Expose
Yourself
The Key To
Making People Aware That You Are Indeed An Artist
© by Carl
(CAKUart); all rights reserved
Expose
yourself – this should be your mantra for the next 24
months… particularly if you are new to selling your art.
Now I
confess, I don't normally promote the "exposure for the
sake of exposure" ideal. The reason is because it can be
very time consuming, as well as being a mental and physical
drain if your objectives have not been set properly.
However, if
you do some homework, and have a basic blueprint plan of attack,
then you can actually exposure yourself quite well and make sales in the process.
The key is to
avoid simply hanging your paintings in a restaurant or café for
the mere purpose of exposing your art. While you may be lucky on
the odd occasion to make a sale, you won't really discover your
target market of buyers using this procedure.
Newspaper article: That's me
(2nd from left) promoting my work
for a major state art festival - even the Lord Mayor
(far right) himself came out to help hold a painting -
what a guy huh! |
Ideally, you
want exposure that leads to more consistent sales. So focus on
your target market -
it's a great plan to follow.
But where is
your target market?
Well… part
of the fun of marketing your work is the journey that leads you
to your audience.
In order to
discover where your audience is, you have to get out and network
– you have to socialise and expose your work to a buying
public.
If you have
not sold any paintings before, and perhaps feel a little
apprehensive about where to begin, I TRULY recommend that you
start your journey offline.
The reason
for this is because you will be able to mingle, discuss and
physically hear the opinions and expressions associated to your
work.
Additionally,
physically networking with the public will develop your
confidence. It will also sharpen your focus as to what you
should be charging for your work, who your target market is, and
what community events and establishments you should be
contacting or getting involved with.
This in turn
will give you added confidence and marketing muscle when it
comes to using the Internet to help you sell your work.
The problem I
have with just hanging your painting up in a restaurant or a café
is that for the most part you are not interacting with the
viewing public. It can often be just a waiting game, unless of
course the eatery staff is good at selling the paintings on
their walls – and some are good at selling by the way, but
very few.
In order to
give your work a real push though, it's a good idea to get
involved in a few local exhibits, art fairs and festivals.
Expose yourself by simply getting out there and talking to people, eye to eye, one on one, and
as a result you'll generate some quality feedback.
I can tell
you from experience that not all your feedback is going to be
sweet to the ear. There will be times you'll come across people
who do not like what you do and will simply voice their opinion
(Watch my video on "Criticism").
Criticism is
one component you'll have to get accustomed to when selling your
art – but try to avoid taking it personally. Additionally,
some people are simply not happy and target you and your art to
express their unhappiness. That is their problem, not yours.
So get out
there and get yourself a stall at the next local art fair or
festival. Contact galleries that may be suitable to hang your
work. Go meet your intentions…and go out and meet the buying
public and you'll soon develop some real precision for exposing
your art with a backend sale – Expose yourself...but expose yourself the right way!
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