Selling Art Online: A Brief Overview

Posted by Kazi Md Hasibul Hasan on September 9th, 2017

There are artists that sell their work themselves from studio, online or at galleries. Artists also sell their art at art fair. Another popular method is the artist will sell art online using platforms such as Etsy and Amazon. They usually use a third party to help them sell their art so that they can focus on what they do best which is creating art. If you are an artist and would like to find out how you can sell your art other than the art fair, you can continue to read this article and find out more. There are several questions that artists need to ask themselves when they’re trying to sell their art and in this article, we will explore how artists can sell their art better.

1. Who are you selling your art to?

Knowing your ideal audience when you are selling your art is important. If your answer to this question is ‘everyone’, then you need to dig deeper because your art will definitely have a specific target audience that are interested in it. If you have done some sales in the past, then you can identify the common denominators on who have purchased your art. You should ask yourself if your work appeals to a certain group of people with common interests. Furthermore, when you are trying to sell art online, it is important for you to know whether your buyers are seasoned art buyers, serious collectors or one that has a proven museum exhibition record.

Furthermore, when you sell your art, knowing if your target audience buy impulsively or are trying to buy a picture that speaks to them on an emotional level will allow you to find them better. This is because when you analyse the about your ideal target audience, you will find that there are specific places that you can find your target audience. One thing to remember when you’re selling art is that if you are asked to participate in an art fair, you need to ask yourself if it is a good opportunity for you and if your ideal client will be there. If not you will be wasting time and money by participating in the art fair.

2. What art do you produce?

Can you explan to your your consumers about the type of art that you are trying to sell? When you sell your art, you need to have a compelling statement that describes your art well. Pertaining the method to sell online, you need to have an artist’s statement that speaks clearly to your consumers about the art that you have produced. You artist statement is also important with selling art online and offline because it speaks about your art and it is the best way that you can sell your art. When you join any art fairs or try to sell your art online, be ready to talk about your work and share your passion for it when you are asked to. You can tell a story about how you created the art and bring them on a journey so that you can help your viewers to understand the art better.

Educating people about your art is a way for people to feel more comfortable when they engage in a conversation with you and will work in the long run to build a clientele for your art. However, when you are trying to sell art and communicate with your customer, don’t overdo it because you don’t want your customers to feel uncomfortable when they are engaging in a conversation with you. Besides telling a story about the art piece, you can also talk more about yourself and where you are from to help them understand where the work is coming from but make sure to keep it brief.

3. When should you be ready to sell your art?

The answer to this is that you should always be ready to sell your art. Therefore, have a business card on you all the time and make sure that it has necessary details about how they can purchase the art or view it online. You can have your website address on the business card as well. Have an art portfolio for your professional materials that are ready for viewing at a moment's notice. Opportunity does not wait for you so make sure that you have your art portfolio which is ready for viewing for anyone that could open doors for you.

4. Why should you sell art?

Believe it or not, asking why is the most important question in this article. This comes back to the reason why you became an artist in the first place and it will help you to talk more about your work. When you answer the question why, you can tell your audience about your art story when you are trying to sell your art online or offline.

Questions that you should ask yourself is why do you make the art that you do? Why are you an artist and  why should your target audience support you? Making art is so much more than creating it. In fact, it is a part of you are. So, what does your art says about you? Out of the millions of artist out there, why should your target audience choose your work? Pondering on all these questions will help you to sell your art better because you identify the reason being why you started being an artist. It will also help you to create more art in the long run.