The Artist Marketing Funnel: Acquisition & Awareness

No one will buy your art if they never see it.

*Disclaimer* These tips are just suggestions that we have deemed relevant to selling art and enhancing your business. We understand that all businesses are different and their process to make sales will differ from business to business. The following are just guidelines and should be used at your own discretion. It is ultimately up to you to determine what is best for your business.

Stage 1: Acquisition & Awareness

Awareness is the first stage of the marketing funnel. This is where you expose your art to brand new clients for the first time. If you monitor your traffic on your social media/website, awareness can be measured through impressions and reach. This is the most important stage for an artist. As you probably already know, no one will buy your art if they never see it. So show them. You want to be in the right place at the right time so when someone is in the market to buy art, they see your work. It is impossible to always know where these people are, but we can sure as hell increase our chances of finding them with the following.


Here are our top 5 picks for increasing awareness as an artist:

  1. Art Shows & Markets

  • Not only do art shows attract a large number of people, they attract a specific kind of person. For example; a local farmers market will attract a wide range of buyers most likely looking for cheap/homemade items that they can purchase without a second thought. This differs from the Telus Art Market, where it attracts thousands of people who specifically love visual art. It is your job (with the help of Albi Art Collective) to determine which events will best expose your art to your ideal buyer.

  • Of course a benefit to doing these shows/markets is making sales during the event, but that is not the only goal. The goal is to expose your art and brand to new eyes and move them into the consideration stage.

  • Please check out our Member Marketing page to explore events that we suggest our artists join to increase their brands awareness.

2. Online advertising

  • Paid advertising is a great way to leverage your time and effort. But it can be expensive. Through facebook ads, google ads or other media, you can expose your brand to thousands of people with just a few clicks. If your product items are on the lower end (under $200) this is a great way to direct traffic to your website or social media page. It is much easier for a consumer to purchase cheaper products directly from your ad. For example, using paid ads to sell prints of your work, as you can mass produce prints and can sell a high quantity at a lower price. On the other hand, if you are selling big ticket items, paid advertising is better used to increase your brand awareness as an artist instead of a specific product.

  • For art, it is best to use visual ads such as still pictures or videos. Still pictures should be high quality photos of your work displayed in a way that enhances the look and feeling of the art. Videos can be examples of your technique or revealing a finished product to your clients.

3. Social Media

  • Social media is an effective and cheap way to create awareness. Through free apps like Instagram and Facebook, you can share your work without spending a dime. Although payed ads on these platforms can definitely increase your reach, make sure you are doing everything possible on the free side of things first. Visual media such as Instagram, facebook and TikTok are the ideal platforms to post your art. Unlike Twitter which is mostly for displaying text. You’ll want to use social media that shows off your work visually.

  • For Instagram, be sure to post frequent stories of your work and update your followers on what’s new. Stories can be uploaded everyday without feeling ‘spammy’, and can inform your followers on new sales, artwork or events.

  • We recommend our artists to be on as many platforms as possible to reach the highest number of potential buyers as they can. It also diversifies your ability to update your followers in case one of your accounts is hacked or shut down.

4. Galleries

  • Art Galleries are an amazing passive tool to sell your art. Once a gallery accepts you and your work, they do all the marketing and advertising to make a sale. We like to think of your original art as cash, and galleries as banks. Sure you can hide your cash under your mattress, and use it to spend on whatever you like, but it doesn’t give you any benefit other than hiding it. On the other hand if you were to put it in a bank, you would earn interest on that cash, by doing absolutely nothing. The same goes for galleries. Once your work is in a gallery, you can focus your energy on other aspects of your business while your paintings are ‘earning interest’ and eventually sold. Gallery sales can be quite slow from time to time, but like interest at a bank, eventually you will see a return.

  • The downside to galleries is their commission. It is usually quite high and they have many other artists' work they can show to their clients instead. No one will be as passionate about your work as you.

5. Word of mouth

  • Our final tip to spread brand awareness is by others sharing how much they love your art. This is the slowest form of awareness but can be the most successful. If you were chatting to your best friend about buying some new art for your home, and they suggested an amazing artist they think you would like, you would definitely check them out. Word of mouth is usually a more trustworthy and reliable source for products than a random advertisement you see on the internet.

  • The downside? Word of mouth can also work against you. Be sure to always make a good first impression and create a positive relationship with your clients.