It’s not enough just to create out-of-this-world masterpieces, you have to learn how to market your artwork and yourself as an artist. It can seem like a daunting task, but it’s critical to add these skills to your toolkit to help pave a successful path for your business. Before we jump into how to establish your own brand as an artist, let’s learn what a brand actually is. Facebook describes it best – just as people have personalities, businesses have brands. It’s more than just a company logo, it’s the style, language and behavior all combined together. Follow these guidelines to start establishing your brand:
Define your business niche
First, it’s important to determine your business niche. What do you want your business to be known for? What sets you apart? What medium will you use? What do you want your main artistic subject to be? Spend time writing down all of your ideas to help you identify your business specialty. Then, highlight the ideas you are most passionate about pursuing. You want your niche to be something you love, as that excitement will shine through your brand! Identifying a niche doesn’t limit your business, but rather provides more opportunities to find the right audience who appreciates your talents, according to My Modern Met. Remember, as an artist, you are a big part of your brand personality.
Build your brand identity
Now that you have defined your niche, it’s time to start mapping out your brand identity, or your overall company story. Ask yourself the following questions: What is the mission of my brand? How would a consumer summarize my brand? How would I describe my brand? Start brainstorming the overall look and feel and then start developing your logo, identify your tone of voice and choose your brand colors and fonts. It’s important to develop all of these elements prior to launching your business because it helps build a cohesive and recognizable look for your brand. Remind yourself to continue to “stay on brand” throughout the development of your business. For more information, check out How to build your brand identity.
Identify your target audience
While building out your brand identity, it is important to keep your target audience in mind. Who are you trying to reach? Who is interested in your product or service? Along with determining the general demographic information of your audience, like age, gender or location, it’s also important to learn more about their buying habits and what problems they may be experiencing and how your brand can solve that problem. Coschedule recommends the following ways to compile audience research: competitor analysis, current customer analysis, customer surveys, social listening and social media audience insight. Through all of these avenues, you will be able to identify and compile your business’ overall brand persona(s).
Establish your online presence
Your niche, identity and audience have been determined, and now it’s time to go live online. In today’s digital world, it is critical for artists to have a social media presence and a website so customers can easily get introduced to your brand. You don’t have to be a website designer to create a seamless customer experience, we recommend checking out 10 Best Website Builders for Small Businesses for a comparison of the top, easy-to-use website builders. For social media tips specific to Instagram, please read our Instagram Best Practices for Artists blog. To learn even more about developing a social media strategy, we recommend checking out the following blogs from Hootsuite and Sprout Social.
Congratulations, you are one step closer to establishing your outstanding business! Remember, consistency is key when growing your brand. It’s also important to regularly analyze your audience and social media channels to see how you can further improve your business.
