If You Want to Sell More Art, Start with Visibility
If one of your goals this year is to sell more of your artwork, let me tell you a little secret that most artists don’t realise…
Selling your art online doesn’t start with ‘the sale’ - it starts with VISIBILITY!
Not fake visibility. Not chasing vanity metrics like likes and followers…
I’m talking about ‘real’ visibility - the kind that leads to genuineCONNECTIONS that buildstrust, which eventually results insales. Visibility that positions you as a ‘real human’ making ‘real art’ - art that your customers feel excited and real-ly want to buy!
In this blog post, I’m diving into the mindset shift around creative visibility - and why building a consistent CONTENT practice around your art, is THE game-changer when it comes to growing your audience and selling your art.
Visibility Isn’t Vanity
Let’s clear something up right away:
Visibility is NOT about chasing likes.
It’s NOT about ‘going viral’.
And it’s definitely NOT about performing (or dancing) for the algorithm.
Instead, visibility is about being REMEMBERED!
In other words, it’s about staying top of mind so that when someone is ready to invest in your art - whether that's today or six months from now - they already know WHO you are, WHAT you make and WHY your art matters TO THEM!
And how do you do that?
By creating content that builds a RELATIONSHIP and connects with your audience.
Here’s my simple (but powerful) equation your content should follow in order for you to get a sale:
Content = Connection
Connection = Trust
Trust = Sales
And EVERY person in your audience needs to follow this progression or ‘journey’ BEFORE they’ll become a customer.
So What Comes First: Your Art or Your Audience?
You might think that you just need to keep making more art, post it online, and the customers will come - right?
After all that’s what ‘we’ - as artists - have been led to believe…post your art…make sales and your tribe will come!
BUT I’m sure you already know that this just does NOT work!
In reality - it’s not about making more art or more content - it’s about becoming moreVISIBLE to the ‘right’ people.
‘People’ - aka your potential customers - don’t buy from strangers. They buy from people - aka artists they feel connected to.
That means your content can’t just be a highlight reel of finished pieces - because this is like shoving your art in their face. Instead, your content needs to give people a reason to care - a reason to care about your art AND about ‘the person’ behind the work.
In other words - it's just as important for your audience to connect to YOU as well as your art - because people buy from PEOPLE!
So what does comes first?
You. Your story. Your art. Your content.
Because your content builds connection…
And connection builds trust…
And trust builds sales!
This is why showing up consistently is so important - because every piece of content you share is a chance to build trust with your future buyers and collectors.
The Visibility Mindset Shift: Show Up Like a Human
Most artists and makers I mentor don’t struggle with making art…they struggle withSHARINGtheir art.
Especially when it comes to showing their face, talking about their process, or telling their story online - I’ve seen this as a lecturer teaching students and I’ve seen this as a gallery owner stocking artists' work. Basically ‘we’ (artists) are crap at talking about what we do!
BUT we don’t need to be ‘influencers’ on social media to be successful - you don’t need to be sharing ‘a day in the life’, ‘get ready with me’ videos OR dancing to all the trends to ‘show up’ online. You just need to be YOU!
So here’s 3 ways to help you increase your visibility (without feeling fake):
1. Show UP Consistently
Posting regularly is how you get seen - in other words you do actually need to post content if you want to be seen on social media.
If you’re not posting, you’re not visible - and if you’re not visible, you can't expect to build an audience.
But if that freaks you out…start small - even posting 3x a week is better than nothing. I mean I’d rather you post daily BUT I’d also rather you post than not post.
Consistency over time builds momentum.
2. Share YOU
This is where many creatives either hold back, are scared or simply don’t know what to post. We love sharing our art - that's the easy bit - but we forget that people ALSO want to know WHO made it…because as I mentioned earlier, people connect with people!
So think of ways to bring YOU into your content. Share the why behind your work. Show your face once in a while. Talk about what inspires you.
Now this isn’t about sharing every minute detail of your life - that’s not what I'm talking about here - this is about sharing ‘you’ in relation to your art. What does it mean to be an artist? Why do you create what you create? How do you create it?
Often as artists we take for granted that our audience understands how our art comes into existence, because ‘we’ are so used to seeing that creation process every day. BUT ‘they’ (your audience) don’t know HOW you make your art and why!
So let people into your ‘creative’ world!
3. Tell The Story Of Your Art
People love stories. So instead of just posting the finished product, take your audience behind the scenes.
Where the last point was about sharing YOU as the artist - this is about sharing your artistic ‘practice’. This is about sharing ‘the journey’ of how your pieces go from initial idea to final piece.
Let them see how your work comes together - from unhinged idea, to messy sketchbook beginnings through to the final piece. Show your materials, your process, your ups and downs, your rituals.
This shares ‘the story’ of your art, builds emotional connection with your work…AND with you!
Why Visibility Now = Confident Selling Later
One of the biggest misconceptions I see is that artists think they can start selling the moment they’re ready to sell - as in you finish a piece, take a photo, list it for sale and hey presto it's sold in an instant!
As artists we think that ‘selling’ is listing that final artwork for sale and creating a post about it on social media
BUT it doesn’t work like that…
You don’t go from finished piece to sold in one step. Just like you don’t go from stranger to customer in one step either!
Instead you need to take your audience along for the ride before you ask for the sale. The sale is going to come from those people who ALREADY know, like and trust you - your fans, your existing customers. You’re unlikely to sell to someone you’ve just met.
So think of your content as bridging the gap to help guide your followers from ‘I just discovered you’ to ‘I can’t wait to buy from you’...and this takes time.
This is why focusing on visibility NOW means you’ll feel more confident and less ‘salesy’ when it’s time for your audience to buy from you.
So your goal is to build all those connections and the trust - so that selling your art becomes the natural next step.
Visibility Isn’t Optional - It’s Essential
To build a long-term art business, you need to treatVISIBILITY as an ongoing practice - not just something you do when you launch a new piece or product.
I’ve been running my own art practice for 33+ years now - and whether you are doing this ‘offline’ (ie. from your own studio or through fairs) or doing it ‘online’ (ie from your website, emails and social media) - it’s the SAME process…
Becoming VISIBLE is how you build your audience…
Your audience becomes your community…
And your community becomes your customers!
So don’t hide your process. Don’t wait until everything is perfect - because trust me ‘perfection’ doesn’t exist (said as a recovering-perfectionist!).
Don’t keep your art - or yourself - a secret!
Start showing up NOW - because people can’t connect with you if they don’t know you exist!
Love Sarah xo
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