Super Tips for How to Sell More Art Online
By
Our thanks to Barney allowing us to repost his valuable advice! Barney is an art marketing consulting and has written multiple best selling art marketing books. For more information on Barney, check out ArtMarketingNews.com
- Practice What to Say
- Portray Confidence
- Positive Mental Attitude
- Be Curious
- Negotiate
- Offer BIG
- Ask for the Order
> Practice What to Say – I suggest using Google Canned Response, or start saving your frequent replies in a notepad where you can copy/paste them as a time-saving method. Whether you are saying it in person or online, there is still usually just one best way to say something.
> Portray Confidence – Unless you are using dry, dull, not suggested forms of communicating online this totally applies. If you show your personality — and you should be for greatest effect — on your blog, social media or website, the words you choose and what you talk about can easily portray confidence.
Never apologize unnecessarily. For example, “I’m sorry to bother you.” or “I hope this is not inconvenient.” Statements like that give your power away and make you seem weak and lacking confidence.
> Positive Mental Attitude – PMA is an ongoing effort to put yourself in the best frame of mind to help you accomplish your goals. It applies online, too. PMA works with confidence. Learn to write and communicate online with confidence and a positive mental attitude. It shows through just as when you are speaking person-to-person.
> Be Curious – Most of what I know is because I’m curious to learn. I got very little of what helps me succeed through formal education. When I find something that interests me, or I know will help me advance my personal and business goals, I spend time researching to find useful information to help me. There is no better place than the Internet to be curious and learn.
> Negotiate – Buyers can contact you and open a negotiation for a piece they want to own… and do it all online. Whether the initially found you online or offline, they might still use online, such as email, to ask for a discount. Your negotiation skills work just as well this way as in person. Besides, honing your negotiating chops will help you in everyday life and in your business. You are losing money you will never get back by being at the mercy of a better negotiator.
> Offer BIG – nothing stops you from offering a suite of pieces online… the bigger, the better! Try presenting another kind of multi-piece package online. I guarantee if you put together a package as an option for pieces that complement each other or offer an original and commission, or two prints that complement an original, or something similar, that you will get orders for it.
Your buyers only know what’s possible if you tell them. They are not schooled and don’t think creatively to put together a big order from your individual pieces. Try it. The real estate is free and you have only to gain when what I tell you works… and it’s not a matter of “if” but only “when” this suggestion will convert to an order that gives you a jubilant surprise!
> Ask for the Order – In Internet marketing, you use what is known as a CALL TO ACTION (CTA). A CTA is your way of providing your audience to take action when on your site or blog. It is meant to provoke an immediate response. Normally, it is a link or button, or both, using an imperative command such as “Buy Now”, “Join Today” or “Act Now”.
If you bury your order process or make checking out difficult, you lose sales. It’s the equivalent of failing to ask for the order in person. Your work is for sale online — or at least in my mind it ought to be because it makes sense. If your site is not e-commerce enabled you are losing sales and customers, perhaps forever.
I believe you need to clearly show your prices and have a link or button to buy the work. Online buyers are different the gallery buyers. It’s annoying for them to not see the price. If you go the effort of displaying your work online, then you should also go the effort to ask for the order. You do this with your CTA prominently displayed.
You can also use language that encourages sales. And, before anyone complains about these suggestions, you can do it in a way that does not denigrate your art. It’s your brand. You control the message. The only way your art gets denigrated or degraded is if you let it happen.
