As a former eCommerce shop owner and marketing consultant for artists, one of the most critical lessons I’ve learned is the importance of owning your data and controlling your marketing. In the world of eCommerce, having access to your customer information — knowing exactly who your buyers are, what they’re interested in, and how to contact them — is invaluable. This same principle applies to the art world. As an artist, relying solely on your gallery’s website means you’re missing out on these insights and opportunities. You might not have access to the email addresses or contact information of those who are interested in your work, and this makes it much harder to build direct, long-term relationships with collectors and enthusiasts.

Why You Need Your Own Website:

Gallery representation is undoubtedly valuable for artists, but it often comes with limitations. Having your own website is an essential part of creating your own artistic identity and having control over your career. When you rely only on a gallery’s website, you’re subject to their rules, their design choices, and their marketing strategy — none of which may fully reflect who you are as an artist or where you want to go. Your own website gives you control, flexibility, and the ability to directly engage with your audience. Let me break down why having your own site is a game-changer:

1. Full Control Over Your Narrative

Your website is your personal digital gallery. It’s where you can control every aspect of your brand: how your work is presented, how your story is told, and how your artistic vision is shared with the world. Unlike a gallery site, which may only feature a select few pieces, your website allows you to showcase your full portfolio. This gives you the power to decide which works to highlight and how to present your journey as an artist.

• Want to showcase the evolution of your style? You can create a timeline or a blog to walk your audience through your artistic development.
• Have a series you’re particularly proud of? You can feature it prominently on your homepage with detailed descriptions of your inspirations, techniques, and ideas.

This ability to control your story is especially important for emerging artists, as it helps you establish a distinct identity that galleries or curators might overlook.

2. Direct Engagement with Collectors and Fans

When you rely solely on galleries, they serve as the middleman between you and your collectors. This can make it difficult to form a personal connection with the people who are interested in your work. On your own website, however, you can directly interact with collectors, art lovers, and potential buyers. You can offer them the chance to sign up for a newsletter, follow your blog, or get updates about upcoming exhibitions.

• Email list: By gathering email addresses from visitors, you can build a loyal fanbase and send regular updates about your new works, upcoming shows, or behind-the-scenes insights into your creative process.
• Social media integration: Link your website to your social media platforms to encourage followers to explore your entire body of work in one place.
• Direct sales: You can even sell your work directly from your site, bypassing the gallery commission fees. This not only increases your profit margin but also allows you to gather valuable information about your buyers and what they’re interested in.

3. Expanding Your Reach Beyond Galleries

Galleries are fantastic, but they are also limited. They often represent multiple artists and only have room to showcase a handful of pieces at any given time. Plus, they cater to a specific audience — the people who visit the gallery, which may be limited geographically or demographically.

• Your website, on the other hand, is global. It’s accessible 24/7 to anyone in the world with an internet connection. This dramatically expands your potential audience. You’re no longer limited to the physical foot traffic of a gallery. You can reach art collectors in different cities, countries, or even continents.
• Opportunities beyond sales: With a strong website presence, you may also attract commissions, collaborations, or opportunities for solo exhibitions that you wouldn’t have access to otherwise. The world becomes your gallery, and the opportunities are endless.

4. Adaptability in a Changing Digital Landscape

The art world is evolving. Technology and digital platforms have reshaped how people discover and interact with art. While galleries can be slow to adopt new trends, having your own website allows you to stay agile and adapt to changes as they come.

• SEO and searchability: With the right SEO (Search Engine Optimization) practices, your website can rank in search engines, making it easier for people to find you when they’re looking for new art or artists.
• Emerging technologies: You can easily integrate new tools, like virtual exhibitions, augmented reality (AR), or NFTs, as they become more mainstream. Having your own website means you’re not at the mercy of a gallery’s timeline for adopting these trends. You can be at the forefront of innovation.
• Marketing flexibility: Whether you want to run a seasonal sale, offer limited-edition prints, or start a blog to share your artistic insights, your website offers the flexibility to adapt your marketing strategy as needed.

5. Long-Term Investment in Your Career

Your website is more than just a tool for the present — it’s a long-term investment in your career as an artist. Think of it as a living portfolio that evolves with you over time.

• Archiving your work: As you continue to create, your website can serve as a complete archive of your artistic journey. This not only helps collectors see your growth but also creates a valuable resource for future generations to appreciate your work.
• Showcasing your evolution: As your style changes and matures, your website allows you to document this evolution. It’s a testament to your growth as an artist and a professional, something that is difficult to capture when relying solely on galleries to represent you.

My Approach as a Consultant

When an artist reaches out to me for help with creating their own website, I always start by diving deep into their “why.” Why do you create the art that you do? What motivates you? From there, we clarify your long-term goals and what you hope to achieve through your online presence.

Together, we’ll walk through your portfolio, selecting the pieces that best represent your artistic identity. Then, we’ll work on refining your visual identity — from the colors, typography, and imagery that will make your website stand out to the overall look and feel that will resonate with your audience.

Once your visual identity is clear, we’ll move on to crafting your positioning statement. This is the core of your brand — a succinct statement that explains who you are, what you do, and why your work matters. It’s the message that will drive the design and content of your website, ensuring that everything aligns with your vision.

Finally, based on this foundation, we’ll build a framework for your website that not only reflects your unique artistic voice but also provides a seamless experience for visitors, from browsing your portfolio to contacting you or purchasing your work.

• Goal-setting: We’ll clarify your specific goals for your website. Are you aiming to drive sales, attract commissions, or build a community?
• Portfolio curation: We’ll decide which artworks to showcase and how to organize them for maximum impact.
• Visual identity: Together, we’ll define your website’s look and feel — from color schemes to typography to layout.
• Positioning statement: We’ll craft a concise statement that summarizes your artistic vision and goals, giving your audience a clear sense of who you are.
• Framework creation: We’ll design a website structure that supports your goals, with an easy-to-navigate portfolio, a compelling “About” page, and an integrated contact or sales system.

Building a website is not just about putting your work online; it’s about creating a digital space that serves your goals as an artist, a space that grows with you as your career evolves. By partnering with me, you’ll have the support you need to create a website that truly represents who you are and helps you achieve your long-term artistic ambitions.

The way you share your story can transform how people engage with your work! I have worked with artists and galleries, and, in contrast, in eCommerce and the startup world. Everywhere, it’s the same story: it’s not about perfection, it’s about connection!

Pro tip: start small, be authentic, and let your story speak!

Here’s my 4 Storytelling Tips for Emerging Artists:

• 1. Your Artistic Work – Share the ‘Why’ Behind Your Art

Go beyond techniques and materials. What inspired this piece? How does it reflect your personal story, beliefs, or the world around you? This emotional connection helps collectors and fans understand the deeper value of your work.

Pro tip: Frame your work as part of a larger artistic vision or narrative that unfolds over time.

• 2. Your Website –  Create a Journey

Your website should guide visitors through your story, from your “About” section to your portfolio. Focus on how your unique experiences, challenges, and inspirations have shaped your artistic path.

Pro tip: Use high-quality visuals and engaging text to make sure visitors feel connected from the moment they land on your site.

• 3. Your Social Media – Build Relatable Moments

Use your posts to tell stories, not just share finished pieces. Show behind-the-scenes moments, work-in-progress shots, and the ups and downs of your creative process. Invite your audience into your world and let them see the human behind the art.

Pro tip: Use captions that tell a personal story about your work to engage your audience on an emotional level.

• 4. Your Buyers / Collectors / Partners – Tell Stories that Build Trust

When reaching out to potential buyers or collaborators, use storytelling to build rapport. Highlight the journey of a specific artwork, or share a testimonial of how your work has impacted a past collector.

Pro tip: Tailor your story to their interests, showing how your work aligns with their values or vision.

Need Support?

Need help writing finding your artistic uniqueness and being confident with your story?

Contact me for a free get-to-know call!

While inflation rates rise and markets falter, the art market continues to boom. After COVID, fairs are taking place again, art lovers can travel, and exhibitions are being visited. However, Corona and the rapid digitalization have contributed to a rapid change in the art market. The requirements of buyers have changed, as well as the opportunities to find and address buyers. The business is now more international and digital. The rapid change is overwhelming as well as promising!

What marketing channels are interesting and relevant for galleries and art dealers? What are the biggest challenges? The Marketing Report of the company Hubspot for the year 2023 shows:

The biggest challenges that companies worldwide will face in 2023 are generating traffic and leads.

What does that mean?

Reaching as many people as possible and generating their data or information so that they can be contacted and, ideally, “converted” into customers.

Lead generation can be done in two ways: digitally or analogously.

Digitally, by directing people to one’s own website through ads on Google, social media, or through digital clippings (interviews, reports). Ideally, to a page that matches the ad or clipping in content. And where the visitor is then visibly invited to leave their contact information (name and email).

Analogously, one should try to generate contact information at every opportunity where one encounters potential art enthusiasts.

By asking the conversation partner for their business card at events or fairs, which is the classic way. Or by laying out a list at the opening.

But this is not the most sophisticated way of generating leads: who voluntarily signs up for a list that is lying around somewhere in the room? Is someone keeping an eye on that happening?

Have you ever tried to station a colleague at the entrance of the gallery who welcomes every visitor and, as a condition for entry, enters their contact information directly into the gallery’s database? Via laptop or iPad? The visitor can even do it himself. He should click the checkbox to receive the newsletter, too. Win Win! This is already such a common practice at many events, so why shouldn’t you adopt this procedure for lead generation for your gallery?

I highly recommend brainstorming as a team for half an hour, identifying “lead generation opportunities”. And thinking about how to react in each situation or opportunity to achieve the goal of getting the data of the respective person.

What approach is convincing and charming?

So that it sounds like a real opportunity? “We have a pre-event in two weeks in a small setting and I would love to invite you.” “Do you already know our limited special editions? We only sell them to our customer base. I would be happy to add you to our database so that you automatically receive an email when there is a limited edition again.”

Keep brainstorming, there are so many convincing arguments.

This is just a brief overview of the possibilities that exist for lead generation. They are diverse and it is very worthwhile to always keep in mind that contacts in the art market form the basis of your business model.

Art is a product that you don’t buy en passant, some customers take years before they finally buy a piece from you. So make sure that customers are always reminded that you exist!

Kehinde Wiley is a remarkable storyteller, and I will tell you why that is. Let’s take a close look at his unique approach to portraiture:

1. Reimagining Art History: Wiley’s work often reimagines traditional portraiture by featuring contemporary Black subjects in poses and settings reminiscent of historical European paintings. Through this juxtaposition, he challenges historical narratives and questions the absence of Black figures in classical art, thereby telling a story of inclusion, representation, and empowerment.
2. Empowerment through Representation: Wiley’s portraits depict individuals from marginalized communities—particularly young Black men and women—in positions of power and dignity. By portraying his subjects with regal poses and vibrant, ornate backgrounds, he elevates their presence and asserts their importance in the cultural narrative. In doing so, he tells a story of resilience, strength, and beauty within communities often overlooked or misrepresented.
3. Interplay of Identity and Culture: Wiley’s portraits are deeply rooted in exploring identity and cultural heritage. He often incorporates symbols, clothing, and accessories that reflect the subject’s personal identity and cultural background. Through these visual cues, he tells stories of cultural pride, heritage, and the complexities of identity in contemporary society.
4. Global Perspective: Wiley’s artistic practice extends beyond the boundaries of the United States, with projects that involve collaborating with individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds around the world. Through these collaborations, he tells stories that transcend borders and celebrate the diversity of human experience on a global scale.
5. Dialogue with the Viewer: Wiley’s portraits invite viewers to engage in a dialogue about representation, power dynamics, and the construction of identity. By presenting his subjects in larger-than-life scale and with commanding gazes, he compels viewers to confront their own preconceptions and biases, fostering empathy and understanding across cultural divides.

Kehinde Wiley’s art goes beyond mere representation—it challenges historical narratives, celebrates cultural diversity, and empowers marginalized communities. Through his innovative approach to portraiture, he creates visual narratives that resonate deeply with viewers, inviting them to reconsider their understanding of history, identity, and representation in contemporary society.

“Marketing is not anymore about the stuff you do but the stories you tell” is the quote of a famous marketeer, Seth Godin. What he wants to tell us with it, is that today we are accustomed to processing an enormous amount of information in a short amount of time through various channels. Whereas in the past, we would be confronted with three commercials during a movie break, today there are hundreds of brand messages that reach us more or less directly through Twitter, Instagram, Google, our email inbox, and so on.

Storytelling is the new way for good digital marketing. It is mainly images that are anchored in people’s minds. “Images are processed between 6 and 600 times faster than language.”

There are many stories out there, you may think. Surely, you regularly talk to customers in your gallery or at an art fair and have a sales conversation. Good gallery owners are good salespeople. They should know how to tell good stories that also work in marketing, right?

Not entirely: Storytelling means building an emotional connection with your target audience first, and then using it to “sell” in the second step.

Here are my suggestions for 4 Do’s and Don’ts you should consider when it comes to good art market storytelling:

The 4 Don’ts for Effective Storytelling

1 – Speaking to customers in jargon

While it’s important to showcase your expertise and knowledge as an artist or gallerist, using jargon and technical language can be confusing and alienating for potential buyers. Instead, try to communicate your ideas in clear and accessible language that everyone can understand.

2- Confusing storytelling with a sales pitch

While the ultimate goal of storytelling in the art market is to sell art, it’s important to avoid making your story sound like a sales pitch. Instead, focus on sharing your personal journey, inspirations and motivations, and let your potential buyers draw their own conclusions.

3 – Talking about something “cool” that happened recently

While it’s great to share exciting news and updates with your audience, it’s important to keep in mind that not everything that’s “cool” to you will be relevant or interesting to your potential buyers. Instead, try to focus on insights and perspectives that can help them better understand your art and connect with your story.

4 – Not knowing what your collectors want and not addressing it

Finally, it’s essential to understand your potential buyers’ needs, preferences and interests, and tailor your storytelling accordingly. If you’re not sure what your audience is looking for, try to engage with them through social media, surveys or other channels, and use their feedback to inform your storytelling approach.

The 4 Dos for Effective Storytelling

1 – Speak in images

Rather than relying on dry descriptions or explanations, try to communicate your ideas through vivid and evocative imagery.

2- Leave room for imagination

Leave room for imagination: While it’s important to convey your message clearly, it’s also crucial to leave some space for your audience’s own interpretations and experiences. This can create a more dynamic and engaging dialogue between you and potential buyers.

3 – Be honest, talk about yourself

Authenticity is key when it comes to storytelling. Be true to yourself and your art, and avoid exaggerating or inventing details that don’t align with your personal narrative. This will help you to build trust and establish a genuine connection with your customers.

4 – Be constructive

Storytelling is not just about self-expression – it’s also an opportunity to inspire and educate your audience. Use your platform to share insights, perspectives and ideas that can help your audience to better appreciate your art and the wider cultural context in which it exists.

Social media has become an increasingly important tool for galleries and businesses in the art market over the years. It allows them to reach their customers, create relationships, and increase their exposure. With the right social media marketing strategy, art galleries have the potential to reach new audiences, promote their brand, and drive sales.

When engaging in social media marketing, galleries should focus on creating compelling content that captivates their audience. This can be done by providing helpful advice and valuable information related to the art market, as well as visually stimulating images or videos. It’s also important to blog regularly and share this content across all the main social.

1 – Determine Your Goals

The first step in creating an effective social media marketing strategy is to determine what you want to achieve. What are your goals – do you want to increase brand awareness, drive more traffic to your website, or increase engagement with your existing customers? This will help you focus and tailor your content.

2 – Know your target audience

The second step in creating an effective social media strategy is to identify your target audience. Who are your customers and what type of content will they engage with? Knowing your target audience will help you create content that resonates with them and also determine which platforms and channels will be most effective for you to use.

3 – Choose the right channel(s)

Choosing the right channels for your social media strategy is essential for maximizing your online presence and reaching your target audience effectively. You habe now identified your business goals and the demographics of your ideal audience. Different social media channels have unique strengths and are preferred by different demographics. For example, TikTok is popular among younger audiences: Do you reach the customers you need that have interest in your art and the money to purchase it?

Be bold and leave out social media channels. Instead, focus on a channel that precisely matches your goals and target audience, and play it professionally. By strategically selecting, you can optimize your reach and engage your target audience more effectively.

4 – Create a content strategy

The next step is to create an engaging content strategy. This includes brainstorming ideas for content that will be interesting and engaging to your target audience. Also take into account the type of content that works best for each platform. Planning out in advance what kind of content you will be sharing on each platform can help make sure that you are staying consistent.

Showcase your art: Share high-quality photos and videos of the artworks in your gallery. Provide background information, such as the artist’s name, medium, and inspiration behind the artwork. This helps to educate and engage your audience.

Share behind-the-scenes glimpses: Offer a sneak peek into the artist’s creative process or show what goes on behind the scenes of your gallery, such as preparations for an exhibition.

Highlight events and exhibitions: Use social media to promote upcoming exhibitions, art fairs, or other events related to your gallery.

Use a consistent style and voice: Use a consistent visual style and tone of voice across all social media channels to build a strong brand identity for your gallery.

5 – Engage with your customers

The fifth step for a good social media strategy is to actively engage with your customers. This can include responding to comments, answering queries, and providing helpful advice related to the art market. Additionally, you can also use social media as a platform to promote specific events or new artworks, or simply as a way to stay connected with your community. Engaging with your audience is key in order to build relationships and keep them coming back for more.

6 – Measure and analyze

The fifth and final step is to measure and analyze your results. This is where you can determine whether or not your social media marketing strategy is successful.  By analyzing and measuring your social media channels, you can gain valuable insights into your audience and their behaviors, and optimize your social media strategy for the best results. There is no need to pay for expensive third party tools in the beginning. Use analytics tools provided by the social media platforms, such as Facebook Insights or Instagram Insights. These tools provide detailed data on your audience demographics, reach, engagement, and content performance.

Good art marketing is often said to be a budget issue. Where there is no budget for a marketing professional, good marketing cannot take place. However, this budget is missing for smaller galleries.

In addition to the countless daily tasks that business managers, sales directors and/or gallery assistants must acquire, marketing is another competence that has to be professionalized. How is this supposed to work?

The good news is that marketing is not a science that one has to have studied.

Marketing is not magic. Yes, it requires work, but, above all, a good strategy!

With a good strategy, you can do good art marketing without professional staff and large budgets – and grow sustainably.

What many teams however do wrong: they lack this concrete strategy!

They do not know their goals and simply try to keep up with the rapidly moving market and digitalization. TikTok? Big museums are doing that now, we need that too! Instagram? Must Have! Virtual gallery tours? Absolutely! But what specific goal are they pursuing with it?

Let’s take a quick step back to ask ourselves one important question:

What is marketing actually about?

No, it is not about stocking an Instagram channel with appealing pictures, regularly organizing exhibitions and sending an invitation to the existing customer base.

Marketing is about reaching more people, converting them into new customers and bringing existing customers back to purchase!

The first is called “generating leads”, the second is called “retention”. To do this successfully, you have to know your goals exactly. Generating leads, for example, works very differently from retention marketing.

If you know your goals, you can more easily break down the required measures necessary to achieve your goals.

From top to bottom! Without a strategy and goal agreements, which is what so many companies do wrong, marketing will be empty.

For example, a new customer is much more than a achieved sales of X euros. Would it not be exciting to find out how much it costs to acquire a new customer? How much marketing budget is needed? Would it not be interesting to find out where the new customers come from, what their interests are, how old they are, how they are socialized? And would it not be especially interesting to find out where and how to reach these new customers?

For example: If you know that you have never sold art on Instagram, but that art sales are usually generated through the website; if you know that the process of the transaction on the website is cumbersome and involves a high organizational effort for the team … then it makes sense to set the goal of revising the website and prioritizing this process – before caring for an attractive Instagram channel.

If you know that you attract many visitors to the website, for example, through Google search, links or social media – but that these leave again without making a purchase – it makes sense to set the goal of improving the conversion rate on the website.

Or, if you know exactly who your top customers are and what artists or art they are interested in, it makes sense to inform these top customers individually about current works rather than sending them general newsletters. What I mean by this:

Every company, every art dealer, every gallery is different: the goal is therefore to find out which marketing tools work for your own company.

And professionalize them. A continuous, goal-oriented optimization process leads to long-term success and revenue, rather than having to dance aimlessly at all weddings.

These are my tips for a good art marketing strategy:

1 – Be open to change

The rapidly moving art market and rapid digitization require quick adaptability. I still frequently observe a lack of willingness to change on the art market. The excuse “we’ve always done it this way and it’s always worked out well” no longer applies. At the latest since Covid and the loss of fairs and gallery visitors, it should be clear to everyone that it is an advantage to be able to respond quickly to changes.

2 – Know your customers

Customers are the A and O of successful marketing. The better you know them, the more precisely you can address them and do good marketing. Their data, their purchasing behavior, and their “user behavior”, meaning the way they move around your gallery, on your website, in your newsletter, give insight into possible re-purchases and possible new customers.

3 – Solve concrete problems

An example: you observe that your high-priced works are only bought by existing customers? That the majority of your address data is art lovers who regularly come to openings and visit your newsletter, but never buy? Then you should think about a low-priced “entry-level product”.

4 – Develop a clear positioning

… to stand out from the competition! The clearer your customers know what they get from you and nowhere else, the better!

5 – Analyze your data

As mentioned above: the behavior of your customers, your “users”, allows you to draw valuable conclusions about your marketing strategy. You don’t have to subscribe to expensive tracking tools and be a Google Analytics expert! Simple data such as the opening rate of the newsletter or the duration of the website visit are already a very good start.

6 – Define clear goals

Based on the information and data you collect and analyze, you can formulate clear goals that will help you plan concrete measures and their scope, and calculate the resulting costs/budgets. They will help you plan the business year in advance.

7 – Develop a marketing plan

Does everyone in the team know what to do? A good plan is not only the A and O for good marketing. But also the A and O for a smooth and organized workflow. This saves time and resources and ensures that everyone is on the same page.