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While most artists think about sales and their art, many do not think as much about branding their art business. But the truth is that branding your art business is as important and vital as the other aspects of your business.

There are four steps that you can take to help you brand your art business. Each of these steps will help you to not only define the goals for your business but also to understand who you are selling to. It will also help you to properly identify your customer and what motivates them to buy, so that you will know how to more effectively market to them. And finally, having a proper brand will allow you to consistently market to your targeted customers in a way that will help to drive your sales.
There are 4 steps that you can take to help you properly brand your business. These steps will help define how others will see you and your artwork.

Step One – Define Your Key Goals and Objectives
The first thing you need to do when you are looking at your art brand is to define what your goals and objectives are. It is a good idea to try to narrow down your goals early on in your business venture. By doing this will give you a foundation to help you with your branding for your artwork.

Also at this stage of the branding process, if some ideas you have do not fit with your key goals and objectives, then you will need to scrap or refine it. This is why having your key goals defined early on will help you with the consistency of your overall brand.

In looking at your branding you can ask yourself these questions:

What do I want to achieve with my art business?
How do I want others to see my art and my art brand?
The main focus of this step should be for you to look at your art business and the objective of your art business. By thinking of these things it will help you to define not only who you are as an artist but also how you want to brand yourself and your art.

If you do not do this step properly then your goal and objective of your art will probably be something that you struggle with for a long time. That is why defining this clearly at the beginning as to what you want to achieve with your art and how you want others to see you and your art is such an important part of your art branding. It will become the core of your entire branding process.

Step Two – Understand Your Target Audience
Once you are clear on what will drive your brand, then you need to look at who are you going to sell your artwork to. You need to also understand a bit about your target audience is for your artwork to properly be able to sell your artwork. Here some questions you can ask yourself:

Who are you trying to sell to? This is an important question for you to ask yourself. For example, are you selling large abstract pieces so that you are trying to sell to interior designers? The answer to this question should not to everyone, You should understand a bit about your who your audience is and why they are your audience or customer.
What is your customer persona? It is good to have an understanding of who your customers are? Are they people who are looking to collect art? Are they people looking to buy an art print? It would good to know a bit who your customer is and what motivates them to purchase the art from you.
Why would people buy your art? In trying to understand a bit about your customer’s persona it is also good for you to try to define why you want to buy the art from you. This will help you with your entire branding process.
When you are first starting out to sell your art you may not totally know all the answers to these questions. But as you start to sell your art this should be something you should try to understand.

Why You Should Define Your Customer Persona?
One of the most important things you can do in this step is to understand your customer’s persona or what traits drives them to want to buy your art. Here are some reasons why this is important for you to understand to have a successful art business.

Deeper Understanding of Customers – When you know what your customers want or what kind of artwork they are looking for it will help you anticipate their needs and to communicate them in such a way that will help to sell your art.
Develop Art That Sells – If your goal in your art business is to develop art that will sell so you can make a living with your art then understanding your customers is an important aspect of that. It does not mean you must change your art style but it will mean you can better understand what they want or anticipate what they will want or desire.
Look for niche markets – Understanding your customer base can help you to also better understand if there are any niche markets that can be explored. For example, maybe you find that your art does better will printing on pillows or cards. It is good for you to see this so that you can understand these niche markets.
Speak the language of your customers – When you understand your customer base then you will also speak their language and be able to better talk to them through your social media, website and other marketing. This should help to also drive more sells of your art.
How to Create a Customer’s Persona?
Now that you know why an understanding of your customer’s persona is important it is also good for you to know how to create a customer’s persona. To create a customer’s persona there are a few things that you need to look at and consider. Here are a few things you can look for in building your customer’s persona or profile.

Demographics – For your customer’s demographics you can look at things the age, gender, income, location, family situation (single, married, widowed, divorced), annual income and education. When you start to define all these you can get a picture of what ideal customers would look like,
Professional Details – This is where you will look at things like the industry they are in, their job title, etc. For example, if you are targeting Interior Designers then you would want to know the ideal kind of business an interior designer has that buys from you. Is it a large firm or a smaller firm? Those are all things that are important in helping you to understand more of who your target audience would be.
Psychographics – This is where you look at things like the personality traits of your ideal customers and their values, Plus any attitudes they may have including interests or hobbies. Also what motivates them to buy from you. Are you selling to someone who is an art collector? Someone looking for a fun piece of artwork or a piece for their home or an interior design project? These are all good things to understand for you to know so that you know how to target them to buy your artwork.
Some of this may seem quite difficult to know or discover, but the more you think about your customer’s persona, the more you can start to define down on who your real customer is. You should try to understand some of the following:

What motivates your customers to buy?
Do they buy one time or will they buy consistently?
What motivates them to buy? Are they looking for art to decorate their home or art to put a smile on their face? it is important that you understand a bit about what motivates them to buy your artwork.
Step Three – Your Brand Personality and Identity
When you understand who is buying from you and when then you can really start to build a brand personality and identity that will speak to your customers about why they should purchase your artwork. This is because, when you understand your brand identity and why your customers will buy from you then you are in a better position to brand your products in such a way that people will gravitate to purchase your artwork.

Here are some things to consider when looking at your brand personality:

Brand Colors – It will be important to choose your brand colors as the colors will help to define all your branding including logo colors, colors you choose for your website. This will also later reflect on any printed marketing materials as your name card or marketing pamphlets or fliers. I think it is important to choose colors that also reflect your art. if you tend to like some brighter colors then you can look at some of your signatures bright colors for your branding and website. This will then ensure the story of your brand is the same throughout everything from your artwork to your logo and other marketing materials.
Logo – One of the most important things you can consider is your logo. What are the colors you are using, how will it look and what will it portray to others. Also, will your logo have a tagline that will tell someone about who you are as an artist? Many times a tagline can help to quickly identify you as an artist and your brand.
Make it consistent – Whatever you choose to do, make sure it as consistent throughout al the marketing platforms you are using. I also find that by being very clear on your brand at the beginning of your branding process it will also make it easier for you as you will not have to rethink your brand all the time.
Why Telling Your Story Is Important?
When it comes to branding, people love a good story. This is why how you tell your story will be very important. part of your brand. Here are some points about telling your story:

Your Story Must Be Authentic – You should tell an authentic story of who you are and what drives your art and for you to produce your artwork. When your story is real and authentic then people will trust you more and you will be more reliable to them and become an expert. Also, it helps you to make a personal connection with your customers.
Live the Part – If part of your personal brand is that you live this bright colorful life then let that reflect in that way you are living and then show this to people. If your art reflects about travel then also show that to others. Live the part that also reflects your art.
7 Steps to Telling A Compelling Story:
Telling a compelling story that people can relate to or want to hear is very important. Here are 7 steps that you can follow as a recipe to will help you to tell a compelling story:

Set the Stage – The first step is to set the stage and provide any background and details. This is a good place to include that 1 to 3 sentence elevator pitch wherein you tell people quickly and in a few sentences what your art is about and what drives you as an artist.
Tell About a Major Life Event – What is the one event that sparked the story?. For me, it was that I was in a motorcycle accident and that got me on the road to painting. Tell them the things that sparked you to become an artist or to paint. Did you decide at age 10? Then tell them that story as to why you decided to be an artist then.
Build the Story – Next, you need to build upon your story. Build some momentum and excitement with the story as you get closer to the climax of the story.
Give the Aha Moment of the Story – This is generally the most important part of the story. it is the “aha” moment and gives the breakthrough or the revelation of the story. This is what everyone has been waiting for with the story and explains the story.
Wind down the story – This is where you tell what happened as a result of the Aha moment. How did it change you or your perspective? Why it changed you and why it drives you to be an artist.
Provide a Resolution- This is where you explain how you resolved a problem or overcame a struggle. This is essentially explaining to people what motivates you to paint or do your artwork or why you do what you do.
Finish the story – Now you can finish your story. In this part, you can include some information on your vision or future plans.
Step Four – Have a Consistent Social Media and Marketing Channels
When you look at social media branding and your other marketing channels. it is important to have consistency in all the marketing channels. Here are a few things to consider.

Social Media – Social Media is no longer a marketing option but has become a necessity. today as four out of five Americans have a social media account or about 83% of the American population is now on Social media. That is a very significant number. If you are one of the small percent that is not on social media then you will need to get an account to join with the other 83%. Though these figures are for America, in many parts of the world the numbers will be about the same. This means that social media as an avenue for marketing is not an option but a necessity.
Website – Also a website is no longer an option. All companies and businesses need to have a website, email address and at least a phone number. This is also true for all artist businesses. People want to be able to read about you and see your artwork so a website so this is now a basic requirement for any business.
Be Consistent – One of the most important things with marketing and branding is to be consistent. To have an influence on social media you must be consistently posting relevant content and at the same time, your brand needs to be very consistent on all platforms.
Tell Your Story – One of the best things you can do is tell your story by using the 7 steps above as a guide.
Finding Your Voice on Social Media and Your Marketing
As social media is such an important part of social media and marketing it is important for you to understand a few things about your branding with social media and your marketing. this includes having a consistent voice on your social media platforms.

Here are a few steps you can do to find your voice on social media: :

Have a List of Words or Adjectives You Can Use– When you are writing up a social media post it is important that you have a list of words or adjectives that you can use for your social media. How do you describe your art? Words like bold, bright, calm, cool, daring, delightful, earthy, elegant, fashionable, festive, glamorous, honorable, innovative, inspiring, lush, natural, novel, organic, powerful, radiant, relaxing, rustic, savvy, sleek, sophisticated, striking, strong, swanky, tasteful, tranquil, unique, urban vintage, whimsical, wild and youthful. If you have a list of words you can use time and time again, this will help with your overall branding and telling the story of your artwork consistently on all platforms.
Write as you talk – Write your posts like you would talk. This means make it simple and easy for people to understand. This will also help you to sound real as you tell your story,
Drop the drama – Too many people will try to use words like best, top, worst, etc to try to get sensationalism in their headlines. Eventually, people will see through this and you will lose trust. Instead, it is best to use words like fun, different, helpful, exciting. But mainly use your words to try to connect to your customers. Learn to speak their language.
Write from your reader’s perspective – When you are writing think about your readers and what they may want from you. Try to connect with them and what they may want.
Be consistent – The worse thing you can do is to be one person on Facebook, another on Instagram and anther on another a social media platform or website. Strive to be consistent on all platforms.
Learn to listen – Learn to listen to your customers. To make a social media post is good but also make sure you engage with your audience. Use these platforms to not only connect but also engage with your audience.
If you take the time at the beginning of the branding of your art brand to really think about your brand, your audience and how you want others to see your art then all these things will be easier and consistent throughout all the be marketing platforms you are using. It will also help you to build not only a powerful marketing tool but also a powerful art brand.

Conclusion
Building your brand is a very important part of any business but it is especially important as you build your art business. The reason is that the branding of your art business will reflect upon you and art. So it a very important step you need to take when you are building your art business.