Entries from January 2008 ↓

My target market is the person who wants to make some money from creating art. They may want to make a full-time living or they may want to merely supplement their day job or they may be a stay-at-home parent that needs to create art and wants to make some money from it.

Who is their target market?

A large percentage of the people in this country are NOT their target market. They are the people that work all day and come home to watch tv and go to bed. They live for the weekend and vacation and for buying more toys. If they read, it is only magazines or books that are primarily fluff and are for entertainment and escape only. If they buy art, it is to make their houses look better for company and is very standard.

Their target market is the person who is educated, reads, travels, identifies themselves as spiritual, has had a few different “jobs”, thinks a lot, is a creative themselves, and is concerned about the enviroment and politics (to some extent). With so few people falling into this category, you would think that it would be more difficult to present your art to these people. In fact, the opposite is true. If you were to try and appeal to the masses, you would have to pay thousands of dollars for television commercials, billboards, and radio ads just to reach that broad audience. With a narrower market, it is much easier to “meet them” where they go. If you are thinking about advertising, you can now focus on the magazines or newspapers or websites that this sort of person would read or visit. You can speak to them on their level with their interests in mind.

It is very helpful to imagine a specific person that fits your idea of the ideal customer. Create an actual person in your mind that has those characteristics and give them a name. Think of this specific person whenever you are doing anything to market your art. If you are creating an ad, write copy that would appeal to that one person. If you are writing a blog post, address it to them in your mind while you are writing. Believe me, how you are feeling and what you are consciously and subconsciously thinking will come through in your writing.

So far we have identified the very general market that would be interested in your art and created a specific person to address that fits the ideal, but we still need to talk about need. In a very general sense, here is how it works. There are two very broad ways to get somebody’s interest. One way is through their curiosity and this can be addressed through telling your story. This is not a very strong method, however, because satisfying their curiosity is fairly low on their list of needs. A stronger and more effective method is to make them aware of a specific problem that creates a need for them that your art can satisfy.

You know that your art has value and that it will satisfy some specific need or needs that certain people will have but what need is that? This is the hard part, the crux of the whole matter, and only you can come up with just the right answer. As an example, you might show your potential customer that art brings depth and layers to their life. It opens windows to deeper spaces within and its daily influence brings joy and lasting satisfaction. Remember, you don’t want to appeal to the general masses, you want to appeal to your ideal customer.

As I have said, this is the key step in the whole process, identifying what problem or need that your art solves or fills and then letting your market know about it.

Next week we’ll take this further and show how this ties into the past two posts about surviving as an artist. If there is a particular direction you would like me to take with this or a specific topic you want me to make sure I talk about, please let me know in the comments.

Chris O’Byrne
OnlineArtsMarketing.com

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Here is some information about art education:

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Sue O’Kieffe is an artist living on the North Coast of California and has been creating mandalas since 1995. (If you are unfamiliar with mandalas, here is a Wikipedia article that will give you an introduction to mandalas.) Sue’s website, Sacred Circle Mandalas, is her blogsite that gives you a glimpse into the life and work of this amazing artist.

I have always been fascinated by mandalas and have created several at various points in my life. When I was studying for my Masters of Earth Literacy at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, we spent one afternoon just studying and creating mandalas and they have a true spiritual influence. Sue combines this with nature and digital photography (two more favorites of mine) for an incredible triple affect of arty goodness.

If you are wondering how she goes about creating her masterpieces, here is a recent article where she gives a tutorial on pattern-making that helps explain the process. Like any true art, technique is only one piece of the whole puzzle.

Sue has another website here where you can also see her portfolio, greeting cards, and more. Please check out her sites and let her know what you think of her work.

Chris O’Byrne
OnlineArtsMarketing.com

I just read yet another article about the “dos and don’ts” of art marketing and it has me in a tizzy. Why? Because it is about the same old thing, image instead of substance. Their advice is always the same and it is always about your brand or image and how people perceive you. They ignore the deeper and more important stuff which is how to really connect with people.

You cannot just advertise and get the word out about you and then sit back while the orders come pouring in. You may be able to sell a little bit this way, but it is without substance and skips the important stuff. You want… you NEED to connect with your potential customers. You have to be real, not just a storefront somewhere with cool stuff for sale.

How do you connect? I think you already know this. Have a blog. Write to connect with people, not to talk them into buying from you. Tell your story. Be alive. Your newsletters and emails and postcards should all be about connecting with people, not pushing sales. Your gallery site should tell a story about each and every piece of work.

So what place does advertising have? Use advertising as the means to get people to the places where you connect. If you put an ad in a magazine or other print medium, send them to your blog. Meet people online and really talk to them. The point is to connect with people, not sell, sell, sell.

Make sure, however, that people can easily purchase from you. Make it easy for someone reading your blog to then make one click and go straight to your online store. It’s not all about selling, but that doesn’t mean that you should make it difficult to do so. Encourage it, in fact.

Okay, enough ranting for one day. Thanks for listening and see you on Friday with my newest Featured Site!

Chris O’Byrne
OnlineArtsMarketing.com

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Here is some information about art education:

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Last week was a good introduction to the idea of surviving as an artist, especially the idea that you need to take control. But you need to do more than just take control and think of the business side of things. You need to think in terms of multiple streams of income and how you can make enough money to survive. Not very many people can make a lot of money from selling their art in galleries, but almost anyone can make a little bit of money that way. Not very many people can make a lot of money from selling their art online, but almost anyone can make a little bit of money that way. Think in terms of all of the ways that you can make even a little bit of money. There are a lot of them, are there not? Now if you add them all up, you can probably make enough to survive as an artist.

Let’s look at a few:

• Sell online
• Use Adsense to make money from your art blog
• Teach
• Do online classes and coaching
• Sell at galleries and shows
• Sell cards and prints
• Sell to businesses/offices
• Have your own show
• Add your art to other people’s projects and create joint ventures
• Create information products (articles, books, audio, video… )
• Create a community-based project that garners media attention
• Promote your own line of products
• License your work
• Take people on art tours (locally, nationally, or internationally)
• Live simply

These are just some of the multiple streams of income that you can create and use. Some of them may take some time up front, but most of them can be automated so that you have time to actually work on your art.

Next week I will start to look at some of these multiple streams and go more in-depth on a few of them.

Thanks for stopping by!

Chris O’Byrne
OnlineArtsMarketing.com

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Here is some information about art education:

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My first reaction when visiting Kris’s site is WOW! COLOR!!

Her acrylic on vinyl work is amazingly beautiful and the color lifts me up every time. One of my favorites is “Blue Chord” and can be seen in Kris’s Etsy store.

Let me talk a bit more about her technique. She paints with acrylic on clear vinyl… in reverse. Picture yourself watching Kris paint. You are both facing each other with only a sheet of clear vinyl in between. Kris paints on the vinyl and can only see the back side. If she paints a patch of color and then paints over that patch with another color, she can no longer see that first patch of color. But you can because you are in front of the vinyl. This is how she paints and the results are amazing. It is one of the most intuitive styles that I have ever seen and she is a master of her art.

Speaking of intuitiveness, Kris is also a clairvoyant. In her own words:

“In human beings, clairvoyance is the psychic ability to see energy clearly, and to create a vision. It is a natural ability, and can be used to see the energy or spirit of anyone and anything.

I am a clairvoyant, and passionate about using my ability. Giving a clairvoyant reading is a joy for me. I have also been fortunate enough to be in the position of teaching others about their abilities, and helping them to learn how to use them.”

I feel this combination of artist and clairvoyant melds together in a synergist way resulting in this remarkable person and artist. Be sure to check out Kris Cahill’s website at www.kriscahill.com.

This question has been asked of me more times than I can count: How can I survive as an artist?

It is the dream of many artists to spend their day creating and not think at all about the business. I’m not sure if anyone is blessed in such a way and if they are, they must be extremely rare. Even the person who has an agent or a manager cannot just let the business side go completely, there are too many decisions to make.

I often hear the artist say, “I just need to get into a couple of decent galleries and they will do all of the work for me.” That only works if you meet a very specific set of criteria. First, your art must sell well to the target market of the gallery. If not, the gallery will not spend much effort marketing your work for you. Who’s art is featured prominently on the gallery’s advertising? The big shots, the ones that sell a lot and make a lot of money for the gallery. Second, the gallery owner must have decent business sense and understand marketing. Too many gallery owners just have this dream of owning a gallery and do not have what it takes to make it in business. They must be constantly marketing aggressively. Third (and this goes hand-in-hand with number two), the gallery must be successful. Even if your art fits the market and even if the owner is an aggressive marketer, if the gallery does not sell a lot of art, you are not going to make much money.

There are far more than three criteria for a successful gallery, but that is not the point of this blog post. This only shows that you need to take control of the business end of your art because no one has more invested in the business than you.

I cannot give a complete description in this post of how to survive as an artist. That could easily take up an entire book and is actually what this whole blog is about. What I WILL do, however, is give you a blueprint:

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1. Take control of your business.

This is a mindset that I am talking about. You will know when you have it. I mean much more than just selling your art. To take control of your business, you have to think like a business person. Put your equipment away, dig out a pad of paper and something to write with and turn off the phone. It’s time to write a business plan.

(This next part was borrowed from another web site, but I can’t remember which one!)

Business means structure
Owning an art business (aka being an artist), means you must structure and supervise your working days. Many aspects of running a successful business are essential, notably marketing, administration, accounting and law. Learning these skills (through courses, books or even on the internet) is essential to be able to make a living from art.

Here is a list of some things you should be able to (or must learn to) do:

• Write a business plan
• Promote your artwork to potential buyers
• Effectively negotiate contracts / price your work
• Finance your projects (apply for grants & awards)
• Keep track of your income & expenses (basic accounting)
• Protect your copyright

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Come back next week for part 2!

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Chris O’Byrne
OnlineArtsMarketing.com

Gale Rainwater Photographer

I found Gale’s site through BlogCatalog, a site I belong to that has proven invaluable in finding new artists.

What first caught my eye was his winter photo from Yellowstone N.P. I had visited Yellowstone 2 winters ago to look for a rare bird, the Siberian Accentor. I was lucky enough to find the bird, but I was totally unprepared for how amazingly beautiful Yellowstone looked in the winter. Gale’s photo captures that amazement for me.

Gale’s site is beautifully designed and a joy to look through. Photo after beautiful photo had me floating for the next few hours. Subscribe to his blog, check out his gallery, and make sure you let him know how much you love his work.

Chris O’Byrne
OnlineArtsMarketing.com

What is an online social network? An online social network is any site where you can communicate with other people online. (Yes, it’s that easy.) The first ones that come to mind are the big ones, MySpace and Facebook, but there are hundreds more. Do some Googling and see how many you come up with. Don’t forget places like Flickr and YouTube or any other site where you can add content, use tags, and leave comments. Did I mention StumbleUpon and Del.icio.us? There are also blogs, forums, chat rooms, groups, and many other ways to meet people online. You could spend 24 hours a day on nothing but social networking and still not get to them all!So, where to start…

Make Friends

You know, this should be at the top of any list. The “new thing” in sales (which has been around for several years, now) is what they call relationship marketing. You have to work at establishing a relationship with your potential customer. Act as if you really do want to make friends. I do not mean that you should be fake, but that you should develop a real concern for who your customer is and what their real wants and needs may be. You want this relationship to last and you do that by being authentic, honest, and helpful.

Making friends online can be a relatively easy task. Go to their blog and read it and leave useful comments. Join a forum and help answer people’s questions. Be friendly and be yourself and do not push your work. Simply use your web address in your signature and people will check it out if they like what you have to say. Go to Yahoo Answers where you can help people and leave a link to your site at the same time.

I have given this advice to artists before and they almost always nod in agreement and most actually get online and visit a few sites… and then most stop completely. I do not understand this! How could they possibly think that they could make one or two comments and expect anything to happen from this?

Have a Website that Grabs Their Attention

If you are going to make friends and send them to your website, you should have something worthwhile for them to look at. Have samples of your work, a gallery, and if you sell online, make it easy to buy from you. Have a detailed About Me page that tells your story. Have a blog that you update once a week or once every two weeks or, at the very minimum, once a month. You can definitely have an online presence without your own web site, but it is best to have one place where people can go to learn about you.

Do Not Spread Yourself Too Thin

At what point do you become too spread out and it becomes too difficult for people to grasp who you really are? If you try to send people to all of your websites and social media sites, it becomes too confusing and they will just shut you out of their mind completely. I would suggest that you have one website that is your main online home. This is the place where you send everyone that has an interest in your art. Now, you may choose to have one or two online stores, depending on which services best suit you, but you still send people to ONE site.

Your Online Store

Obviously, if you are going to sell your work, you need an online store. If you just have a store on your website that does not connect anywhere else, you’re missing out on some powerful social networking possibilities. With Etsy.com, you can put images from your store directly into your own website or blog and clicking on them will take people directly to your store. People often browse through Etsy.com looking at whatever strikes their fancy. You can add any store to your own list of favorites and see who else has added that store to their favorites. It’s a good way to build community and sell your art at the same time. eBay is also worth your while. Millions of people go to eBay to look for art and you can not only sell to them directly, but if you have a well designed About Me page you can send them to your website and capture their attention and hearts in many more ways.

The point, here, is that you can have any old store on your site, even just a few PayPal links, but if you ignore the more community based online stores, you will be missing out on the attention of thousands of potential customers. Take advantage of the social networking capabilities of sites like Etsy and eBay and accomplish far more than a few “Buy Now” links.

Okay, this post has gone on long enough. I know I barely scratched the surface here, but it gives you an idea of how to get started using social networking to sell your art. Good luck and feel free to ask questions.

Chris O’Byrne
OnlineArtsMarketing.com

What is an online social network? An online social network is any site where you can communicate with other people online. (Yes, it’s that easy.) The first ones that come to mind are the big ones, MySpace and Facebook, but there are hundreds more. Do some Googling and see how many you come up with. Don’t forget places like Flickr and YouTube or any other site where you can add content, use tags, and leave comments. Did I mention StumbleUpon and Del.icio.us? There are also blogs, forums, chat rooms, groups, and many other ways to meet people online. You could spend 24 hours a day on nothing but social networking and still not get to them all!So, where to start…

Make Friends

You know, this should be at the top of any list. The “new thing” in sales (which has been around for several years, now) is what they call relationship marketing. You have to work at establishing a relationship with your potential customer. Act as if you really do want to make friends. I do not mean that you should be fake, but that you should develop a real concern for who your customer is and what their real wants and needs may be. You want this relationship to last and you do that by being authentic, honest, and helpful.

Making friends online can be a relatively easy task. Go to their blog and read it and leave useful comments. Join a forum and help answer people’s questions. Be friendly and be yourself and do not push your work. Simply use your web address in your signature and people will check it out if they like what you have to say. Go to Yahoo Answers where you can help people and leave a link to your site at the same time.

I have given this advice to artists before and they almost always nod in agreement and most actually get online and visit a few sites… and then most stop completely. I do not understand this! How could they possibly think that they could make one or two comments and expect anything to happen from this?

Have a Website that Grabs Their Attention

If you are going to make friends and send them to your website, you should have something worthwhile for them to look at. Have samples of your work, a gallery, and if you sell online, make it easy to buy from you. Have a detailed About Me page that tells your story. Have a blog that you update once a week or once every two weeks or, at the very minimum, once a month. You can definitely have an online presence without your own web site, but it is best to have one place where people can go to learn about you.

Do Not Spread Yourself Too Thin

At what point do you become too spread out and it becomes too difficult for people to grasp who you really are? If you try to send people to all of your websites and social media sites, it becomes too confusing and they will just shut you out of their mind completely. I would suggest that you have one website that is your main online home. This is the place where you send everyone that has an interest in your art. Now, you may choose to have one or two online stores, depending on which services best suit you, but you still send people to ONE site.

Your Online Store

Obviously, if you are going to sell your work, you need an online store. If you just have a store on your website that does not connect anywhere else, you’re missing out on some powerful social networking possibilities. With Etsy.com, you can put images from your store directly into your own website or blog and clicking on them will take people directly to your store. People often browse through Etsy.com looking at whatever strikes their fancy. You can add any store to your own list of favorites and see who else has added that store to their favorites. It’s a good way to build community and sell your art at the same time. eBay is also worth your while. Millions of people go to eBay to look for art and you can not only sell to them directly, but if you have a well designed About Me page you can send them to your website and capture their attention and hearts in many more ways.

The point, here, is that you can have any old store on your site, even just a few PayPal links, but if you ignore the more community based online stores, you will be missing out on the attention of thousands of potential customers. Take advantage of the social networking capabilities of sites like Etsy and eBay and accomplish far more than a few “Buy Now” links.

Okay, this post has gone on long enough. I know I barely scratched the surface here, but it gives you an idea of how to get started using social networking to sell your art. Good luck and feel free to ask questions.

Chris O’Byrne
OnlineArtsMarketing.com

Diane Clancy’s Art

I met Diane online several months ago. I’m not even sure how, but I suspect it was while surfing for new artist websites and following link to link. However it happened, it has developed into one of those cool friendships that make you pause and think how wonderful this internet thing is.

What first caught my eye were the amazing colors. Color is one of my favorite aspects of any art and Diane’s use of color is incredible. One of my favorites is her pastel “The Hideaway”, but the one that really caught my eye and captivated me was her home page image, “Conundrum I”, one of her Goddess series.

(Side note: I have always been captivated by images of the Goddess. When I first saw an ancient sculpture of the Goddess, it moved something inside of me. When I was studying for my master’s in Earth Literacy, I really learned what the Goddess was about, the violent transition into a questionable patriarchal society, and the Gaia connection. To me, Gaia is the Goddess and that goes deeper than any superficial loyalty that a patriarchal society demands.)

Another side of Diane’s art that I find fascinating is her Fanciful Animal Images. Using a photograph of your pet, she digitally combines your pet with a stunning floral or fanciful background, and your pet magically appears in a field of lavendar, bubbles, or any other combination you want. Her partner, Susan Elkin, can take the photo for you and you can use any background you want. Having done some work with Photoshop, I know just how much skill and time it takes to do this correctly.

Over the past few months, I have seen Diane’s site go through some major transitions and improvements into a site that welcomes everyone and helps you feel at home. Her online communication skills are a model to be emulated by all artists. She also makes it easy to buy her art, which is vitally important for any online business.

Check Diane’s art and subscribe to her blog, you’ll be glad you did.

Chris O’Byrne
OnlineArtsMarketing.com