There are so many avenues for marketing artwork: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, galleries, a website, blog, art groups, online art galleries, art festivals, competitions ... the list is seemingly endless. With so many options it's easy to get bogged down just trying to decide where to start. The other potential problem is starting too many marketing plans at the same time. To be effective, you need to try something for a period of time; starting too many things at the same time makes it impossible to know what works and what doesn't.
So I'm starting with Social Media. This is an easy, and inexpensive, way to get the word out. However, the problem with Social Media is that your outreach is limited by the number of "Friends" and "Likes" you have, subscribers to your website, your contact list, etc. With that in mind, I am also going to show my work at the Denver Art District's First Friday Art Walk. On the first Friday of every month over 60 galleries and studios are open in the evening so more people can visit. In warm weather, thousands of people attend Art Walk. In the winter, hundreds make the trek in the cold. Unfortunately, the weather forecasters are calling for a huge snowstorm tonight - dumping 12" to 18" of snow - and Art Walk may very well be canceled. That's disappointing, but fine. I'll do it again in March.
That's about all I can handle right now. Marketing is a lot of hard work and takes time away from the studio. Still, if you want to be a successful artist - however you define that term - it is something that has to be done.
Happy painting!
Susan
