When talking with artists about marketing and selling their art,  the most often asked questions is, “How do I start?”

One of the answers to that question is, “Decide to whom you will be selling your art and focus on them.”

“How do I do that?” Well, if your art can be categorized you are a giant step closer to connecting with your future collectors. It allows you to focus on a specific group of people rather then “everyone.” (Does the word “categorized” sent shivers down your artistic spine? Don’t worry, all your art is going to be categorized by someone at sometime. I just think that it helps if you are the one doing it. ) Lets take painting for an example. Who is the market for paintings? Who is the market for oil paintings? Who is the market for oil paintings of animals? Who is the market for oil paintings of pets? Who is the….dog? Who is…..hunting dogs? Who is….german shorthaired pointers?

Now the collector of oil paintings of german shorthaired pointers would be part of the group collectors of paintings. But don’t you think that it would be easier to interest them with paintings of German shorthairs rather than with  “paintings in general?” Don’t you think that they will share you and your art with other  German shorhaired owners if your paintings are German short haired pointers?

So what you create determines to whom and how you sell your work and can make the job either easier or harder.

Restricting yourself (geez, that word is worse than “categorizing” ) to a specific category or niche ( I know, that word is getting a bit overused now days) will focus your work and allow you to improve and reach greater depth in your work.

So everything is connected, your decision of what to create determines who you market to and how easy that will be. Your decision to focus determine how much your work improves.  Which gives you positive feedback, which makes you willing to do the work needed to create and market your art.

So what I am saying is that when it comes to marketing and selling your work you can’t just categorize…….