WHY YOU NEED TO BECOME A STORYTELLER TO SELL YOUR ART

We wanted to talk a bit about content marketing or in simplified speak – storytelling. We believe that storytelling should be part of the foundation of your marketing framework. You need to release the magic you put into your art into creating the story around both you as an artist and your artwork.  This narrative will really help you tap into the emotions of your followers and future customers.  Art can be a competitive industry, but your story will help set you apart!

 

 

WHY YOU NEED TO BECOME A STORYTELLER TO SELL YOUR ART

 

ART IS VISUAL, IS THAT NOT ENOUGH?

 

To put it simply, people remember stories. Your story needs to convince your followers to care about your work as much as you do, your story needs to create enough of a connection between you, your followers and your artwork, so much so, that they must have a piece of your art for themselves! From the way you write your artist bio to the descriptions of your artwork, your Instagram posts to what you have to say on your blog, all of this narrative is your story.

 

WHERE DO I START?

 

We know it can be difficult to write about yourself but to get you started we want you to watch a great TED Talk by Simon Sinek where he talks about why great leaders always talk about their ‘WHY’.  Most people talk about what they do and how they do it, but that does not motivate people to buy art. BUT when you talk about your “WHY”, why you create, there is a better chance of this resonating with people on a deeper heartfelt level. So use your ‘Why’ as a starting point for your story.

 

DO I NEED TO BLOG?

 

We are sure you have heard that blogging is important and yes, we believe so, BUT we need to bust a myth  — creating 10 irrelevant blog posts per month because you’ve been told blogging is important just won’t work. The key to creating quality content is providing information or inspiration that is valuable to your readers in some way. 

But before we get started, we’re making the assumption that you already have your website set up. If not, please check out our post on website builders.

 

 

WHY DO I NEED TO CREATE VALUABLE CONTENT?

 

Content is how you get your message out to the world, develop your brand, position yourself as an expert in your field and raise awareness about your art business. It helps drive traffic to your site and allows you to communicate and engage with your audience. Content also keeps your existing clients interested and coming back for more. And if people really like what you post, they’ll share it with others, which can lead to even more traffic (and sales!). 

 

WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH SEO?

 

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, which basically means optimising your content to make it more visible and appealing to search engines. Ideally, you want your site and content to come up high in the results when people search for terms and topics related to your brand. There is a lot of talk about how best to go about SEO, but don’t let it overwhelm you. Let us try to simplify it for you:

 

• High-quality Content is King. We can’t stress enough how important it is to create content that is useful and relevant for your audience. Think about your ideal customers and what they would be searching for or what they would want to read or see (video is content too!), and then create content that is unique, helpful, inspiring and interesting for those people.

 

• Make Your Keywords Work for You. So many people try to stuff keywords like ‘art’ or ‘photography’ into their content without even thinking about how many other sites are also trying to rank for those keywords or the fact that people generally don’t type vague keywords into search engines. Try using long-tail keywords, which are info-rich phrases that include a number of keywords. For example, ‘affordable black and white landscape photography‘ instead of ‘photography’.

 

• Links are Important. One of the ways that search engines evaluate your website is checking to see how many people link back to it. The idea is that the more quality website links that point back to your site, the better your site must be. The best way to start getting some link love is to create content that is worthy of being shared. You can also reach out to other artists or people in your field to raise awareness about your artwork and foster collaborations that could result in link sharing. 

 

• Make Sure Your Website Template is optimised for SEO. Use simple language in your url, add concise Alt Text descriptions for your images, and use meta descriptions to briefly summarise your content. If you’re not sure where to add descriptions, the Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress will walk you through the process and even do some of the work for you. If you are using Square Space you can check out the Square Space SEO Guide here and Shopify’s SEO guide here.

 

5 BLOG POST IDEAS FOR YOUR CREATIVE BLOG

 

1. Do a roundup of your favourite XYZ’s. Maybe they’re your favourite art websites for inspiration, paint shops in your local area or artists you love on Instagram. Share tips and information that your potential clients would be interested in.

 

2. You don’t always need to write about your products or services, you can also share your experiences. Maybe a particular person has inspired one of your products, or you are using a new technique for your art. Share those stories and let your fans see the person behind your art.
   

 

3. Ask yourself what your customers are searching for that could lead them to your product. For example, if your niche is fashion illustration, you could write a post on how this year’s London Fashion week has inspired your current work and share your fashion illustrations.

 

4. Interview one of your team members or another artist you know. We love doing interviews here at Creative Founders because it gives us the chance to meet all sorts of amazing women who kindly share their unique experiences and stories with our readers.

 

5. Share your knowledge about a particular topic or skill in a helpful how-to list. People love learning new things and finding a solution to a problem they’ve been dealing with. For example, you might want to write about how to set up styled art photography for your website, how you successfully started working with a local gallery, or the tools that help you balance between being an artist and a business owner.

**PS: Headlines are super important** as those are the first things that people see, so they need to be catchy. If you’re having trouble coming up with good headlines, check out this super cool Headline Analyzer Tool.

 

HOW DO I GET PEOPLE TO READ MY BLOG?

 

This is a very good question and an important one.  Once you have loaded your blog and it is looking beautiful, you need to get it out there to the world!
 

• Facebook – post the blog twice that week.

 

• Twitter – You can tweet the same post many different ways. Why not tweet once with the post title and the second time with a quote from the post. It is always a good idea to create an image with your post that is shared on Twitter to make it truly stand out!

 

• Pinterest. Create and pin a Pinterest banner from your post to your relevant boards. (Learn more about Pinterest here!)

 

• Ask your friends to share. Do you have close friends in your community who you feel comfortable asking to share your post?

 

• Share on Facebook Groups. Before you do this, make sure you understand the terms of the Facebook Group, we don’t want you getting in trouble! But if all is good, post away! Alternatively, search the group to see if someone has asked a question relevant to your blog post, and use your post as a way to answer the question. For example, if you are part of a Family Facebook Group, and someone asked for suggestions on the perfect Father’s Day gift they can get for their husband, why not answer their question with your post on Father’s Day art ideas!

 

CHALLENGE:   

 

Plot the content you’re going to create for the next four weeks. You may like to try out Asana or Trello, or use a spreadsheet or a notepad, they all work! Keep in mind upcoming holidays or events that may also be an inspiration for your post. For example, if Father’s Day is coming up, why not write about 5 pieces of art Dad may love for Father’s Day? Then get writing! Start off with one blog post per week, make it great, then get sharing! Good Luck!