Here’s one we hear from artists all the time while giving demos of our software:

“So…do you provide me with a list of art buyers?”

Supposed golden tickets in the form of large email lists of “art buyers” for sale (or promised to you by companies trying to help you sell your art) has unfortunately become a common misconception in the art world.

A magical shortcut; a virtual express lane to success.

Oh, they exist alright, we’re not going to tell you no one has ever managed to round up a list of 10,000 or 50,000 people they suspect buy art.

The problem is that they’re not effective. Let’s look at why.

How Art Is Sold Online

Buying a massive list of random art buyers is not going to be effective because art is sold based on the buyers’ emotional connection to the subject matter.

You produced a landscape piece based on a Tuscan wine valley, they were married in a Tuscan wine valley and are looking for the perfect anniversary gift for their spouse.

You sell prints of your urban photography from Seattle, Washington, they just moved to Seattle, Washington and are looking for a print for their office.

Highly specific, emotional connections formed over subject matter. This is how art is sold, especially online.

Blast your art to 20,000 random email addresses – are you going to be lucky enough to make a specific, emotional connection with one of them? Maybe. Probably not.

So, when asked whether we offer our customers a magical “list of art buyers,” our answer is:

“No, because a list of random art buyers won’t help you. But we can help you help yourself.“

How to Build Your Own List of Art Buyers

The way forward is clear: you don’t need to pay for a giant list of random art buyers to get started, you just need to be able to reach a few people that are specifically interested in YOUR subject matter, that care about YOUR work, and that are excited to open your emails.

The only way to do this is to build your own list.

Collect your own emails. Sell your art to collectors directly, rather than through middle men.

Think of how much cleaner and effective your email marketing is going to be when you are only communicating with people that have manually opted-in, virtually confirming “Yes, sell me your art!”

THIS type of list is so powerful, it will quickly become the entire value of your business.

Something that valuable cannot be bought. It has to be built over time, given care, and marketed to using best practices.

And like anything really worth doing – like producing an original piece of art – there’s no shortcuts to it, you just have to put the work in.

Lightening Your Load

So while we cannot offer you some kind of get-rich-quick Excel document from the art buying gods, what we can do is make it as easy as possible for you to collect email addresses through your Art Storefronts online art gallery website.

We do that by building in industry-standard technology to capture leads – tools that will invite your site visitors to opt-in to your mailing list.

We also equip you with a powerful package of education on email marketing best practices, and personal coaching via our private Facebook Group.

Both of which will keep you up-to-date on the absolute, most-effective ways to build your own list of art buyers that are specifically interested in your art.

We’ll show you how to execute classic strategies like The Fishbowl Technique with a modern spin.

And, as soon as new technology is created that can help you in this endeavor, we pounce on it – learning it ourselves, mastering it, and then teaching it to you.

Conclusion

No one is going to be able to sell your art for you, but with the right support system, you absolutely can build an art business on your own.

We’ll leave you with one last thought: If you only work with companies that do not share your customer information with you, you are building the strength of their business with your art, rather than the other way around.

With those marketplaces, you aren’t growing your own list of buyers who are interested in your subject matter. But they are!