In my latest blog about ‘selling or renting’ I used a simple system to explain the stages of the selling process. The same system is used to find all potential customers. The system is known as AIDA. AIDA is an easy way to remember how to sell things. I wrote a blog about AIDA a couple of years ago and today here it is again.
AIDA is a secret, not an Egyptian opera
AIDA is not just an opera.
This isnt about a Giuseppe Verdi opera or an Egyptian heroine. Instead the AIDA that I explain here is an acronym that all artists should have tattooed on their forearms.
AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. And that four word sequence is the biggest secret that should not be a secret in the professional art-world today.
Basically AIDA is what happens after an artist has made a piece,
First the eventual buyer has to become aware of the product or service, then they have to become interested, then they must want to have the product or service, and finally they have to act and actually buy.
I do this when I buy a loaf of bread, a pint of beer, a new car, or whatever. So do you.
These four steps are always in this sequence and they all have to happen.
This should interest artists who make art with the notion that someone else might want to own and buy it. Think of a pyramid the other way up.
ATTENTION
First the eventual buyer has to be aware that the artwork exists.
INTEREST
Next the eventual buyer has to pay attention to the fact that the artwork exists.
DESIRE
Then the eventual buyer has to want to have the artwork.
ACTION
And lastly the eventual buyer has to be able to buy the artwork.
Therefore an artist who wants to make art and then sell it should enable the AIDA sequence.
For ATTENTION display the artwork somewhere. This could be online or in an exhibition for instance. Then attract the INTEREST of potential buyers. This is usually by showing the interesting features of the artwork whatever they are.
The third step is to show off the benefits of owning the artwork so that the potential buyer wants to own it, DESIRE, and that is a bit more difficult.
Lastly the artist must make sure that the actual buying process can be easily ‘ACTIONED’.
EXAMPLE
There are more details about this in my new book ‘Art Biz Secrets part two’
So now you have had the book bought to your ATTENTION.
If I tell you that a feature of the book is that it draws on over 50 years of personal experience selling my own art. And that it is available on Kindle right now for just £1.99p. That fact might be INTERESTING to quite a lot of artists.
The major benefit to my readers is that I show them how they can actually sell enough art to make a living if they want to, DESIRE.
See? AIDA. It is part of the artists’ success formula and not an opera.
Thats it! The AIDA blog was trying to explain how to sell things – and get the reader to buy my book.
But of course it also applies to artists who want to have a go at finding customers who will rent the artists art-work.
Since then the price of the book has gone up. But it is still worth buying.
