10 Common Art Marketing Mistakes Made by Artists

Here are 10 common mistakes that artists make when Marketing Art.

1. Being Unsure of Your Target Market. Artists are often unsure of themselves and don’t understand their target market. To find your target audience you should ask yourself some key questions. These include: Are you able to identify the target market? What is the gender of your target market? Do you know their age group? What is the brand name you’re trying to build for yourself and how will you reach your target market.
2. Making A Bad First Impression: Many artists completely blow the only chance they will have to make a great first impression. In most cases, an artist will only have a single opportunity to make that outstanding first impression. You need to work diligently to really make this an outstanding opportunity. Avoid showing potential buyers works of art that are not finished or you would prefer not to sell.
3. Huge Sale Jitters: Choking in front of a potentially huge sale. Many young artists do this when they realize for the first time that they may be making their largest sale ever. You really need to remain calm and professional regardless of the situation.
4. Asking the Opinion of Friends and Family: Avoid falling into the pitfall by asking friends, what they think. Many artists looking for gratification for their work seek out friends or family in order to ask their opinion. This can be devastating to an artist, since it is highly likely you will not be selling to friends or family. Unfortunately many family members may not understand your artistic creativity, and therefore not see your art as a potential buyer would.
5. Creating Too Many Inexpensive Works: By creating too many inexpensive works of art you risk diluting your more expensive pieces of art. The majority of buyers are looking for an investment and if they feel that their investment may be diluted they may avoid buying additional pieces.
6. Being Over Confident: Avoid being overly confident and be ready to take constructive criticism from buyers. When marketing art the real people you want to listen to are your potential buyers. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth by blowing off an otherwise constructive piece of advice from a potential buyer.
7. Lack of Consistency: Be true to your artistic creativity. Artists are often guilty for creating a name brand for one type of art and the name sporadically changing to another. This is devastating to your marketing strategies and can significantly hinder the growth of your brand name.
8. Not Making Full Use of The Internet: Lack of an online gallery for artwork. As part of your marketing art strategy you need to have a website that allows you to display your works of art for potential buyers. The inability for buyers to access your works of art creates a void in your marketing strategy.
9. Not Reading the Fine Print in Contracts: Seek legal advice before signing a contract. Artists who are commissioned by a gallery to create art are often in such a hurry to sign up that they do not read the fine print. Depending on the contract you could be required to share a percentage of all the art you sale regardless of whether it is sold from the gallery or from your personal studio.
10. Approaching Major Galleries Hastily: Aspiring artists fall into the trap of trying to introduce themselves into major galleries without the right preparation. Unless you have a brand name and have established yourself in the local community try and avoid forcing yourself on a major gallery. Taking the time to find out the best way to approach the gallery will increase your chances of getting in the door.

Tagged with: art marketing • selling art

Filed under: art marketing • selling art

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