Should I Be Branding Myself As An Artist
It’s a tough question… but the answer is Yes!
The real question is: how should you do this?
What exactly do you need to start doing… that you might not already be doing? Read till the end to get my three action steps.
You’ve probably seen at least once, if not a thousand times, the phrase ‘personal brand’ mentioned on social media in the last two years. If you haven’t, I’m glad to know there’s an artist out there who lives in an algorithm purely filled with art!
But if you’re reading this, then, like me, a fellow artist, you too are probably exposed to all the marketing and social media gurus out there who are giving you tips left, right, and centre on how to train the algorithms by just being CONSISTENT. Pretty consistent advice in all fairness!
The problem is, if your art marketing efforts on social media have only ever revolved around announcing that you’re an artist over and over - and nothing more than that - you’ll struggle to see the fruits of all your painting reveals.
Your posts and your videos have to say more than just, “I’m an artist, here’s my art. I’m an artist, here’s my art.”
Your content, and in fact everything you put out about your art, has to speak to a specific target audience.
And it has to say to them:
“This is who I am. This is what I care about. My art can make you feel like x, y and z.”
That is essentially what a brand or personal brand does.
They keep the ‘over-and-over’ part, but:
they tell you who they are (not just “I make clothes”, but “this is the story behind why I make clothes”)
they tell you what they care about (which is what you probably care about too)
and they tell you how what they provide will make you feel (they give you a good reason to BUY into them)
Branding doesn’t mean thinking about what cool fonts to use in videos or adding certain colours to your emails, although this can contribute to a cohesive brand. So, if you were worried, you needed to start making that your focus, there is no need.
Side note: Don’t get me wrong, considering the fonts and colours you use in your visual marketing, the type of images and style of photography you put out there is important. All these things help reinforce the idea or ideas you want be associated with. But being explicit, and most importantly repetitive, about what you as an artist brand tell your audience, is what is most vital.
Branding means thinking about what ideas you want people to associate with you and your art.
What do you want to be known for?
Start doing the above three things more.
Meaning talk more on video about the above three if you’re a talker. Write more in captions, blog posts, emails and on your website if you're more of a writer. And share more of the things you care about that are related to your art in the times when you're not explicitly talking about your art.
Action Steps:
Start telling more - start talking, writing and sharing more about who you are, what you care about and how your art can make people feel
Write down all the things you want people to associate you and your art with - what do you want people to think of (ideas/emotions/memories/concepts) straight away when they come across you, see your art or hear your name
Create a mood board based on what you’ve written down - use sources like Pinterest to gather images and words to help you shape what you talk about, images of things that aren’t your art but could exist in the same world your art does
Get in touch! We’d love to help you!
