http://www.LloydDobsonArtist.com Help People Buy Their First Piece Of Art. Let's reflect back to those early years where you attended art school or was your major in college and had aspirations of completing your schooling and everything would fall into place with your art career. Remember this fantasy? All you had to do is create your work and customers would flock to your studio and buy your work. Obviously now you know it is not that easy, however with an understanding of marketing it could become much easier. Realizing that art is an option and not a necessity requires some basic understanding on how to promote your art and obtain buyers. Art competes with tons of other commodities in the marketplace, first for attention and ultimately for dollars (just like every item for sale in every store simultaneously competes for your business). Any business needs just two things: Traffic and conversions. Period! Your art is no different. You know you've got your work cut out for you if you expect to make a living as an artist, and that convincing multiple individuals to buy your art on a regular basis is not an easy job. In my early career an art dealer once told me, "No art sells itself." And he's right, but that doesn't mean you hawk it like timeshares or used cars. Selling your art is not about tactical maneuvers or strategizing on markets, but rather about capitalizing on those moments when people are impressed enough, for whatever reasons, to stop, look, and maybe even ask you a few questions. You see, some of these people will be thinking about buying, so to increase the odds that they slip you cash or a credit card, you have to present and contextualize whatever art they're looking at in ways they can understand and appreciate, and transition them from lookers to owners.

1. Help People Buy
Their First Piece of
Art on Siesta Key

2. Let's reflect back to those early years
where you attended art school or was
your major in college and had
aspirations of completing your
schooling and everything would fall
into place with your art career.
Remember this fantasy? All you had
to do is create your art and customers
would flock to your studio and buy
your work.

3. Obviously now you know it is not
that easy, however with an
understanding of marketing it could
become much easier. Realizing that
art is an option and not a necessity
requires some basic understanding
on how to promote your art and
obtain buyers.

4. Art competes with tons of other
commodities in the marketplace,
first for attention and ultimately for
dollars (just like every item for sale
in every store simultaneously
competes for your business).

5. Any business needs just two things:
TRAFFIC & CONVERSIONS. Period!
Your art is no different. You know
you've got your work cut out for you if
you expect to make a living as an
artist, and that convincing multiple
individuals to buy your art on a
regular basis is not an easy job.

6. In my early career an art dealer once
told me, "No art sells itself." And he's
right, but that doesn't mean you
hawk it like timeshares or used cars.
Selling your art is not about tactical
maneuvers or strategizing on
markets, but rather about
capitalizing on those moments when
people are impressed enough, for
whatever reasons, to stop, look, and
maybe even ask you a few questions.

7. You see, some of these people will be
thinking about buying, so to increase
the odds that they slip you cash or a
credit card, you have to present and
contextualize whatever art they're
looking at in ways they can
understand and appreciate, and
transition them from lookers to
owners.

8. People like to believe that they're
doing the right thing when they buy
art, but since most of them don't
know much about art, you have to
help them. They need conviction,
courage and understanding because
owning art is not easy.

9. Take Joe, for example. Let's say Joe
buys a piece of art. He takes it home
and hangs it on his dining room wall.
Several weeks later, he invites Mary,
Susie and Bill over for a dinner party.
So the four of them are seated at the
dining room table, rapt with culinary
delight, sipping fine wine, chortling
it up and swapping gossip, when
Mary points to Joe's art and asks, "Is
that new?"

10. "Yep," answers Joe.
"Where'd you get it?" asks Mary.
Joe's answer has to satisfy Mary,
Susie, and Bill.
"Really," says Bill. "Who's the artist?”
Joe's answer has to satisfy Bill, Mary,
and Susie.
"That's interesting," says Susie. "I've
never seen anything like it. What's it
about or maybe location?"

11. Joe's answer has to satisfy Susie, Bill,
and Mary.
Poor Joe's on the spot, isn't he? He
sure doesn't want to look stupid in
front of his friends, going out and
buying art he can't explain. Not only
does he have to explain it, but if he's
like most people who buy art, he also
wants to impress his friends and
acquaintances with his discerning
taste and sophistication.

12. Furthermore, tonight is only the first
of many times that Joe will be
required to defend his art. For as long
as he owns it, all kinds of people,
many of whom know even less about
art than Joe does, will ask all kinds of
questions, and Joe will want to sound
like he knows what he's doing when
it's his turn to talk.

13. Silly as this sounds, it's what art
owners go through-- and one of the
main reasons why so many people are
afraid to buy art-- they're worried
about being embarrassed by what
others might think, say, or ask. Not
only do they have to justify their art
to themselves, but also to anyone
who sees it and has questions.
You MUST interact with your
customer & tell the story

14. The Joes of the world want to own
your art, believe me, but they need
your help first. You have to show
them how to defend themselves--
give them the ammo, the confidence,
the protections they need to fend off
doubts about whether or not they're
doing the right thing if they buy it.

15. The good news is that most buyers
need only the basics; you don't have
to get complicated. Since most
people don't know a lot about art,
they don't need a lot of explanation,
and-- here's the crucial part-- they
don't want a lot of explanation
because they confuse easily.
Consider, for example, the sentence,
"My art is about palm trees and Siesta
Key beach."

17. This entry-level statement is clean
and simple; it explains an artist's art
in a way that anybody can
understand, and people who don't
know much about art will go
surprisingly far with it.

18. Suppose you have no basics, you have
no idea what your art is about-- it just
happens. Fine. Then talk about what
happens, what inspires you, how you
start, your process, how you make it,
what you use, how you know you're
done, and so on. Again, keep it
simple. For instance, say "I make my
art entirely out of things I find while
hiking in the hills." Believe it or not,
this is enough.

19. All you have to do is suggest; plant
the seeds. The viewers will do the
rest. They come to their own
conclusions, and most importantly,
feel confident that they understand
the art (and they do, in their own
unique ways).

20. One thing to avoid is being vague,
saying stuff like "different people
respond to my art in different ways."
Of course they do, but so what? Far
too many artists use this copout,
which does nobody any good-- it
leaves viewers wondering whether or
not their responses are "right" and it
leaves the artists with no sales.

21. People want a little structure; they
want starting points. Then when they
respond, they feel like their
responses "make sense." Basic
information also makes art harder to
dismiss. It connects people up and
gets them involved. Think of how fast
you dismiss things as you go about
your daily business, especially things
you have no information (or too
much information) about.

22. You don't want that to happen with
your art. You want people who stop
and look to stay stopped for as long
as possible.

23. Perhaps the most important key to
"selling" your art, both literally and
figuratively, is giving people reasons
to care. With all the other stuff out
there for people to care about, why
should they care about your art? Why
do you care about your art?

24. That's a great place to start. If you can
convey and convince in a simple
sentence or two why people should
care about your art the way that you
care about it-- you make sales.

25. I see plenty of great art by plenty of
successful artists every day, and one
characteristic that the overwhelming
majority of these artists share is that
they've figured out how to distill
their art down so simply and directly
that even I can understand it.

26. Sure, these artists are perfectly able
to go deep when they have to, and
they do-- all the time-- but they know
that the more people who can
identify with their art on whatever
levels, the more rewarding their art
careers will be.

27. Happy Creating and
Selling Your Art!

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