B - Brand, Blog

Brand - Customers want to be able to identify with your product. They want to be able to look at your store and understand the type of style, subject matter and quality they will receive when ordering from you. This is why artists need to pay close attention to branding their product.

Branding is a process of defining the visual qualities of your store. The products need to have a unifying element that ties them all together. For instance, a store could feature all modern-inspired items that use bold colors and simple geometric shapes. That same store should use logos, packaging, business cards and promotional materials that also use modern elements, bold colors and simple geometric shapes.

When branding, it is important to ask a few questions such as:

• What are the three main visual elements that define my work?
• Is their an overall theme to my subject matter?
• Do my shop images, logos, packaging, business cards and promotional material complement the visual quality of my artwork? i.e. If the artwork is organic in nature, do the promotional materials convey that as well?
• How is my work different from all of the other artists doing what I do? How do I stand out?
• What three words would a customer use to describe my products? Can those three words apply to all of the products?

Blog -  Blogging can be useful for artists who want to engage customers in the process and developments of making and selling art. Blogging can help to raise awareness of a product, provide free advertising (see A) and help the artist track his or her business journey.

Sites such as blogger.com and wordpress.com offer free blogging platforms that look professional and are simple to use. Bloggers needn't write a ton of content to stay current. A post a week is enough to generate interest.

Successful bloggers use some specific tactics to increase their blog followers. They invite guest bloggers to write a post, so that the guest will direct traffic to the blog. They feature other artists' items on their blog so that those artists will advertise the blog. They also join blogger groups of writers who cover similar topics. Each of these tactics, should increase a blog's following.