by Maria Brophy
The best example I can share is the one in which I have direct experience, and that’s with marketing Drew’s work in the super micro-niche of surf art.
Drew started his art career painting surfboards. I don’t know of a smaller niche than that. Surfing is only enjoyed in coastal areas where there are waves. And, of the few surfers out there, a small percentage can afford to buy art, and of those, only a fraction are buyers of Drew’s art.
But, the benefit of being an artist in a small niche was this: his name became well-known as the artist who painted surfboards. After twenty-five years of being known for surf art (and teaching thousands of artists his techniques), Drew is one of the most sought after surfboard artists alive today. His fine art surfboards are some of the highest priced on the market and are collected by celebrity musicians and athletes.
Had Drew attempted to become known for painting “anything and everything,” his career would have gone a little differently. Being known as a surf artist has not stopped Drew from experimenting with other themes and mediums. Painting surfboards is now only a small part of what he does. His newer passion is working within another small niche; sacred geometry art.
For each niche, we focus our marketing and sales directly to the buyer. For Drew’s sacred geometry art, we directly target people who have an interest in quantum physics, mathematics and the metaphysical. For Drew’s surf art, we target people who love the ocean and surfing lifestyle.
Here’s another example of marketing directly to your niche rather than marketing your art broadly. In 2015 we invested monthly in advertising Drew’s sacred geometry fine art in a beautiful Laguna Beach art magazine which was widely distributed. We were disappointed that after a year, we still hadn’t received any calls from the ad. It was an expensive investment that got zero results.
We moved our advertising to a much smaller magazine that catered to people interested in the metaphysical. Within two days of the magazine hitting the stands, we received two phone calls that led to new collectors of Drew’s sacred geometry art!
The success of the ad was due to the fact that our advertisement spoke directly to the readers; it focused on the meditation features of the art. Marketing directly to people, within a niche, and positioning it to appeal to their passions and interests, will be more successful than targeting everyone and hoping someone likes it.
NICHE CATEGORIES
Establishing a niche doesn’t mean that you can’t experiment with new themes or styles. It just means that you will choose one area to focus your marketing efforts on, so that you experience greater results in sales.
If you are working in different styles and themes, choose your most popular or favorite to focus on marketing first. After focusing on that for a few years, and growing sales and a reputation for it, then you can branch out and market in another niche as well.
If you’re still unsure how to establish a niche, here are a few examples:
Style: If you have a very distinctive style, or medium that you use, or technique that you invented, this could be your “niche.” A great example of a niche style is my good friend, photographer Matt Schwartz, who is known for creating large format Polaroids of girls, surfing and global travels. He has a very distinct style; his work is so distinct, that when others attempt to mimic his style, it’s evident.
Lifestyle: This is the easiest niche to establish. If you are passionate about a particular lifestyle, hobby, sport or activity, your passion can be your niche. For example, artist Guy Harvey. He’s an avid fisherman and diver, and he paints fish and ocean lifestyle related images. He is extremely well-known for his fishing lifestyle art.
Below are a few more examples of lifestyles that can be established as your niche:
Harley Biker
Bird Watcher
Adventure sport
African (or insert location here) Travel photographer
Gamer
Gardening
Cooking
Theater
Geographic Location: Become known as the artist of your local community. This works very well in tourist areas. The small beach town that I live in, San Clemente, CA, has an artist that has been known as the “local San Clemente artist” for decades. All of Paul Gavin’s paintings are of the San Clemente lifestyle, which includes landscapes and beach lifestyle scenes. His art is displayed in the local post office and the City of San Clemente has commissioned him to create art for outdoor installations all over town.
A brilliant move he made many years ago was to team up with a busy, local restaurant on the San Clemente pier. On weekends, he’s outside on the patio of the restaurant, exhibiting and selling his work to tourists and locals. He does very well being known as the San Clemente artist.
Purpose: Become known as the artist who is for or against something or who is helping to raise awareness of a cause or a need by society. Artist Kate Sikorski dedicated her time to creating a surf camp for Muslim women. She called it the Burkini Project, which allowed Muslim women to enjoy the ocean, utilizing swimsuit technology that preserved their religious values while allowing them to surf. Kate then created a series of large-scale mixed media drawings that documented the event in art.
YOUR NICHE
Now, let’s figure out what your niche is. The Establish Your Niche Worksheet on the next page will help you. It’s time to go deep and think.
Thinking is our greatest tool. When we allow ourselves time to think every day and write down our questions and brainstorm solutions, we will lay out a foundation for our career that will be strong and successful.
Right now, while this chapter is fresh in your mind, grab a pen and go sit somewhere quiet. Be prepared to take time and truly reflect and consider the answers you write on the worksheet.
ESTABLISH YOUR NICHE WORKSHEET
Name: ___________________________ Date________________
Instructions: Answer the questions below. Don’t worry if you don’t have all the answers right away. They will come.
What hobbies or activities do I love doing the most? (Lifestyle)
Where would I be happiest living? (Location i.e. beach, mountains, Paris)
What do I really feel passionate about? (People, places, things)
What is one thing that sets my work apart from others? (Style, medium, theme, etc.)
What project did I do in the past that I really, really enjoyed, and that flowed out of me easily?
Why was it so easy for me? (The people, medium, project, or what?)
Where do I WANT to focus my time and efforts? (Not “should” but “want”)
Based on the answers above, what aspects stand out?
EXAMPLE: If you wrote that you love painting island flowers with oils and you live on Maui and you’re so passionate about flowers that the work just flows out of you, your niche would be that of a “Maui artist who creates oil paintings of local island flowers.”
TELL STORIES
While at a dinner party at my friend Steve’s house I asked about the art above his living room couch. It was a painting of a little boy playing with a red toy airplane. Steve was excited that I asked and he proudly retold the story the artist had given him about what inspired him to paint the boy and the airplane.
When we have an art exhibit, much of my time is spent telling people the stories behind each piece of art. I’ll point to Drew’s painting titled TREE OF LIFE and tell about when Drew went on a surf trip to Tahiti and this painting was inspired by a story an old Tahitian woman told him. She explained that the breadfruit trees in Tahiti provided the main food source for Tahitians in times past. This tree was so important to them that generations of families would tend to the family trees with great reverence. She said “when you see a big, old breadfruit tree on someone’s property, you know that their grandparents and their grandparent’s grandparents tended to that tree, and in turn it gave them life with its fruit.”
Every artwork has a story behind it. Tell the story so people can latch onto it and build a
personal connection with it. Then they’ll be proud to own the piece because the story resonates with them. They will retell the story when it’s in their own space.
TELL THE STORY OF YOUR LIFE
Art collectors want to know what inspired you to become an artist and what drives you to continue to create. Every person has a life story. Stories connect us to each other and they evoke emotions and feelings. Our own stories might seem boring to us, because we lived it. But to others, your story will be interesting.
One of my favorite artist stories is that of painter Joshua Paskowitz, who is a friend of mine. He is the youngest of nine siblings who were all raised in a camper van without traditional schooling. His father was a doctor who dropped out of society and took his wife and kids on a twenty-five year adventure, traveling from beach to beach, surfing and living a non-conventional life. Their journey is so intriguing that a movie was made about them called Surfwise.
You can make any life story interesting, even if you grew up in a normal family in a small town where the most exciting thing that ever happened was when Alumni Park got a new children’s slide installed. Your story could be told in this way:
“I grew up in Battle Creek, Iowa, population 750. We had to ride a bus over 60 miles to go to school. On some winter days the snow would be so high that our bus driver had to follow close behind the snow plow to get us there. On my fifteenth birthday I got a paint-by-numbers kit as a gift from my Uncle Mac. We had just survived an extra harsh winter, and I was inspired by the redeeming warmth of spring. I decided to paint my own scene instead of the one outlined on the canvas. It was of a field of freshly cut hay, which I could see outside my bedroom window. My parents loved my painting and said that I was an artist. I believed them and at that moment I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up.”
Take your story, no matter how boring or exciting you think it is, and find a way to tell it in an interesting way. Include it in your Biography in your portfolio, on your “About” page on your website and repeat it any time someone asks about you. People will remember your story and then they will remember you.
Let’s take a break from reading for a moment so you can write out your story. Grab a pen and your notebook and take a little time to think. Answer the following questions:
MY STORY: What is one interesting, memorable or unique story I will tell buyers about myself or my life? (i.e. how I became an artist, how I learned to create in the way that I do, etc.)
What is one interesting story I can tell about my most current artwork?
How to FIND Your “Right Buyers”
“The doors will be opened for those
bold enough to knock.”
—Tony Gaskins
At a street fair, I watched as an artist glumly took down her art prints from her booth at the end of the day. Sensing her disappointment, I asked how sales were.
“I didn’t sell one darn thing today,” she answered sadly.
She was an ocean photographer and her work was absolutely stunning. It was printed on quality canvas art prints and beautifully framed. So what went wrong? Keep reading, I’ll get to that in a minute...
If you want to sell more of your work, you have to set the intention to DELIBERATELY CONNECT with the right buyers. Many artists mistakenly attempt to sell to everyone or anyone. They will randomly post their art on social media, exhibit at shows or set up a table at street fairs, without purposely targeting their right buyers. Without a well thought out plan to connect with your right buyers, you will just be spinning your wheels.
In this chapter, I’m going to guide you to first determine who your right buyers are. And then we will brainstorm ideas that will connect you with your right buyers. Once you connect with the right buyers, your sales will increase significantly, and you’ll write to tell me that this ended up being your best year ever!
WHAT IS A “RIGHT BUYER”?
The “Right Buyer,” also known as a “Target Market,” is someone who:
Can connect with the work you do and loves it
Shares your personal values, lifestyle or passion
Sees the value of your work
Is capable of paying your prices
Many artists are trying to sell to the wrong people and then they get frustrated that no one is buying.
A great example of this is the photographer I mentioned earlier. She had everything going for her, so why didn’t she sell anything?
She was targeting the wrong people. Her art prints were properly priced over $500, but that venue was not appropriate for sales in that price range. That particular street fair was attended by lower income families who were looking to buy cheaper items priced under $100. The photographer’s right buyers were not in that crowd of people.
Her right buyer will be someone who loves the ocean, owns a large home with big wall space, and will have an income of $100,000 or higher.
To sell her art, she will need to go where her right buyers go.
HOW TO FIND YOUR RIGHT BUYERS
Let’s go back to the last chapter on Establishing Your Niche. When you have a defined niche, it’s much easier to find and connect with your right buyers. (And if you still think you aren’t working within a niche, look a little closer. You may already have one, even if you haven’t realized it yet.)
As an example, consider Guy Harvey—the artist who lives the lifestyle of fishing and diving. His right buyers are people who fish and dive and who live or love that lifestyle.
Guy Harvey’s right buyers live in coastal communities in the South East and Caribbean, shop in fishing and diving shops and they have an income of over $100,000. Many of his right buyers own boats and spend their money on fishing gear, clothing, and artwork that reminds them of the fishing lifestyle.
Guy Harvey is famous in Florida; that’s where most of his right buyers live the lifestyle his art is inspired by. He reaches his right buyers through licensing his art for fishing and diving related products that sell to his right buyers through outdoor retailers. He also sells original art and prints.
On the next page is a worksheet that will help you brainstorm where you can find your right buyers. Find a quiet spot, grab a pen, and let’s go think.
MY RIGHT BUYER WORKSHEET
Instructions: This is a brainstorming session, so ALL ideas are valid. We want to get into the head of your right buyer.
How did past buyers find my art? (i.e. word of mouth, exhibits, Facebook, Etsy, etc.)
What is the income of my right buyer? (i.e. if you’re selling art under $500 it might be $50,000. If you’re selling art over $5,000, it might be $150,000+).
Where do my right buyers live? (i.e. if you’re a “local” artist, they would live in your town. If you are a mountain-themed artist, it would be the mountains, etc.)
Whom does my art appeal to the most? (i.e. Age, gender, lifestyle, income) Ex: If you’re creating baseball themed art priced at $500, men between the ages of 35-65 who love baseball and earn $50,000/year) would be your right buyer.
Where do my right buyers spend their spare time? (i.e. traveling to the mountains, black tie events, at sports games, at certain trade shows, etc.)
Write down what kind of art you make and who it will appeal to—and then write a few places your right buyers are likely to hang out or events they will attend.
For example, “I create environmental art that demonstrates the damage caused by plastics in the earth. My right buyers are passionate about saving the world and attend black tie events for charities that specialize in this area.”
Now, name three entities you will contact, that are already connected to your right buyers:
RIGHT BUYER WRAP-UP
Now that we have established WHO your right buyer is, HOW MUCH money they make, and WHERE they spend their time, it will be easier to connect with them.
The next step is to brainstorm new ways to reach your right buyers, by going where they go. Once you start focusing on reaching your right buyers where they actually are,
you’ll begin to see big things happen in your art career. We are going to stretch and think differently about selling art than you’ve ever considered before. They aren’t teaching this stuff in art school and you won’t find it in any other book. But it is one of the most effective ways to get your art into the hands of buyers.
What I’m encouraging you to do is to think differently than most artists think. In the next chapter, we dive deep into HOW to connect with your right buyer in non-conventional ways.
REACH YOUR AUDIENCE IN NON-CONVENTIONAL WAYS
We are going to fast track your art sales by bypassing traditional means of selling art. We will do this by accessing other entities that share similar themes, values or concerns as you do.
There are charities, companies and organizations that are already reaching your right buyers. You can make a quantum leap in your art sales by teaming up with these entities, so they can introduce your art to their own followers. This one idea could quantum leap your art business—right into wild success.
While art galleries and consignment in boutiques can be one way to sell your work, you’ll go broke if you focus solely on that business model. There are very few artists that actually make a full time living exhibiting only at galleries, and if you’re one of them, keep doing what you’re doing.
For the rest of us, the old way of selling art no longer works. The world has changed drastically since 2008. To make more sales, artists have to take marketing into their own hands and get creative about how to reach art buyers.
If you aren’t selling enough art, it means that you aren’t reaching enough of your right buyers. The current way many artists reach buyers is through social media, advertising, networking and doing live events.
All of these things work, however, there is a much quicker and better way to reach your right buyers, and no one (except me) is talking about it. It requires brainstorming, non-conventional action and an open mind. If you take the time to learn how to do this, you will see your art sales take a quantum leap.
