Dec 10, 2012

Marketing Tips for Selling Photography and Art Online




Selling art online is no picnic. Online marketing and selling takes a serious time commitment and lots of self discipline to build into an already busy daily life. However, an online presence, selling art online and offline, and marketing art online present endless opportunities for valuable exposure and additional sales income. Some tips that worked for me:

Tip #1: Devote certain times of the day to Online Marketing. During this time you interact and communicate with your followers. Organization and time management skills are crucial. Try planning your daily, weekly, monthly routine in advance and maintaining a check list. A good old "to do" check list works wonder: check and respond to emails in the morning, lunchtime, and/or evening, write a blog post, two or three depending on your inspiration, market and share new/old pictures, blog posts, and announcements with your online audience, respond to comments, questions and interact online with others.

Tip #2: Do not get sidetracked by internet temptations wasting your precious time online. Reserve a good amount of time for creating new art and photography. There is no better marketing than creating new artwork and sharing them with your audience, followers and fans.

Tip #3: Enhance your brand recognition by consistently creating excellent Photography Artwork and strong pieces to show off online and offline, e.g. compelling compositions and well executed technique. If you create artwork that is close to your heart and that you like most likely others will do.

Tip #4: Make a local mark first and search for local ArtFairs, Galleries or Group Shows that fit your artwork. Once successful, you may be able to emerge nationally or internationally. Share your successes in well written blog posts, online press releases, announcements and in a Newsletter.

Tip #5: Be professional and present your artwork in the best possible way. Build a professional web presence that matters; a professional looking Web Presence with beautiful artwork organized in easy to navigate galleries will go a long way.

Tip #6: Maintain and increase your website traffic since it directly relates to exposure and sales. Drive traffic to your online galleries by using free marketing tools like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn or StumbleUpon. Post links to your exhibitions, news, galleries, pictures, events, or blog.

Tip #7: Connect with other artists, collectors, buyers and admires through Online Social Networking.

Tip #8: Write a regular Art Blog where you discuss your techniques, what inspires you, the background of your latest piece or what you are working on.

Tip #9: Be patient because it takes a lot of hard work and plenty of hours to get your work shown, bought, and collected.

Tip #10: Finally, have a good time and enjoy the journey!


30 comments:

  1. I think you may have inspired this photography post featuring marketing tips Frances! Thanks for commenting ... hope this online marketing tips for selling art and photography will be of help ... any other marketing secrets to share ... any body? Thanks again!

    Juergen


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  2. urgh, do we really have to show our work in galleries? I have such social anxiety this is what has always made me avoid showing anyone my work! lol
    _Sarah

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    1. But, honestly, Thank you for your advice. It is very helpful.

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  3. Lol Sarah ... you are most welcome! Galleries, art festivals, open houses or shows are great venues to connect with art collectors, art consultants, decorators, and art lovers ... as more as we show and network in real life as more we will like it and see the benefits :-) My best, Juergen


    Facebook

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  4. Thanks for directing us to your site from Linkedin. I'm just at the point of moving into online sales through social media promotion, and I have found it difficult to keep up with where I've been and what I've commented upon. I can see that I need a plan. And there must be a limit on how many social media one can spend time on? Thanks for your suggestions.

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  5. Thanks Catherine. I think it's good to sign up for the main once and then pick your favorite where you feel comfortable and where you think you can build a great following. I started out with facebook, dropped it shortly thereafter when stumbleupon became the hype. I am now back on facebook, and on twitter, google+ and linkedinn. Not sure which one works best ... a combination of all works for me at this point. Not a big fan but I am using HootSuite for free where you have your social media accounts under one roof. It's not perfect but without it I would have no idea what's going on and no time left to do anything else. Hope this helps, Juergen

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  6. I think tip 11 is one of the most important! A lot of photographers can get discouraged if not much has happened in the first month or two, and will often quit. If they had stuck it out through the hard times, the good times would eventually start to flow when everything falls into place :)

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  7. Excellent point Dane. It takes a lot of stamina and long hours to get an online art business going. A very good support structure and environment is important as well and helps to stay motivated. I remember my wife encouraging me in my early days when I had it with my camera and literally trashed it in a bin. She kept me going and a month or so later I started a project to photograph a local wildlife sanctuary year-round ... that project pulled me out of the rut :-) Juergen

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  8. what happened to tips 4 and 5?

    http://www.MikeSavad.com

    ---Mike Savad

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  9. I guess somebody illegally downloaded online art marketing tips 4 and 5 ~ thanks for stopping by, reading and letting me know Mike ... very much appreciated! I fixed the numbering which brings the tips for selling art online in this blog post to 10 :-)

    Happy Monday Mike,

    Juergen

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  10. Thanks commenting and providing further definition of online marketing for artists and photographers Bamanand ~ I like that we touched on those other terms as well ~ great point! Juergen Roth

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  11. Hey , Juergen Roth

    I follwed your blog on '' Photography and Art Online '' that I pleasanted your blog . This Online marketing very easily & right able . Completely , I visited your blog . Are you looking affordable SEO services? Let’s Click here

    Thank you very much for your Amazing Article.

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  12. Thanks so very much for commenting on my blog post about marketing tips for artists and photographers ~ so glad you enjoyed it and found it helpful! Not currently looking for Search Engine Optimization but might consider improving on SEO in the future some times. Happy Friday, Juergen

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  13. Thanks very much Erik ~ glad you like this marketing for artists and photographers blog post here! Having a regular schedule and staying to the playbook is crucial - there are so many online temptations that may sidetrack the artist and photography from actually selling art and photography - it's crucial to stay focus! Hope you are having a great week, Juergen

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  14. Juergen,you've written a very usable guide. Thank you!

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  15. Thanks so very much Janis - glad you enjoyed my marketing tips for selling art and photography. Selling fine art prints is a tough business but those sales tips should get you started into the right direction. Happy mid-week, Juergen www.RothGalleries.com

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