As we all adjust to the new normal after having been sequestered in our homes, we're all finding alternate ways to make the most of our time.So let's ask ourselves: How can we use this time to get better? How can we be of service and use?
I know, without a doubt that great art is being created around the world at this very moment. Perhaps by you! Our entire team is focused 100% on whatever we can do to help you market and sell more art.
With that in mind, we're focusing FineArtViews on sales and marketing ideas more than ever before. The following article was selected from our archives as it seems quite timely in the current situation and provides ideas we think you can use to improve your own art marketing.
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PART 6
Exclusivity
True collectors want exclusivity.
Who doesn't want to feel special and part of an exclusive club?
When I ran my gallery there was a very exclusive short list of top collectors who got first pick of each artist's work. In fact, 80% or so of my personal sales each year were from less than 20 people - not 20% but 20 people. Sometimes, if the artist was popular enough, we had to have an exclusive waiting list for buyers. As an artist's career rises, this need for exclusivity among collectors seems to rise as well. At the extreme high end, it can even border on absurdity. I had lunch recently with a very well known western artist. He told me about one of his colleagues, who is perhaps the best known living western artist in the world. This particular artist's works now sell upwards of two million dollars - each. And here's the interesting (and relevant) part: that famous artist's current, entire collector base consists of only fivepeople. That is exclusivity with a capital "E."
Traditional art galleries understand this desire for exclusivity and they capitalize upon it. They offer their best collectors first pick of new works, access to exclusive events and other exclusive benefits.
Of all the things that collectors want this is the easiest one for an individual artist to recreate without an art gallery. Not only can you create exclusive experiences for your collectors, but you can do it in a way that is better than an art gallery. After all, who's in a better position to offer exclusive access to an artist's work or an artist's time than the artist herself?
What Art Collectors Want
So there you have it: What I think true collectors want when evaluating artists and artworks to collect:
1. Credibility of the artist as established by some third party or brand they trust.
2. Curation of artists and artworks: meaning someone else, a trusted and knowledgeable party, sorts through the noise and shows collectors relevant artists that are "worthy" of attention, interest and time of the collector.
3. Spillover effects - this is a major way collectors discover new artists. They follow an artist they know and, in doing so, discover an artist they didn't know of. You can reach far more collectors through spillover effects than through search.
4. Exclusivity - they want first choice of new promising artists and first choice of artworks by artists they follow.
Can these four things be recreated online without traditional art galleries? I think so, but I'm not sure. It might be that the galleries themselves evolve to disrupt themselves. Or it might be something completely new. Whatever happens, I don't think that recreating these elements online has (yet) been successfully done at scale. In future articles, I'll explore some additional ways I think you might possibly be able, to some degree, recreate these things without an art gallery in your own marketing efforts.
In the meantime, I've shared with you what I think collectors want, what do you think?
Until next time, please remember that Fortune Favors the Bold Brush.
