Tell me my friend, does this sound familiar? 

You've created a significant body of work and have done your best to let the world know you're open for business, but no matter what you do, you just can't seem to sell your art locally. 

If you find yourself in an extremely rural area, an area that is economically depressed, or an area that doesn't have an established art-buying culture, then it may be time to face facts. Your local area may not be where your ideal clients, the best buyers for your art, are located.  

If this is you, don't worry. This isn't the end of your artistic dreams, but the beginning of a new way of thinking about and approaching your art business. And to help you get started, I want to share three ideas that I've seen work for artists around the globe.

1. Selling Art is Not the Only Way to Make Money as An Artist
When I first moved to Asheville and started to establish myself as an artist, I discovered that teaching art classes was a great way to augment my art sales.  These classes brought in some much-needed income while helping to elevate my status as an artistic professional in my community. 

Over the past few years, online courses have come into their own. Even in our currently socially distanced world, it's never been easier to use what you know artistically to create a great source of income.

2. You Need to Go Where the Fish Are
I grew up in Georgia and learned quite early that if you're trying to catch fish, you've got to go to where the fish are. The same wisdom applies to selling your art.  If your local art market is sluggish or non-existent, then it's time to find out where folks are buying art in your region and your state.

Start with a little online research.  Spend some time looking into shows outside of your local area that are a good fit for your work. Then look into the galleries that are attracting the clientele you're looking to connect with. Once you've narrowed down the list, check out these shows and galleries in person. It may mean taking a road trip and getting a hotel. The goal is to find with the Holy Spirit's guidance, the shows and galleries that are a great fit for your art.  

3.  Selling Your Artwork Online Is a Great Option 
The fundamentals are simple: attract an audience, get their email address, and build a connection over time.  It may be a new concept to you, but over the years, I've learned that Connection is Key when it comes to growing your art sales.  Every successful artist I know cultivates buyers by intentionally and consistently building a connection with their followers.  

Now once you've built that connection, everything else is quite simple. From processing payments online to worldwide shipping, it's never been easier to sell your art to a global audience. 

Looking for A Blueprint for Success?
Over the years as I've developed my own thriving art business and helped thousands of other Christian artists do the same, I've discovered there are some key elements you need to be focused on in order to start or grow your art business. 

They include things like:
✅  Having a simple, clear pathway for your purpose
✅  Knowing where to focus your time, attention and resources to accelerate growth
✅  Understanding what habits make success easier
✅  Clarifying God’s plan for your life and art
✅  Discovering why people aren't buying your art
✅  Transforming lookers into raving clients
✅  How to build a personal brand that attracts buyers both online and offline
✅  Knowing the key elements every artist website should have to start making sales
✅  Feeling confident in creating a simple artist marketing plan 
✅  Knowing how to handle the business side of being an artist without being overwhelmed

These key elements are the beginning of starting or growing your art business to the next level. While the details of each of these items is way too much to go into within this one blog article, I've created a special one-day online workshop called "Jumpstart" where we'll be walking through the details of each of these items (and a whole lot more) in order to give you a simple 30-day plan to get started. Not only that, I'll also be sharing my favorite tech tools for artists so you don't have to wonder about which technology solutions to use as you start out on your journey.

If you want a step-by-step pathway to start or grow your art business so you can start thriving spiritually, artistically and in business, then join me for Jumpstart, August 14, 2020 from 11am - 6pm EDT. It's 100% online and anyone is welcome to attend. 

When you register for this live workshop, you'll also get 3 bonus resources including:
✅  The Thriving Christian Artist Success Blueprint 
A simple blueprint to help you understand the 7 things every artist needs to focus on in their art business to help get started and grow. (a $17 value)
✅  The Thriving Christian Artist Starter Kit 
A 26-page PDF and Walkthrough Video explaining in detail the 7 topics in the Success Blueprint plus my Tech Tools for Artists list and a 30-Day Planning Guide. (a $37 value)
✅  Sell Your Art & Make Money Quick 
Over 60 of my best ideas and strategies you can use right now to start selling your art both online and offline. (a $97 value)

I hope this has been a big encouragement to you. If this article has been a blessing to you, take a moment to share it with a friend.

Thanks for reading. I look forward to seeing you at JumpstART!

Enjoy this live video from a recent Facebook Live. We has some connectivity issues for a few moments early on... just scrub through them and keep going :)

Many artists have dreams of creating a business from their art. Even more have dreams of growing their current art business beyond a trickling side hustle into a real part-time or full-time business that can provide then the financial and time freedom they desire.

Well, if you're one of those artists and you're tired of spinning your wheels then I hope this article will be an encouragement to you! 

Harmonious Opposites
For most artists, one of the first big hurdles to overcome is the concept of being both an entrepreneur and a creative.  I know, I can hear you now "But Matt, I'm not good at all the business stuff... I just want to create!" If that's you, then wonderful! I'm happy for you. You, my friend, have a wonderful hobby you can enjoy for many years to come. But here's the truth: you can't have business results with hobby habits. Either you learn to embrace both parts of the journey, or you come to terms with the limitations of not doing so. There's no right or wrong answer, but you can't have it both ways.

Entrepreneurship and creativity are what I like to call "harmonious opposites". On the surface, they seem like they are the antithesis of each other but in realty, they actually fuel each other when held in a healthy tension. Living in and cultivating that tension is your job. Let me explain.

Creative expression in and of itself is a wonderful pursuit for every person, regardless if they feel they are called to be an artist or not. However, for those who want to grow in their capacity, skill and function as an artist, a few things must happen, right? Mastery of skills, techniques, material usage, design, composition, the list goes on. Without these fundamentals, creating can become limited and boring. However, with this foundation artistic expression becomes and ever-expanding world of possibility. In essence, skill development is the runway for artistic freedom and I bet if you've been an artist for any length of time, you've probably experienced this reality in your life.

The same is true with entrepreneurship and the fundamentals of business. Unless an artist embraces the fundamentals of marketing, sales and running a business they simply limit their capacity to thrive in this modern world as an artist. Gone are the days where an artist can rely on one gallery to sell their work. Buyers want interaction with the artist more than ever which requires artists not only to be makers, but to be great marketers as well. It's simply a required part of the package. Otherwise, you've got to be ok with creating art as a hobby with no predictable way of seeing sales.

The Juggling Act
Now that you're (hopefully) starting to embrace the harmonious tension between being both an entrepreneur and a creative, realize that functioning in that world is not a singular path. Rather, it is much like a juggler, who starting with a single item, then adds other items to their act and keeps them all in the air.  Skill and experience make that easier as you grow.

The big question for most artists is "what things should I be juggling and what things should I be leaving out?" That is, what are the really important things that I need to know - especially starting out - and what are the things I can grow into? Without knowing this, most artists will spend hours, days and months spinning their wheels doing things they think are important yet not having any data to confirm their suspicions. 

A Blueprint for Success
Over the years as I've developed my own thriving art business and helped thousands of other Christian artists do the same, I've discovered there are some key elements you need to be focused on in order to start or grow your art business. 

They include things like:
✅  Having a simple, clear pathway for your purpose
✅  Knowing where to focus your time, attention and resources to accelerate growth
✅  Understanding what habits make success easier
✅  Clarifying God’s plan for your life and art
✅  Discovering why people aren't buying your art
✅  Transforming lookers into raving clients
✅  How to build a personal brand that attracts buyers both online and offline
✅  Knowing the key elements every artist website should have to start making sales
✅  Feeling confident in creating a simple artist marketing plan 
✅  Knowing how to handle the business side of being an artist without being overwhelmed

These key elements are the beginning of starting or growing your art business to the next level. While the details of each of these items is way to much to go into within this one blog article, I've created a special one-day online workshop called "Jumpstart" where we'll be walking through the details of each of these items (and a whole lot more) in order to give you a simple 30-day plan to get started. Not only that, I'll also be sharing my favorite tech tools for artists so you don't have to wonder about which technology solutions to use as you start out on your journey.

If you want a step-by-step pathway to start or grow your art business so you can start thriving spiritually, artistically and in business, then join me for Jumpstart, August 14, 2020 from 11am - 6pm EDT. It's 100% online and anyone is welcome to attend. ​

When you register for this live workshop, you'll also get 3 bonus resources including:
​
✅  The Thriving Christian Artist Success Blueprint 
A simple blueprint to help you understand the 7 things every artist needs to focus on in their art business to help get started and grow. (a $17 value)

✅  The Thriving Christian Artist Starter Kit 
A 26-page PDF and Walkthrough Video explaining in detail the 7 topics in the Success Blueprint plus my Tech Tools for Artists list and a 30-Day Planning Guide. (a $37 value)

✅  Sell Your Art & Make Money Quick 
Over 60 of my best ideas and strategies you can use right now to start selling your art both online and offline. (a $97 value)

Have you ever struggled with knowing where to advertise yourself as an artist?  There are so many options available today. Some are expensive, some are effective, and some are just a waste of time and money.

I love it when an artist is thinking about advertising because it immediately tells me that they are proud of their work and ready to get it out there to the art buying public. It also means they are stepping out into their journey of becoming a thriving artist. That’s exciting!

I was recently asked a question by Deb, one of the members of my Created to Thrive Artist Mentoring Program as she was considering advertising in her local paper. She wanted to know what I did to advertise myself as an artist. My answer may surprise some of you, but before I share it, I want to give you a little backstory.

Backstory: I owned a marketing company in Atlanta for several years.  We did some advertising, we helped people develop ads and get them placed in magazines, newspapers, and online. We'd help communicate their message, build brand awareness, and build their online presence.

Despite my background in advertising, I don't advertise, at least not in the way you might think. Now, I know you're sitting there, maybe in a bit of disbelief, but I've been able to build a six-figure art business with an international following without having to pay to promote my artwork.

It all comes down to the way that the Lord led me to develop my art career. You see, I believe marketing your art is not just about finding people to buy your stuff. It’s about cultivating and sharing your artistic uniqueness and then sharing that with the world in order to build an authentic connection with the people in the marketplace who value your aesthetic and connect with who you are as an artist.

Are you ready to find out how to do this?
 
Define Your Artistic Uniqueness

Let me ask you a question. What makes you different? What makes you unique? What is the "secret sauce" that makes your artwork stand out from other artists in your area who are creating pieces using the same mediums or working in similar genres as you?

Defining what I call your Unique Creative Voice as an artist is vital to developing your "brand" as an artist. There are many ways to go about doing this, but I’ve found there are really three key steps you need to take to do it successfully. 

Focus Your Creative Expression

Have you ever heard the saying, "Jack of all trades, master of none?" Unfortunately, this could be ascribed to so many artists I've met over the years. While it's great to have a wide variety of skills and interests, it's vitally important to focus your creative energies on one or two primary things so you can truly develop what I call Masterful Competence; but only if you want to sell your work consistently. :)

This focusing may also mean that you begin to put limits on your creative palette while you define the parameters of both what and how you create your art. It's learning to find creative freedom within the boundaries of a limited palette. I realize that might seem stifling at first but learning to co-plan and co-create art with the Holy Spirit while limiting yourself to a handful of supplies, techniques, and mediums supercharges the development of your artistic mastery.

Learn To Tell the Story of You

One thing I'm always saying is that 90% of the time, people buy art because of connection.  Sometimes it's a connection to your subject matter, but serious collectors also value the connection they have with you and your creative process.

That's why developing and refining your story is vital to growing your art business. Your story and the story of your art can be one of the most powerful tools you can carry with you as you embark on creating authentic connections with the clients and potential clients you meet.

You see, fully embracing your story is so important, because before you can truly grow as an artist, you must be able to speak passionately about yourself, your artwork, and your process. When you're passionate and excited about your work, and you learn to share that passion, people will start to connect with you and your work.

The difference between telling your story and advertising is the difference between hunting with a rifle versus hunting with a shotgun.  Telling your story, either in person or via editorial content (blogs, podcasts, articles, etc.) is a highly focused, precise way of zeroing in on your ideal clients. While generalized advertising (though it can be useful) is a bit like scattering your seed to the wind. Sure, you may "hit" one or two of the people you're looking to connect with, but the vast majority of your paid advertisements are going to land in the laps of people who don't want or can't afford what you do.

There is a better way, and once you've established what makes you artistically unique and you're ready to tell the story of you, then it's time to…

Discover Your Ideal Client

Creating your business around a niche of people who connect with you and your work is the bedrock of a successful art business. As I've said many times before, "No connection, no sale." The question then becomes, "How do I connect and with whom?" That's what developing a client avatar is all about.

A client avatar is a fictional representation of your ideal client, all wrapped into one character. Being able to see your ideal client as a person, rather than an obscure figment of your imagination is super helpful when developing your potential products, messaging, and marketing campaigns. With a client avatar in mind, you're able to create marketing efforts directed right at them.

Finally, let me say this. It's best if you can develop your client avatar based on actual evidence you've collected over time rather than just coming up with who you 'think' is your target client. With actual client history, you can analyze how people have connected with you and your work over the years while working on ways to enhance that experience. If you're just starting fresh, give it your best shot and also look at the clients of other artists in your area or medium who are selling to provide you with a starting place.

So, you've defined your artistic uniqueness, you're ready to tell the story of you, and you know what your ideal client looks like. Now it's time to…

Bring it All Together

Have you ever wondered what that secret recipe is for making and selling great art? Well, it's not just your artistic uniqueness, your story and your client avatar alone that make the biggest difference, but rather how you use these three ingredients, or tools, together to develop the perfect recipe for connecting you and your art with the people who want to buy it and pay top dollar for it.

The goal is to find the points of intersection where you can connect with your ideal clients. What magazines do they read? Where do they hang out? What non-profits are they involved with? What clubs and organizations are they members of? These are just a few of the questions I've used over the years to find points of overlap in my life and in theirs. And this is key to creating connection. Let me tell you how my friend Julie, a photographer, does this.

Julie's fine art portrait sessions are a perfect fit for individuals and families who can invest $2500 or more to capture images meant to be treasured for several lifetimes. She learned early on that her ideal clients were often involved with local non-profits, serving on boards, donating time, and making donations at fundraisers and galas. So, Julie combined her skills along with her love of serving the community to connect with her ideal clients by photographing them at local non-profit events.

Again, the goal is to know where your ideal client is hanging out and learning to connect with them intentionally. Through direct connection via mutual interests or by being referred by someone your ideal client is already doing business with are two great low to no-cost ways to promote yourself.

Now, if you were going to spend money on  advertisements, and please know that I'm not against this, this is where having intel on your ideal client can really stretch and focus your advertising dollars.  If your ideal clients are affluent seniors, look for the local publications that are already targeting that market. Some exclusive subdivisions in our area even have their own magazines, each filled with public interest articles on a variety of topics. This opens up the possibility of a public interest piece (which costs nothing) or even paid ads that will land in the lap of an ideal potential client.

Final Thoughts

Marketing and promotion are a lot like planting seeds. The worst thing you can ever do is to stop sowing the seeds of connection. Some of those seeds are going to come up immediately, some of them are going to come up in a few months, some of them may come up in a few years.  You never know, but you have always got to be planting seeds, and then focus those seeds in the places where they are going to count the most around those intersection points.

I've also developed two great resources for those of you who are ready. The first is my mini-course called Developing Your Unique Creative Voice, and the second is Finding Clients to Buy Your Art. Both of these courses expand upon the ideas I've shared here in this article with proven tips and insights that will help grow your art business.

I hope this has been a big encouragement to you. If this article has been a blessing to you, take a moment to share it with a friend.
​
Thanks for reading

Have you ever considered putting your artwork on apparel or merchandise in order to get it out to the masses?  Well, one of my podcast listeners and Created to Thrive Artist Mentoring Program members, Jen, recently asked me about this idea of putting a great piece of artwork on a T-shirt. She wanted to know if this is a good idea or not, but more specifically, she wanted to know if this would cheapen her art. 

I love tackling questions like this because it helps artists find focus and bring clarity of purpose to their creative pursuits. Over the years, I’ve found that there are really two ways to go about selling your art. Folks who have been in the biz for a while, usually end up in one of two camps: The Mass Merchandising Camp or the Fine Art Camp. It’s rare that artists have feet in both.

The Mass Merchandising Camp

In this camp, the whole idea is to sell as much art as possible by placing art on everything you can imagine while keeping the prices low enough to make it affordable to the masses.  In this camp, your canvas might be cellphone covers, leggings, pants, shirts, t-shirts, hats, mugs, cups, stickers, towels, or calendars. You get the idea.

Now don’t get me wrong, this can be a great camp to be in artistically speaking. Artists in this camp are eventually drawn towards licensing their art. From art and art merchandise sold online and in big box stores, to mass reproduced series of prints for business and hotel chains, art licensing is a multi-billion dollar segment of the global art market each year. 

To be clear, Mass Merchandising is an excellent camp to consider, but it does have one glaring downside.  The more that you bring down the price of your artwork and increase its accessibility, the more you cheapen its value in the eyes of serious collectors, people I consider to be your best buyers. 

What do I mean by that?  True collectors, the folks who spend the most money on art, are usually looking for pieces that are original, exclusive and many times, offered at a higher price point. To them, buying art is not just about the art, but about the ambiance that goes around it, the prominence of the artist, the significance of the piece, and the perceived status that would come from owning it.

The Fine Art Camp

Now, for me, I chose to plant my feet in a different camp when it came to marketing my art. I learned a valuable lesson early on in the fine craft world. My friends who were potters tended to lean mostly towards functional pieces or towards non-functional work.

I began to notice that potters that focused primarily on functional pieces, mugs, bowls, plates, etc., were amazing artists that were stuck on a volume-producing treadmill. To make a living, these artists have to batch produce a larger volume of pieces to make ends meet. Again these are great artists creating beautiful pieces, but at the end of the day, a mug or a bowl meant for daily use isn’t going to fetch fine art prices.

Then there were the ceramicists that created ornate vessels and sculpture. Their focus was on unique one of a kind items meant to serve as the focal point of a room, a centerpiece on a table, or a high-end accent to an existing collection of fine art. Sure these artists never sold the volume of pieces that functional potters sold, but they did attract the kind of buyer that I was looking to attract in my art business.

Positioning Is Everything

Seeing those two schools of thought in action there inside the fine art camp made it easy for me to find my path when it came to creating and selling my art.  While my career in basketry began in the “functional” school of thought, I knew I couldn’t stay there forever. Over the years, as my skill grew, I came to love making things that are exclusive, unique, and really special.

Consequently, I knew that if I wanted to follow my artistic passions, I had to move away from the “sure bet” functional baskets were for me and begin to position myself differently. My prices had to increase if my volume of sales were going to decrease, but more importantly I had to develop that “it” factor, that idea of exclusivity, that would attract the kind of buyer that could and would pay top dollar for my work.

As I did this, I learned a few things about the high-end art market. Buyers in this market are much more concerned about the connection of my values to theirs than they were with the concept of merely filling a blank space on their shelf. I learned that my ideal buyer was drawn in by the aesthetic of my work, the uniqueness of my pieces, and eventually by my reputation as an artist.

As I turned off the faucet in my art career on the lower-end stuff, I began to connect with clients that were passionate about my work. These folks never beat me up on price. In fact, price is often one of the last questions they ask when purchasing one of my woven sculptures. 

The best part is that they started referring me to their friends which only served to strengthen my reputation and increase my value in the marketplace as an artist. I found that I love to do business with buyers like this, serious collectors who appreciate my artistic passions.

Trust is Key

Choosing your path as an artist is one of the most critical decisions you’ll make in your career as an artist. One of the things that helped me the most in my journey was to set aside some time to examine my heart.

I began to realize that when my focus was on “how can I make a buck,” or “how can I get you to buy my basket,” that I was living out of a place of fear and striving. Fear that I would be a starving artist that couldn’t provide for my family and striving to do everything in my power to provide for my own needs. 

What I wasn’t doing was trusting the Lord, the One who had given me these talents and had called me to the marketplace to provide for me as His son.  In my own epic saga of artistic (and spiritual) growth, I reached a point of surrender and trust.

I surrendered the idea that it was up to me and that I had to work, sweat, and strive and leaned fully into trust. I prayed something like, “You know what, Lord?  I know that You love me. I know that You have called me an artist. I know that You want me to make things that I am passionate about. I know that as I am faithful to be the artist You called me to be, You are going to be faithful to bring the clients, the connections, and the provision.”  

When I did that and disconnected from all that striving, that’s when things changed for me. It’s been the same for so many artists in my Mentoring Program. When they let go of striving to create and sell and leaned into trusting God and yielding to the direction of the Holy Spirit in every aspect of their art life, things began to change. Doors of opportunity, provision, and artistic fulfillment began to open wide for them as well.  
I hope this has been a big encouragement to you. If this article has been a blessing to you, take a moment to share it with a friend.
Thanks for reading!

Back in March of this year, I had the honor and the privileged of hosting 500 artists at our first ever Thriving Christian Artists Conference here in North Carolina.

One of the highlights of that event was having the audience pick our 2020 Created to Thrive Spokesperson of the Year from our four finalists that were present there with us that weekend.

As a part of for being considered for this honor, everyone who entered this to submit a short video detailing why they should be chosen.  While I can't share all the fantastic videos we did receive, I do want to share with you the following videos from our four finalists. 

​Enjoy

All artists, especially Christian artists want to know how to sell their art! I mean come on, without selling your art most artists don't have the ability (or space) to keep making their work unless of course they have another income stream that funds their "art habit". 

So after making and selling a lot of art over the years I've come to the understanding that there are essentially 2 primary ways to sell your artwork as an artist:

• You sell it directly to your clients or
• You pay someone else to sell it for you ie: gallery, designer, strategic partner, referrals

Regardless, SOMEONE has to:

• develop relationships with potential clients
• offer the work in a desirable way
• respond to market trends in aesthetics & presentation
• price the work in a way that's competitive and profitable
• complete the transactions
• deliver or ship the work and potentially install

If you're the kind of artist who only wants to make work in the studio and not deal with marketing/sales, then you must find a good gallery or broker to represent you. Realize this costs - usually 50% of your retail price. However, they are doing most of the work to sell your art. Hoping your work will sell, doing social media only or simply putting your art on one of the hundreds of art websites online is NOT a strategy.

If you're the kind of artist who enjoys selling direct to your clients, then realize you are equally an artist and an entrepreneur. You'll need to develop a marketing strategy with multiple outlets, testing and measuring results as you go. There's no silver bullet. Without cultivating both sides of the equation - being both artist and entrepreneur - you'll live in constant frustration.

Or of course... a combination of both ie: selling direct and utilizing galleries, partners, etc. Over time, you'll discover a combination that works best for you, your personality and your profitability.

When it comes to art marketing, there can be a lot of confusion about what works, what doesn't and where to start. Whether you're a seasoned, experienced artist who's been creating for many years or a hobbyist just trying to take it to the next level, knowing how to sell your art is of primo importance!

I've had the privilege of creating sculpture both part-time and full-time for almost 25 years. After moving to Asheville, North Carolina in 2009, I opened a studio in the River Arts District and began selling my work full-time.  Like a lot of artists, I did the typical things like running around to craft shows, selling wholesale to shops and "hoping" for customers. For me - and remember, everyone's different - that kind of selling drove me crazy! Shows were fickle, my work didn't sell great in stores or galleries because I wasn't there to talk about it and the hope strategy... well, let's just say that doesn't work.  Hope is not a viable strategy for how to sell your art.

Thankfully, because of my background in marketing and the fact that I am a people person, I recognized early on in my full-time art career that people pay top dollar for  2 things: special and connection.  What does that mean, you ask?

​First of all, people are willing to pay a premium for things they feel are out of the ordinary, unique or special, especially if they align with their values.  Now keep in mind, we're not talking about your average Wal-mart shopper here. I'm talking about people who are genuinely interested in your art and have the means to pay for it.  When your work and your reputation is seen as something to be noticed, something to be valued, not ordinary or run-of-the-mill, all of a sudden, people start to take notice.  That's what happened to me.  I create sculpture primarily for luxury mountain homes and I love it.  One of the things I did to help leverage the "special factor" of my work was to make a decision to install all my own work (when possible) and ask if I could take pictures once installed.  Consequently, I have tons of gorgeous images of my work in multi-million dollar homes. Now, when prospective buyers are considering my work, they immediately see "Wow, this guy's work is special... look at who's buying his work."  It lets my customers know that I'm someone to be collected and considered worthy of a significant investment.

The other huge concept I employ in my business naturally, because I enjoy building relationships with people, is connection.  I've found over the years that people who are making a significant investment in a piece of art want more than just a commoditized retail experience. They want a relationship. By and large, whether it's buying my work or the work of friends of mine who are painters, sculptors, ceramicists, jewelers or whatever, clients who are serious about purchasing hand-made, original art really enjoy building relationships with the artists from whom they purchase. It's fun for them and for us to get to know them, what they like, what they like about our work and deepen that relationship over time through multiple purchases and referrals to their friends.

I have a studio here in Asheville's River Arts District which is open 6 days a week to the public.  Nothing gives me more pleasure than to hear one of my clients coming through the door with a friend or out of town visitor saying something like "Oh, this is the guy I was telling you about..." All of a sudden, they've become my marketing department and a genuine friend. 

This same kind of connection is very important even if you're selling through strategic partners like interior designers or gallery / shop owners. Take time to go visit them, learn what sells in their stores, understand their clientele and then work to make them look great! I have a friend up who has a beautiful furniture store in a very wealthy area and she has a trunk show for me every couple of years.  That one relationships has produced more than any other relationship in my art career simply because every time I go to that area, I stop by and say hello. I send flowers after a referral. I treat her customers very well.  Yes, you guessed it: I'm building connection.

If you're wanting to employ the special factor and connection into your art marketing strategy, I'd recommend starting with the following:

• Take some time to understand what makes you uniquely you and what makes your art unique as well. Dig around into the story of what makes you tick and why you create. The more you develop and share that story, the more people will have the opportunity to connect with the real you.
• Start asking questions from people who buy your work.  What did they like? Why did they purchase? What did they connect with about you or your work?  As you start to understand where the connection is, you can then begin to deepen that connection through doing more of the same. I always say, work on what's working.
• Tell the story of your special factor and authentic connection throughout all of your marketing materials.  Remember, art marketing is not about selling your stuff, it's about building relationships with people.  Your marketing should be completely focused on building connection with people around what you know they love about what you create.  Do that and your business will thrive.

Listen, marketing your art and yourself is much more than simply learning how to sell your art. It's about creating an image that reflects your uniqueness in the niche you're targeting and then working to build authentic connections within that niche of clients, partners and prospects. Learn to do that well and you'll never struggle to sell your artwork. If you don't, you'll be reduced to doing what everyone else does, shlepping around your stuff to every art or craft show that will let you in, wondering who's going to buy your widget this time.  You can thrive if you'll focus on the special factor and on building connection.

My absolute favorite marketing video that exemplifies this way of selling is below called "A Tour Guide to the Two Plants: NEO & Traditional."  Do yourself a favor and watch it.  Then comment below to let me know your thoughts. Also, for more strategies on how to sell your art, check out my artist mentorship program called "Created to Thrive". Tons of teaching videos, activities and a private Facebook community as well as live q/a sessions with me to help you thrive as an artist.

First of all, this is a huge question but surprisingly simple. It's simple because it has to be based on you, the artist.  How do you like to sell your art?  I've found over the years, there are basically two ways to sell your art: direct to the customer or through a strategic partner (or, I admit it... a combination of both). It's really important to understand which strategy is most effective for you when you're asking how to sell art.

When I first started asking how to sell art, I did what most artists do and looked to others who I saw being successful and modeled them. Unfortunately for me, their model didn't work for me. Many of the artists I knew were introverts who enjoyed mostly making in their studio rather than interacting with the public. Consequently, they had adopted a wholesale methodology which required them to make production items, sell at a 50% discount, sell through stores and galleries, and never have any interaction with their end user.  For me, as an extroverted people person, that was very unfulfilling.  When I made beautiful work and faced the reality of packing it up and shipping it off to a gallery far far away, that gave me no emotional payoff, which for me is an important part of being an artist. I love hearing people say "Oh my gosh, that is so beautiful! I love it!" Without that, I was missing something huge!

The other methodology I saw most artists doing included doing as many retail craft and art shows as possible. They seemed to live on the road. In the summers, they were in the mountains and in the winter, they all headed to Florida. Always on the road, always staying in hotels or travel trailers. Again, not my idea of a beautiful artistic life.

For me, I chose to pursue selling my art through a public studio in Asheville's River Arts District, a collection of over 200 artists in 23 old warehouse buildings in Asheville, North Carolina.  It's a mecca for artists and art lovers, as well as wealthy retirees who like to incorporate local art into their homes.  I get to make, sell and interact all out of my studio. I deliver most of my commissioned works and I get a high level of interaction with my clients. We build relationships. They visit the studio with friends and for me, that's huge!

So what's the bottom line?  You have to determine how to sell art for yourself based on how your wired, what you're creating and the life you want.  Without being clear about those questions, you'll end up really frustrated.  If you're going to be an artist, you want to do so while living a beautiful, creative and fulfilled life.

Now you understand why these two questions go together.  How you sell art ends up determining where you sell your art. There's no cookie cutter plan that works for everyone.  As you consider where to sell your art, make sure you craft a strategy that fits how you like to create, sell and live life. The artist life is not just about cranking out product, but about authentically creating your work, connecting with others who love what you do and making a profit.

That being said, here are some of my best recommendations:

Where to Sell Your Art For Artists Who Want to Sell Direct To Clients:

• Retail art & fine craft shows in your region (and nationally) that have a track record of attracting your ideal client
• Open Studio where people can see where, how and what you create
• Through Your Website & Social Media
• Through friends and family recommendations
• Personal recommendations from clients
• Home Parties & Trunk Shows
• Private clubs & organizations who connect with what and how you create
• Strategic Partnerships with people who are in front of your ideal client but don't directly compete with you ie: interior designers, builders, architects, hotels, etc.
  
  

Where to Sell Your Art For Artists Who Want to Sell Wholesale:

• National art & fine craft wholesale shows
• Museum Shows & Exhibitions
• Local, Regional & National Galleries & Stores
• Strategic partners who want to represent your work
• Guilds & Marketing Co-ops in your area

We talk about these issues every day in my Created to Thrive Artist Mentorship Program and over the last year, I've created several in-depth teaching videos on this subject based on my own experience and the experience of ​hundreds of artists I've helped over the years.  Find out more about becoming a part of my artist mentorship program here.

Also, let me know what's working for you! Comment below and let's keep the conversation going.

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