Relationships Sell Art
Press mentions are hard to come by, but perform remarkably well in terms of exposure and sales. Recently, RedBubble artists have received press on these sites:
- BoingBoing
- SlashFilm
- Topless Robot
- Toxel.com
- Gizmodo
- Fantastic Blognanza
(Please feel free to send me other press mentions and I’ll post them here.)
It’s no coincidence that these artists received press. Many artists work very hard to promote and secure exposure for their work. Sure, some get lucky, but they’re in the minority. So, how does PR (public relations) exposure happen, and how can I get some?
Relationships sell art.
If I approached you on the street and said “buy this shirt or art print” you would think me certifiably insane. If I came to you with a softer sell such as, “How does this photograph make you feel?” you might stop for a second and consider my question. And at that point a dialogue would begin.
I would give you some background on the artwork, the story behind its creation, my inspiration, as well as ask how you feel about the image. You might buy the image – or not – but at the very least we started a conversation, a relationship.
Press and PR is much the same. The writers have a relationship with their readers. The readers trust the writers. And so, when a writer posts about a t-shirt or artwork there’s some credibility already built in.
These same types of relationships exist between the artist and the writer. The artists that received the above press exposure found out whom to write, and likely put the artwork within a context or story. (Full disclosure: I pitched the Toxel post with the idea that designers that read Toxel would resonate with a digital art tool – again, the story and history.)
Where to begin?
Start with family and friends. Ask them how they feel about your art and/or t-shirt designs. Take that information and extend it to writers, e.g., wouldn’t your exquisite photographs of flowers resonate nicely with a writer that is focused on gardening? Perhaps they would consider using your image in exchange for a link to your RedBubble profile.
Selling art is a marathon and not a sprint. Some sales are easier than others, e.g., when the viewer or buyer has built-in context (as related to pop culture), but regardless of how you sell, a story or a relationship will win the day.
What if garnering press seems impossible?
The same techniques outlined above can be extended to an art fair, a gallery opening, a coffee shop conversation, your mission statement, your RedBubble profile, Bubblesite, an email, a Tweet, a Facebook status update, or any space or place where you can start a conversation that leads to a relationship.
More to come.
Regards,
Jason
rubyred
Spot on. Too many people seem to expect RedBubble to do the selling for them, but it’s only a small part of the story. Target your market carefully, and you’re right, build relationships. Once you’ve had a feature on a site, it’s tempting to flood/pester them with your work. They’ll soon get bored of you if your work is not relevant to their audience. I’m sure this applies to galleries and stores, treat your contacts well and you’ll reap the rewards eventually.
selling replied
Looks like we’re on the same page Ruby Red. I’ll also post here about practical marketing tactics, but as with press and 1:1 sales, marketing and advertising needs to be contextual too.
Patrick Morand
A very interesting blog about PR, realtionship and sales : Seth Godin
selling replied
I’m a fan of Seth Godin’s work. There are some great videos of his lectures on Ted.com – all free to view.
MuscularTeeth
well written. i advertise heavily on myspace and facebook too.
selling replied
Yes. Advertising can also be a net positive sales channel. MySpace and Facebook allow you to choose your audience by demographic/psychographic attributes, e.g., age, interests, geography, etc. – all great ways to focus your efforts on audiences that are apt to respond to your work. Once you get them to click, reinforce the attraction with context, a conversation.
Shaida Parveen
Its can be extremely hard, all i can say you need to be tough skinned and never give up,if you truly passionate about what you do, then you carry on regardless the sales or not.
selling replied
Agreed. Your work won’t resonate with everyone. Remember that a successful direct mail marketing campaign return (response rate) is 3 percent. That means, at best, only three people in every one hundred respond to your efforts. Conversion rate (selling) can be even lower. Yes, this is indeed hard work. That’s why you’ve got to love what you do. (Jason)
Cathie Tranent
And if your work doesn’t fit into the latest internet meme (and therefore this 5 minute’s web attention span) advertise the work of friends whose work does!
My Blog
selling replied
Very nice Cathie. One way to boost the Google Quality Score of the landing (destination) page is to hyperlink the descriptive text. For example, don’t link the words “click here”; hyperlink the words “Star Wars – Luke T-shirt”. Google gives relevance (incremental priority) to pages where the linked words relate to the copy and content on the destination page.
ozlat
I simply rely in the SEO that RedBubble provides… then it boils down to the referrals… first they must like my work and second they must like the quality ordered… so I think it’s all working out just fine for now :)
P.S. I did try Facebook Marketing and it worked a treat! I am actually thinking about banner advertising for really targeted crowds for specific t-shirts I have, such as Deadmau5 ... has anyone had success with banner advertising?
selling replied
We love organic search referrals. See my comment above about best practices for links into your portfolio and “show work” pages on RedBubble. Pay-per-click advertising on Facebook (among other websites) is a good, targeted way to help you refine ad creative and text. Banner CPMs (cost per thousand ad views/impressions) are affordable right now, but you can also buy slotted ads, e.g., x dollars for a month long placement – which may prove more cost effective.
Cathie Tranent
Thanks for that!! A rework is in order.
Paul Pichugin
I’ve been featured in a few magazines too, that has helped with sales somewhat. I’m getting featured in the next edition of Photo Review Australia magazine.. I’m hoping the helps out.
- paul
selling replied
Nicely done Paul. Please post a link to the article or reprint here. Exhibits, competition wins, magazine features, etc. All of these “hits” can both drive traffic and increase a buyer’s comfort level with your work. Most people don’t know or care what “good art” is; most consumers buy art because they like it … and the context, the story, notable kudos, a personal touch, etc. all add to make an artwork more attractive and memorable.
Stephen Mitchell
I have been saying all of this for 2 years … I sell most of my artwork through people that I have ‘garnered’ a close and ongoing friendship. Plus effective tagging and text-linking to make it easy for viewers to find specific styles of photographs.
Great write up. Good to find RB listed on the top sites!
Michelle Walker
Most of my sales have been through features on the home page or in groups. I have started doing a market which i created my brand for. The brand features my redbubble site as well as on my business card, so i am cross marketing where ever i can. I have also been selling my cards from redbubble on my stall which seems to be a great seller as well as additional marketing.
Rhana Griffin mentioned the redbubble website a couple of years back in a local newspaper article. That is how i came to know and love the site and i haven’t looked back (thanks Rhana!!). This site is great for us regional artists that struggle to get our stuff out there into the big wide world.
selling replied
Great tips here as well Michelle. I’ll also cover Groups and offline tactics in a follow-up post.
jumpy
good tips – many thanks
Paul Pichugin
Thanks, I’ll keep you posted.. also I’m looking at doing a market stall here in Perth somewhere.. and an exhibition. I’ll see how they go.
- paul
georgiegirl
Lots of useful info… thanks heaps!!!! Its very much appreciated :D
Olsen
I still believe in the old “Art sells itself” .
To build a relationship based in selling is not something that guarantee your sales, the unconscious mind knows better; whatever you do to produce a result will in the end
produce the opposite.
Unless you are selling art in a store… because people will go to you and also they will try to be your friend. Picasso didn’t make calls or went after people to sell his art, people call him and went after him. But there’s no formulas here. each artist has its own destiny, method and luck based in his/her personal power and magnetism.
And look that i am not talking about their work quality here..
I lived from selling my art for over 25 years, on day it just didn’t happen anymore, the magic of selling my art is gone. Times changed. The art market changed its rules, look around..,
do you see any famous artist? artist are not famous anymore, so how can you expect to sell if you don’t have a name??? this is a basic thing.
I mean, you can still eventually sell ( as i still do) but can you make a living out of selling your art? not my case anymore.
I am in the music business now, the music business is the business of making and selling music; just like painting, sculpting or taking pictures. but the music business is in crisis as well, there’s too much music and musicians out there, good quality is hard to find and consumers of hi quality much harder..
Being a musician is exactly the same as being a photographer or a painter or a sculptor, you
are trying to sell your creations.
Today i have three albums in iTunes the big record shop, totally useless unless you are already famous, people know your name and your music, i mean people that you don’t know.
no people that are your friends. selling art to your friends or your grandma is not the issue here, that is very easy and is not the real thing that gonna make you a professional.
I personally felt very frustrated when only my family and friends where trying to buy my art.
to give me support.
Real clients are people that you don’t know at all.
I know i sound too skeptical but this is my experience, i am almost 50 and i consider myself a good artist and good musician, but this has nothig to do with selling or not.
The quality of your work is not an exclusive element of your success. We all know that.
I think that what help me all this years was a very strong will to push away and make things happen. Today, as i make my living from another sources now i don’t really need to sell my art anymore and this bring me a lot of solace, not having that pressure any more..
Imagine an Avant Gard artist trying to sell his art… horrible!
People realize when you are trying to “make friends” to show your art, and you own unconscious knows well when you are trying to build a relationship to sell your art.
Now, let me ask you; art comes from the unconscious and the attempt of selling art comes from the conscious mind; how can you conciliate this two organisms coming from two different natures?
WITH INNOCENCE. i f you are not free of second thoughts and intentions you rarely will succeed selling art.
My problem now is that i am not innocent anymore because i am too aware of the weakness of the market; i am too aware that only art dealers are taking their names out to the media.
and finally i am too aware that art is not a basic need for anybody, art is luxury and it also requires certain label of education to be appreciated.
Think of very successful artists and the way of how they succeed…
Francis Bacon, Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol, Picasso.
What do this guys have in common?
selling replied
An interesting myriad of points above. I think that you’re right to say that people buy art because they enjoy it – that we cannot convince them to like or buy something. We can, however, use relationships and marketing tactics to expose our art.
While there are famous, producing artists such as Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons (whether you feel that they create versus ‘concept’ is another discussion), I think that it’s best to aim for the mountains before the moon. Look to your left and right for opportunity, then look locally, nationally, internationally, and then shoot for the moon. We won’t all create art for our entire lives; some of us have found this passion later in life, but there’s no shame in being a big fish in a small pond.
If you have the drive and the want to make art your sole focus there are rewards – perhaps time boxed or fleeting. RedBubble is simply one way, I think a critical community/channel/opportunity, to get you started – to inspire you, to keep you connected, to fuel your passion.
Ultimately each one of us will decide how much we want to look for success with our art. For me, my art is in neutral this week, but whilst I idle the RedBubble community keeps me thinking, talking, posting, chatting … developing relationships – which is where this all started.
DebbieSteer
great stuff Jason, you are a wealth of knowledge, thanks for sharing it…
selling replied
I’m inspired by artists like you on RedBubble. Thanks for the encouragement.
Kathy Nairn
Good thread / topic and informative comments from everyone. I recently bought my dot com and have been setting up the pages. Anxious to add RB logo but not sure the widget will work with the site yet. Loving the ideas here. Thanks ‘selling’ and to all for great info.