My Method for Finding an Art Audience

 

Finding an audience for my art has proved quite difficult for me, especially just after I finished art school. First, I promoted my art to nearly everyone. After building a list of art buyers and contacts, I have managed to narrow down my particular audience considerably. This has helped me to focus on these people in promoting my art.

I still promote my art in the broader sense at times.  But, I focus most of my efforts on the mailing list of art buyers and contacts that I have built over the years (selective art marketing).

 

 

If you missed part one of this series, then kindly refer to it here:

Where Can I Find Buyers for My Art?

 

My Method for Finding an Art Audience to Promote and Sell My Art

 

1. I have casual conversations with art buyers

   If you do this, try not to be too personal with them, unless it is a close friend.

   Ask them questions like:

   • Where are you from?
   • Where are you going to display my artwork?
   • How frequently do you buy art?

    

   Then, once you have sold your artwork, it’s a very good idea to always get contact information, including their name, address, phone number, and most importantly email address. Create an email list of all your art buyers and contacts. The email list should be used to occasionally update art buyers about new upcoming art shows, events, and other happenings in your art career.

    

2. I tracked my art buyer statistics

   Once an artist has built up a large list of art buyers and contacts, it may be a good idea to try to track some statistics about them.

   Here are some questions to answer in your statistics analysis.

   • Are they educated or uneducated?
   • What are the average age of your art buyers?
   • Are they married or single?
   • What do they do in their spare time? For example, do they attend sporting events or theatre?
   • Do they have children that they are raising?
   • Do the art buyers have any art education?
   • What type of job do they have?
   • Can you guess how much they make in a year?

 

You may be asking yourself, “How can artists find out most of this information?”

Well, 20-30 years ago, it might have been difficult. But with today’s internet age, it is very easy to find such personal information of your buyer contacts.

I cannot think of any better way, than to add them to Facebook. Look under their personal information there, and find out where they work, what type of education they have, and other things about them. If that person does not have Facebook, then maybe you can look for them on Google search, or try to find them at other sites such as Linkedin.

After analyzing your results, you are welcome to post them here.

I realize this method of finding a certain audience for art may not work for everyone, but it’s something that worked fine for me.

How have you found an audience for your art?