Sell Your Art: How to Build an Online Sales Funnel

In our most recent posts, we’ve been talking about the growing online art industry and all the third-party online art sales platforms out there. It could almost make it seem like the internet will sell your art all by itself. But simply uploading your artwork and waiting doesn’t cut it.

Anybody can do that! And they do. To experience success selling your art online you have to rise above the noise. How do you set yourself apart and get found among an infinite number of artists and artworks online?

As an artist, there’s a plethora of invaluable tools online you can use to rise above the noise, but you will only capitalize on their value when they fit within a larger framework. Each tool serves a specific purpose.

Who cares if you have a bunch of Facebook fans if those Facebook fans never make the decision to own your art? At some point along the artist-buyer relationship, your communications on Facebook should be advancing your potential customers towards the final sale of art.

You don’t need to spend more time promoting your art, you just need to rethink the way you do it.

A good way to think about your online marketing activity is as a funnel. Every piece should be playing its part to funnel potential buyers towards the final sale.

This is where many artists fall short. For some it’s because they simply don’t know how. For others the very utterance of the words “sales” and “marketing” makes their skin crawl. The reality, however, is that if you truly believe in the art you’re creating then it’s not a dirty thing to learn the most effective way to get it in front of the collectors who will connect with it.

It’s time to develop a well thought out strategy to sell your art online.

Ask the “Why”

If the reason you have a website or a facebook page is because someone told you to or because everyone else has one, then it’s time to reevaluate.

There should be a strategic purpose behind every action you take marketing your art online. Otherwise, you’re wasting your time. You need to determine the “why”.

A valuable activity: Ask why each of your online marketing tools and strategies exist and what purpose they serve in the bigger picture of your art business. When you’re clear on the “why” your actions will be more focused and effective.

Why does your personal website exist? What is the end goal you wish to achieve through it? Is it leading to that end goal? How could it do so better?

The end goal (“why”) behind these tools and the way you use them is to sell art…and, ultimately, to free yourself up to create more of the art that inspires you.

Determine the “Where” (Point of Sale)

Where are you making your art available for sale online? Is it through a third-party site? Your own site? Both?

My suggestion: start running experiments. Try out a few different 3rd party sales platforms and add a shopping cart to your personal website (here’s a 2014 review of the best shopping carts).

Once you have all this set up, use your social sites, email campaigns, and other online activities to drive traffic to these different sales points.

Observe the results over a few months. Where do you see the most success? These are the places for you to focus your marketing attention.

Always be experimenting. What works? What doesn’t? Where do your particular fans seem to buy online? Adjust your strategy accordingly.

Optimize the “How”

This is about finding your “sweet spot”; the intersection between the tools you use and the form of communication that work best for prompting people to buy your art.

Again, this will be about experimenting, observing, and optimizing. What tools and types of content connect best with your specific fans?

Social Media

As an artist, developing relational trust with potential buyers is a huge step along the path to selling an artwork. Studies show that, besides the quality of artwork digital images, trust and and a sense of connection to an artist is the biggest thing art collectors need before deciding to buy a piece of art online.

That’s where social media fits into the larger framework of your art business. Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, etc. are great for building an audience, connecting with your audience, and pushing followers to your sales platform as they connect with you and your work.

So, how do you get there?

While your social media voice and message should and will be unique, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. There are artists who have already had great success building a following and prompting sales through their social media sites. Here are links to some of their strategies:

Facebook: http://theabundantartist.com/how-i-made-50000-selling-art-on-facebook/

Instagram: http://theabundantartist.com/how-to-sell-art-instagram/

Pinterest: http://theabundantartist.com/the-pinterest-guide-to-selling-art-online/

Twitter: http://meylah.com/meylah/12-persuasive-reasons-why-artists-should-use-twitter

Email Lists

One of the most powerful online tools is a strong email list. What’s so great about the email list?

1. These are people who have voluntarily signed up wanting to hear from you. What better audience is there?
2. Your message goes out to your entire list of subscribers (as opposed to Facebook, whose ever-changing algorithm determines which followers see your posts). Now you just need them to open emails and act on your message. The stronger the quality of the email list, the higher open and click rates you will have.
3. Your email list is permanent and in your control. Social media sites come and go, rise and fall in popularity. They also change their terms and algorithms, sometimes affecting your ability to reach your following.

As all online marketers know, the email list is one of the keys to effective communication with your audience. There are all types of ways to use your email list to build a loyal following and drive art sales.

If you haven’t been building an email list, now is the time to start! Here are some helpful articles and tips to get you going:

What email marketing service should I use?

• List of top 10 providers: http://www.awwwards.com/best-top-10-email-marketing-services.html
• We recommend checking out MailChimp and Aweber

How do I start building a quality email subscriber list?

• “How to Build an Email List”: http://emailmarketing.comm100.com/email-marketing-ebook/build-email-list.aspx
• Leverage your current following, collectors of your work, etc.
• We don’t recommend purchasing emails. The whole idea is to organically build a list who opt-in to hear from you and see your new works.

How do I create successful email campaigns?

• “Launch an Email Marketing Campaign in 7 Steps”: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/207662
• “How to Create an Effective Email Marketing Campaign”: http://directmarketing.thomsonlocal.com/News-Advice/Email-Marketing/Create-an-Effective-Email-Campaign/

Email marketing campaigns are a great opportunity because they allow you the chance to automate communications with your art fans. Put in place your strategies to build your list, automate your campaigns, and then monitor the results as you continue creating art.

As with social media, keep paying attention to what is working. Find out which campaigns work the best to drive art sales. Test out links to your art in different locations, various calls to action, and specialized campaigns focused on selling specific pieces, etc. Then analyze the results and optimize your strategy.

It’s easy to get stressed, especially when starting online marketing from scratch, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

Start with a goal (i.e. I want to sell ‘x’ pieces of art from my 3rd party sales platform in the next three months). Try out a few tactics to accomplish that goal. Then adjust and build on as you see what works for you and what doesn’t.

Happy creating and selling!