Two things stood out in last week’s survey results.
First, a very large number of artists had real trouble having the confidence to market their work.
Which I can understand: I know as well as any artist that getting your own creation out into the world can be tough.
Point in case: that novel of mine.
But an even bigger issue was funds.
Money to invest in marketing.
Makes sense too, if you’ve not sold often, or if you never earn good cash for your art.
But, unless you invest, it’s going to be very hard to get anything sold.
That said, you don’t necessarily need to invest money.
Sure it helps, if you can buy a bells&whistles equipped fancy website with integrated shopping cart and whatnot.
Not that it’s a requirement.
In fact, if you think about it, it makes more sense to invest time instead of money.
For one thing, time spent learning.
Learning where your ideal client can be found.
Learning how to communicate with them.
Learning which social media channels will work best for you, by way of testing the various options.
Next, there’s the fact that you can invest time in actually taking action.
You wouldn’t be the first to discover the knack, and go from starving artist to someone who actually makes a living (or even *gasp* a profit*), just because you diligently tried and tested.
If you listen to the podcast, read the blogs, you’ll find all kinds of examples (and inspiration) of artists who actually ‘made it’.
Some on Facebook, others on Twitter, some on Pinterest, people on Etsy and others on Faso…
It can be done, it can work.
You can make it if you try, and if you keep at it diligently.
And that’s why I’m so excited that I ran that survey last week.
Because from all the responses I learned SO MUCH about the myriad ways artists struggle.
More importantly, it enables me to give you, for free, a whole slew of tips, tricks, advice and recommendations.
So stay tuned for tomorrow’s announcement, when I’ll send you the download link for the recording.
Now, back to investing.
Yes it would be great to have money to invest.
But there are TONS of things you can do that cost nothing at all.
Whether it’s social media, gallery websites that you use and promote, or calling up previous buyers – as long as you’re willing to engage, and have a bit of grit, you can sell you work, even if you haven’t got a dime to invest.
And you should.
For your own sake and wallet, and for the sake of the world, because if you make something beautiful and meaningful, the world deserves to see it.
No time, you say?
I can relate.
But you can afford 30 or 60 minutes a day on marketing activities.
Everybody can.
And while it doesn’t seem like much, it definitely compounds, at the end of the year.
So why not put on your thinking cap, single out one activity that stands a chance of succeeding, and make a habit of repeating it daily?
You might be very surprised to see what it adds up to in 2 or 3 or 4 months.
Sign up today and you will get free access to the free 1-hour recording of your survey questions answered. It’ll be available to download to all subscribers until March 7th.
Sign up to get the free recording here.
Cheers,
Martin
