In my last post, I promised to answer the question of how to use perceived value as a way to sell more art. I think the bottom line for most people is not to sell more art, necessarily, but to make more money. In fact, it would probably be ideal to only produce and sell one painting a month that took care of all of your living and working expenses with plenty left over. So, on to the question of perceived value.
The best way to increase the perceived value of your work is to simply charge more. Too many artists short change themselves and charge far less than they should. If all of your paintings were listed at over $1000 or over, the perceived value that most people would hold for your work would be quite high. Let’s face it, the “true” value of a piece of art varies from person to person and is highly subjective. You may not buy a work for $1000, but you will probably have a much higher perceived value than if it was only listed for $100.
If you find that you are unable to sell your work at a higher price, try a payment plan that makes it easier for the customer to purchase. I would give them the option of 4 payments of $275/month or 12 payments of $100/month. Charge more and then make it easier to buy from you.
So you can see that perceived value does not depend on a fancy presentation alone.
However, if you do want the fancy presentation, but do not want to rely on a gallery or cannot get into a gallery, you can still accomplish your goal. Have an open house at a fancy hotel in a nearby larger city. In fact, the farther away from home you are, the more impressive this will seem. Rent one of their conference rooms and set up your own one or two-night show. Be sure to do some local advertising to bring in potential customers and offer something unusual like gourmet coffee and chocolates. You will also get the attention of the high-paying guests staying at the hotel and the more expensive the hotel, the more likely these guests might become customers. Bring some friends with you to keep you company and help fill up the room (and help pay for a motel room in a nearby and less expensive establishment). Keep a clean and elegant look to the show, for you are concentrating on perceived value. Dress to the nines and play it up. And make sure you capture the names of as many potential customers as possible! Do not pass up this golden opportunity. Give away something for free in exchange for their name and email address. You can even have them sign up their email address and you will send them the link to a free print that they can download and print themselves.
These are just a couple of ideas for increasing the perceived value of your work. Use your creativity to come up with even more!
Chris O’Byrne
OnlineArtsMarketing.com
