The acquisition stage is all about providing potential buyers with the information that they're seeking. While the marketing tactics may differ between traditional product marketing and marketing unique artwork, the stages of the customer journey remain the same.
The information, or in this case, artist and artwork that a potential customer comes across will determine their willingness to move on to the next stage in the customer lifecycle.
At the acquisition stage, the customer is usually aware of what need or desire they are looking to fill and have begun their search for potential solutions. When it comes to purchasing artwork though, the parameters of this stage can differ slightly from the traditional customer journey because searching for artwork is not as easy as typing "best running shoes" into the search bar.
Nevertheless, there is an increasing presence of artists selling their artwork online. In fact, most people will exhaust all online options before looking for other avenues to fill their needs. This makes it imperative to have a high-functioning artist website that will allow you to market and sell your artwork effectively.
Here are a few questions that you can focus on to ensure that your customers are getting the most out of your website:
- What is the first impression of your website?
- What information is readily available on your website that can assist with a potential customer to make a purchasing decision?
- Is pricing available on your website? (This is a big one! Don't lose out on potential customers because you didn't add prices to your artwork.)
- Is your contact information easily accessible on your website?
- Is your website easy to navigate?
The overall goal during the acquisition stage is to convince the customer that their product is the solution that they've been looking for. As an artist, your focus should be to inspire your customer with your artist story and using your website and artwork descriptions to convey emotions through the art that you're selling.
Stay tuned for next week where I'll dive into the Conversion Stage.
