How to sell your art in a recession

Are you wondering how to sell your art when we are in the throes of a global recession? The good news is that it is possible!

When people are tightening their belts, they are looking for inexpensive investments that will pay off later. Buying a piece of art that can provide them with pleasure for years, is something they may consider.

Marketing is the key!

You don't need to sell at rock bottom prices, but by lowering your price and letting the potential customers know that you normally charge higher, they can understand that now might be just the right time to buy!

If you are a well known artist that normally commands high prices, then you might not want to drop them, but have you considered creating smaller works of art that are quicker to produce?

If you have yet to make a name for yourself, you have no reputation to lose by keeping your prices low and you might just build up a loyal following, who are prepared to pay more as you become established.

How to sell your art to retail stores and restaurants

If you are not well known, one of the best places you can sell your artwork, and sometimes make a substantial income, is in the gift market or in retail stores.

These venues often sell artwork as unique, one-of-a-kind pieces that cannot be bought elsewhere.

With this arrangement, you want to sell the artwork directly to the store owner. Another option is to ask if the store will display them on a sale-or-return basis. If they sell, then you give the store owner a commission for his trouble. If they don't you take them back and try elsewhere, and it hasn't cost him anything.

This approach can also work if your pictures are displayed where people are going to sit awhile, such as in restaurants, offices or waiting rooms, with a price label discreetly positioned showing that they are for sale. The venue gets to decorate their premises without having to pay up front. And if the products do sell, they can ring the changes by displaying a new work of art.

How to sell your art to galleries

Again, this would likely be a commission arrangement, but often patrons of art galleries come looking for reasonably priced pieces from as yet unknown artists. This is a great way to make a name for yourself, whilst selling your pictures.

During hard times, art galleries will often host "for free" viewings to encourage visitors. This can have the effect of drawing in more people than normal, resulting in greater exposure for you.

How to sell your art online

Even if you don't have your own website, you can still use the Internet as a sales tool.

We talk elsewhere about using auction sites such as eBay for selling unwanted items, but you can also use it to sell original pieces of art. Again it gets it seen, and your name about. Keep your prices modest to begin with, but as you build up trade and get great feedback you can increase them a little. Maybe by the time the recession is over, people will start searching for your work by name. At that point, you can get away with charging more.

Likewise you can put your products online at Etsy, a place specifically for selling your crafts online.

Selling reproduction rights

Having been on the other end of this, I can also tell you that artists in other mediums - such as needlework design - may well be interested in paying you a fee for the rights to create patterns based on your designs. By selling their patterns they help to bring the attention of more people to your work. And of course you still have the original piece to sell elsewhere.

Later, as you get more established you could enter into a similar agreement with a greetings card manufacturer, perhaps.

I hope this has given you some ideas for how to sell your art.