of followers so I can sell more art?
And Adam? Well, you’re asking the wrong question, not to embarrass you. But the question should be How can I sell more art, Instagram as a tactic? Just like a magazine ad, or an Email as a tactic. You want to start with a strategy. How are you going to differentiate? Who is going to be your audience? What is the avatar of your audience? The Avatar is like, Who’s the average person who buys your art? And what do they like? Explain and understand that avatar, you know, like, we know the avatar of the people who come to the planner convention, and there’s a lot of the similar type of people, so we tend to talk to them. So think about that, because you want to think about who you’re trying to sell art to. Now, most people on Instagram and Facebook are misusing it. And they’re really talking about themselves a lot. And they’re not really talking about the business aspects. And so you want to think about that, and I’m going to do something very special with plein air convention this year. I’m going to do a morning on Instagram in my art marketing boot camp. And that’ll be worth the price of admission alone, believe me, so I went to the world’s top experts. I got their tips. I’m going to explain them Plus, I’m going to share some of my own. And there’s not enough time here because I’m going to spend about an hour just on that. And probably an hour isn’t enough. But the bottom line with Instagram is it’s about engaging people. It’s about commenting, often smart commenting, and those kinds of things engagement and commenting will help people follow you also liking other people, but there’s a whole lot more to it a lot of strategy behind it. So I didn’t mean to be snide by saying it’s around question, but you want to be thinking about multiple pillars. You don’t want all of your business relying on one thing like Facebook has lost 60 million people recently. So what if your business was based on Facebook? You know, would it affect you? It might so if your business is affected by Instagram at one time, and then you have to reinvent yourself another time, you should be doing multiple pillars Anyway, you should be having a lot of different variations on the way that you You, you market yourself? Well, this has been the art marketing minute with me Eric Rhoads. My goal in life is to eliminate the idea of the starving artist and 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.