The New Year is a time for artists to look ahead to how they can grow and advance their art careers. Although 2020 is technically behind us, there are still some challenges to overcome as the world continues to work its way out of a terrible pandemic. This has been enormously difficult for everyone but artists and the arts community has been hit particularly hard. However, with the release of vaccines, there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel and it is time for artists to look forward.
At the beginning of every New Year, we post an article with ideas and suggestions for how artists can to make plans for how to kick-start and best to tackle your art career goals in 2020.
Have you set up your art marketing goals for the New Year? If not, the following are 5 things you can do to kick start 2021 and improve your chances of success.
Many of these ideas have been offered up in previous “kick-start” posts but they are elementary and consistently implementing them is not. They are critical for artists if they are to market themselves and their art successfully.
Evaluate & Update Your Website
While the past year has given some artists the time and opportunity to either create or update their websites, for many it has been difficult to concentrate amid the worry of the ongoing pandemic. However, in today’s art world, particularly with all its changes, in order to be taken seriously, it is essential for artists to have a modern, professional, up-to-date website to display their art.
The annual cost to purchase or renew a website domain is typically less than $20. The cost of basic website hosting can be as low as $3-$4 per month. A website is an investment artists need to make a priority in order to be taken seriously.
For those of you who already have websites, if you haven’t reviewed it in a while, now is the time. When was the last time that you went page by page and link by link through it? We all need to do this to find broken links, pages that do not load quickly, graphics, images and other items that have moved, along with pages with misspelled words and similar issues.
The presentation of your art is as important as creating it. Take some time to review your site and make any necessary changes and corrections. Make sure all of the images on your website are sized properly and have a low resolution (a resolution of 72 helps your site load more quickly and protects your art from being copied by unscrupulous people). The images should also be color corrected if necessary, as some cameras and lighting do no always capture an artwork’s true colors. There are many free programs on the internet for this.
Also, do you have better images or graphics to replace what now exists on your website? Do you have new artwork that you just have not had time to photograph and add to your website? Do it.
While checking your images, make sure that they are labeled and tagged properly with good image descriptions. Search engines will only index your images if they have descriptions. By doing this, your images will show up in the image search results and when the images are viewed, viewers will be directed to your art website.
Rewrite/ Update your Artists Bio and Statement
A well-written biography and/or artist statement is also essential for artists and now is the time to review and update them. An artist does not have to be an accomplished writer to create a well-written biography and artist statement, but it is necessary for an artist to have at least one. It is also important to know the difference between a biography and artist statement as many artists mistake one for the other. Please read our article “Comparing an Artist’s Biography to an Artist’s Statement” for clarification.
Also, update your CV by adding any exhibitions, new publications or other pertinent information that has taken place since the last time it was updated.
Use Social Media
Social media has become a part of our everyday lives and is an important platform for all artists to employ in order to help market themselves and their art. Why is this? In our opinion, it is easy to identify and connect with the art community when using social media.
It is also an effective medium because it is a visual and simple way in which to present your art. Particularly now, Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedin, Instagram and even Twitter provide artists with opportunities (if targeted properly) to reach viewers who were previously unreachable.
Read our articles “Top 10 Reasons Why Artists Fail with Social Media”, “Using the 70-20-10 Rule to Succeed at Social Media Marketing” by guest blogger James Baxter, and “How to Write Social Media Posts That Sell Art” by guest blogger Frank Hamilton, along with various other social media articles on the LST website, for further advice and instruction on how best to use social media to grow your audience reach.
Press Release Marketing
Press release marketing is a low-cost way artists can market their artwork to a wider range of potential viewers. There are many “Free” press release websites, which take, publish and market an artist’s press release copy. One such site is PRLog.org. PRLog’s free press release submission includes a PDF version to send to your mailing list, a search engine optimized page, hyperlinks in the content, and the option to select location/industry and tag listings. In addition, companies like Star One Public Relations offers press release distribution services for as low as $10.00 for distribution to 70+ press outlets. Read our article “Successful Press Release Marketing for Artists” and 6 Benefits for Press Releases for Artists to help guide you in these efforts. Also check out our article “5 Ways Artists Can Promote Their Art Online” for more ideas.
Start a Blog
Artists should seriously consider starting an art blog as a way to attract and direct additional interested viewers to their art websites. An art blog is a great way to expand an artist’s target audience. It is also an effective platform to help artists market their art.
Read our articles “Top 3 Reasons Why You Should Have an Art Blog” and “How Artists Can Attract Readers to an Art Blog” in order to fully understand the power of a well-executed art blog.
In 2021, we hope you will make at least some, if not all, of these suggestions part of your art marketing efforts. By implementing these recommendations, artists can experience increased traffic to their websites, find more people interested in their art and ultimately, sell more of their work.
However, as with any marketing program, it is important to focus your efforts. All artists should view the marketing of their art to be as important as the creation of it and an art-marketing plan needs to be well planned and performed consistently in order to be successful. Check out our article “5 Tips for Creating an Effective Art Marketing Strategy” by guest blogger Wendy Dessler, for more suggestions.
Good luck and have a creative, successful and prosperous 2021!
Promoting themselves and their art is an important element of an artist’s marketing strategy. Digital marketing has become more and more relevant in every industry and this is no different in the art world. Online and social media promotion can reach a large audience of potential buyers and collectors and artists should use all avenues at their disposal to promote and publicize their art events and art career success.
Below are five of the most effective ways for an artist to digitally promote and leverage their art career success:
1. Post an Article on Your Website
These days all artists should have a website. A website is an investment artists should make a priority in order to be taken seriously. A web domain costs less than $20 per year and basic monthly web hosting costs as low as $5 per month.
Creating and posting an article on your website detailing information about your art news and/or event can help artists drive more traffic to their websites. Research has shown that artists with art blogs on their websites, where they post articles about news, events and exhibitions, receive more traffic to their websites.
2. Send an Announcement to Your Mailing List
Hopefully, you have been acquiring names and email addresses for people and visitors to your website and social media networks. Send these people a newsletter notice, a copy of a press release or a copy of your website article post.
Invite them to view your art or the event online as well as in person. Provide dates, times, addresses, telephone numbers, and links. Use your winning art as a graphic for the email, newsletter, article post and the press release to generate interest.
3. Create a YouTube Video and Promote It
Create a YouTube Video (Slide Show) about the art, the art exhibition, the opening of the show, etc. There are many free or inexpensive programs you can use to create these videos.
Create a YouTube channel and upload and promote the video to your contacts, networks, and friends. You have the ability to share and distribute the video directly from YouTube.
4. Post Your Event and/or News on Social Media
Social media is a powerful tool for both reaching new fans and staying in touch with established ones. In order to announce your news, event or exhibition, post your article post, press release or YouTube Video on your social media networks multiple times at varying times of the day. Ask your friends to “share” these social media posts too. Be sure the post contains active links back to your website as well as to the art exhibition or event.
5. Create and Distribute a Press Release
Create a professional press release announcing your exhibition success in the third person (as if someone other than yourself had written about this event). Then research online press release distribution companies and select someone to distribute the release for you.
As we have posted in previous articles, there are companies that will distribute a press release for as little as $10.00, depending on the type and amount of distribution that you want. Make sure that the press release targets the art industry and contains active links back to your website as well as to the art exhibition.
In terms of expense, except for the professional press release distribution, the steps above are free, requiring only the artist’s time. In that spirit, starting with the 10th Annual “Botanicals” online art exhibition, the gallery will be providing a new award. We will be gifting our top winning artists, including special merit award winning artists, with a complimentary VIP Membership to Art.base.co. Art.Base produces 100,000 page views per month, 35,000 monthly unique visitors and has 10,000+ newsletter subscribers. With this complimentary account, artists can post their art news and events for free.
Also starting with the 10th Annual “Landscapes” art competition, entry fees will increase by $1, to $15 and $25 respectively. Early registration and the "Solo Art Series" entry fees will also increase $1, as we increase our awards, marketing and promotion efforts on behalf of our artists.
In the coming weeks we will be posting new and updated articles with helpful hints and suggestions for creating professional art press releases. If you are not already on the LST mailing list, please subscribe to receive our newsletter and announcements of new articles and competitions.
There are certainly additional ways in which artists can promote and market themselves and their art. However, we believe the above suggestions are the most effective ways in which artists can digitally promote their art career success.
At the beginning of every New Year, we post an article with ideas and suggestions for how artists can to kick start the new year. Now that the year 2020 has begun, it is time to review the past 12 months and make plans for how best to tackle your art career goals in 2020.
Have you set up your art marketing goals for the New Year? If not, the following are 5 things you can do to kick start 2020 and improve your chances of success.
Many of these ideas are elementary, but consistently implementing them is not. They are critical for artists if they are to market themselves and their art successfully.
1. Evaluate & Update Your Website
In today’s art world, in order to be taken seriously, it is essential for artists to have a modern, professional, up-to-date website to display their art. The annual cost of a domain is typically less than $20. The cost of basic website hosting can be as low as $3 per month. A website is an investment artists should make a priority in order to be taken seriously.
For those of you who already have websites, when was the last time that you went page by page and link by link through it? If you are like most people it has probably been a very long time! I think that if you were to do this with your website you would find broken links, pages that do not load quickly, graphics, images and other items that have moved, along with pages with misspelled words and similar issues.
Is this how you want your website visitors to see your art? Take some time to make these corrections. Also, if you have pages that do not load quickly due to large image files or due to flash and music features, these items should be corrected or removed as people do not have the time to wait on your pages to load. Otherwise, if not corrected you will be losing these valuable visitors to your site.
Make sure all of the images on your website are sized properly and have a low resolution (a resolution of 72 helps your site load more quickly and protects your art from being copied by unscrupulous people). The images should also be color corrected. (There are many free programs on the internet for this.)
Do you have better images or graphics to replace what now exists on your website? Do you have new artwork that you just have not had time to photograph and add to your website? Do it.
Also, while checking your images, make sure that they are labeled and tagged properly with good image descriptions. Search engines will only index your images if they have descriptions. By doing this, your images will show up in the image search results. When the images are viewed, viewers will be directed to your art website.
2. Rewrite/ Update your Artists Bio and Statement
Review and update your Artist Statement and Artist Biography. An artist does not have to be an accomplished writer to create a well-written Biography and Artist’s Statement, but it is essential for an artist to have at least one. It is important to know the difference between a biography and artist statement. Please read our article “Comparing an Artist’s Biography to an Artist’s Statement” for clarification.
Also, update your CV by adding any exhibitions, new publications or other pertinent information that has taken place since the last time they were updated.
3. Use Social Media
Social media is the perfect platform for artists to employ in order to help market themselves and their art. Why is this? In our opinion, it is easy to identify and connect with the art community when using social media.
We also think it is an effective medium because it is a visual and simple way in which to present your art. Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedin, Instagram and even Twitter provide an artist with opportunities (if targeted properly) to reach viewers who were previously unreachable.
Read our article “Top 10 Reasons Why Artists Fail with Social Media” along with various other social media articles on the LST website.
4. Press Release Marketing
Press release marketing is a low-cost way artists can market their artwork to a wide range of potential viewers. There are many “Free” press release websites, which take, publish and market an artist’s press release copy. One such site is PRLog.org. PRLog’s free press release submission includes a PDF version to send to your mailing list, a search engine optimized page, hyperlinks in the content, and the option to select location/industry and tag listings. In addition, companies like Star One Public Relations offers press release distribution services for as low as $10.00 for distribution to 70+ press outlets. Read our article “Successful Press Release Marketing for Artists” and 6 Benefits for Press Releases for Artists to help guide you in these efforts.
5. Have Your Art Portfolio Reviewed Professionally
A professional Portfolio Review provides an artist with an evaluation of their art and a critique of how the art is being presented to others. Usually, during a portfolio review, the reviewers provide artists with additional ideas on how they can effectively market their art.
Much like art competitions, a Portfolio Review is an additional way in which artists can have their artwork evaluated and measured against other artists.
6. Start a Blog
Artists should consider starting an art blog as a way to attract and direct additional interested viewers to their art websites. An art blog is a great way to expand an artist’s target audience. It is also an effective platform to help artists market their art.
Read our articles “Top 3 Reasons Why You Should Have an Art Blog” and “How Artists Can Attract Readers to an Art Blog” in order to fully understand the power of a well-executed art blog.
In 2020 we hope you will make these suggestions part of your art marketing efforts. By implementing these recommendations, we believe artists will increase traffic to their websites, find more people interested in their art and ultimately, sell more of their work.
However, as with any marketing program, it is important to focus your efforts and they need to be well executed and performed consistently in order to be successful.
Good luck and have a creative and successful 2020!
Every month the Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery sends out hundreds of press releases promoting the Gallery’s monthly themed exhibition winners and Solo Art Series winning artists. In addition to in-house resources, the Gallery utilizes both external promotion partners and professional press release services.
However, artists can always benefit from additional publicity and should promote their art career and exhibition success, at every opportunity, by conducting a public relations (PR) campaign for their art.
Artists can do this for any newsworthy art related event. Please see our previous post 10 Events for Artists to Send Out Press Releases for guidance on what would be considered a "newsworthy" art related event.
One of the easiest and most economical ways for an artist to promote their newsworthy art related event is by publishing their own digital press releases.
Below, are 6 benefits of publishing press releases for any artist:
1. Instant Exposure for Your Art and/or Newsworthy Art Related Event
Once a press release is made live, it should be searchable on the internet. With proper keywords, title tags and meta-descriptions, the press release can be found immediately and easily.
2. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Benefits
Press releases should contain keywords related to the subject matter of your press release. Make sure that any tags point to your subject as well. The subject’s relevant keywords and tags will make your press release article searchable.
3. Press Releases Create Backlinks and Increase Traffic to Your Art Website
Well-written, strategically placed press releases create backlinks and can increase traffic to the artist’s website. The number of backlinks increase the artist’s page rank with major search engines.
4. Press Releases are Industry Specific with Location Targeting
Most press release distribution sites are set up based on industry types (such as Arts & Entertainment) and geographic locations. This unique targeting improves the chances that the message will be read by the artist’s particular target audience.
5. Press Releases are distributed to Art Related Blogs and Art News Sites
Press releases also are distributed and read by art blogs and art news websites. This form of distribution will increase the artist’s overall reach and may potentially open up opportunities for additional exposure for the artist.
6. Press Releases Can Provide Worldwide Reach
Depending on the service and its target audience, press releases provide an artist with worldwide reach and exposure.
Artists who are interested in having an effective marketing campaign should consider adding press releases to their promotions and marketing mix. An effective public relations campaign does not have to be an expensive or time-consuming venture. There are both free and low-cost PR distribution companies on the internet.
For free press release distribution, we recommend PRLog. PRLog’s free press release submission includes a PDF version to send to your mailing list, a search engine optimized page, hyperlinks in the content, and the option to select location/industry and tag listings. One of the companies LST uses is Star One Public Relations, which offers press release distribution services for as low as $10.00 for distribution to 70+ press outlets. Star One also offers special targeted distribution for $30.
In early November look for a new post "5 Tips for Creating an Effective Art Marketing Strategy" by Guest Blogger, Wendy Dessler.
By Caroll Michels, Guest Blogger – With Excerpts from How to Survive & Prosper as an Artist: Selling Yourself without Selling Your Soul (Allworth Press, 2018)
A press release should be used to announce anything newsworthy pertaining to your career. Unfortunately, the press release is a tool underutilized because many artists are either too humble or too absorbed with career challenges and the bumps of daily living to recognize what about themselves is newsworthy. They might view the media as an inaccessible planet that grants visas only to famous artists. Consequently, many press release opportunities slip by.
Press releases can lead to articles about you. Articles can lead to career recognition. Articles can lead to sales and commissions. Articles can lead to invitations to participate in exhibitions or performances, and to speaking engagements. Articles can be used as support material to help you obtain fellowships, grants, honors, and awards.
Press releases that I wrote about some of my own projects generated an interview on Bloomberg Radio News and led to articles in the New York Times, the Washington Post, House and Garden, Playboy, Metropolis, New York, Architectural Design, and syndicated articles in more than one hundred newspapers throughout the United States. In Europe, my press releases generated articles in the International Herald Tribune, Paris Match, Der Spiegel, Casabella, and Domus. These articles then generated invitations to exhibit at museums and cultural centers throughout the United States and in Europe. In addition, some articles led directly to commissions and sales.
Use a press release to announce an exhibition, regardless of whether it is a single show in a library or a retrospective at a museum or a group exhibition where you are one of two or one of one hundred participants. A press release should be issued when you receive a prize, honor, award, grant, or fellowship or win a competition. It should be issued if your work is sold to a public or corporate collector or to an important local, regional, national, or international private collector. A press release should be issued to announce a lecture, demonstration, performance, or event. It should also be issued to announce a commission and the completion of a commission.
A press release can also be issued to publicize a new body of work. Artist Anthony J. Rudisill used a press release to announce “The National Park Series,” an ongoing project that consisted of landscape and seascape paintings honoring the 100th anniversary of the National Parks Service. As a result of the press release, feature articles about Rudisill were generated in Mountain Living, Wild West Magazine, The Cottage Journal, and Arizona Highways.
Recipients of a press release should not be limited to art publications and blogs. For example, Susan Harkavy, a guerrilla marketing, and public relations consultant developed a press campaign for a client who is known for sculptures with a sports theme. Her client had received a very large commission from a sports league hall of fame. Harkavy’s press release targeted magazines in the fields of general interest, travel, sports, and men. It was also sent to metro magazines and newspapers in the city and state where the commission was to be installed, to in-flight magazines published by airlines that fly to the city where the commission was to be installed, to the hometown newspaper and magazines where the artist currently lived, and to the artist’s college alumni magazine. In addition, radio and television stations were contacted in the city where the commission took place.
Press releases have an amazing longevity. Writers tend to keep subject files for future story ideas. Although your release could be filed away when it is received, it might very well be stored in a subject file for future use. Press releases regarding my projects have resulted in articles or mentions in books as much as six years after the releases were issued!
Caroll Michels is a career coach and artist-advocate. She has helped thousands of artists launch and sustains their careers in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and South and Central America. Her artwork has been exhibited in museums, including the Georges Pompidou Museum in Paris, Haus am Waldsee: Internationale Kunst in Berlin, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. www.carollmichels.com
Many artists have not availed themselves of the numerous advantages of conducting an ongoing public relations (PR) campaign for their art or art services.
An effective PR campaign does not have to be an expensive or time-consuming venture. An effective PR program can be developed and run based on the artist’s resources that range from free to moderately expensive.
For DIY’s, there are many free PR distribution companies on the internet. There are also many modestly priced services (from $15.00 to $100.00) that will distribute and write press releases to as many as 70 news organizations.
Below, are 10 instant benefits for any artist who wishes to conduct an ongoing PR campaign;
1. Instant Exposure for Your Art Site, Event or Service
Once a press release is published, it should be searchable on the internet. With proper keywords, title tags and meta-descriptions, the press release can be found immediately on the internet.
2. Increased Traffic to your Art Website
Relevant subject matter and embedded links, article posts or ads will draw visitors to your website.
3. Increased Sales of Your Art or Art Services
With the increase in traffic to your website, there should be a corresponding amount of conversions (sale of your product or service).
4. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Benefits
Press releases should contain keywords related to your subject or service. Make sure that any tags point to your subject as well. The subject’s relevant keywords and tags will make your press release article searchable for others on the internet.
5. Improved Branding Online
Over time, a well-conducted and consistent PR campaign will help to brand the artist and their art within their art niche.
6. Press Releases are a Great Marketing Addition
Press releases are a great way for an artist to add to their marketing and promotional campaigns. It is a medium that is controlled by the artist in terms of “message” and “target audience”.
7. Press Releases Create Backlinks to Your Art Website
Well-written, strategically placed press releases create backlinks to the artist’s website. The number of backlinks will eventually increase the artist’s page rank with major search engines.
8. Press Releases are Industry Specific with Location Targeting
Press release distribution sites are now set up based on industry types (such as Arts & Entertainment) and geographic locations. This unique targeting improves the chances that the message will be read by the artist’s particular target audience.
9. PR is Distributed to Art Related Blogs and Art News Sites
Press releases also are distributed and read by art blogs and art news websites. This form of distribution will increase the artist’s overall reach and may potentially open up opportunities for additional exposure for the artist.
10. Press Releases Can Provide Worldwide Reach
Depending on the service and its target audience, press releases to provide an artist with worldwide reach and exposure.
Artists who are interested in having an effective marketing campaign should consider adding public relations to their promotions and marketing mix. Public relations is a low cost and effective way to control your message and to direct that message to a targeted audience.
The following are some thoughts on what an artist can do to improve their chances of success in the coming New Year. Contained in these ideas are links to additional articles and posts which will explain and detail these concepts more fully for the reader;
1. Check all of the pages of your website to see if they working properly and loading quickly. If you can speed up the loading of your Home Page, this should be done. Besides being annoying to some viewers, slow loading speeds can negatively impact whether your website gets a higher page rank or not. Also, make sure that your website links (internal and external links) are working and that the format of each page is the way in which it was intended to be viewed (for whatever reason, things move, stop working, disappear, images and graphics can suddenly not be viewed).
2. Make sure that all of the images on your website are sized properly, with a low resolution (A Resolution of 72 will help your site to loader more quickly too) and the images should be color corrected as well.
Are there better images or graphics that can be substituted for what now exists on the website? . This should be done in order to get the search engines to index your images (Without image descriptions the images will not be indexed). By doing this, they will ultimately get your images to show up in the search results and when the images are viewed, they will also direct the viewer to your art website as well.
3. Review all written text and images within your art portfolio. Whatever parts of the portfolio can be improved upon should also be done. Are there any new images that you can display? Are there better images that can replace present ones in your portfolio? Try to upgrade and update wherever possible within your art portfolio. Make sure all have titles, sizes and pricing information.
4. Review and rewrite your Artist Statement and Biography. Update your CV adding any exhibitions, new publications and any other pertinent information that has taken place since the last time that it was posted on your website or printed in your portfolio.
5. Review any of your social media accounts, update or complete your profiles. If any of your social media profile images can be improved or upgraded, then they should be done and also add any other new information to those social media profiles as well. Just make sure that whatever is written or is shown on the profiles is spelled correctly and with proper sentence structure.
Remember, a social media profile is almost like having an online resume’ for the whole world to see. The idea of a Social Media Profile is to get people to want more information about you by going to your art website. This is accomplished with a completed, well written and attractive Social Media Profile.
Here are a few other ideas for an artist to try and to follow in the New Year; In order to drive more traffic to your website, an artist should consider starting an Art Blog for the New Year. An art blog helps to brand you as an expert, expands your target audience and ultimately will provide more visitors to your website.
Also, an artist should try to join and set up with as many Artist Registries and Directory Websites as possible in order to also create and direct additional traffic back to their art website.
There are many free Art Portfolio Websites where an artist can join and also expose their art to many more viewers. Whether it is an Artistry Registry, Directory or an Art Portfolio website, any of these platforms will help to direct traffic back to the artist’s website and should be freely employed by the artist.
An artist should start an ongoing online public relations campaign for all important art-related occasions, events, and functions that they are involved in throughout the year. Here is an article that we posted with some ideas to follow; Top 10 Events for Artists to Send Out Press Releases.
If the artist is totally happy with their marketing efforts and with the volume of sales of their art, then all of the suggestions above are totally unnecessary. However, if the artist is disappointed with their results, then we believe that some of these ideas may help the artist to be more successful in 2014.
Happy New Year to all art professionals from the Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery
I often hear this phrase from artists or some variation thereof such as, “If I could Get Discovered, Then My Art Will Sell!” or “If I Could Only Get Discovered, Then I Will Become a Successful Artist”. I am sorry but I am here to tell you that this type of thinking could not be further from the truth and that waiting to be discovered is a sure road to discouragement, ruin, and starvation! Staying in your studio and creating your art does not help you to get discovered, nor does it help you to sell your art.
Today, more than ever, in order for an artist to get “discovered” an artist needs to use every marketing and promotional resource available to them. In addition to the numerous media and marketing platforms, a concentrated and consistent effort needs to be employed by the artist to “get their art out there”. The competition is fierce for any artist who is trying to become successful and instead of waiting for people to come to you, the artist needs to go out and find them. They (Gallery Owners & Directors, Art Reps, Art Buyers & Collectors), are just not going to come and find (discover) you. Artists being discovered this way only happens in books, on television, and in movies. If the artist is not prepared to put in the time and effort to market their art, then they should be resigned to the fact that their art will just become a fun hobby.
Several years ago I wrote an article post titled “Follow the 80/20 Rule to Succeed in the Art Business”. The premise of the article was that in order for an artist to become successful that they should devote 80% of their time marketing and promoting their art and the other 20% of their time creating art. The article assumed that their art was good but that the artist had been unsuccessful in selling and marketing their art.
This article was quickly and severally panned by the “Art Establishment” as being absolutely unrealistic and an unworkable blueprint on how an artist can become successful. If your art is good and it is NOT selling then there must be a problem! I am the first to admit that unless you are some sort of “marketing junky” then the prospect of devoting 80% of your time marketing, promoting and selling is not very appealing or is it fun! But I am afraid that something close to what I just described or some sort of drastic action must be taken by the artist in order to become a successful and established artist.
I have a few questions to ask you about your present marketing efforts. Have you identified who your target audience is and analyzed how to reach them effectively? Do you have a website that is designed properly, displays and showcases your art correctly? Do you have an art Blog or an online art newsletter that helps to drive traffic to your website? Are you currently taking advantage of and using Social Media to make contacts, promote your art and building your brand? Do you have an email marketing campaign that exposes your work to your target audience? Are you using PR sites to promote your events, shows, and sales? Are you promoting your work on Document sites, Bookmarking sites, related Blog sites, as well as on YouTube? Is your work designed to be found on Smart Phones and on iPads? None of this technology is expensive and most of it is free. It is only the artist investing their time, creativity and their effort in order to take advantage of these different media in order to promote their artwork.
Yes, the effort that I described above does take time, hard work and persistence. The question is do you want to become a successful artist or are you just waiting to be discovered? If your answer is the former, rather than the later, then it is time to try spending the majority of your time marketing and branding your art. Over time, I believe that the artist will begin to see good results, more sales and that they will be on their way to becoming a “discovered” and a successful artist.
Artists should use press releases to promote and market their art brand whenever they are involved in or when they participate in any newsworthy art-related event. Press releases are a very fast and effective way in which an artist can get their “message” to their target audience.
Today, there are myriad of press release services who will distribute an artist’s press release news within a 24 hour period of time, and importantly, for a very low cost to the artist. Besides getting the news/message out, press releases also create “backlinks” to the artist’s website, which in turn helps an artist in achieving a higher page rank when the major search engines index their website.
Just what are some occasions and reasons to create and distribute a press release? Below are what we believe to be the “Top 10 Events” for an artist to send out a press release:
1. Participation in Any New Art Shows.
2. Any New Art Gallery Representation.
3. Any Art Competition Success.
4. Participation in Any Group or Solo Exhibitions.
5. Any Speech or Presentation which is Art Related.
6. The Donation of Art or Participation in a Charity Event.
7. Any New Sale or Installation of Art.
8. The Announcement of a New Series of Art.
9. Announcing a New Publication or Book.
10. Receiving Any Awards or for Any Special Recognition.
Just remember that a press release should be when an event is “newsworthy” and it is not a commercial or a blatant self-promotion. An artist’s press release should answer the following questions for the reader: who, what, when, where, why and how. To write about anything else will make an advertisement out of one’s work and the press release will either not be accepted for publishing and distribution or it will simply not be read at all.
All press releases should have an “About the Artist” section, as well as an “Artist Contact” section contained at the end of the press release. In addition, there should always be links back to the artist’s website or blog contained in the press release.
Artists should begin to formulate and plan on how they can benefit from press release marketing and promotion now and in the future based on any of their newsworthy “art events”.
You entered an art competition and were accepted into a group exhibition, now what should you do to leverage that achievement? At every chance, an artist should try to promote and market this success.
Hopefully, this article will provide an exhibiting artist with a plan of action to take advantage of this news and below are some ideas on what an artist can do to leverage this accomplishment through social media, traditional marketing, online marketing and press release promotions.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is becoming the fastest way for an artist to expose, market and brand their artwork. This is a relatively new marketing tool whereby an artist can make an impact and will be able to see and measure results immediately.
An artist should have the ability through their art website to be able to post articles, news, and press releases. This ability to post is very important as these posts will then create individual URL’s that can also be posted all over the web in order to promote the artist’s event, create traffic to their website and to help generate backlinks to the artist’s website (more on that later).
Today, an artist should have free accounts for at least Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, MySpace and Google+ in order to take advantage of social media networks. Caution: Create separate accounts for your art promotion as you do not want to co-mingle your personal life with your business life! There are a lot of other free networking accounts that you can also join, but for now, this will provide the coverage that you need.
If you belong to any of these accounts/groups, upload your posts to your social media pages in order to spread the word of your success. This is the easiest way for you to promote your art and to increase interest in and traffic to your own personal art website. This same post or page can also be emailed or posted to others who are in the art industry. Ask and have your (good) friends and followers to forward any posts on to their followers/networks as well (also offer to do the same for them too).
Recently, Google has provided what is known as the +1 feature, which is the equivalent of the Facebook “Like” icon. Whenever you press the +1 button on any post, page, website or Google search page, you are alerting your friends, networks, and others that you are “endorsing or interested” in that page or post. People will be curious to see what you recommend and they usually will look too, as they do not want to be left out of something that may be important. Since I mentioned the Facebook “Like” feature, always encourage your followers, friend, and networks to “Like” your post, page etc. as this will also increase interest in that post. The more “Likes” and more “+1” that you acquire, the more interest, more traffic and more exposure and promotion there will be for your website and your art.
Offline & Traditional Marketing
Offline and traditional marketing may take more time compared to other electronic promotions, but this method can be worth the effort for an artist to avail themselves of this type of marketing. Offline and traditional marketing still does very well for local and regional target audiences. If you have the time, the ability and the wherewithal to promote your work further, here is a link to some posts that we wrote about offline (traditional forms) of marketing and branding for successful artists: Offline Marketing and Promotion for Successful Artists, 10 Ways an Artist Can Market Their Brand and 10 More Ways an Artist Can Market Their Brand. Artists should use a combination of online and offline marketing in order to create an impact and to target their audience with their message.
Social Bookmarking
A social bookmark is a very important tool for artists to take advantage of in their overall marketing program. A social bookmark is a way in which an artist can alert their followers, friends and networks about a post, web page or a website. Think of a social bookmark as “someone’s own individual +1 or Like button”, as you are alerting everyone that this post or page is important and that they should also take a look.
More importantly, when employed properly, social bookmarks can create better page ranks and more traffic for the artist’s website. How is this done? There are literally hundreds of social bookmarking websites. When you join these sites, upload content to them (in the form of your art, posts, press releases, pages etc.) based on the information that you are required to place, when you post there, you are creating a “backlink” to your website. Why is a backlink important? When search engines index and grade your website, they base a large part of their page ranking on the amount of and the quality of the links back to your website. The higher amount and the better the quality of the links, the better they will rank and place your website higher on their search engine, which results in more traffic to your site.
There are many services and programs that can perform this task for you, but I do not suggest that you do that, as you want good quality and industry-specific (the art industry) backlinks and only you can determine what are worthy websites to link to. Here is a page that explains (in simple terms) what social bookmarks can do for you, along with many suggested social bookmarking websites to join and post to. http://caroline-middlebrook.com/blog/do-follow-social-bookmarking-sites.
Press Release Marketing
Press releases provide the same type of importance and effectiveness as a social bookmark. Why is this? A press release provides the artist with a very cheap and a quick way to promote themselves and their art to an extremely large and targeted audience. In addition to the press release’s effectiveness, a press release creates an automatic backlink to the artist’s website and for whatever reason, the major search engines rank backlinks from press release sites very high, thus helping again, to boost your websites page rank. The Light Space & Time website contains several related articles about this tool; Press Release Marketing for Today’s Artists and How to Write a Press Release for Art Events.
Artists should also belong to as many art websites as possible, like Fine Art America, Artspan, Artid etc. as they usually have a community section where you can post in a blog, post in a newsletter and are able to submit a press release or post an exhibition event in their Forums. Most of these sites also allow you to post an image with the post too. Take advantage of that feature, as people will tend to look at a post if it contains a picture.
We also recommend using PRLog and Press Release Point for distribution of free press releases and Star One PR for distribution of paid press releases ($10.00 to $15.00, depending on the distribution size). All of these sources provide the artist with the ability to be indexed quickly by all of the major search engines. By using these press release services, the artist is able to take advantage of their ability to spread the word of your artwork, success and/or events and to quickly drive additional traffic to the artist’s website.
Also, remember that any advertising, marketing, and promotion has a cumulative effect and consistency and repetition of the message is necessary to see any results. Don’t be like most artists and do a little marketing, see no real results and then give up! It just does not work that way nor is it meant to be that easy. It takes time and you will see results if you “stay the course”.
We hope that these suggestions are helpful to your art marketing efforts. In today’s hugely competitive marketplace, just entering and placing in an art competition is not enough to attract a lot of interest to the artist’s website and their art. Successful artists market, promote and leverage their accomplishments whenever they can and you should too. Congratulations on your success, now tell the whole world and Good luck!
Recently I had two very discouraged and unhappy artists ask me for advice on their art marketing efforts, as both artists had not sold much of their art, as they had hoped or expected they would. Both individuals were very talented and their goal was to eventually become full-time artists, create more interest in their artwork and of course, sell more of their art.
In this article, I will try to summarize what I learned when I tried to help them with their art marketing issues and you can draw your own conclusions as to why they were unhappy with their sales and marketing of their art.
The first artist was just beginning to establish himself and he had entered and placed in three of our art competitions and also placed in several other gallery competitions too. He complained that despite his competition success that his art sales were poor. I went to his website and found that his art was not prominently featured on the home page, categories were poorly labeled and the site navigation was difficult to follow. There was minimal information on him as an artist as there was no artist statement, no CV or biography of his experience. There were no prices for his artwork and there was only an email address for the contact information. This artist’s website did not have any social media links, an art blog, any press releases or a newsletter feature. Finally, there was no information or promotion about this artist’s achievement of winning any awards from the art competitions that he had entered and his involvement in any art exhibitions!
I googled his name and found that he did not have a Twitter account, no Facebook page, no Linkedin presence and no Google+ page. It is evident to me that no one would know about this artist based on the lack of press releases, social media networking, and any ongoing promotions. In addition, his website did not contain any associated article content that would also help draw anyone to his website, consequently his website traffic was poor and he was frustrated.
This artist further complained to me that there were established artists who seemed to be entering into our competitions on a regular basis and placing high each time. His point was that these artists appeared to be already successful and that they were taking away from his success! I explained to him that all successful artists, just like all successful businesses continue to promote and market themselves no matter what they had achieved in the past. I explained to him that he needed to “work” at marketing his art and that just because he won or placed in an art competition, that by itself would not bring him any sales. Winning or placing in an art competition is just an opportunity for an artist to promote and market their art. I have not heard from that artist again and for this article, I went to his website and it is unchanged since our last discussion.
The second artist is a woman who has sold some of her art through word of mouth and referrals. The sales that this artist made were to very high-end customers, who were also important "influencers" within a major city. When I visited her website there was no mention of any of her previous sales. There were no testimonials or endorsements from her buyers! If they were willing, the buyers’ of her art, who liked and purchased her art, is something that should be promoted. This artist has a great chance to capitalize on the influence of these important people in order to receive more referrals, but she had not done so.
The other issue that I found was that her website was poorly conceived and needed to be redesigned to better fit the high-end art market. Besides the poor design of the website, difficult graphics, her art was not being shown well, as she had small images and they were of poor quality. As a visitor to the website, the images that were being used would discourage anyone from further investigation as the entire presentation did not look worthy of a major purchase of art! Because this artist had sold her art through personal presentations her website was not the source of capturing these prospects nor was the website a part of the sales process. To me, her website was actually a deterrent to any future sales and this would have to be drastically redesigned to fit her target audience, in order to expand her marketplace in the future.
It remains to be seen if this artist follows my suggestion of a website redesign. After the redesign is accomplished, I suggested that she proceed with a promotional and marketing campaign which would be directed at her target audience. If I was this artist, I would want to show prospects my art within the confines and setting of my past art buyers’ homes or offices. What better way there to show someone how the art will fit but within a high-end interior space? Any images used for the website or collateral materials would have to be taken by a professional photographer in order to maximize this presentation. This marketing campaign should be executed locally in order to establish a following and then in the future, she should branch out from there to the same target audiences in other locations and in other cities.
Both artists, based on their lack of marketing and promotion will continue to have a difficult time selling their art unless they make a commitment to marketing. Though a website will “not make sales” a poorly designed website can ruin the entire sales process and these artists both need to have their websites redesigned. In addition, both artists need to realize that they will “not get discovered” by prospects who buy art and they will not become successful waiting for buyers to find them. Each artist should realize that it is the artist who needs to define their target market and that they are the ones who will need to “discover and locate their buyers” through marketing, promotion and social media in order to become successful artists that they had hoped to be.
One more point to consider, successful marketing is a continuous and cumulative process. Many artists will embark on a marketing campaign, not see any results quickly and then give up their efforts. It is the artist who markets their art on a continuous and consistent basis who achieves successful results. Hopefully, these two artists will reassess their art marketing and promotion and get on the right track in order to have successful art careers.
Today, a lot of individuals and businesses get marketing and branding mixed up. Simply put, marketing is how an artist reaches their target market with advertising, promotions and public relations.
Branding defines the artist and defines what their target market thinks they are. Every time a prospect or a potential customer makes contact with the artist in person, print, virally or by other means, they are forming an opinion of the artist and the artist as a brand.
The following is a list of ideas and ways in which an artist can use to promote, market and brand their art. This list of suggestions is forever changing as technology and the public’s tastes shift from one popular media or marketing vehicle to another. This list is in no particular order of importance for an artist to use to when developing their brand.
1. An artist’s website is now a major branding medium. In past years, a website was thought to be something that you did along with your advertising. It now is just as important and has become a major portal and link for the artist and the public. As the lines between TV and Internet become blurred, websites will become an even more important part of an artist’s marketing and branding. www.wordpress.org www.godaddy.com www.bluehost.com
2. Article marketing is a huge source of traffic for an artist’s website and if done consistently well over time will brand the artist as an expert in their field and someone who is generally reliable and trustworthy. There are at least 5 top article sites that provide expert information and source materials to the public. It is up to the artist to take advantage of article sites in order to promote their brand. These articles that are written can also be used in the artist’s website and blog. www.ezinearticles.com www.comiclesbase.com www.selfgrowth.com
3. Slide registries offer artists with free databases to register and upload their artwork. These sites also allow the artists to post their artist statement, resume, email address and a link to their website. An artist should get on as many registries as possible as it not only provides more exposure, but it creates more traffic to their website and creates backlinks to their website as well. The major search engines count backlinks as part of their page ranking process, which is another reason for an artist to get on a lot of registries. www.myartspace.com www.comistsregister.com www.bluecanvas.com
4. Online press releases offer an artist a way in which they can promote their events, openings and other promotions. Most press release websites include links back to the artist’s website, along with a biography section. They also offer guides on how to write and form a press release too. Search engines pick up these press releases very quickly and they become a major source of the artist’s brand. www.prlog.org www.pressreleasepoint.com www.dbusinessnews.com
5. Social networking has now been proven to be an effective means of promoting your brand, building contacts and announcing events. The better-known websites are Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin. There are a hundred more and new ones being formed each day. Stick with the largest and the most popular social networking websites that contain your target market. For art and art related issues and themes, Facebook is right now the best for this endeavor. Most of what is being suggested in this article can be promoted on these sites too. www.linkedin.com www.twitter.com www.facebook.com
6. Email marketing is a growing medium that will become more and more important to the artist in promoting their brand. There are websites and programs available online for artist’s to have a third party administer their email campaigns. An artist should continually be soliciting email addresses and making that a major part of their branding process. Artist events, openings, and promotions can be a part of the email campaign. Emailing reprints of press releases is another way an artist can stay engaged with their customers. www.constantcontact.com www.verticalresponse.com www.icontact.com
7. YouTube has become another medium for an artist to present their work and expertise on the Internet. Think of it as a small ad, a visual article or promotional piece. The better and more professional the spot, the more it reinforces the artist’s brand. Also on YouTube, the artist can set up an “Artist YouTube Page”. Which will contain, in one place all of the artist’s videos and or other related videos. Again, they provide for a profile section and links back to the artist’s website and also will be picked up on the major search engines. www.youtube.com www.vimeo.com www.video.yahoo.com
8. Webinars are now a growing field that artists and other professionals can promote their brand and their expertise. It is much like YouTube but is an exclusive format and the artist’s followers are invited to attend this event. Many people charge for this too. I believe that it should be used as a promotional tool, as a means to keep the target market informed and engaged with the artist. www.gotomeeting.com www.web-conferencing-zone.com www.web-conferencing-central.com
9. Artists can participate in forum discussions and this provides an artist with the opportunity to help their brand while promoting their artwork and their website. It is almost a form of social networking as the artist is coming in contact with similar people, with the same interests. The same common sense rules apply to the forums, as whatever a person writes in a forum will be online forever! www.linkism.com/artist_resources/art-forums www.big-boards.com/kw/art www.messages.yahoo.com/yahoo/Entertainment
10. Viral Magazines are just beginning to come into their own and is a new way for an artist to promote their artwork in a very upscale manner. There are several sites that now provide this low-cost service. Since there is a cost to publishing an online magazine, the artist could pay for this as a promotional tool for their prospects and customers. www.issuu.com, www.openzine.com, www.magcloud.com
Successful artists should always have a press kit available to hand out or mail. This kit should also be accessible on their website for interested parties.
Just what is a press kit and why should an artist have one? A press kit is just what it sounds like, as it is a group of documents presenting the artist’s background, education, experience, past exhibitions, publishing achievements, competition awards along the artist’s current and future shows, etc. Electronic press kits should be part of an artist’s marketing and branding program. In addition, a press kit should also be included and made a part of the artist’s printed collateral materials.
People who would have an interest in an artist’s press kit are editors of both print and online publications, gallery owners, art reps and prospects who may be considering purchasing your art. This may sound like a challenge to perform and extremely difficult to compile this information but in reality, I will show you that you probably have the bulk of the information already. This information just has to be compiled, formatted and packaged correctly.
Here are the main components of an artist’s press kit:
1. Biography – As part of any press kit, website or collateral materials, an artist should have a well-written biography and most artists already have this information. It should be updated and closely edited.
2. Artist Statement – An artist statement is necessary to allow any interested party to help them understand why you are creating your art and what you are trying to achieve with your art. See link below to our article on how to write an artist statement. How to Write the Perfect Artist Statement.
3. Exhibitions & Shows – All past group or solo exhibitions and shows should be listed from newest to oldest. What if you have not been accepted into any shows? Say so. Many artists without any exhibition experience skip all of this information as they are embarrassed that they do not have any exhibition experience to show. To me, by not presenting any information will say to the reader “I am inexperienced and I do not want anyone to know.” Remember, every artist had to start somewhere and if you are a good artist, that is more important than anything else to other people.
4. Exhibition Awards - All past awards (no matter how important or not) from any exhibitions should be displayed and shows should be listed from newest to oldest.
5. Past Publicity – Any brochures, exhibition postcards, news releases should be made a part of the kit and embedded into the package.
6. Current Shows – This would be a list of any shows or exhibitions that you are currently a part of, at the time that the press kit is being sent out. Have links to that gallery exhibit as part of this section. Make sure that this information is always up to date.
7. Future Shows – This information would be about any future shows or exhibits that you have been accepted in to, at the time that the press kit was sent out. Include links to that gallery show (if any or the current competition if any) as part of this section. Make sure that this information is always up to date.
8. Current Press Releases – These would be current press releases announcing your current shows, awards, appearances, sales, talks and any future shows. Again, same as 6 and 7 above should be kept up to date and current. See our article on how to write a press release. How to Write a Press Release for Art Events.
9. Contact Information – This information would include name, mailing address, telephone and email address or any other way that someone can contact you.
10. Website – Include a direct link to your website, portfolio, and blog. If you do not have a working website (Facebook, My Space, and Flickr do not count) I can direct to you several online artist websites that are free and very easy to upload to and to administer.
Now, all of this information should be compiled and formatted in a way that makes it easy to read and clear to understand. I suggest having headings for each page or section. Try to have each section one page in length only. Pick a plain text such as Arial, Calibri or Times New Roman. The idea is that you want this press kit very easy to read, such as an editor, gallery owner or art rep as they do not have a lot of time to read. However, a buyer of your art will take the time to read this information.
Finally, have someone (other than yourself) proofread your press kit very carefully for you. Save the press kit in a PDF file or at least a non-editable word.doc. In addition, have the press kit in printed form for any events and have the electronic version available online and part of your website too.
With a well-designed press kit, will make it easy for someone to learn more about you, your art and how to contact you quickly too. Good luck!
Press releases can help anyone, especially an artist to not only bring attention to their art but to generate traffic to their website and also to assist with the branding of the artist and their art.
Just exactly is a press release? A press release is defined as “a prepared statement, of something that is deemed to be newsworthy, that will be distributed to the news media in order to gain attention to a newsworthy event". The following are the elements of a good press release and should be followed when an artist writes their press release.
Headline
Headlines are a line of text at the top of the press release that in a single line will describe and bring attention to the event or the news that is contained in the press release.
In the past (prior to the digital age) headlines were created to not only draw the attention of the reader but especially to draw the attention of newspaper editors, in the hope that they would use the release in their publication. Today, this is still true, but now the headline is also written and used for keywords and SEO (search engine optimization) as it relates to generating page views and traffic back to the source of the press release. (Keywords are used by search engines to locate information that viewers have requested).
The headline should be descriptive and concise. If at all possible, try to limit the headline to no more than 120 characters. Each word should be formatted with the first letter being capitalized (not all caps).
Summary
Besides the headline being very important for SEO purposes, the summary section also allows the artist to expand the use of secondary and additional keywords. The summary should also be very descriptive of the event and why someone should want to read the rest of the press release. It is a selling opportunity for the artist to sell themselves, their art or their art event.
The summary is a single short paragraph and if it is too long the artist may lose the reader. Therefore, it is extremely important to write and rewrite this section in order to ensure that it gets the important points across why someone would want to read the full press release. Any sentences in this summary should be in sentence case, with the only first letter of a sentence being capitalized.
The rest of the press release is considered the body of the release and it will contain the following components:
Dateline
The dateline contains the date of the press release and this is a very important component to the reader to see if the news is old, new, even newsworthy or still valid. This section also contains the city of origin of the release for location purposes.
Introduction
The introduction of the press release is the paragraph that should answer the following questions for the reader; of who, what, when, where and why?
Details or Body
The details or what is also known as the body of the press release will provide explanations for, provide background and detail the thoughts contained in the introduction section. This may consist of several "body" paragraphs until all pertinent thoughts are set forth.
The body (details) should be made up of at least two paragraphs. The paragraphs should contain 5 to 10 lines of copy. All body copy and event details should be provided for in a descending type order (most important details of the press release nearest to the top, to least important details at the bottom or lower body paragraphs).
About
The about section is a short paragraph which provides background information on the company or organization who is issuing the press release.
Contact Information
The contact information section contains the name of the issuing individual, their telephone number, their email address, the company postal mailing address and the company website URL. The contact information section is also an invitation from the writer to the reader that they can provide additional information if requested.
Helpful Hints
A press release should be written in the third person as if someone else is writing about this event or news, other than the writer.
Always send any supporting images or graphics that will be used or was a part of this event or news. An editor is more likely to not only look at the press release but will tend to use the press release if it contains interesting pictures.
Study press releases of major companies or other artists who you would like to emulate (all of their websites usually have a press section) and see how they have structured and written their press releases. There is nothing wrong with this and by following the best, it will increase your chances of having more and better publicity, if the press release is in an acceptable form for the industry.
Finally, there are hundreds of free press release distribution companies on the internet, locate them and use them to your benefit the next time you have an art event, art exhibition or something that is newsworthy about your art. Your press releases will help you draw attention to your art and will also bring additional traffic to your website.
Today, press release marketing presents the artist with another low-cost opportunity to promote their artwork. If done properly, press release marketing will bring traffic to the artist’s website, help in building and be maintaining an artist’s brand and will eventually create incoming links to the artist’s website, thus, enhancing it’s SEO and gaining a higher page rank too.
There are myriad of free and paid press release and event news websites that an artist can use to market and promote their art. To locate these sites go to the Google and type in “Free Press Release” or “Free Event Listing” into their search feature. After obtaining this information research through Alexa.com to see what the traffic is of each website (type the URL into the Alexa Search to see what their traffic rank is). The lower the Alexa Rank number, the better this is, as this indicates that more readers will be exposed to your press release. Based on your research I would only submit to the top 4 or 5 free press release and event listing sites.
If you want to submit to more sites, I suggest that several of the press release sites have a service that will distribute your press release to other news outlets for a small fee as this is a more effective use of your time to let them do this. For instance, they may charge $10.00 to $30.00 to distribute your press release to another 50 to 70 news outlets! (This is something that could take you a day or two if you tried to post on your own).
Here are a couple of tips if you have never written or submitted a press release before. Many of the better-known press release sites will provide you guidelines on how to write a press release. I suggest that the artist study and follow their suggestions. Also, an artist may want to look at and study press release releases by other artists, art galleries, and other art organizations in order to see how they structured and wrote their releases. Choose to study the press releases of the successful artists and the larger and better-known art organizations. Read our article "Helpful Hints When Writing an Art Press Release"
Paid press release sites have art or entertainment categories that can be searched for this information. In addition, most press release sites have submission forms that will guide you when uploading a press release. Artists should submit press releases and promote themselves for any new exhibitions or competitions that they will be participating in, sales of any art, any new gallery representation, charity participation, any educational or lecture type events and also when they receive any awards or special recognition. All of these special events provide an opportunity to get and keep the artist’s name out to the artist’s target audience.
An artist’s press release should answer the following questions for the reader: who, what, when, where, why and how. To write about anything else will make an advertisement out of one’s work and the press release will either not be accepted for publishing and distribution or will simply not be read at all.
In all press releases, there should also be an “About the Artist” section and artist contact information contained at the end of the press release. In addition, there should always be links back to the artist’s website and blog contained in the press release. Most press release sites have restrictions on where and how many links are allowed in artist’s press releases. Be prepared to add or subtract links, depending on the press release sites, as they are all different.
Artists should begin to formulate and plan how they can take advantage of this low-cost form of self -promotion, and marketing. In future articles, I will discuss keywords, keyword density, title tags and links as all being very important elements of an artist’s press release marketing campaign.
