Marketing your Art

Chris Schelling

2006©

Marketing is a remarkably unglamorous proposition for people running a business. More often than not this is the case with artists who rarely have the inclination to recognize the arts as a business. The idea of having to find a marketplace as well as sell themselves and their product can be daunting. Many artists equate sales to success and the more sales the more successful they are. How do you create the demand to drive these sales and create monetary success? As an emerging artist working my own gallery business I was often asked that exact question by artists inquiring about exhibitions at my gallery. I decided to work out the following guidelines for marketing your work and getting your career off the ground.

When an art buyer is faced with the decision whether or not to buy a piece of art, what tools does the average consumer have to know what makes a fair market price? This is especially the case in the face of widely publicized sales of high profile historical art pieces; most of them purchased for millions of dollars. The context of what makes this or that piece of art more or less valuable than the other seems to be diluted in the pool of subjective opinion. This is where some artists look to the old market adage of, the piece is worth what the customer is willing to pay. Many other factors are involved. It would be wise to consider a more business like approach as opposed to some arbitrary system of attaching value.

Self-evaluation when beginning to seek out and implement your marketing plan is key. The type of art you do and how you can reach your customer is revealed during this process. Organizing your thoughts on how to communicate your product and the particular interest that it serves will go a long way toward finding a dealer and filling a customers desire to buy your art works. For example, in my own evaluation I realized I wanted my customer to perceive my attitude toward my work as confident, and to express a desire to work toward the advancement of their investment. Customers need to know that you feel confident in your product and have the ability to grow as an artist and in return grow their initial investment in your career. There are really no get rich investments in art, your customer needs to know you are committed to it for the long haul.

As you understand yourself and your product you begin to get a sense of the type of customer you need to target. This also lets you know what type of gallery or dealer that you should approach to carry your work. Artists have many different modes of working. Artists working in various styles are likely to find different sorts of venues from each other. These venues will have a customer base whose tastes and tendencies are much more in line with that gallery. Due to my style of work I naturally have to seek out dealers whose customers are open to my jarring colors and very abstracted images. In a setting where a customer has no expectation of seeing something out of line with the venue’s usual offering, you can turn away potential customers. Under these considerations galleries also select artist that fit their model. Should my work not be viewed in the right venue it could draw the dreaded comments "what is that supposed to be" or "I could do that". These are certainly not the customers that I need to get my work in front of if I am to implement a good marketing strategy.

As examining yourself allows you to get in touch with your aims as an artist and your target market, so too will it allow you to cultivate the seeds of your presentation. To access the attention of these galleries, dealers, or consumer direct markets you need to have presentation materials. Much is made of this idea of the reclusive artist holed up in his/her studio toiling away at the easel. Many artists buy into this idea, however solely working on your art will not create sales. Presentation materials are the point of contact for many of our potential customers, especially when we are not there to present the work our selves. Traditionally when an artist puts together presentation materials they will want to start with a portfolio.

First, and maybe most important, is the artist’s statement. In your statement out-line your style of working and give insight to its importance and meaning. I have in my time as a gallery director and artist come across extremely exhausting artist statements that go on for pages and never get to the point. A remedy that I have found to clear up these long statements is to get to the meat of the idea. If you can take your thoughts and get them down to one page, or better still if you can hone a statement to a hundred words or less and still make your point, the more immediately accessible it will be. Time is very important to gallery personnel and the quicker they can get to the point with your statement the more time they can spend giving consideration to the art work.

Second, you need to have images of your work. Traditionally Galleries have required slides and a slide list with pricing. The gallery business seems to be in the midst of a technology change, and more and more often galleries are accepting digital images on a CD. Keep in mind, it is still very important to have good images regardless of slides or digital. I would recommend seeking out a professional photographer to either shoot the work for you, or find a photographer who will offer a tutorial on how to produce good slides and photos. Many opportunities are lost due to poor images of the work or images that do not properly represent the work.

Thirdly most galleries require a resume. A typical resume format for the visual arts highlights your accomplishment as an exhibiting artist. A typical resume for an artist is much similar to any other type resume with a few key differences. Your resume should start with name, contact information, and education history. This is where we diverge from a typical resume format and outline exhibition history. This topic can be broken into various formats: solo, group, jurired entrance, or by date of exhibition starting with most recent. Next we want to mention any awards and recognition received, collections in which your work can be found, and publications where you and or your work have been reviewed. Don’t feel intimidated if you have a thin resume as everyone starts somewhere.

A web site is essential in the Internet age. Web site building software is available for people with varying levels of computer experience and price points. The process of building and posting a web site is really quite simple and can be very affordable. On your site you should include a little more personal and biographical information. This little extra can give people a better sense of who you the artist are. This can also endear them to you and the importance of their roll in the advancement of your career.

Other helpful presentation tools that can be the utilized are business cards, brochures, and post cards. These can be used to generate interest and also as a point of sale facilitation. It is advantageous to remember and keep a mailing list of personal contacts that you send these types of promotion materials to as you grow your career. You now have the ability to communicate your vision, and have the appropriate materials in place to make proper submissions.

Here you need to do a little legwork and on-line research for seeking a venue. When contacting potential galleries and dealers there are a few things to keep in mind. I briefly mentioned earlier that in getting to know your style of working you would know what types of galleries or potential customers you would do best to approach. Start by making a visit to any potential galleries, don’t however drag with you all of your presentation materials. I would recommend if you feel compelled to approach a gallery in person, a simple photo book with an abbreviated artist statement and full color photos with size and title of each work will be sufficient. More appropriately would be to look at the works carried at these galleries and look for kinship to your work in subject matter and ideals. Ask questions of the staff about the gallery and in natural conversation ask about their particular submission guidelines.

On-line research is a little more time consuming and a bit more difficult to gauge which galleries suit you best. Many galleries don’t respond to internet inquiries. I wouldn’t let this discourage you, however as an artist I have received many encouraging responses along with the lack of any response at all. The main thing to keep in mind about art galleries is that they are in business for the same reasons as the artist, to make money. Don’t assume that just because a gallery turns you down that your work is less valid. All this means is that under the conditions of that gallery and the understanding of their customer base and the galleries ability to sell the art, your work doesn’t fit in with that owner/gallery director’s plans for their business.

There are many other venues aside from galleries. Many of the places that we see art in public are not gallery settings, consider talking with café’s and restaurants. Some of my most successful showings have come from those types of more intimate venues. As an artist whose work might demand more than a fleeting glance, I relish the opportunity to have an audience that is required to sit through it for a meal or cup of coffee and give it some thought. This sort of venue also allows for repeat customers to fall in love with something that might not have garnered more than a quick look in a gallery setting.

Now assuming you locate a venue and land a show, some of these prior presentation items will come in exceedingly handy. It has come to a point where you will be called upon to promote your exhibition and your work. Press kits that include a statement about your work, a few good digital images, as well as the particulars of the exhibition are essential for raising awareness for the exhibition. Lists of media outlets can be obtained by looking for information in local publications and arts calendars, and the yellow pages. Local newspapers often participate in local arts announcements. Many cities and towns have visitor and convention agencies that may be willing to provide media information either for a nominal fee or for free. You also want to extend personal invitations to critics and writers in the arts in your area. It is a nice idea to alert that person to the fact that you are aware of their publication and the importance that their presence at your event means to you. Many galleries assume the responsibilities and the task of show promotions, however an invitation from the artist directly is always appreciated.

Now that the particulars of landing and promoting this event have been solved, the biggest question that an artist faces is the question of price. Of all of the inquiries during my time at the gallery, the biggest and most difficult to answer was how do I price my work? Why this topic is so difficult to nail down, is in part due to the elusive and subjective nature of art. An artist who has a history of strong sales and collector base obviously stumbled upon some sort of method that works for them. The problem with pricing is the fact that there are as many methods for pricing as there are artists.

The best pricing method that I have come up with is a tried and true business model. This model includes applying markups for just about everything you are required to cover, this is called your overhead. Overhead includes: the rent you pay on your studio or a portion of the rent you pay if you work from home, the raw materials you use, paint, canvas, brushes, stretcher stock, framing, and a hourly wage for the time you spend.

I figure the overhead due to rent, on a per piece average based on the number of pieces I will make in a year and divide that by the total amount of rent paid in that year. So if I average about 20 pieces per year and pay $1800.00 a year for studio then each piece should include $150.00 per item. For my raw materials I have determined that those tend to cost about 25 cents per square inch, so a piece 10"x10" would be $25.00. I take a modest hourly wage at $10.00/hour and I log my hours per piece and charge accordingly. So a 10"x10" piece I execute in 15 total hours ends up costing $325.00. I strongly recommend that you do not discredit the value of the work that you do. Many artists, emerging artists particularly feel less comfortable asking what a piece’s actual value is worth.

Now that we have discussed pricing there is a wrinkle in the equation that can and does tend to create pricing problems. This problem is the fact that you now have a painting that you value at $325.00. The art gallery will take a percentage of that price, many times this is anywhere from 40% to 60% of the listed price. If a gallery commission were 60% then you would only receive $130.00 of the listed price. This means you have not recovered the costs for your production. In this situation you have to raise your price accordingly. Beware that you don’t price yourself out of the market for your type of work. It’s a good idea while you are shopping for potential dealers, to take note of what the prices are for works in your style and size. If the price is reasonable for a piece the size and style of the work you will be exhibiting add the 60% to your cost to garner the money you need to recover your costs and time. This would make your $325.00 painting priced at $520.00 for exhibition. If during your initial research you discover that other emerging artists in your category are charging less I recommend getting the prices in range with your competition. It would also be good to note that if you are planning a web site to keep your on-line pricing in line with your on site gallery price.

Educating your customer can be extremely useful in growing your business. Some people who are not familiar with fine arts fail to recognize that the concepts applied to regular supply and demand items still apply in the arts. It would be nice to grow a new market out of the traditional markets for your work. The levels of comfort that most people feel with the arts and an art gallery in general is lacking. Many people believe that it would be beyond them or that there would be no point to going to these sorts of events because they have no intention to buy.

For myself I use a model of marketing I have been working on that involves growing new markets. Marketing your work is as essential in your art career as making the art itself. It can be a long process that requires a lot of attention and more introspection into your self, and your goals as an artist than you may have initially expected. You may even need to work the dreaded dual career for most of your career. However, without this sort of promotional preparation your career will never elevate your art to a level beyond being just a hobby.