Ways to Attract Art Buyers and Sell Art

How do we as artists attract art buyers in order to sell our art? That is a common question asked by artists wanting to sell their art.

Creating art and marketing art are two entirely different roles. Many artists are not trained marketers… they would rather spend their time in their studio creating.

But, in order to sell art, some art marketing and promotional knowledge is necessary.

In this article, we have a few tips and advice that artists can use to create more public awareness of their art in order to sell more of them.

Organize Art Creation Time and Art Marketing Time

As artists, we need to realize that just as much time has to be spent at marketing and promoting art, as to create it. Without the marketing part, it may be very difficult to sell artwork and receive commissions. Unless you have someone else to do the promotion and art marketing for you, you will have to schedule and organize your time.

So our advice here would be to get a schedule planner book, and start allotting time for specific tasks. Your time spent creating and marketing your art should be divided in two separate sections.

It is up to you how you go about this, so here are some ideas:

Divide your daily art time in half. Create art for part of the day, then promote for the rest.
Spend part of the week in your studio doing whatever you do (ie painting, sculpting, drawing, etc.), then the rest of the week devoted to marketing artworks.
Spend weeks or months in your studio creating a collection of artworks, then devote your time entirely to marketing the collection. This may include gallery showings, contacting the local media, and public presentations.

Have an Artist Statement to Present to Art Buyers

What should artists include in their Artist Statement?

The primary theme of your creations.
Your artistic goals and ambitions.
Answer why you love to paint, draw, sculpt, etc.
Who are your viewers or audience? Who is your art intended for?
Some artists and styles that have influenced you.

If you have a portfolio, include the artist statement along with it. Then if someone wants to buy your artwork, but wants to see some background of you as an artist, then you may present them with your artist statement. You may also post it online anywhere you have an artist profile, or on your Facebook page or Google+ page.

Donations of Art Will Increase Art Awareness

Public awareness of your art may be dramatically increased through donations of certain art pieces. Donate one or two artworks to a local fundraiser or charity and notify the newspapers and other media outlets about it. Even let your online friends know about it on Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc.

Donations to worthy causes will help others see you as a contributor to society. It will give your art much more value in the public eye. People are much more likely to talk about you and your art, if they know you are a giving person. It is much more easier to promote and sell art, if the public knows you are donating regularly.

Art Donation Ideas:

Give to a separate charity or fundraiser each time you donate. This will increase your buyer contacts and maximize art awareness.
Contact a certain cause or charity, and inform them of your intentions to donate. Then, complete an artwork that is based on the charity.

Have Business Cards to Give to Potential Art Buyers

A few sites online offer them for low cost. I have used the free ones from Vistaprint in the past. Some stores also have business card kits. All you have to do is design your own card on your computer, and print them.

Some things to have on your art business card:

Place a logo, or one of your best creations.
Your name
Art website, blog, or profile.
Facebook page, Google+ page, Twitter
A slogan or art quote

Have a Website or Blog that Displays Your Art

You will find lots of free services online where you may share your art, even without advertisements. Some places to start are Blogger, Googlesites, and Weebly. If you are just beginning online, and are not familiar with constructing websites, it is best to start with services such as these.

They are very easy to use, and do not automatically have ads that distract from your artworks.

Some other ideas for art website creation:

Build an art website on your own. This can be very time-consuming, especially if you have no knowledge of the site creation process.
Hire someone else to create an art site for you. This will save you time, but may be costly.

Having your own website and domain name will certainly make you as an artist appear much more professional, and help to attract more art buyers.

Sell Smaller Lower-Priced Artworks

Many people love looking at art and talking about art, but cannot afford to buy them. How do artists turn these people into art buyers? Here is my solution…

Create a selection of artworks at a lower price. But, try to not put your price too low so as to lessen the value of your larger artworks. Set your price for these relative to the time spent, materials used, and the size of the piece. Have your name on the front of the artwork, and any contact information, including your art website, on the back. Also, try to have plenty of business cards available to give to these art buyers.

When you sell these to an art buyer who cannot afford to purchase larger, more expensive artworks, they often select a prime spot for placement in their home. These people usually display in a rec-room or living room, so that the artwork can be easily seen and talked about by visitors.

It helps to have these smaller artworks signed anywhere on the front, and contact information placed on the back, just in case these visitors may want to buy your art too. Hopefully it may be someone who can afford to buy one of your more expensive art pieces.

Closing Comments…

These are only a few ideas to attract art buyers in order to sell art. There are many other methods too, and we will be discussing them in upcoming articles. Please subscribe now so you not miss a single helpful and informative post.

What do you think? We know that there are plenty of other methods of selling art and enticing people to buy our art. Care to share your methods and experiences?