Art Business Info. for Artists
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  • MARKETING
    • How to write an Artist's Statement >
      • What is an Artist Statement?
      • Why you need an Artist's Statement
      • TIPS How to write an artist statement
      • The Language of an Artist's Statement
      • What an artist statement should contain
      • Examples of Artists Statements
    • How to write an Artist's Resume or CV >
      • Social Media summaries
      • CV for Artists
      • Resume for Artists
      • Biography for Artists
    • How to sign a painting, drawing or fine art print
    • Business Cards for Artists
    • How to write a press release for an artist
    • The Private View Invitation
    • Publicity for Juried Exhibitions
    • Websites for Artists >
      • Why websites matter
      • Options for Websites
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      • Keeping Google Happy
      • Writing for the Web
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    • How to be mobile-friendly
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    • Trading Law & Regulations for Artists (UK)
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      • Juried Art Exhibition Checklist for Artists
      • How to cost a juried exhibition entry
      • How to make labels for an art exhibition
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      • How to find the right gallery
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    • List of Recommended Picture Framers
    • Conservation Products
    • Framing for open exhibitions and art competitions
    • Framing Videos
    • How to hang a picture
  • SHIP ART
    • How to pack artwork >
      • How to pack and ship pastel paintings
    • Packaging materials
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      • Rules of Origin
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    • How to ship art to exhibitions
    • How to mail art - Post & Parcel Services
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    • USA Art Transport Services
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      • How important is price when buying art?
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​Marketing & Communication
​for Artists & Exhibitions

Marketing Basics for Artists and Exhibition Organisers: How to get your art noticed!

​How to communicate about art, artists and artistic practice
​on paper, online and in person
to art collectors, galleries and the public

THE ART IS NOT ENOUGH!

For people to hear about you and your art somebody has to be communicating about YOU and YOUR ART.
  • That's the way art gets noticed.
  • That's the way people find out about artists.
  • That's the way artwork gets seen
  • That's the way paintings get sold
  • That's the way people get to become full-time professional artists - or successful semi-professional artists.
  • This is how you get to be successful!
Without an audience, you have no hope of impacting the world, no matter how important your message - or art
Original quote by Jon Morrow
......the exceptional crisis we are faced with today: we actually have an oversupply of artists fighting over a relatively little demand for high art. There are too many galleries, too many artists and not enough collectors.
Magnus Resch | The Art of Management in Rotunda
Communication is essentially about marketing - but there's lots of different aspects to it. 

CONTENTS: 
This section deals with separate topics related to marketing and communication. ​

Marketing the Artist
  • How to write an artist's statement 
  • How to write an artist's resume, bio or CV
  • How to sign a painting, drawing or fine art print
  • Business Cards for Artists​

Marketing Exhibitions
  • How to write a press release for an artist 
  • The Private View Invitation
  • Publicity for Juried Exhibitions ​

Digital Marketing ( marketing activities online)
  • Websites for Artists
  • Image sizes for social media sites ​
  • How to be mobile-friendly
  • ​with more to come

Below is a brief profile of what each topic includes.
Topics will be expanded over time

Marketing the Artist: Written Statements - on paper and online
​

​Many artists struggle with finding the right words to market themselves.

Below are topics that cover the 
basics around words and writing for every artist at all stages of development
​
  • How to write an Artist Statement - An Artist's Statement is ESSENTIAL - but lots of artists dread writing a statement about their art! Do you need some tips and guidelines for writing an artist's statement?​
  • How to write an Artist CV or Resume - How do you summarise your life as an artist in a CV or resume for galleries, exhibitions and potential employment?
  • How sign a painting, drawing or fine art print - answers to common questions about artist signatures and what they say about an artist
  • Business cards for Artists - identifies the essential and optional components of a contemporary business card - including how best to demonstrate your creativity
​
Most have a sub-menu of sections or pages which help to chunk the topic up and make navigation easier.
Picture
Part of my lecture on "Do’s and Don’ts of the Artist Statement & C.V" at The Heatherley School of Art in London

Marketing your Art Exhibitions
​

​If you are an artist, it's not enough to market art - you also need to market the exhibitions that your art is in - before, during and after.

If you are an organiser of open exhibitions, your exhibition will have a bigger impact - and more visitors - and more sales - with good quality marketing.
  • ​How to write a press release - Do you want to know how to write a Press Release for an artist or an exhibition or other art event?
  • Publicity for juried art competitions and open exhibitions - Useful information & checklists: ABOUT marketing and generating publicity for a juried exhibition; FOR all those organising open art competitions and exhibitions
  • The Private View Invitation - a SUMMARY of: why PV Invites fail to be effective; what an effective PV invite looks like; 10 ACTIONS for creating an effective invitation to a Private View; 5 THINGS TO AVOID when sending out invites to a Private View

Digital Marketing Online: Websites and Social Media
​

Digital marketing covers all your efforts to promote your art and paid art activities online
​

How to get you and your art online and visible to the HUGE numbers of people - including art collectors - who use the internet
  • Websites for Artists (part published) - currently covers: Why websites matter; Options for websites; Web design for artists and Writing for the web
  • Image sizes for social media sites - an infographic provides detailed advice about pixel dimensions and file size/type for all those images of your drawings and paintings
  • How to be mobile friendly - It is now absolutely essential to have a mobile-friendly website or blog if you intend people to access it without difficulty.
Picture
From my blog post about "Artists Websites in 2018"
Under development:
  • Blogging for Artists (in development - a site needs to be transferred here)  Will cover links to advice and information relevant to blogging for artists and blogging by artists.
  • Facebook for Artists - in development
  • Twitter for Artists - in development
Picture

Regular Art Marketing Tasks
​

STRATEGIC MARKETING
  • ​Periodically review your art business goals - and how you plan to achieve them
  • At least once a year look back at how good you are at 
    • achieving your goals 
    • doing what you said you would do
  • Produce a SWOT analysis at least once a year - or do it with somebody who will help you be self-critical about your
    • strengths
    • weaknesses
    • opportunities 
    • threats
  • Create some "stretch" goals on at least an annual basis - ones which will stop you getting in a rut and producing the "same old same old"
  • Expand the reach of your art marketing - to:
    • new places 
    • new people
ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS / MARKETING
  • Increase the number of people seeing your art - and responding to it in a positive way
  • Audience analysis: be aware of:
    • which target audiences you are reaching
    • who are the audiences that never see your work
    • priorities for reaching new people - in new places
  • Check out what your competition is doing
    • what's different this month / quarter / year?
    • what are the implications for how this impacts on your sales?
  • Read about the art business and what's happening / changing
  • Think about how to be greener in your business practices - from a marketing perspective. 
SOCIAL MARKETING
  • Highlight your art on a regular basis on:
    • your website
    • your social media
    • other people's social media
  • ​Make contact with the key people in your art marketing world on a regular basis
  • analyse the available statistics for your social media
    • which is most effective
    • what gets most attention
    • what gets least attention
    • what days / time of day work best for reaching people and getting their attention
TAKE STOCK
  • Know where your art is. Update your records of 
    • art produced - and where you're storing it if not on exhibition
    • art exhibited - and who has it
    • art sold - and where is it is now
  • Maintain a complete record of all exhibitions
  • Talk to art galleries which stock / display your art. Know whether it is on display or gathering dust.
  • Update ALL key marketing tools e.g.
    • your website
    • your social media sites
    • your artist statement 
    • your CV
REFERENCE
  • A Cheat Sheet for Your Art Marketing Tasks | Alyson Stanfield ArtBiz Success
  • A Cheat Sheet for Your Art Marketing Tasks | Professional Artist

Other Forms of Marketing
​

​Marketing - General

I'm currently working on transferring a number of sites to this site
  • Email Newsletter Software - A Guide - to be transferred here
REFERENCE
For a better understanding of marketing in general, try reading 
  • Marketing and the 7Ps: A brief summary of marketing and how it works by the Chartered Institute of Marketing

For those getting started 
  • What One Marketing Method Would You Use If You Were Just Getting Started? | Eric Rhoads - start small and have some clear goals

Will somebody be writing this about you in future?

A few years back I had a very sweet letter from somebody whose Dad produced very nice watercolour paintings which had been admired in the past by an influential art critic. She wonders why her Dad's name doesn't come up whenever watercolour is discussed and how she can get him better known.

I checked on the Internet and there appears to be no record of the artist on the internet or via galleries.

This is what I wrote back....
" Dear Xxx

Success in art is as much to do with marketing as it has to do with talent and quality of painting. The marketing doesn't have to be done by the artist but it does have to be done. One nice comment does not create a career! There is also no record of this anywhere on the internet.

If people only needed to look at art to buy it then we wouldn't have the vast amount of investment in all the galleries and auction houses etc which exist to sell art. Marketing an artist and selling art is a specialised activity - not always best done by artists

It rather looks to me as if somebody - maybe you - needs to take the marketing side of his artwork in hand. There is nothing on the internet which indicates how this can be seen and/or purchased.

Does your father enter the open competitions exhibitions run by the Royal Watercolour Society and the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour? These are essentially places to get "seen". It's not about selling paintings - it's about marketing your art.

His paintings and sketches are nice - but then so are those by a lot of other painters. What they don't have, which the paintings of other artists have, is a size or a price on them - or indeed any information at all about them.
If they don't link to a place where they are being sold - via email to artist, or gallery or online website - then they won't sell. Silent artists do not tend to become the best known artists.

I'd also suggest your father writes something about himself for his "about me" page on his blog. Who you are and what your art is about actually matter. (see my website How to write an Artist's Statement)

I trust this gives you some food for thought..

your sincerely........"

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ABOUT ART BUSINESS INFO. FOR ARTISTS
This website aims to provide a compendium of resources about the art business for artists. Please read "PLEASE NOTE"

It helps artists learn how to do better at being business-like, marketing and selling their art and looking after their financial security.
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PLEASE NOTE:
1) Content and the law change all the time. It's impossible to keep up with it if you're not working on the topic full time. 
​2) I research topics carefully. However, I am totally unable to warrant that 
ANY and/or ALL information is 
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​3) Hence all information I provide comes without any LIABILITY whatsoever to you for any choices you make. 
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  • Home
    • Art Business Information Index
  • NEWS
  • PRACTICE
    • Starting Out - Tips
    • Being a Professional artist >
      • Working Lives of Professional Artists
      • Artists' Side Hustles
      • Artists' Residencies
      • Artists Unions
    • Best Art Business Books
    • Learning Opportunities >
      • Art Schools in the UK
      • Art Business Courses
    • Image Management for Artists >
      • How to photograph art
      • How To Scan Artwork
      • How to back up image files
    • Law for Artists >
      • Legal Matters
      • Data Protection for Art and Artists
      • Brexit Guidance for Art and Artists
    • Business Management for Artists >
      • Risk Management for Artists
      • How to spot Art Scams / Fraud
      • Life in an Art Market Recession
      • Coronavirus COVID-19 and Art
  • MARKETING
    • How to write an Artist's Statement >
      • What is an Artist Statement?
      • Why you need an Artist's Statement
      • TIPS How to write an artist statement
      • The Language of an Artist's Statement
      • What an artist statement should contain
      • Examples of Artists Statements
    • How to write an Artist's Resume or CV >
      • Social Media summaries
      • CV for Artists
      • Resume for Artists
      • Biography for Artists
    • How to sign a painting, drawing or fine art print
    • Business Cards for Artists
    • How to write a press release for an artist
    • The Private View Invitation
    • Publicity for Juried Exhibitions
    • Websites for Artists >
      • Why websites matter
      • Options for Websites
      • Web content for Artists
      • Web design for artists
      • Keeping Google Happy
      • Writing for the Web
    • Image & Video sizes for Social Media Sites
    • How to be mobile-friendly
  • SELL ART
    • Trading Law & Regulations for Artists (UK)
    • E-commerce for artists
    • Art Exhibitions & Competitions >
      • Juried Exhibitions & Art Competitions
      • Juried Art Exhibition Checklist for Artists
      • How to cost a juried exhibition entry
      • How to make labels for an art exhibition
    • A Guide to Art Agents and Consultants
    • A Guide to Art Dealers & Galleries >
      • How to find the right gallery
    • The Artist-run Gallery
    • The Vanity Gallery
    • Art Fairs
    • Alternative Options for Exhibitions
    • How to Sell Art from Home
    • Open Studios
  • FRAME ART
    • List of Recommended Picture Framers
    • Conservation Products
    • Framing for open exhibitions and art competitions
    • Framing Videos
    • How to hang a picture
  • SHIP ART
    • How to pack artwork >
      • How to pack and ship pastel paintings
    • Packaging materials
    • How to ship art internationally >
      • Rules of Origin
      • Export Licences for Cultural Goods
    • How to ship art to exhibitions
    • How to mail art - Post & Parcel Services
    • UK & Ireland: Art Transport Services
    • USA Art Transport Services
  • COPYRIGHT
    • Copyright and artists' rights
    • BASICS: Copyright Infringement and Fair Use
    • How to protect artwork online
    • How to do a reverse image search
    • What to do about copyright infringement - for artists
    • Global Conventions on copyright >
      • Copyright in the UK
      • Copyright in the USA
      • Copyright in Canada
      • Copyright in Australia
  • MONEY & TAX
    • How to work out profit from an art sale
    • How to Price Your Art >
      • How important is price when buying art?
      • Options for Pricing Art
      • Terminology and Formulas for Pricing Art
      • Art Experts on Pricing Art
      • How artists price their art
      • The price of affordable art
    • Payments to Artists >
      • Paying Artists
      • How to create an Invoice
    • VAT for Artists
    • Tax Tips for Artists >
      • Tax on prize money
      • UK Tax Tips for Artists
      • UK: Self-Assessment Video Tips
      • USA Tax Tips for Artists
      • Ireland: Tax for Artists
      • Australia: Tax Tips for Artists
    • Insurance for Art and Artists >
      • Insurance for Art Teachers
      • UK Insurance Policies for art and artists
      • USA & Canada: Insurance Policies for Art and Artists
    • Artists' Grants & Scholarships
    • Retirement and Pensions for Artists
    • The Art Legacy >
      • Estate Planning for Artists
      • Estate Planning for Art Collectors
      • Famous Artists Estates
      • Artwork Inventory
      • After the Death of an Artist
      • Copyright and Resale Rights after Death
      • Art and Inheritance Tax
  • About + Help
    • Would you like me to help?
    • Privacy & Cookies Policy
    • Contact