Top Three Strategies for Selling Your Artwork Online

Last week I shared the step-by-step process for setting up your own shop on Society6. As one of the most popular POD (print-on-demand) websites, it’s a great place to get started selling your artwork online.

Once your shop is set up, you need to start marketing!

Let’s dive into my top three strategies for generating sales. As a creative entrepreneur, I struggle with the sales and marketing side of my business. I would much prefer to spend all my time creating. However, these three strategies are fairly easy to implement. And they work!

Strategy One: Create Seasonal Collections

Inside Society6, you can create collections. Collections are groups of products that you showcase together.  They work really well to highlight your seasonal offerings, showcase new work, and create gift set ideas.

For example, in June, I created a series of patterns to celebrate the 4th of July. In my month-end blog, I shared free downloadable wrapping sheets with red, white and blue designs.

As part of my 4th of July marketing efforts, I highlighted those specific, seasonal products by putting them into a collection within my Society 6 shop. That makes it easy for customers to focus on items they need for that particular holiday. Beach towels, serving trays, coasters, mugs and tote bags were very popular!

Collections are also a great way to bundle products with matching or coordinating patterns that customers love to purchase as gift sets. At the end of the school year, when parents are searching for great teacher gifts, you might put matching mugs, notebooks and tote bags into a "teacher's gift" collection. 

Watch this short video to learn how to set up a collection inside your account on Society6. 

Strategy Two: Take Advantage of Society6 Sales Events

Society6 offers sales A LOT. Their favorite “go to” sales are:

·      25% off everything

·      Free shipping

·      20% off certain categories

As a Society6 shop owner, you’ll be notified in advance when the next sale is happening. You will also receive a PNG overlay file that you can use on social media to let everyone know the details. 

I recommend preparing a social media post that highlights your newest items and lets your customers know that a sale is happening.

If you enjoy posting on Instagram, make sure you have links in your bio. Update your Society6 link with a catchy name like: Shop Now for 25% OFF! Your link will take customers directly to your shop or directly to a collection that you have created specifically for that sale. With just one click, customers can shop your latest offerings and gain access to the sale code right away.

Creating a sale template for your social media posts is super helpful and makes staying current just a little bit easier. A tutorial on how to create and reuse this template might be great for a future blog post! What do you think?

Strategy Three: Market Your Shop Often

As part of my creative practice, I try to create something new every day. These days I alternate between watercolor work and pattern design.

Once a piece is finished, I start thinking about what products it will look pretty on. And who amongst my customers, friends and family might need something new for an upcoming event or celebration.

My "go to" marketing tactics include:

·      Posting new artwork in the sidebar of my blog (check out my new pattern designs!)

·      Refreshing the “gallery” page on my website (haven't done this is a while...)

·      Posting new work on my social media channels

Posting new artwork in the sidebar of my blog and inside my "gallery" page is fun. It's great to see the progress you are making. And I love having a chronology of sorts when I scroll through older work.

Posting on social media is a whole different matter. As I said at the beginning, I'm not a good sales person and spend 80% of my time creating and only 20% of my time on sales and marketing. The experts say those numbers should be reversed!

However, I try my best and these three strategies work and I find them pretty easy to implement.

Please try them yourself and let me know how they work for you!

Next week is the last week in the month so, if you are on my email list, you’ll receive my monthly freebies for August.

I’m super excited about next month’s design. If you’d like to receive it join my tribe!

Remember, It’s Never Too Late To Create.

Xo,

Anne

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