Dawn's Frosty Arrival by Monroe Payne
How to Sell Art + Photography to Interior Designers and Offices
The story of how one photographer leveraged their online art gallery to secure a contract to decorate an office with over 25 prints.
Ever dreamt of earning a massive office or hospitality contract to decorate an entire building with your work?
Photographer and fine artist Monroe Payne wrote in to #SmallWins (our private artist community on Facebook) to share how he did exactly that:
Before you can make sales like that, you should first understand the mindset of an interior designer.
By understanding the problems you need to solve, you can begin to position yourself to actually earn the business.
When searching for art online by subject matter, designers have no shortage of options - so the question becomes - what exactly leads them to select one photographer or fine artist over another?
In other words: what did Monroe do so right?
It all comes down to how he answered a few key questions all designers are asking themselves when evaluating a sizable art purchase:
1. Is the experience of the art website, logo, and brand commensurate with the prices they are asking?
Having a modern, functional art website is so important because it says everything about how seriously you take your art business.
If you haven't invested your own time and money into your work, it is unlikely a designer will do so.
So - what are the must-haves? For one, clear branding. This means having a professionally-designed logo, and a roster of social media accounts that all represent your work in the same way (have the same logo, color palette, etc.).
What this does is answer several subquestions designers may have:
- Given how they are representing themselves, am I going to risk my reputation on this photographer/artist?
- Will my client be impressed when they visit the website of this photographer/artist, or will they think I made a cheap decision?
You wouldn't spend top dollar to buy art out of an alleyway garage, and designers won't be enthusiastic about spending their budget on work showcased on an outdated website.
Let's see how Monroe did on this front:
Monroe's website presents his work with a clean, minimalist template. Like the white walls and empty spaces of a gallery, Monroe's website instantly tells the viewer, "this is art to be treated seriously."
The product pages make deciding on medium and sizing a breeze. They include 3D media previews, a Wall Preview tool, and even support selling originals, limited editions, and prints side-by-side on the same page.
Layout and functionality like this shows that he's invested in real art-selling technology, not just a free portfolio-style website. The result is an immediate increase to the perceived value of his work.
This effect is put over the top when you consider that Monroe offers Live Preview with Augmented Reality. This feature does 2 amazing things.
First, just by being there it says "this photographer has the best art-selling technology available" - think about what that says about the value of your work.
A best-in-class feature like this gives the immediate impression that you are successful, that your website experience is leaps and bounds ahead of others because you sell more art than others, and, as a result, you are the one to trust with any sizable art contract.
Second, if your buyers use it, they'll be treated to an unparalleled art-buying experience that allows them to try out your work on their actual walls. All while in the very same browser they were using to browse your website.
There's just no better way to sell art online.
2. Can this photographer/artist actually deliver on this order, or is the process going to waste my time?
Top of mind for any designer is going to be how confident they are that they can enter a successful business relationship with you.
A lot goes into making this impression with your website - one way Monroe does it is by using trust badges that tell his site visitors a few pieces of key information:
- That he is registered with Art Storefronts - a third party organization with an established track record of selling art.
- He has a clearly-written, official return policy.
- His website offers secure checkout with industry-standard SSL encryption.
- He uses verified archival materials to produce art that will last.
No designer is going to reach out and ask
you about this stuff if you don't display it on every page, they're just going to leave your website and find a better one.
3. Is the artist trustworthy?
This is the big one. At the end of the day, business is about trust and the same holds true in art.
When a tie between two options needs to be broken, the sale is always going to go to the photographer/artist that is more credible.
By using trust badges, modern product pages, and a cutting-edge feature like Augmented Reality, Monroe has established himself as a photographer that takes his work and his business seriously.
His website is communicating that he is a safe seller to buy from, and that he'll be reachable to work with should any problems arise.
Can you say the same?
It's hard enough to find art buyers and build a business. Don't make it even harder on yourself by attempting it without a credible, proper art gallery website putting your best foot forward.
Luckily, it isn't hard to do.
The secret to Monroe's success isn't that he personally thought up, designed, and implemented all of the great credibility-building features he offers...the secret is that he built his website with Art Storefronts.
Day one, out of the box, his website was launched with all of these features and more, and he's been cashing out on it ever since.
If you feel like your current website is holding you back from landing sales like the one featured in this post, request a demo today and we'll tell you more about what we can do for your art business.
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- 20 Must Have Features to Sell Art Online with Your Website
- Introducing Live Wall Preview with Augmented Reality Feature
- Our Mission: Solving the Starving Artist Problem
- The Journey: Learning How to Sell Art Online
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