How to find people who will LOVE buying your art
Finding people who will buy your art was supposed to be the job of galleries and art marketplaces, right? As artists, we were taught to hand over the reins of our career to other people, who would know where to find buyers for our art. Our job was to be in the studio making our masterpieces, then we would hand them off to someone else to worry about the marketing and sales. For a few artists, this system has worked very well. For most of us though, trusting someone else to find exactly the right buyers for our art is a bit hit and miss. In reality, we as artists are the best at understanding who will love the art we make. Even if we work with galleries and online marketplaces, it is our job to deeply understand the type of people who will love buying our art, and where to find them. This article shares how you can take back the reins and find people who will love buying your art.
Is this you?
You are an artist and love it. You have some sales. But they aren’t reliable enough.
You want to be a full time artist, but everything is overwhelming without knowing how to sell your art.
It is so frustrating seeing other artists on Instagram with sell out art releases because you know your art is just as amazing. But you don’t know the path to get there.
You keep trying new things to promote your art. You paid for ads on Google and Instagram, but you have limited sales off your website. You have your work up on online marketplaces. You paid a gallery to exhibit your work, but they didn’t sell much. Nothing feels like it is really working. All of this saps your confidence and you don’t know what to do next.
If that all sounds familiar. I know exactly the space you are in. I’ve been there too. It’s just awful. It doesn’t help our creativity as artists - our genius zone is in the studio, not trying to sell our art - right?
One of our greatest untapped skills as artists is our empathy.
Well, it turns out that one of our greatest skills as artists is our empathy, and our ability to tap into the nuances of how the world works, and how people behave. We are observers, watchers, researchers at heart. That is actually a HUGE under-rated ability we have as artists. I want to help you tap into that ability a bit more so that you can lift your art career.
As artists, we need to understand who is buying our art, and why. Once we know that, it is far easier to find more of them.
The important thing to understand is that it is far easier to sell to a small niche audience who loves what you do than trying to sell to the whole world.
Have you thought about who is already buying your art?
Review your last 5-10 art sales. Think about the people who bought those pieces. Grab a notebook. Describe them in as much detail as you can. What area are they from? What do they look like? What type of car did they drive? What did they wear? How did they speak?
When you thought about the people who have already bought your art, was there anything in common about them? Do you know someone like them already? Perhaps they are like you?
If you don’t already have many sales, think about who you would like to be buying your art. Can you imagine the type of person who would truly appreciate what you are making? Can you visualise them?
Once you know who tends to buy your art (or who you would like to be buying your art), you can think about where they spend time, who they talk to, the language they use. This will help make sure that you are communicating in ways that will help that type of person more easily understand who you are, connect with you on a deeper level, and buy your art.
For example, if you are using language and visuals that are more suited to a 20 year old audience in your social content, but the people who buy your art tend to be over 50 years old, you might be turning potential buyers off because you are not connecting with them in a way they appreciate.
Continuing the example, if the type of person who loves buying your art is over 50 years old and enjoys yoga, and your art connects with them on a spiritual level, you could be connecting more of your social content and communications to talk directly to their interests. You may talk about how colours you use are connected with the chakras. You may also collaborate with a yoga studio that specialises in yoga for over 50s.
Have you thought about why people are buying your art?
People don’t go out and do anything for no reason. There are deep psychological needs that are met every time we purchase something. There are also some fairly practical needs. Buying art is often an important decision and there is lots that goes into it. Have a conversation with a couple of people who have previously bought your art. You have probably already had conversations with buyers if you sell face to face. If you sell through a gallery, ask them why their customer chose your art over all the others in the gallery. The more insights you have the better.
Grab that notebook again and jot down your thoughts.
• What was happening for them? What were they doing when they found you and your art? [Perhaps they found you online, looking for a gift for someone special? Or they were on holiday?]
• What were they thinking about? Was there something specific on their mind? [Did they have a specific wall in mind and wanted some art? Did they want to remember an event or place?]
• What were they feeling? [Perhaps they wanted to feel special or unique in buying your art? Or they wanted to show someone else they cared?]
Did you hear a similar story from the people who have already bought your art? Was there anything in common, or that resonated for you?
As an example, if many of the people who are buying your art purchased it as a gift for someone, a clever thing to do would be to offer an easy way to purchase gift cards on your website. You could also offer a special way of wrapping and delivering your art. You could potentially include a bottle of bubbles or a box of chocolates as part of the offer.
You might also want to partner with party planners (or even wedding planners), so your art would be an upsell for them. Party planners are often in touch with their clients early, have already done lots of the marketing, and may be open to adding a new product offer (your art) to what they do. If their clients are stuck for a fabulous gift - your art could be the perfect solution.
If you don’t already have many sales, you could be imagining the spaces you envisage your art. You could also do this if you are wanting to change what you are doing and access a new market. For example, you could be making large scale abstracts and imagining the homes of the people who will love them. Imagine why those people are buying. What needs are they meeting in choosing your art? What is the motivation for choosing you? Perhaps they want a local artist with a story that resonates for them. Perhaps your art represents a place they love. There are so many reasons people buy art, see if you can dive in and discover or imagine more about why people buy yours.
In my own art practice, I do this regularly. I create much of my work for luxury residences, and over the next two years, I would like to be in a few boutique hotels, I’d like at least one to be an international hotel. So I need to imagine where I want to be and make a plan to get there. I know I will need to be communicating to new types of interior designers who are working in the hotel space, not only in residential design, where I already work.
In my own art practice, I show my art in a way that communicates to people who live in luxury residences.
It takes a little creativity
Finding ways to access the type of people who will love buying your art takes a little bit of creativity. But the great thing is, creativity is what artists are AMAZING at. It just takes knowing how, and some practice. Once you understand the type of person who loves buying your art, your options to sell open up enormously. I hope this article has sparked some new ideas for you, beyond just using galleries and art marketplaces as ways to sell your art.
Are you curious for more?
Learn how to Discover Your Ideal Art Buyer
If you want to dive deeper into this, I’ve got a FREE WEBINAR that you can access to learn more, including:
Learn how to discover who other artists you respect are already selling to
Visualise and articulate who your Ideal Art Buyer is
Be able to describe your Ideal Art Buyer and target them in your art marketing.
Be confident in your next steps towards success as a Professional Artist.
The Discover Your Ideal Art Buyer webinar is under 60 mins, is action based, delivers real outcomes, and includes an easy worksheet that will help you focus on what counts.