Clint, wow! This article addresses many of the stuff that concerns artists about their marketing paths. Thank you! I've heard Barney Davey often say, "There are riches in niches". I think that has been true for me. I've noticed that my work gets more attention when it's somehow visually different from most of what's being painted today. It doesn't need to be wildly different, but recognizable as mine alone.
What I'm discovering is that I can and have built a following for my work - even for my new style - pretty quickly, but "quick" is a relative term when building a following for original work. I'm practicing more patience and staying with a marketing approach a little longer than I used to. The problem is that social media platform popularity changes so quickly. Because of that fact, I'm thinking that the only real platform that I can control is my website, where I'm not dependent on a company that could care less about me.
I still do use social media to post my work and have started using more of Instagram. I really like IG much more than Facebook for a number of reasons which I won't go into here, but my ultimate goal is to build a following, over time, on my website.
I'm hearing artists say, but how do I do that? How do I get people to subscribe? I have built a pretty good following over the years and do have ample subscribers, but I'm looking into ways that I can get more without spending too much time online.
I do, in fact, sell the majority of what I paint directly to buyers from my website. Most of my recent sales have just been by posting my art on my Facebook profile. Some have purchased because they subscribe to my newsletter. Many times, my previous collectors buy new works or commission me to do a work or two.
