Selling Your Art: How to Approach Pricing and Your Market

via Brandi Pettijohn, Photographer

From the NYFA.org site

Art Marketing Strategist Aletta de Wal has been been consulting with entrepreneurs and coaching artists for more than 20 years. As a contributor to the online art magazine Empty Easel, she shares some guidelines for pricing your work and making it visible to the appropriate market.

Network with people who are potential buyers and with people who know potential buyers, including other artists. Make sure everyone you know is aware of your art and who your potential buyers are. When your connections come across a good match, they’ll think of you first.

In tougher economic times, sales may be slower, fewer, or simply less predictable. But there are always collectors and dealers in the market for the “right art at the right price.” Stay in touch with them until they are ready buy or exhibit the kind of art you create.

Know your niche market-who’s in it, where are they showing, and what prices are they getting for their work? Galleries and serious collectors are especially interested in similar sales as tangible proof that there IS a demand for your work.

Art dealers and collectors have a sense of the factors that create value in all types of work. Part of your job is to be equally well versed so you can set prices that are appropriate and timely. When you do the research and act on it with confidence, your prices will be received favorably.

What makes your art more valuable to your collectors than any other artwork they have the option of purchasing? If you don’t know this, it will be harder to pitch your art.

Start with an attitude that your art is worth selling, otherwise no price will feel right to you. A big part of sales is self-assurance, so be confident about yourself, your art and your value. At the same time, keep an attitude of respect for your audience. Without that respect, no price will sound right to them. If you do not value your viewers, it’s unlikely you will build relationships that lead to sales or representation.

Learn about your audience’s past art purchases. What is their threshold for styles and price points; how, where and how often they like to buy art? With this knowledge, you can more easily overcome pricing obstacles by negotiating a payment plan or suggesting a smaller piece that fits their budget.

Always know the actual costs and overhead expenses of creating your art. This means assigning a value to everything in the creative process, including hard costs (everything you pay for) as well as soft costs (the value of our time as if you paid yourself wages). Keep track of your sales. The highest sales price you consistently get should become the minimum for your next series of work.

Don’t raise prices without proven demand. It can be tempting to raise your prices because you need more money. If you are selling 1/3 to 1/2 of the work you create each year, you are probably safe to raise your prices by 10 – 15%. If you want to keep your current cash flow steady, then keep your prices stable on the current body of work and offer the next work for higher prices.

Don’t lower prices without a reason. If you aren’t selling as much work as you would like, or need cash flow, you may be tempted to lower your prices. If a collector has already purchased a piece from the same body of work and then sees the lower price, they may feel that they overpaid and may not buy from you again. If you lower your prices rather than changing your overall marketing approach, you may not get any more sales, and yet you will find it harder to raise prices in the future.

Don’t have different prices in different places. Fluctuating prices put doubt in viewers’ minds, and doubt kills sales. They may think that the pricing is done on a whim. For those of you exhibiting your work online and offline, make sure that your prices are consistent. Once you fix a price with a gallery, honor the scope of the agreement to the letter. If the gallery allows you to show the same work on your website, make sure to pass on any commission for sales initiated by the gallery. If you breach the trust you have with them, it may cost you your reputation down the road.

~ by Tracy G. M. James on October 27, 2011.