How to Market Art and Illustration Online

In this article I provide advice on how to promote and how to market art and illustration and your services online whether you are an artist or an illustrator.There are literally thousands of people in the world who have a talent for art and illustration; unfortunately we will never get to enjoy the work produced by these people as they may not be marketing their skills successfully.

Many artists and illustrators I know have cupboards filled with high quality work which could be generating an income and raising their profile. It is surely the point of art to be enjoyed by people; otherwise the motivation for production can only be to satisfy personal pleasures. One of the most important and cost effective methods of how to market art is by harnessing the power of the Internet. The Internet offers large-scale reach for very limited cost.
Online marketing of art and illustration still requires fundamentals of marketing to be considered. Ask yourself:

“Who is my target audience?”
“How can I reach them with my message?”

Next consider the marketing mix and how you will use these tools of the Internet to promote your work.

Product
Price
Place
Promotion

In this article I will concentrate on 7 points to help with promotion via the web. Even the individual with a limited understanding of marketing can gain quick rewards after learning these points of the marketing mix…
The first point for consideration should be the creation of a website. Whether it’s a few pages created by a friend who has some technical knowledge or a fully functioning eCommerce site this element is crucial to your online success. You will need to choose a name for your website that is relevant. For example, if you are an illustrator who produces illustrations for children’s books then consider names that include the words, “children’s – illustrator”. Thought put into the choice of website name will reap rewards later through high search engine rankings.
Secondly, start a blog. There are hundreds of free blog facilities available where illustrators and artists can discuss their work and also benefit from promoting what the do at the same time. There is an added benefit with the use of blogs because search engines also like to see other sites linking to your website.
Thirdly, list your website with as many free directory and listing sites as you can in order to keep the volume of exposure high. As well as attracting traffic (i.e. visitors) to your website, it will also assist with your search engine rankings in the same manor as your blog.

Fourth, don’t forget about offline promotion – quote your website and blog addresses on your marketing literature, business cards etc so as to create maximum synergy between all of your promotional efforts.
Fifth, harness the power of Ezine Articles. Sites such as this share knowledge on your specialty subject. Now you are not only promoting what you are good at but are also building a reputation as a trusted source of information in your field on the web.
Sixth, speak to other artists and illustrators about sharing links for each other’s sites. Facebook is a great place to network with other artists. This practise is known as reciprocal linking and as well as being good for the search engine rankings, it is also a great way to network and gain word of mouth promotion.
Finally, consider publicising your illustration or art through use e-mail communications. Simple e-mail shots can be sent from software such as MS Outlook or Thunder bird mail. If you want to use a system that is a little more sophisticated (i.e. it offers more advanced tracking for response and opening statistics) then why not try a service like Constant Contact. This supplier offers free e-mail broadcast for small quantity mail outs, perfect if you are new to e-mail marketing and want to try your hand. E-mail communications are a very effective way of staying in touch with your target audience and can be used to promote a wide range of subjects from a new exhibition to current art or illustration projects.
So what’s stopping you, promote your illustration and art on the web today!

*****

Paul Featherstone is a Digital Consultant and founder of digital solutions provider at We Are Web. Paul has over a decade of online marketing experience and a wealth of knowledge covering digital project management, web design and development. http://www.weareweb.co.uk/
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PS. I would love to meet you on Facebook and Twitter!