Self Promoting Yourself as a Visual Artist Starts with You!

In order to self promote the work you create you first need to understand a few basics. I am sure not everyone will agree with me, but it is what has worked for others and with any luck it will work for you too. Hopefully, what I have to say here will sink in and cause you to think differently about self-promotion.

1. Think of yourself and the work you create as one - inextricably tied. This is the first step - the basic knowledge that you and your work possess a quality that renders it and you desirable and/or valuable. So protect it and be jealous of your body of work at all costs. Effective and successful self-promotion depends upon it. If you don't believe in yourself and in what you create, no one else will either. If you cannot advance the notion that what and who you are as an artist and what you create is an historical contribution to this planet, you will not succeed in self promotion. This is a fact.
2. Surround yourself with others who support you, your work, and your decision to self-promote. Don't waste your time with those that have nothing but negative things to say. The critic and the naysayer: who has time for them? They are nothing but energy zappers. Let them go rain on someone else's parade. You have business to attend to.
3. Wear the invisible brand of self-assured confidence. It's a powerful tool. You can move mountains with it. But again, you have to believe it.
4. The Internet or the World Wide Web is your friend and marketing partner. Believe and know that the web can (and has) revolutionize and transform the visual art industry and that every single artist that uses the Internet to their advantage can and should succeed
5. Be disciplined and willing to work your tail off to make it happen. No whining! No feeling sorry for yourself - no self-flagellation.
6. Never ever let anyone tell you that they can market YOU better than YOU because it just isn't true. Don't let others separate you from the financial profits from your work that you rightly deserve. Don't be so quick to give away the store no matter what others may promise you.
7. Don't ever fall in love with your work so much that you can't let it go for any price. Remember your art is an expression of you. It should be cleared from your studio and set free to make its way in the universe of someone's collection that will love it and appreciate just as much as you. But before setting it free it is wise to make an initial and permanent record of it for posterity. You will thank yourself later and your descendants will thank you, too.
8. Read, study, and research your style and genre. If you think your style is unique and it hasn't been done before. Think again.
9. Make sure you produce enough work first to begin to effectively self-promote. In other words, you need pieces to exhibit and sell. A collector's decision to part with his money in exchange for your artwork is a huge decision. We are talking about disposable income. Collectors or buyers don't need the work you produce. They desire it. For whatever reason, it moves them and evokes emotion. This is why collectors part with their money for your works of art.
10. Create a desire for your work and do so with a fire in your belly.

An Introduction to Internet Marketing for Artists - DVD

Highly-successful artist shares her secrets of internet marketing
with emerging artists, + bonus material. Approx. 50 minutes.
Price: $29.95   Order DVD | Preview

— by Theresa Franks  |  August 31, 2010

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