How To Market Yourself As An Artist: Tips And Ideas

Learning how to market yourself as an artist is not something you can achieve in a day or two.

Most artists are not comfortable keeping the focus on their work all the time:

Constantly talking about the quality of their art makes the majority of artists feel like a sell-out.

But they shouldn’t:

After all, the point of starting an online art business is to sell your work to a worldwide audience. And crafting a marketing strategy to help you do it is an essential step to achieving your goals.

The first thing any artist must do to begin marketing their artwork is to stop fearing the promotional aspect of the job. Getting the word out about your art doesn’t mean you’re becoming full of yourself as an artist.

Instead, it means you’re taking the first steps to build a profitable career while doing what you love.

In this article, I will walk you through the rest of the steps to take to successfully market your art.

This post may contain affiliate links – read my affiliate disclosure.

Recommended Read:

How To Market Yourself As An Artist: Step-By-Step Guide

1) Explore Who You Are And What You Do As An Artist

how to market yourself as an artist explore who you are as an artist first

Let me ask you a question:

How are you going to sell anything if you don’t know what exactly you’re selling?

Think about that for a second, and you’ll get where I’m going with it:

By all means, you can’t begin crafting a marketing strategy before you’re capable of communicating what your art is about with others.

It doesn’t matter if you work with acrylics, watercolors, or other visual elements. Likewise, it doesn’t matter if you create abstract or portrait pieces of art – the principle is the same:

Do you know which part of the creative process captures your essence as an emerging artist? Also, what’s the thing that makes you special as an artist and allows your artwork to overshadow someone else’s?

Can you name the first thing that describes your visual identity? Is your artistic voice loud and clear?

In other words, the first step to take when learning how to market yourself as an artist is making sure you can describe your artwork in a way that anyone will understand the concept behind it. If that means stepping out of your comfort zone while starting your artistic journey, so be it!

2) Define Who Your Target Audience Is

You don’t have to read tons of materials on the subject of art marketing strategies to wrap your mind around the first rule of selling:

Above all, you’ll never build a profitable art business unless you know who your future clients and ideal customers are going to be.

If you try to promote your art to any member of a wider audience, that art won’t land you a single paying customer.

Chances are, you already know that your creative business has to fit a specific art niche. And I couldn’t agree more:

Knowing your target audience inside and out is the only way to ensure your marketing efforts will deliver the desired results.

In today’s digital age, any kind of art can reach a global audience and attract thousands of potential clients. Once you know your target audience and start building an online presence for your art business, finding the right art lovers willing to become paying customers won’t take a lot of time.

3) Choose Your First Marketing Goal As An Artist

Your next step in the process of learning how to market yourself as an artist is picking one essential goal to accomplish.

Don’t start creating in-depth marketing strategies until you have a clear view of the goal that will operate as a driving force behind marketing your art business.

Here are a couple of questions you can ask yourself about that goal:

What do you want to achieve once you attract new audiences to your artwork? That question matters for any independent artist building a personal brand and conquering new markets.

Do you want to increase your sales? Or are you planning to expand your art into another market segment, such as NFTs (an example)?

Whatever the answers to these questions might be, you’ll need to figure them out before you do anything else.

Pro Marketing Tip:

Assuming that some of you have a goal in mind that seems impossible to achieve, I suggest breaking it down into smaller, easier-to-accomplish pieces.

4) Build A Professional Online Portfolio

Alright, what should you do once you see clearly your central marketing goal?

It’s time to create an impressive portfolio that showcases your incredible abilities and artistic vision to future art buyers and potential customers.

Considering your artistic portfolio will serve as an artist statement, you must put thought, effort, and hard work into creating it.

After all, your portfolio should not only show your range as an artist, but it should also portray you to customers in the way you want them to see you. Its main goal should be to produce more than a sneak peek into your main themes and brand identity:

A professional portfolio is a powerful tool that new artists and business owners can use to build a strong brand and take it to the next level. You don’t need business cards:

Instead, add your best work and new releases to a portfolio that can achieve more than any elevator pitch!

Why You Should Launch An Artist Portfolio Website

These days, one of the best ways to create a formidable art portfolio is to launch a professional website where your artwork will shine.

Get web hosting with BigScoots – the company offers affordable hosting plans and will take care of all your hosting needs.

Isn’t a personal website enough to bring brand awareness? What if you already have your own website that serves as an online gallery and shows your contact information to potential buyers?

While developing a successful website takes a long time, putting a little bit of effort into it will be worth it:

Sending email blasts and a monthly newsletter is an excellent way to boost your artist profile and build a loyal community. However, doing email marketing is impossible without starting a mailing list first:

Your email list will contain the email addresses of thousands of potential buyers. Going through this whole process is necessary to build a cohesive brand!

5) Establish Your Presence Online

Quite frankly, I doubt that anyone needs me to explain the importance of Social Media Channels as a vehicle for driving sales:

As an artist, being on Social Media Platforms is not only something you might want to consider – it’s a must.

The followers you’ll manage to gain through your social media profiles have a far more important role to play than just liking and commenting on your art promotion account:

They can turn into the biggest supporters of your art business – expect them to spread the word about your work and invest in your pieces.

Don’t hesitate to share moments of your creative process with your followers – they are the ones who will appreciate your insights the most.

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6) Do Networking

First and foremost, gaining new followers who will interact with your artwork is important.

However, networking in the art field matters even more:

No art business can achieve great success unless the person behind it takes the time to build connections that will push that business to the next level.

These days, your networking efforts can go beyond getting to know the owners of local galleries or online platforms.

Sure, mastering the art of selling paintings to the local center is something you’ll have to do eventually.

But why limit your business to the local market when you can reach customers from every place in the world and build a strong network?

With that said, get in touch with art collectors and gallery owners online – you never know which connection will turn out to be more profitable than expected.

See Also: How To Sell Art On Consignment

7) Market Your Artwork

Finally, you are at the last stage of the learning process – it’s time to get the last answer to the question of how to market yourself as an artist:

Up until now, I have shared many useful tips and ideas that will help you market your art locally and on the global stage.

Now, what’s the last thing you have to do to push your marketing effort further?

Having your own art website that will serve as a portfolio for potential clients is not enough:

You’ll need marketing help from platforms that are far more established than the one you’re building right now.

Long story short, join the best online art marketplaces available today. Working with such platforms will introduce your art to people and similar artists you wouldn’t be able to reach otherwise.

The Best Platforms To Join To Market Your Artwork:

How To Market Yourself As An Artist – Frequently Asked Questions

How Do You Get Popular As An Artist?

Launch a professional art website
Join the most popular online art marketplaces
Increase your brand reach on Social Media
Start building an email list from day one
Ask your followers to spread the word about your art
Collaborate with other professional artists to reach a brand-new audience

How Do I Sell My Work As An Artist?

Create a professional art portfolio
Get in touch with art collectors and online gallery owners
Sell your art on the biggest online galleries
List images of your art for sale on stock photo websites
Apply for art grants
Enter art competitions and fairs

Where Do New Artists Sell Their Work?

Fine Art America
ArtPal
DeviantArt
Social Media Channels

Final Say

Do you need me to say anything else on the subject of how to market yourself as an artist?

Hopefully, you don’t, because I have nothing to add to the topic at this time.

However, I’m here for you if you need any help or assistance.

What questions do you have about marketing yourself as an artist online and locally?

Let me know in the comments section below.