FineArtViews - The AMP Newsletter

Hi There,

FASO members love the ease of selling their art online with our built-in ecommerce functionality.

Over the past 90 days, 3,222 FASO artists & creators sold over $1,010,812 worth of art via ecommerce on their websites by following the principles of the FASO Art Marketing Program, which is available to all FASO members.

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Enjoy,

Clint Watson

Over the last 2 weeks, I've shared 2 important myths in the art marketing world. Myth #1: You need to define your ideal customer. While identifying a target customer has become a ritual for many product and service companies, the truth in the art world remains: Lots of different types of people buy art.

Myth #2: Blogging Will Sell Your Art. Blogging was a very effective way to put your art into the world 10 years ago but the truth is today, the benefit of blogging has moved to social media.

Click here to catch up on Myths 1 & 2 now.

In today's article, I'll dive into another important art myth and the truth behind it.

By the way, I shared all of these art marketing myths and their truths on Twitter first! For my latest thoughts on art marketing, posted daily please follow me.

Myth #3: You should use intrusive pop ups to increase signups to your newsletter.

The Truth: You're selling a luxury good and this is a mass market tactic.

Newsletter pop-ups have become one of the most controversial marketing tactics in recent years. They are intrusive, distracting and downright annoying to deal with when scrolling through your favorite sites. It's apparent that everyone hates pop-ups!

Marketers continue to push their use because they can be an effective way to increase your email list, for certain products and services.

Your art is not simply a "product" that you're looking to push to market and sell to a mass audience. Purchasing artwork is a personal buying experience and the same mass-marketing tactics used to sell the latest gadget cannot be implemented to sell a unique piece of art.

Imagine this: You walk into a high end art gallery. You've heard about this great art in this gallery from a few friends. Excited, you walk in and your breath is taken away by the first wall of paintings you see. You approach the wall for a closer look, and, just as you're getting interested, a gallery associate appears between you and the painting and says:

And then he just stands there waiting. Oh, yeah, there's a little tiny "x" above his head. If you press it, he'll leave you alone.

Now why were you at this gallery again? I don't remember either, the nerve of that guy, right?

Yet, that's exactly what you're doing to your website visitors when you implement an email popup.

Think I'm exaggerating?

Let me show you an example from a site I sometimes read about tech, management and investing.

Last time I was on the site, while learning valuable information in one of their articles, they unexpectedly popped up the following screen:

They went to all the trouble to develop a good reputation for great information. I am a regular visitor to the site. I go there specifically to learn. And they have the nerve to insult me with a "No thanks, I don't want to learn more" link to dismiss the pop-up form. Just because I'm not ready to provide my email address.

In the example above, while I didn't like the popup, or being insulted, I can see how, in some instances, when utilized carefully, a popup might work when you're selling information.

However, most artists copy this practice (often upon a recommendation from these coaches), and what you end up doing is annoying your very best prospects before they've even seen your art.

Coaches recommend pop ups because it works for them when they sell information. But most of them have not sold a lot of art so are making a mistake of thinking all marketing is alike. It's not.

I recently had an artist email me his new website address. He may have been following recommendations by someone who fell prey to the Marketing Guru Myth because when I went the site to view his art, and this is what I saw:

This is a surefire way to turn off collectors and great prospects!

Not only that, if it happens to be a past collector of your work, you've just angered them too! It very clearly states that the 20% discount is "only for new collectors." I almost can't think of a worse way to market art. If anything, should you choose to offer any discounts, they should be for best customers - your past collectors who have supported you!

To make matters slightly worse, once you finally get rid of the popup, you have to deal with an annoying cookie banner.

Don't try to sell art like Amazon sells sneakers and don't try to sell art like art coaches sell courses.

There's a reason art galleries and museums are not designed like Walmarts.

We, in the art world, should strive to make the world better, not worse. And when we add yet another popup to the internet. We're making it worse.

I checked several luxury goods websites such as Louis Vuitton and Rolex and they do not hit you in the face with a distracting pop-up. The fact is, they don't need to cheapen their brand because the quality of their products speaks for them. Don't cheapen your work by using these gimmicky marketing tactics or your website is liable to remind people of the guy below:

Your website should do its best to encompass the experience that art enthusiasts love as they enter a gallery. Take a look at this step-by-step guide to build a homepage on your website that addresses how you should add a sign-up form to your newsletters on your website (in a non-intrusive way).

Stay tuned for next week's article where I'll discuss Myth #4: You need to work on ranking in search engines for lots of keywords.

Until next time, remember that Fortune Favors the Bold Brush.

Sincerely,

Clint Watson

BoldBrush/FASO Founder & Art Fanatic

PS - Click here to sign up for your free FASO trial today and get instant access to our email marketing program, ArtfulMail that was designed specifically for artists like you to market and sell their art.

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