As an artist, selling your work may not be your main goal but it’s always nice to have art sales from collectors. It’s a kind of recognition that’s different from what you get with having an exhibition. And it can feel great to make a sale like that.
Since you’re reading this, you may want to sell your work. To do that you need an audience. If you’re like me, building an audience can sound daunting.
One of the best ways to do this is to add people to your email list. And by adding them, I mean you invite them to join your mailing list of their own free will.
Why Do You Want An Email List?
When you have social media followers, they may miss your posts.
You have no control over what gets put in front of them on their feed. Unless they are visiting your account directly, they may miss what you're sharing online.
And, you have no control over if the entire social media platform goes down unexpectedly. Or disappears one day.
Having an email list will increase the chances that they’ll see what you’re sharing.
Extend The Invitation
You never want to add someone to your list without their permission. Even if you’re pretty sure they’d be okay with being added, you have to get their permission.
One technique that works for artists is “the teaser”. It’s less provocative than it sounds. And it has nothing to do with a teased 80s mall-claw hairdo.
Here’s how it works. You let your followers know you’ll be emailing something great in the next week. I recommend you also do this in a Story or an Instagram Live to build buzz and get in front of as many people as you can.
Create a post that lets your audience know a little about what’s coming. This might be a sale or a new body of work you are about to debut. Tell them when this email will come out and if they’d like to be among the first to get access, to send you a direct message with their email address, or to follow the link you have in your bio.
Pro Tip: Make sure your bio has your email sign-up link if you send them to your bio, otherwise they may get confused while trying to find the option to subscribe.
Use this technique once a month to remind people about your mailing list that will give them exclusive updates. You don’t want to do it so often that people become annoyed by too many requests to join your email list, though.
Annie Brown is an artist who uses this technique well in her posts and stories.
byAnnieB. Hot Dog Painting - a great exmaple of encouraging Instagram followers to subscribe to her email mailing list.
Make Buying From You Easy
This is just one of the many ways that you can grow an email list filled with potential collectors of your art.
Migrating your social media followers to your email list makes buying from you a more intimate and direct experience.
BONUS: Having your own mailing list is a great way to tap into the holiday selling season. Often, this is the easiest time of year for art sales because many people are looking to buy gifts.
Even if you’re not having a big sale, building a relationship with people on your email list is important. This is how you create friends, genuine community and connection.
When you introduce a new body of work or announce an upcoming exhibition, most of your art sales will come from people on your email list because you’ve nurtured them throughout the year. They are your VIPs and biggest fans.
Interested in making more sales through building and nurturing your audience of collectors? Book a complimentary call with me, Kate, to learn how this process can help you sell more of your art and have a lot of fun doing it.
Cheers,
Kate