How to Promote and Market Your Artwork

Creating a stunning art piece is only half the job. The other half is to promote and market it to potential customers. Although there are numerous ways to showcase your work and gain recognition, persuading your customers to invest in your artwork is always challenging.

Therefore, in this blog we will discuss nine tips for artists to promote their artwork, including through online art contest, collaboration with other artists, and much more. But before that, here’s a quick question:

Can art speak for itself?

Many artists believe that art speaks for itself and don’t feel the need to invest in promotional and marketing tools. Though it’s true that art can transcend all language barriers, sometimes the audience may need to first ‘find’ the artist, and then a little direction from them as well.

Therefore, artists need to find better ways to communicate the hidden message in their work to the audience.

9 Tips To Promote or Market Artwork

Promoting and marketing your work is essential to build your career as an artist. But with so many options available, it can be overwhelming to decide where to begin. To make it easier for artists, we have compiled a list of nine effective strategies. From leveraging social media to participating in online juried art shows, these tips can help your work garner more attention, ultimately paving the way for your success in the art community.

Understand Target Audience

Many artists may not have clarity about their target audience. Therefore, the first step is to research and analyze ‘who’ the audience is for your artwork. The criteria to define the audience must include their age, interests, gender, qualifications, and other such criteria.

Find Ways to Connect With Prospective Audiences

Once an artist learns about the target audience's demographics and behavior, it’s time to learn how to reach them. For example – when the audience is available online, the best way to reach them is through social media advertising on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Similarly, to gain visibility offline, artists can showcase their work on platforms such as art shows, exhibitions, and galleries.

Yet another effective way to reach a wider audience is by networking with other artists and using print media.

Create a Portfolio

Understanding the target audience helps artists find the best channels to connect with them. The next step is to create a professional and well-organized portfolio. It should be both physical and digital that’s created with high-quality prints. An artist’s portfolio should showcase their best pieces and be a brief introduction about them and their artistic style.

Bonus Tip: Creating a portfolio on a website or social media gives an easy way to reach and connect with the right audience.

Engage Your Audience With Stories

Of all the tips provided here, using stories works magically for all artists who need to promote their artwork. There are various ways to engage your audience with a story, such as adding behind-the-scenes anecdotes, talking about art tools, or art tutorials. Posting short videos or posts on platforms including Instagram, Facebook, and Tiktok can help you reach a wider audience too.

While curating social media content, focus on creating a narrative around your artwork so that people can appreciate the effort you put into every piece.

Shift Focus from ‘You’ to Audience

The art process is about artists, but marketing is all about the audience. Therefore, when you promote your work, focus on the audience and their interests. Try to articulate your work accurately so it ultimately appeals to the audience.

Talk About ‘Why’ Anyone Should Buy Your Artwork

As mentioned before, art cannot speak for itself. So, artists must learn how to communicate their work to potential buyers. Instead of focusing on artistic jargon, simplify the creative product's pros. For instance, a sunset painting can be great as decor, while a handcrafted scarf can be an accessory to an outfit.

Recommend, Not Promote

Very few art lovers will not require any promotion to buy the artwork. So, artists must ensure they cater to this particular category of prospects. Instead of promoting on the website or social media, artists must use recommendations as a promotion tool. It’s free and doesn’t require any rigorous strategy. Artists can recommend their friends, family, and colleagues to share their work or collaborate with other artists.

Network with Other Artists

Networking with other artists and art professionals is an excellent way to gain exposure and build relationships. Artists can attend art shows, exhibitions, and events to connect with curators, gallery owners, and other artists. Artists can also expand their network by joining art organizations and community groups.

Enter Art Competitions

Participating in art competitions and exhibitions is a great way to gain exposure and sell artwork. When a creative piece is selected or wins prizes, it helps an artist establish credibility and get the attention of art curators, collectors, and other professionals. Artists can research local and international art competitions online to find the one that aligns with their style, and submit their artwork.

Wrapping up

Beautiful works can be scrolled or swiped if artists’ promotion tools don’t include any Call-to-action (CTA) buttons or phrases. A common example could be an Instagram post that includes an engaging story around a photograph but doesn’t tell the audience ‘what to do next.’ Ignoring CTAs is an ineffective approach to promoting work online and offline.

So, next time you write a blog post or create a video related to your work, remind your audience to take action. A good CTA may be anything from ‘visit my website’ to ‘support my art.’ Ensure the CTA options are clear so the audience knows how to proceed.

At last, promoting your artwork lets you develop a strong presence and achieve success. Apart from the above tips, artists can also participate in online juried art shows or showcase their work through an international art gallery. If you need further information on how TERAVARNA’s one-of-a-kind juried art competitions can give you an edge to build a successful artistic career, get in touch with us.

All art contests are open to everyone. Participate and let art lovers see the world through your eyes.