10 Marketing Tips to Sell Your Art This Holiday Season
by Viviana Puello
The holiday season is upon us, which means you need to start thinking about how you’re going to sell your art this year. Now, if you’re an artist, it’s probably no secret that selling your art isn’t always the easiest thing in the world, but it can definitely be made easier with some good sales marketing strategies. That’s why we’ve put together this guide with eight different sales marketing ideas for artists who want to start selling more of their work this holiday season and beyond.
- Know Your Audience: Every artist has a different audience, so it’s essential to know your potential buyers and what they want.
- Send out holiday offers via newsletter subscribers. The goal is to have ready-to-sell content when these customers check their inboxes after Thanksgiving dinner or wake up from their turkey coma on Black Friday morning!
- Create gift baskets with discounted pieces that can be used as stocking stuffers or small gifts and include incentives for holiday orders like free shipping and handwritten thank-you notes.
- Offer pre-order opportunities if you have items that require extra lead time before they ship, like original works of art that need to send to other cities or countries. And ship early! You don’t want to be caught up in the holiday post office traffic.
- Offer items of different prices, so there is something for everyone on every budget.
- Offer special discounts on commissioned work during the holidays. Set the offer for a set short window of time so that your patrons feel compelled to place their orders promptly.
- If you are mailing or emailing a catalog, include deadlines and links to order online. Also, post reminders on social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc., so people don’t forget about your offerings.
- Offer Services As Well. This is the best time of the year to offer art installation consultations. A great idea that is sure to be a success while simultaneously strengthening relationships with clients is offering art installation consultations. Whether it be painting a mural or just hanging the artwork that you’ve already created, this is a valuable service that will increase sales exponentially! The more services you offer, the higher chances of people wanting to buy from you and your brand.
- Think outside the box. Get creative with your art and think outside the box. Turn your art into something else and use print-on-demand. Print your art on items like t-shirts, mugs, phone cases, pillows, and more! You can even offer a monthly subscription box where you send customers a new item with your art each month.
- And don’t forget to give! Call your collectors and have them stop by to pick up freebies, whether it be a new print, a postcard of your work, or even a brush you used to paint their art! Any excuse to have your collector stop by your studio is a new opportunity to sell a new piece of art. They’ll appreciate the gesture, and if they like what they see, they may want one of your originals.
Remember: As soon as someone makes a purchase, send them a confirmation email thanking them for their investment. Emailing a thank you card to newly acquired clients is also good practice. Lastly, don’t forget to include thank you notes or small gifts in each order, as it shows appreciation for their patronage over the year.
Whatever you do, do it with love for your art, yourself, and your patrons. And don’t forget … stay inspired!
