1. Price point: The biggest driver of how your product will be seen is how much it costs. You want to set a price point that will cover your costs and ensure you are compensated adequately. At the same time, you need to make sure that your prices are palatable to your customers. Do some recon; go to markets in the area before your market and see what comparable work is selling for. If similar works are selling for less than what you are charging you need to consider a few things.  Can you afford to lower your price? Are there less expensive pieces that you can make that would better suit this clientele? If neither then maybe this isn’t the right market for you.  Listen to what people say as they browse your booth. If they are commenting on the price (too high / too low) take note of that and see if you can adjust your prices accordingly in the future
2. Display: How you present your work is going to play a major role in how it is perceived to your customer. How do you want people to see your work? Are you going for a craft show, small business, or fine art? If you are trying to appeal to the craft show crowd think of lots of simple, cute, low-price pieces. Display is important but not as important as matching the price point of your customers. Small businesses you should appeal to customers who are looking for quality and value. Having a good variety of products along with some high-ticket items is a good balance. Offer “deals” such as two for one or buy one get one half off. Cross-promote your products and try to upsell.  If you are going to fine art think about fewer, expensive pieces.  Leave the low and medium prices back at the studio and present only your big-ticket items. Invest in good quality displays (pedestals, acroterion). This crowd is looking for quality and isn’t generally thinking about price. So your display should reflect that.
3. Style: When you start out you may have a very specific style of your own. This could be subject matter, technique, color palettes, or detail. It is good to stick to your style as that is what will eventually set you apart from other artists. At the same time think carefully about what customers ask for. Are a lot of your customers asking for pet portraits? Try your hand at them. It may not be your passion but being able to give people what they want can pay the bills while you spend the bulk of your time working on the things you want to work on. As you work on these pieces you may gain new skills as well that you can then incorporate into your pieces. Try not to be too stubborn in what you are willing to create if it means that you are alienating yourself from your customers.
4. Marketing: this is something that is going to change constantly throughout the life of your business.  You may find that your social media posts aren’t getting much traction.  Look at what other people are doing, read up on what the people are saying is trending, and adapt your strategy accordingly.  Maybe Facebook is prioritizing lives or Instagram is promoting reels. Use this to your advantage. If you have money to invest in marketing spend some money on a campaign. Run a contest or a giveaway to increase engagement and gain followers.  The important thing is to try new things until you find something that works. Then, when that thing doesn’t work anymore, try other things until you find something new that works.  Rinse and repeat.

Learn to adapt your business to best suit your customer and you are on your way to being a successful small business. Remember, this doesn’t mean you change your style every time someone suggests something to you. You don’t need to chase trends or try to make everyone happy to be successful. But look for indicators of what is selling, what is working of others, and what you read online, and make adaptations as you go along to better meet people’s needs and wants. Have your own tips? Tag us @bz_furfur and, as always, stay unique.

The post Building a Flexible Art Business: 4 Key Strategies for Success appeared first on Burning with Purpose.

Finding the product that sells

As much as I love my floral patterns and my mandalas, that isn’t always the products that sell. Some of my biggest sellers are pop-culture inspired pieces based on board games, books, movies, television shows, and the like. I couldn’t tell you how many coasters I created for the board game Carcassone. When Brian asked me, however, if I wanted to take it off the shop my answer was a resounding “No! Why would I want to remove my best selling product!”. We don’t always get to make the things we want to make but, rather we make the things that folks want us to make.

The custom conundrum

Let’s face it: custom orders are not always fun. It is much more enjoyable to make pieces that are purely your own vision. When I am doing a market, however, people will often look around at the products I have on display and love them but, then that light bulb moments happens, and they ask me “but could you do this?” and a custom order is born. So, with that, I am no working with them on creating their vision. Personally, I enjoy this, but not everyone does because it means you may have to compromise your own artistic choices. In my case, though, it would also mean turning away anywhere between 25 – 50% of my income. So, instead of turning them away, I embrace them. I look for ways to create their vision but, also, to incorporate in my own design desicisions so that it remains uniquely me.

Expanding your range

Last year I wanted to pivot my business to more fine art. I wanted to make sure I was able to charge prices that allowed me to pay myself what I was worth. I encourage you all to do this, but, at the same time you still need to make sales and not everyone has hundreds or, possibly thousands, of dollars to spend on art. To solve this I tried to diversify the products I sell. The focal point of my website and my booth is my high-end pieces. These are the ones that are going to draw people in. Then I have my mid-range pieces. These are the smaller, less detailed pieces, that I can create much more quickly and sell at a lower price point (think $25-100).

The third category is my small pieces. These are earrings, bookmarks, and other smaller items. These pieces are nice because I can sell them for $20 or less, I can offer discounts when people buy two or more, and they allow me to offer my hand-crafted art but without the fine art prices. The final category are the impulse items. Keyrings, magnets, pop-sockets, and other low-cost products that can be priced below $5. I keep these up near where we check people out so that they might just add one in for a few extra bucks. These also make great options for kids coming through looking for cost-conscience gifts for their parents.

Have you had to pivot your business to adapt to customers. What are some of the things you did to make sure you were able to meet the needs of your customers while staying true to your goals? Share your stories with us @bz_furfur and, as always, stay unique.

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Finding the right markets

We’ve done a lot of markets in the past several years. Sometimes doing two markets in a weekend every weekend of the month. The intent is to get our product in front of as many people as possible. Although this may seem like the best course of action when trying to sell your product, remember, quantity is not a substitute for quality. Instead of trying to get into every available market, prioritize which markets cater best to your audiences. Do you sell a lot of low-cost, small items? Look for farmers markets and shows with lower entry fees. Are you looking to sell your work as fine art. Look for markets that cater to people who can afford fine-art prices. Remember, in addition to the entry fees for each market, you also have gas, food, and other expenses that come with doing these shows. If you are not making that money back it doesn’t pay to invest in them.

Price Point

I always say: as an artist you should charge what you are worth. If you are creating pieces and selling them for razor-thin margins think about how much it translates to what you are paying yourself. For instance: That piece you created on a $20 wood blank that you spend 5 hours on which you just sold for $30. That netted you a $10 profit or, in other words, $2 / hour. And that isn’t even taking into consideration the overhead costs of being at the market. Keep tabs on how much your raw materials cost, how long the piece took to create, and set an hourly rate for yourself. That $30 pieces, if you are paying yourself $10 / hour, should have been priced at $70 instead. If you can’t sell your pieces at that price then you need to consider if you are at the right venue.

Passive Income

Find local shops that are willing to carry some of your products. Look for craft stores, art stores, book stores, restaurants, anyone who strives to support other small businesses. Consider the fees they charge and make sure that you are earning enough net-profit from those locations with your monthly sales. Consider places that offer month-to-month leases so that you aren’t bound to an annual contract in case the locations doesn’t work out. Remember, also, some months are generally slower than others. The money you make around the holidays could very well compensate for those summer dog-days.

How are you weathering these tough economic times? Do you have some suggestions for how to keep your business out of the red? Share them with us @bz_furfur and, as always, stay unique.

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