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How Do You Get Started Marketing Art?

An artist asked me after reading our marketing ideas, “What if I don't have any, or very few, past collectors or anyone on my mailing list?"

That's a great question! After all, everyone starts at zero, and going from nothing to something is definitely harder than going from something to something more.

There are a number of ways to address the getting started “problem”, but to keep it simple, let's concentrate on just a few of the top ways to solve it.

When you’re first getting started you don’t yet have an “audience”, at least not an organized one.  

So, you only have two choices.  They are to build an audience or pay to reach one.  I would start by building one rather than starting with advertising, because you will get feedback about your art, your messaging, and it will help you determine if you are truly ready to start marketing your art.  If you try to start by paying for one, you are liable to perhaps waste a lot of money to learn hard lessons.

 If I were starting from zero, as an artist first attempting to sell my work, here's what I would do (and, in a sense, I am doing, albeit with the art of writing, rather than visual art):

Today’s Article:
Step One - Determine Market Readiness

Upcoming Articles
Step Two - Pre-launch Preparation
Step Three - The Launch Phase

Let’s dive in! Today’s article addresses the first step in starting to market and sell art which is to answer the following question, “Is my art ready to show in the marketplace and ready to sell?”

Step One - Determine Market Readiness

1. Do a Gut Check. 
You need to do a gut check.  Is your art ready to sell?  Are you creating from your deepest truth, and doing the work that only you can do?  Is your work technically competent enough?  And most importantly, when you receive inspiration from the universe about a piece you absolutely must create, does the finished piece have that same inspired energy the way you envisioned?  If you can’t feel that inspirational energy in the finished piece, then we won’t feel it either.  And if that’s the case, every sale you attempt to make will be extremely difficult.

2. Get Feedback. 
Find a few colleagues whom you can ask about your work.  These must be people who will be HONEST with you and ask them if it’s ready.  Ask them if they think it will sell.  Ask them what feedback they have for you about what could make your work better?

3. Build a Body of Work. 
Do you have a body of pieces finished and available for purchase?   You are going to want to have choices for people to choose from!  Ideally you’ll have enough exciting pieces to launch your site with a core group and additional pieces you can announce over the first few weeks to months.

4.  Accept that Selling takes work - on Your Part

Do you accept that you will have to sell your art?  People won’t send you money just out of the blue because you are a wonderful artist.  You have to sell them.  And no platform or website host is going to do that work for you, it’s up to you to do that work, or to hire an assistant or someone else to do it for you.  If you’re not willing to accept this step as the truth of reality, you are extremely unlikely to be successful.  It’s not that hard though, so don’t let the word “sell” scare you, just determine if you will make the time to do it.

Have I forgotten anything? Are there other steps one should undertake to prepare themselves to enter the art market?

Next time, we’ll look at the specific things you need to put in place prior to launching your art offering into the marketplace! See you then!

Creatively,

Clintavo

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