The Circles of Art Marketing
How to marketing your art in the 21st century - members only, updated for 2024
Art Marketing Circle I - The Sovereign Artist
I am using the symbol of a fleur-di-lis to represent the deep truth at the center of us all, what I call “The Sovereign Artist.” The Tao which can be named, after all, is not the true Tao, so I’ve opted to use a symbol instead. This symbol reflects what you are in your deepest self - free and sovereign over yourself. The fleur-de-lis stood as a symbol of the king's divinely approved right to rule and, when you connect to this power of the divine, you are granted the power to rule over yourself. The red fleur-di-lis is the famous symbol of the most artistic city in history, Florence which, in latin, means flowering. Through this process you will flower in to your truest, most free, sovereign self. And you will be unstoppable.
Art Marketing Circle II - Your Art
To maximize your chances that your art will sell, there are several places you can give yourself a tailwind if you nail them in the art itself.
Art Marketing Circle III - Turn Your Art Into a Product
Once you decide to sell your art, you walk a fine line. You must, in short, turn your offering which consists of you, your art and the stories and context in which you talk about all of it into a product, without losing your focus on your own vision and your own inspiration. This chapter shows you how to do that.
Art Marketing Circle IV - Sales
You will notice this Circle of Art Marketing, Sales, has a marked difference in flavor. For your business, this is the circle where everything comes together. Your activities in all of the circles outside of this one, you attempt to pull people ever closer until they finally enter this circle. In other words, in those outer circles, you generate demand. And all of your efforts in the circles inside of this one, you must push to get your work to the point it is worthy and ready to be presented for sale. In other words, in the inner circles, you create supply. This circle, Sales, is where supply and demand (hopefully) meet.
Art Marketing Circle V - True Fans
A “True Fan” is someone who follows nearly everything you do, buys repeatedly, and, if they don’t, or can’t buy from you, they support you in other significant ways by connecting you with people who can help you. This is my definition and slightly modified (for the visual art world) from Kevin Kelly’s original definition.
Art Marketing Circle VI - Audience
As a provider of professional artist websites, the most common question we are asked at FASO is "How do I drive traffic to my website?" I understand why people ask this question, but it's misguided. It’s the wrong question. Let’s ask the right one: what artists really want to know is "How do I use my website to sell art?" Which requires something rather different than "driving traffic."
You don't sell art by driving traffic. You sell art by building an audience.
And in the same way that noise isn't music, driving traffic is not building an audience.
In this section, we’ll walk you through what it means to build an audience.