HOW TO SELL YOUR ART
This is the biggie. The big question that successful artists get asked all the time.
And of course the answer is both simple and complex.
Simple because the way that anybody sells anything is the same, everywhere, every time.
And complex because everybody is different, in different places, and at different times.
But the lesson to learn is that the simple way will work, and does work.
I am reminded of the tale of the teacher who was teaching something and got asked too many questions. The teacher told the students that the first thing to do was .. “Read the Flickering Manual”.
That answer, also known as RTFM, applies all over the place, all the time.
Basically it is saying, that other people have solved this problem before and there is no need to reinvent the wheel, by yourself, all over again.
The problem has already been solved, and written about, and the existing solution should be valued and examined.
Of course I recognise that this is what you are doing here reading my words.
So this is the simple way to sell stuff. Follow the well known and existing formula.
The formula is AIDA. It is written about in many other places. It is how sales people sell things. AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.
First get your potential buyers Attention.
Next make them Interested in the product or service that you are selling.
Then get them to Desire to own the product or get the service.
Lastly prompt the Action and actually sell to them.
It has to be done in that order.
If you try to miss out a stage you will probably fail.
This is how it applies to selling art.
Get people’s attention by making sure that you have plenty of exposure and access. Do shows and exhibitions, have a website, print flyers and catalogues, send emails, submit to other online gallery sites, get plenty of social media coverage on Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc.
Next explain your art, explain your process, share your work experience, converse with your contacts, describe why you and your art interesting. Plus actually be interested in your audience. Who they are, what they say, and which ones become buyers, and why.
Then make sure that you describe the benefits of ownership of your art. Stop explaining features but concentrate on the benefits for them. That is because people will desire your product or service if they can gain from it as well as enjoy it.
Lastly, have a system that helps them make the decision to buy, and helps them actually do it.
Simple.
Now its up to each of us to make the system work in our more complex personal circumstances.
But is it actually much easier to do if you can break down the whole process into the four stages of the formula.
As the same teacher used to say…” the way to eat a horse is to do it in bite sized chunks”
