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#065: 3 Things You NEED to do to Increase Art Sales

Learning how to sell your art requires just as much skill and practice as learning how to create it does. Nobody wants to miss out on potential earnings. Yet, without the right strategies in place, you might be doing just that.

Wondering where to begin? It can be frustrating starting out, but a fresh perspective and game plan can help get you where need to go. Read on for three steps you cannot skip if you want to take someone from an admirer to a buyer of your art.

Here is what you gotta do.

About the Artist

Wildy Martinez is a Latina-American artist and technologist who uses her creative talents and professional skills to celebrate the diversity of women through art, fashion, and storytelling. 

Her art and advocacy for Latino, Vitiligo, and emerging artist communities have led to her collaborating with the likes of the United Nations, Dior, Macy’s, L'Oréal, amongst others. Now, she’s sharing her art with you in her HUG Artist Storefront.

#1: Build a Community

There’s a big difference between having an audience and having a community. While your audience may be passive observers of you on various social accounts, your community consists of people who connect and interact with you.

As an artist, building a community is critical to establishing what Kevin Kelly calls your thousand true fans, the people most likely to support you in your journey as a creative entrepreneur.

One of the best ways you can build a new community is by being an active member of others. Wildy’s art is very much a byproduct of her individual identity. Prominent themes in her work are inspired by her Latina heritage, her lived experiences with Vitiligo, and her exploration of generative AI - all of which she shares in respective online communities of like individuals.

Over time, Wildy hasn’t just made friends, she’s built a reputation for herself as an artist, technologist, and even a public figure. Through networking on a personal level and consistently telling her story, she’s secured professional opportunities with organizations like the United Nations and brands like L'Oréal. All of this has built her credibility, boosted her influence, and gotten new eyes to give new word-of-mouth to her and her art.

When someone knows who you are as an individual, they’ll have a deeper appreciation of you which only brings further value to your art.

#2: Have A Marketing Plan

In the past month alone, Jackson Alves has sold over $4,000 from his Procreate Brush Pack on HUG. During that time, he had a steady state of posts that followed a proven sales approach: Show, don’t tell.

Rather than simply telling prospective what’s for sale, Jackson explained why it’s important and how buying it will positively impact their lives. He highlighted unique benefits relevant to them, and always circled back to a Call To Action—the action you as a seller want the customer to take to achieve your goal, which in this case, is having someone buy what you have for sale.

He did all this sold across multiple channels: YouTube tutorials, newsletters, socials, and more.

As you take a thoughtful approach to promoting your own work, there are two kinds of marketing strategies you should consider:

• A Launch Strategy: How you’ll first announce a new artwork or collection

• An Always-On Strategy: If relevant, how you’ll share ongoing sales of your work

These strategies should include where you intend to share your work, and how it may differ on each platform. For example, Instagram prefers video content with detailed captions whereas an email or newsletter is better suited for long-form written content.

Finally, how often you promote is also critical. As you go about building your own, if there is one thing to remember, always post more than you think. Algorithms are unpredictable as everyone is vying for the attention of one another, so it’s more important than ever to be your own cheerleader. One of your fans may miss out on the first post you share but see the second.

For instance, during the past month, Jackson averaged 2 posts per week encouraging his followers to purchase his Procreate Brush. If he’d only posted once and never again, he would have never made it to $4000 in sales.

#3: Offer options to increase appeal

In the same way that artists are unique in what they have to offer, consumers are unique in what they’d like to buy. Buying decisions can be determined by several factors that have nothing to do with how good the art is, such as: available budget, perceived value, time of year, emotional connection, scarcity, a sense of urgency, and more.

You can convert prospective buyers to realized sales by actively taking these factors into account and offering different kinds of products at different price points.

While your primary focus may be on creating one style of art, several complementary products can appeal to a wider range of customers such as digital offerings, merchandise, or physical prints. Wildy accounts for the preferences and needs of buyers through selling a variety of products at different price points as limited edition NFTs, fine art prints, greeting cards, and digital downloads.

You can also use one offering to encourage buyers to purchase another. For example, Wildy shares 6 different illustrations as Fleur Couture Coloring Sheets with digital downloads in her HUG Shop. Individually, these are $3.99 each. However, you can bundle and purchase all 6 for just $15. A buyer in this situation is happy to save 40% from their purchase, meanwhile, Wildy benefits from making more in passive income through selling a bundle instead of selling just one download.

Closing thoughts

Now it’s your turn.

They say it takes years to become an overnight success, and if you’ve been dedicating yourself to art, you’re already well on your way. If you’re ready to earn an income from your creativity, you can’t afford to out on any of three essential tips:

1. Build your community

2. Have a marketing plan

3. Offer options to increase appeal

Most importantly? Be kind and patient with yourself as you try and test new things. When something works well with selling your art, find a way to replicate it and commit to that strategy. If something isn’t working, don’t be shy about taking a new perspective and shirting your approach.

Just like art, sales require you to be creative in trial, error, and experimentation. If you’re looking to sell your art in new ways, sign up for a HUG Artist Storefront of your own. There are no sign-up costs, no monthly fees, and it’s nonexclusive. As always, we are here to help you.

Artist Grants and Opportunities

• 🇯🇵 Take Your Art to Tokyo: Display your art at the National Art Center Tokyo with Muse Hive for the upcoming DCentral Tokyo 2024 Event.

• 🖼️ Exhibit Your AI Art in a Gallery: Colonna Contemporary is seeking AI-collaborative artists to display n their physical and virtual gallery space.

• 🌷 Share Art with Impact: Flower Power is curating Adaptive Artists creating art on causes of their choice in social and environmental justice.

• 🌈 $1000 Grant for Queer Creators: Take pride with Meta Queens this June! 2 artists who identify as LGBTQIA+ will each receive a $500 grant. Donate as little as $1 to qualify.

• 👕 $1000 Prize for Merch Design: Mantle Ecosystem is awarding 3 artists with a $1000 USDC each in exchange for designing event merchandise.

• 💰 HUG is giving away $12,000 USD annually in artist grants in support of emerging artists.

This Week’s Art Drops

Did you know that these are just 8 of hundreds of art drops on HUG? Get a full list of this week’s art drops from HUG here.