| FineArtViews - The AMP Newsletter
Hi There,
Over the last 15 years, FineArtViews has served as a great resource for artists and creators alike. It started with me simply wanting to write about my views on art. With nearly 70,000 subscribers now, the newsletter has evolved to meet the needs of all of our readers.
If you're a long-time reader, you know that we've progressed into using this newsletter to highlight important ways for artists to market and sell their art. We feel this information is extremely valuable to all of our subscribers and because of that, we want to keep this newsletter focused almost entirely on the actionable ideas about art marketing.
Starting in the near future, our FineArtViews Special Edition newsletters that are currently sent on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Sundays will be transitioning into our BoldBrush Studio newsletter. As our offerings and newsletters continue to grow and evolve, I feel this would be the best way to provide all of our subscribers with streamlined access to the content they are looking for.
For those of you that aren't already members of BoldBrush Studio, the platform serves as a place for artists to learn from other artists and really master their craft. The current Special Editions that are run in FineArtViews include online and in-person exhibitions and instructional resources that are much better suited for the BoldBrush Studio platform.
You don't need to do anything to continue receiving the great marketing tips in FineArtViews. If you want to continue to receive these special editions, click here to subscribe now.
And please, I'd love to hear from you. What content would you like to see in FineArtViews?
Enjoy, Clint Watson
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Last week, I shared an important myth in the art marketing world. The Myth: You need to define your ideal customer. While identifying a target customer has become a ritual for many product and service companies, the truth in the art world remains: Lots of different types of people buy art.
Click here to read the entirety of that myth now.
In today's article, I'll dive into another important art myth and the truth behind it.
By the way, I shared all 9 myths and their truths on Twitter first! For my latest thoughts on art marketing, posted daily please follow me.
Myth #2: Blogging will help you sell art.
The Truth: The benefit of blogging (for most people) has moved to social media.
Blogging used to be a very effective way to put your art into the world 10 years ago but, with the rise of social media, it's become exponentially harder to get noticed in the blogosphere.
Unfortunately, many marketers, who sell information products, still heavily push the use of blogs as a worthwhile way to generate leads for artists. It's not malicious, they are sharing what has worked for them.
Blogging is a natural fit for information products. It's not a natural fit for most artists.
If you've read any of my recent articles, you know that selling a unique piece of art is vastly different fromthan selling a mass-produced product or information product
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| You shouldn't follow every recommendation from a marketer, even one who has a tremendous amount of experience, if they've never worked in the world of visual art in a marketing or sales capacity.
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| I launched my own personal blog and the first FineArtViews blog around 2007 and used it as a way to share stories of my personal experiences and dive into my views and thoughts on art, wine, and all the things I love.
Back then, this worked great, because, back then, people were actively using blogs to research information, be entertained, and communicate with the "experts" in whatever the blogger deemed themselves to be an expert in.
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| Video killed the radio star, and social media killed the blog.
The "Golden Age" of blogging is dead.
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| The rise of social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter has changed the marketing world as we know it. And, in most ways, has replaced blogs or, at least, replaced blogs for most of us.
In the early days of blogging, before Facebook, an artist could garner great attention just by blogging "daily paintings." In fact, one artist got a feature in the New York Times due to his daily blog. But an artist trying to do that today would be MUCH better served and much more likely to get attention by posting a painting a day to Instagram. You'd do even better to post a video of yourself painting every day to Instagram.
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| The average user spends 2 hours and 24 minutes a day on social media, and probably zero hours on blogs (unless linked to from social media).
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| Instagram is a great marketing tool for visual artists because the focus is so heavily geared towards publishing beautiful images that will grab the attention of your audience. That's exactly what you specialize in.
You can use Instagram to share your art work, inspirations and behind-the-scenes of you during your creative process. Click here to read 7 Instagram Marketing Strategies for Artists.
Facebook and Twitter can be used to share images as well as small amounts of information to your followers. People are using social media not only as a way to stay connected with their friends but to actively seek out and research newsworthy information. 20% of adults in the US said that they often get their news from social media. In other words, people today use social media the way we used to use blogs.
There is one exception to my "Blogs are dead" stance: You may find a blog worthwhile - if you are a quite gifted and prolific writer with a lot of things to say beyond posting new art and show announcements. This will only work if you're diligently committed to a regular writing and posting schedule. If you can write well-written, edited, interesting ideas and post them on a regular schedule to a blog, and combine that with an email newsletter, then, and only then, a blog CAN work. But that is A LOT of work, at FineArtViews it takes a team of about four people to pull it off. And, keep in mind, unlike you as a visual artist, FineArtViews is an information product, even if it's free.
So, when I say "Blogs are dead" what I mean is "For most of us, blogs are dead because they were replaced by social media."
Stay tuned for next week's article where I'll discuss Myth #3: You should use intrusive pop ups to increase signups to your newsletter.
Until next time, remember that Fortune Favors the Bold Brush.
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Verdana 12pt SaveCancel | Clint Watson BoldBrush/FASO Founder & Art Fanatic
PS - Click here to register for the Magic Formula for Creating Engaging Emails that Grow Your Art Sales webinar on June 16 at 12:00 PM ET / 11:00 AM CT / 10:00 AM MT / 9:00 AM PT.
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