Today is another tip about quickly growing a new Instagram account or accelerating growth on an established Instagram account. In 38 – Generating Instagram Engagement With New Likes And Follows I talked about direct messaging people who have recently expressed an interest in you and your work and in Day 39 Like Other Peoples Posts And Comment I talked about establishing further connections beyond your own posts in hashtags in your niche. Now I want to talk about targeting influential accounts post’s so that you can ‘get there first‘ when they post something new ..read more

What Do You Do? Let’s take a step back before discussing the importance of art customer research. Before discussing what your customers really want – what do you do? When you setup your online business, hopefully you put careful thought into what you do. You think about your craft, your processes and your products. You display all of this in a way that you hope will attract your customers. Then you craft good copy, take good photographs, set your prices well and much more. You spend a long time developing your craft, refining it and marketing it. Then you develop your brand until you get to th ..read more

Are we in a recession, heading towards one or just dangerously close to one? Regardless of what you choose to call it there is no doubt about it – the economy is taking a bit of a battering right now. Customers are tightening their belts and spending less. So are you wondering how to sell more art in a recession? First we had a pandemic that shook the art world for the best part of 2 years. Galleries closed either temporarily or permanently. Shows and exhibitions were cancelled. Workshops stopped. People scrambled online. For those who moved quickly enough and planned well enough there were b ..read more

Why Should You Be Concerned About Selling Overseas? Selling online opens up a global market place to you. It provides access to lots more customers, however, it also exposes you to extra complications too. These include shipping and additional overseas VAT, sales and customs taxes as well as handling charges. Selling art overseas after Brexit presents many challenges. Unless you are clear about what the requirements are to ship overseas you risk delays to customers. Customs will often delay your products if paperwork is incorrect. They may even return it to you (usually at an additional cost ..read more

Is That It – Are We Done? A couple of years ago I did a post around this time titled ‘Is That It – Are We Done?‘. The idea was that at this point most of you will either be on your Christmas last orders date or beyond it. At that point do you stop taking orders and just concentrate on getting what you can out for Christmas? Do you then put your feet up for a well earned rest or is there anything else that you might be missing in your Christmas art marketing this last week before Christmas? Are you missing any last minute opportunities? Would you like some help with your last minute Christmas ..read more

Why Are Last Order Dates Important? Are you clearly advertising your last order dates for Christmas? If you have been doing this for a while you might have noticed that things can get slightly chaotic at this time of year. Many report 80% or more of their annual sales in the final quarter. By December things are really moving quickly. During all this activity it is easy to drop the ball. It is easy to take orders that you cannot deliver in time for Christmas and it is easy to miss out on orders because your customers suspect it is already too late to order from you. It is therefore important ..read more

Why Produce An Art Calendar? As we get nearer to Christmas you have probably notice lots more calendars for sale. They come in all shapes and sizes and you can find them everywhere – online, at fairs and exhibitions, in shops and galleries. You probably buy one for yourself and perhaps if you see one you really like you buy one for friends, family and colleagues. It is something you are probably so familiar with but do you or have you ever considered why you might create an art calendar? If you haven’t read on. If you have and it hasn’t gone so well read on too – I might be able to help you d ..read more

Art Business Supply Issues 4th Quarter So we have all seen the news recently. As we continue to ride the pandemic and hurtle towards Christmas it isn’t all going to be plain sailing. We had fuel shortages here in the UK recently. This wasn’t because fuel was scarce but because it was in the wrong place. We had a shortage of drivers to get it to the right place. The military were called in to help ease the fuel crisis but now so many other products are being affected too. Are there going to be any art business supply issues and how will it affect you? So why are supply issues happening? Well t ..read more

Why Clean Your Email List? So you have seen the light and realised that you need a mailing list to grow a thriving online art, craft or photography business but why clean your mailing list routinely and what does that actually involve? Your mailing list is an essential tool in your online art business to build long term relationships with your customers. Unlike other 3rd party ‘rented’ platforms your mailing list is an ‘owned’ platform. It is a direct connection with your customers and not subject to many of the algorithms, filters and competitor distractions that can stop your communications ..read more

Instagram notifications – what they are and how to use them Why use Instagram notifications? Well you might have heard me say in the past that Instagram restricts or filters content that followers see. You might have heard me say that on average each piece of content you post is likely to be seen by only 5% – 10% of your audience. Pretty low for all that effort right? Well here’s the thing – it isn’t quite that simple and it doesn’t have to be quite so restrictive. You see Instagram isn’t actually blocking your content it is simply prioritorising it (or not as the case may be). Notifications ..read more