Guest Blogger: Whitney Freya
I entered the art world in 1996 without even a slip of scratch paper in my portfolio.
I opened The Creative Fitness Center in Nashville, TN to provide my community with a “right brain gym” so that they could develop their artist mentality and go back out into the art of life better able to create the change they desired.
What I have found since is that the act of both creating artwork and buying artwork has a transformative effect on human beings. Consider how these three elements might infuse new life into your marketing plan.
Create Meaning Around Your Art
The search for meaning is a drive that exists in all of us—and a combination of external circumstances and internal will bring it to the surface. ~ Dan Pink
Your art is the external circumstance that can create a shift in your audience internally and attract them to purchase your work.
How can you create a greater emphasis on the meaning of your art? What does it mean to you? Do you share this with your audience? What do you want your art to mean to them? What kind of meaningful change could occur when your art hangs in their space?
I believe that every piece of original art has tremendous energy that it continues to exude as long as it has an audience. Your art is not passive. It is alive! It vibrates with the colors and intentions you created. Share this with your audience and you are not only creating an object they can see, but one they can experience.
Capture the Soul of Your Audience
…develop a strong brand promise….In marketing jargon we call these central ideals ‘brand essence’ – the essential and intrinsic nature of the brand; its spirit and soul; a single thought that captures that soul.” ~A.J. Kimmel at ConnectingWithConsumers.net
What can you promise your audience that will inspire them to purchase your work? What is the intention you paint into your work?
Do you want to bring happiness to their day? Do you want to connect them with a deeper part of themselves? Do you want to remind them of a particular group of people, connect them to a geographic location or a time in history?
Expand upon your intention in your marketing.
I have been taken over by a desire to paint owls for the past year or so. I am not the only one. Owls are everywhere. I have chosen to share with my audience that by purchasing or painting their own owl in one of my online programs, they are amplifying an inner light that can guide them along their path.
I am selling owl art, but I am also selling personal illumination. When my owl hangs in their space, it will continue to illuminate the power of our spirit within to enlighten our daily routine.
Tell a Story
Marketing is storytelling. . . . It’s you talking directly to your customers and telling them who you are, why you’re better and what you believe so that they remember you and feel connected to you. ~Lisa Barone
“Story” is one of the elements in Dan Pink’s book, A Whole New Mind, that he says characterizes our new “Conceptual Age.” It is no longer about “just the facts.”
More than anything, your audience wants to know your story. They want to connect with the person behind the brand. They want to be entertained.
What is your story? How did you find your “artist within”?
Where do you create your art? What are your rituals? What is hard? What are you most passionate about? Share your story and they will want to become a part.
Today, we as artists have an incredible opportunity, not only to purge the starving artist paradigm, but also to allow our art to touch the spirits, heal the souls, and inspire our audience to participate more actively in the world they inhabit. Your role as the artist is as seer, healer, and visionary.
We are all co-creating a new world, a new way of being and doing.
It is your artist spirit that will infect others with the desire to create the change they want to see in their world.
Lean in to this new opportunity and bare your soul a bit more. Your growing audience will thank you.
Whitney Freya is Chief Creativity Guru at Creatively Fit and author of The Artist Within, A Guide to Becoming Creatively Fit. Learn more about her JOURNEY, a retreat in the Pacific NW this April celebrating Creativity & Spirituality.
6 thoughts on “3 Things Artists Can Do to Connect with More Art Buyers”
Whitney, Thank you this piece! Perfect message, perfect timing.
I’m getting ready to enter the world of offering my mandala art for sale. And although I have long been in the world of marketing and product development, translating what I know to something so much closer to my soul feels different. Thanks for the reminder to make it personal and to share my story.
With Gratitude! Lynette
I have a neighbor who is extremely supportive of my work and she has been telling me that I need to write something up about myself to share with those who enjoy, as well as, purchase my work … I’ve been reluctant and I’m not sure why. This blog post may just get me headed in the right direction. Thank you.
wow! thank you for this one! best email i have received yet.
i am planning to rewrite my artist statement now, after reading this.
i’m getting ready for a show in may and i will definitely be rethinking the way i write about myself and how i talk with people about my art.
thank you again…really.
Hi…I was wondering Whitney if you are working with real owls? (If not, I think your devotion should lead to you hooking up with a wildlife centre who has rescued owls living there…All that owl obsession probably means something…A portion of proceeds going to the owls…progression into owly sculpture?) Just thinking out loud…
I don’t know what happened to Whitney. I was hoping she would respond to you. Thanks for enjoying her piece.
First, I love the owls. I’m a visual person, and the owls got my attention; then I read your words. Nice work! Your comments are so true. Sometimes I get so busy in a day that it is hard to remember that there is a story to be told. When I think back to how my journey started and where I am today, wow it is a great story. Thanks for reminding me take a moment and reflect. Pam