{"id":3571,"date":"2022-07-06T18:51:41","date_gmt":"2022-07-06T17:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theprintspace.co.uk\/help\/?post_type=ht_kb&p=3571"},"modified":"2024-05-16T12:35:39","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T11:35:39","slug":"101-guide-marketing-print-sales","status":"publish","type":"ht_kb","link":"https:\/\/www.theprintspace.co.uk\/help\/knowledge-base\/101-guide-marketing-print-sales\/","title":{"rendered":"Level 2: 101 Guide print store marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Pie Aerts print store<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Congratulations, you\u2019ve set up the perfect online art store<\/a>! In your journey to take control of your creative career, you have made an important step. However the next step, the marketing, is singularly the most important one. It requires hard work, strategy and focus but the attainable goal is complete creative freedom in your career. Worth the effort, right? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are here to help you take this step. So, why should you listen to us? Because fulfilling online art sales<\/a> is what we do, and over the past 4 years we\u2019ve seen a wave of artists transform their creative careers. And it isn\u2019t just luck. Those who have achieved success have learnt and applied a clear yet repeatable marketing strategy.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, stick the kettle on and take some time to carefully read this article. It has been researched using hundreds of marketing tips we\u2019ve seen work time and again by hundreds of successful artists, many of whom make over $100k in art print sales per year, some well in excess of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We take you through the process stage-by-stage and we give you a 14-day plan with example content for each stage. At the end, we\u2019ve supplied a checklist<\/a> so you can work through the action points methodically and tick them off as you go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Launch with a permanent collection, then follow with a series of timed \u2018drops\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Art galleries have permanent collections<\/em> and revolving exhibitions<\/em>. The permanent collection is what draws new audiences. Revolving exhibitions are what keeps it fresh and interesting. It’s what keeps people coming back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take the TATE; 70% is permanent display. Greatest hits by Warhol, Hurst, Hockney. First time visitors come for these, but would these keep you coming back? This is where TATE\u2019s revolving exhibitions come in. Centred around themes, projects, artists, eras, they give people a reason to return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We have seen the artists with the greatest success in their sales adopting this approach in their print sales and the general marketing of their work.  They have their permanent collection, the greatest hits as it were. Then they drop new projects or prints periodically. Just like fine art galleries, these projects or print drops are not simply contrived for the sake of selling prints, they are bodies or pieces of work centred around themes that they are exploring or communicating in their work. Also, when viewed as whole, these print or project drops show the progression in the artist\u2019s thinking around their practice. What we are saying is that these drops should have their own focussed marketing campaigns, and their own print sales push.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you adopt the strategy of starting with a permanent collection then the benefits are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Your permanent collection establishes a visual style and brand identity in your store. This gives new audiences an accessible route to buy.<\/li>
  2. Your existing audience has never been given the opportunity to buy. This means there is pent-up demand. Like your first visit to the TATE, it\u2019s the hits they want to see!<\/li>
  3. You give yourself a product range that acts as a year-round source of income.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    If you then progress onto doing a series of project or print drops the benefits are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. It\u2019s a great way to give your visibility as an artist a concerted push, and to tie that into print sales.<\/li>
    2. It means most of your marketing work comes in concentrated bursts, enabling you to focus on making new work outside of these times<\/li>
    3. It is a good way to organise your work and enable it to be contextualised<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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      Why would someone buy my art online?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      There are 4 buy-side hooks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      The question then is not why do people buy, but how do you create content that connects with these buying hooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      Marketing is communication<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      It\u2019s a simple fact of life that we are all busy and have a million bits of information flying at us on a daily basis. If you want your art to be heard then you have to work to make that happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      For every 100 successful artists, 1 was just \u2018discovered’, the other 99 executed a careful, strategic and detailed marketing plan to make that happen.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Marketing can be broken down into these constituent parts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      Sounds simple, right? Well, it is so long as you make sure that you follow the right way of doing it. There is a formula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      As acclaimed astro-photographer and art-marketing guru Ian lauer told us in this podcast<\/a>, people need to see the work 25-30 times before they buy<\/strong>. This is your marketing challenge, and in the next three sections we\u2019ll show you how to achieve it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      Marketing 101: Adopting campaign thinking<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      Any marketing expert worth their salt will tell you that in order to get results, you need to work in campaigns. A campaign is just about concentrating your communication into a fixed period of time, to ensure you hit that target of getting your work seen 25-30 times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      There are loads of types of digital marketing, but we\u2019re going to focus on the three most important ones; social media, email and search engine marketing. A combination of these used over the 14 day timeline we set out in this article will allow you to adopt campaign tactics to launch your print sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Social media marketing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Social media is your primary marketing method. It gives everyone a level playing field for communicating directly with their audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Email marketing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Email is the perfect channel for e-commerce sales. Expert, Chase Dimond says this is because it\u2019s conversion focussed<\/a>. It is also cheaper, and more in your control. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Search engine optimisation (SEO)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Optimising your website for search engines is a marketing method that brings results in the long-term. This is a big subject, so for now just do the basics which we explain here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      Marketing 101: Your 14 day launch plan<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      Ok so let\u2019s get into the plan. You are going to launch your print sales over 14 days. This won\u2019t take all your time each day, but you will want to set aside 3-5 hours a day for those 14 days to really focus on making it happen. You can set up everything in advance using a social media scheduler such as Later<\/a> and Mailchimp<\/a> for your emails, then sit back, relax and wait for the sales to roll in ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      What is important is that you spend the time planning and executing the communication of your motivations as an artist, your message, details about the artworks and the prints. Don\u2019t spend time packing prints and doing customer service. That\u2019s where we come in<\/a>, with global shipping and branded packaging options we\u2019ve got your logistics covered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      We have laid out this 14 day plan in chronological order leading up to, and after the print sale launch, so that your conversation with your buyers follows a logical arc. Throughout this arc, your content should speak to the 4 buying hooks listed earlier in this article. Remember, you may already have a lot of the content we think you need. If that is the case, brilliant! Your task will be to repurpose this for each channel. Here is how your 14 day story arc looks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      Setup<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      Below are the key tasks you need to complete. In the accompanying checklist<\/a> we expand on this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n