by Becky Sciullo | May 3, 2021 | Artist Websites, Blogging, Learning, Social Media, Tools
Here are some marketing ideas for your Monday Morning.
Seven Art Marketing Ideas
1 – Set up an art loan program where people can make arrangements to rotate art and refresh their walls for a set monthly fee.
2 – Feature up to ten pieces of work in a collection in an Instagram carousel post.
3 – We spring clean our homes. Why not spring clean your business, ultimately making you more effective at marketing and selling your work. Step back and take care of some of those things that may have become cluttered or that you don’t deal with very often.
4 – Take your audience behind the scenes by sharing an insight into your process. Still images are great, but short videos are even better.
5 – Invite followers and readers to “ask me anything”. It’s an engaging way to open up a conversation with them and get insight into what your audience wants to hear from you.
6 – Use a mind-mapping tool like Mindmeister to help brainstorm ideas for anything from blog post ideas to finding an audience.
7 – A downside of Instagram is the inability to share links other than in your bio. Here is an excellent idea on how to get more out of that one link.
Learn More
Monday Morning Marketing Ideas is a weekly blog post series to offer ideas that you might use in your business. Thoughts provided cover a wide variety of medium and marketing methods. Some may seem a little crazy. Others, you might say, now why didn’t I think of that? These are simply ideas that pop into my head or come across my desk as I work through the week. I don’t always have time to write an entire blog post on the subject, but I thought they might be worth sharing.
For even more ideas and information, join my weekly newsletter here.
by Becky Sciullo | Apr 26, 2021 | Artist Websites, Learning, Resources, Tools
Here are some marketing ideas for your Monday morning.
Six Art Marketing Ideas
1 – When listing images of your work on e-commerce sites such as Etsy or even your own website, make sure that your lighting and the way you photograph them are consistent. There are apps such as Vsco to help you with this.
2 – If you are actively seeking commission work, dedicate a page on your website for these projects. Include terms of working with you and images and stories about commission work that you have done in the past with testimonials.
3 – Sometimes people get home and a piece doesn’t work in the space they thought it would. Let your clients know that if they change their minds about a purchase, they can return the artwork for a full refund minus the cost of shipping and handling. Robert Yonke offers this for his work. In the history of working with him, we’ve had two return art. In both cases, they exchanged the work rather than asking for a refund. As a result, people may be more comfortable making a large purchase, knowing that if they get it home and have a change of heart, they can return it.
4 – Be familiar with the places you can market your art in your region. What spaces exist for you to show and sell your art? The spaces can include public spaces like museums and libraries, commercial galleries, and other businesses that feature artists. Keep track of these places and ones that might be a fit for your work. Meet the people who run them. Then, stay in touch so that you stay on top of opportunities that might be a fit for your work.
5 – Don’t forget to use tagging in your marketing. Tags are the search keywords that people use to find your art. You can tag your work in many places, including social media, your blog, and e-commerce sites. Tagging your work helps bring it to the top of search results on the platforms you are using and search engines.
6 – Are you stuck? Sometimes, taking a break from marketing isn’t a bad thing either. Consider a creativity vacation.
Learn More
Monday Morning Marketing Ideas is a weekly blog post series to offer ideas that you might use in your business. Thoughts provided cover a wide variety of medium and marketing methods. Some may seem a little crazy. Others, you might say, now why didn’t I think of that? These are simply ideas that pop into my head or come across my desk as I work through the week. I don’t always have time to write an entire blog post on the subject, but I thought they might be worth sharing.
For even more ideas and information, join my weekly newsletter here.
by Becky Sciullo | Mar 4, 2021 | Artist Blogging 101, Blogging, Tools
Many artists understand that maintaining a consistent web presence could help with sales, but feel they don’t have time for a blog. They’d rather be creating. And, I get that!
Fifteen minutes a day to a web presence.
What if I told you that you could invest fifteen minutes a day in your web presence to see results? In Blogging for a Visual Art Business, I explain that if you get into a consistent habit of writing and working on your blog, you can maintain a system that eventually can take as little as fifteen minutes of your time every day.
This article by Michael Hyatt explains this concept well. Little bits of progress consistently over time will reap the rewards in the long run.
Invest in your art business.
I’m not going to lie, though. You will need to invest some time on the front end. But, after you build your system, you will be able to maintain your online presence in fifteen minutes a day.
Daily is better than monthly.
Working on your system every day keeps you fresh. It helps you to build momentum. It’s easier than sitting down once a month to update things.
Four Necessary Ingredients
If you are serious about starting and maintaining a blog that will drive your art marketing forward, consider the Artist Blogging Toolbox. This program has all four of the necessary ingredients outlined in the article.
1 – Get Clear on Your Goals
The first action in the Toolbox is to outline the goals you want your artist blog to accomplish for your business.
2 – Identify the Right Behavior
After your blog is set up with your first set of posts, you will learn how to set up a system that includes daily behaviors that work to continue to build your presence.
3 – Track Your Progress
The Artist Blogging Toolbox includes tools you can use to plan out your posts and stay on track with your plan.
4 – Accountability Partner
Perhaps the most significant selling point of the Program: You are not alone! This is a self-paced program, but it includes points for checking in and one-on-one meeting time between you and me working specifically on your blog.
Positive Habits Make Progress
Fifteen minutes a day of any proactive activity can help your business. Even if it’s not blogging, try committing fifteen minutes every day to one positive thing you’re already doing to market your work.
If you’d like to set up a fifteen-minute Zoom meeting with me to talk about how the Artist Blogging Toolbox might help you, please drop me a line at becky@artisan-advantage.com.
Would you like weekly updates to help build your art business. I’d love for you to join my email list.
by Becky Sciullo | Feb 15, 2021 | Learning, Social Media, Tools
Here are some marketing ideas for your Monday Morning
Five Art Marketing Ideas (and suggestions:))
1 – Dig into Pinterest with Pinterest Presents, a free virtual summit.
2 – Speaking of Pinterest. Convert your personal profile to a business profile. Business profiles offer better data and you won’t lose any of your pins by switching over.
3 – Gain exposure and revenue with Patreon. Allow fans to support your work. Build yourself a profile and get paid for things you might already be creating.
4 – Consider live-streaming your process.
5 – Don’t overlook LinkedIn. I recently read that posts with images get 94% more views. Your work can easily stand out on this platform.
Get More Art Marketing Help
Would you like weekly updates with information like this to help your art business? Sign up for my mailing list here.
If you’re signed up for my email newsletter and NOT receiving my weekly updates, please check your spam folder
by Rebecca Sciullo | Dec 19, 2019 | Artist Websites, Learning, Resources, Tools
What’s Going On…
Earlier this year, I decided it was time to refresh my father’s website. I built his first site with the now discontinued Microsoft FrontPage back in 2007. About five years later, I had a new site built on Squarespace. At that time, it was a solid reflection of his work. But web design trends change quickly. The website looked outdated, and as I’m more familiar with WordPress, it was not the easiest for me to maintain. After a round of art marketing round tables this fall, I took some time off from this blog to update his web presence.
It took some time, however, to decide how we wanted things to look. The Squarespace site provided a complete gallery of his artwork, which was becoming unnecessary, as we now use Artwork Archive to keep all of the work up to date online. We decided to use the WordPress.com platform to build a blog based website, and then link it to Artwork Archive. Once a decision was made on how to proceed, the website came together in about a week.
Above is a snapshot of the site before the refresh.
Below is a preview of the new look. Click here for a full view.
Back to Blogging
Quick success with his first website was a direct result of using a blog to promote his work. It was time to recommit to this tool and set his blog as his home page on the new site. We plan on using the blog to reconnect our network, promote his art, and get back to giving his audience more of the story behind his work.
Artwork Archive Component
Artwork Archive is an integral part of his web presence. We’ve been using it for several years to inventory work and keep track of sales. We are now using all features of this system, including the ability to build an online portfolio for different audiences. So, instead of creating an extensive gallery on WordPress, his website links directly to his Artwork Archive profile. Visitors are always viewing the most current work along with relevant information, such as whether or not the piece is still available.
As I move forward with this project, I look forward to posting more things I’ve learned while revamping his web presence as well as the transitioning of his brand from Appalachian Studio to Robert Yonke Art.
Are You Updating Your Website in 2020?
Do you have plans for building or updating your website in 2020? Stay tuned to Artisan Advantage for more content focused on building your web presence.
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
by Rebecca Sciullo | Nov 12, 2019 | Learning, Tools, Writing
This Photo Was Me Before Grammarly Grammar Checker
Before I found Grammarly Grammar Checker, this is how I felt before posting an article or publishing a newsletter. I was afraid to hit “publish” or “send” for fear of typos. Because let’s face it, spell checkers do not catch everything. Finding Grammarly has reduced my time spent editing and stressing before putting a post, email, or product out into the world.
Grammarly is an online proofreader and grammar checking tool. It checks for errors with spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Choose from a free or premium paid version. The free version is an excellent place to start to get an idea of how the program works. The premium version has more bells and whistles, giving style and vocabulary recommendations along with a plagiarism checker.
Cool Features
The paid premium version also allows you to set goals for your writing, such as whether or not you want to write in a formal or informal tone, or whether or not you want to excite or persuade someone.
Did I mention It’s Free?
I started with the free version and immediately found myself saving time in the editing process. Finding it easy to use, after a few months, I decided to try the premium version. I am now hooked on this tool and run everything I write, from lengthy emails to blog posts and writing presentations and products such as my cheat sheets through this tool. It is effortless to use, and the editing tool is remarkable. Not only does it point out errors, but it offers suggestions on how to correct mistakes or improve readability.
In the past, I would worry that I missed something before publishing and spent hours going over and over the text. Yet, I would still miss errors! I no longer worry about this, as Grammarly catches everything. I can edit and finalize copy much faster than I can on my own. So, in addition to helping me reduce errors, it is a time saver.
If you are writing anything that you will share publicly, whether it is your artist statement, bio, or copy for your website, give Grammarly a try. There is no time limit on the free version, and you can upgrade at any time.
Photo by Siora Photography on Unsplash
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
