Photo from Etsy
Some artists are good at marketing because they have business degrees, some have worked in corporate marketing or sales. Other artists are good at marketing naturally. They have that instinct that tells them what the people want. Some artists just get lucky.
A combination of getting lucky and a natural instinct for marketing are what brings success to Kate Miss from ForMe-ForYou, a graphic artist who makes prints and sells jewelry. My wife and I have been following her blog for some time and she shares far more than she sells.
Her approach to marketing other people pays off financially. When Kate Miss started posting pictures of her jewelry on her blog & Flickr pages, her fans started asking her to make some for them as well. Now, whenever she posts new jewelry for sale on her Etsy page, it’s gone within seconds. Literally! Customers’ biggest complaints about Kate Miss? The jewelry goes so fast they literally cannot type in their credit card numbers fast enough.
When I first discovered her, I emailed her and asked her what her secret was. Here is her response.
“I seriously have done nothing special to get this off the ground! I was making this jewelry for myself, put photos of it on my flickr and blog, people asked me to make them one, so I made some and they sold out instantly each time. I’ve never promoted them, submitted them to blogs, or done anything else like that besides putting them on my own blog.”
Breaking down that paragraph a little bit, you can gain some guiding principles from what Kate Miss does.
She makes great jewelry. In order to sell something, people have to really like it. Everyone loves her work and raves about how beautiful it is. After all, she only started selling it because her fans asked for it!
She connects with her readers. Kate Miss’s blog is popular and her fans are loyal. Even simple posts receive lots of comments, and Kate Miss regularly points to things that her readers will like, and they thank her for it. She also shares insights about herself on Twitter and Flickr.
She promotes her own work in advance. By letting her fans know what she’s creating and when she’s posting it, they have an expectation for when & where they can buy it. Many artists make the mistake of making their work difficult to buy.
I’m a big fan of Kate Miss and hope to see her work continue to sell and grow!
Know any other artists who sell? Let us know in the comments below or contact me directly.
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Yes! I know lots of artists who sell! Two painters that come to mind right off the bat are my mother, Carrie Ross, and my dear friend Rose Deniz.
Thank you for this post, I find it very helpful and motivating learning from successful examples.@lizmarshall
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