Finding your target market: Online, offline tips

YOUR PEOPLE ARE OUT THERE

Everyone says that to sell anything, you’ve got to start finding your target market. Once you identify that group, you can aim your sales at them and selling artwork becomes loads easier. But how do you find them?

WHAT IS A TARGET MARKET

Let’s define this clearly first. A target market is a group of people who need your product, want your product, or are very likely to be interested in it.

They share a common problem. They share common interests, hobbies or attitudes. Your market could be specific to certain demographics: gender, age, location, etc.

The more narrowed-down your market, the better off you’ll be. You can’t just say, “My target market is people who like art,” because that’s practically everyone. What problem does your art solve for them? What style of art do they like? What general interests do they have that they want depicted as subject matter? Do they live in your area? Do they admire watercolor or oil paintings more? Are they a motivation quote type of person or a moody tumblr poem type of person?

Knowing the answers to these questions will be defining factors in finding your target market. The more laser-focused, the better — you’re aiming for the bull’s eye, not the outer rings of the dart board.

ANALYZE YOUR ART

The first step in finding your target market involves a little thoughtwork.

Examine your artwork and ask yourself a few questions. Dissect each aspect of your collection and think about what type of person you would expect to be attracted to your work.

— What do you paint pictures of? Who is interested in this subject matter?  

— How large are your paintings? What type of people would buy large/small scale art?

— How do you price your work? Who can afford your creations?

— Is your work feminine, masculine, or neither? What gender buys your art most frequently?

— Is there a subculture around your style? Would someone from the street art world love your work, or maybe someone who loves high brow? Is it hashtag #bossbabe or is it made for comic book culture?

Ask yourself as many questions about the different qualities in your work as possible. These will be the foundation with which you craft your ideal customer: the person who loves to buy your work and who you love to sell to.

IDENTIFYING YOUR MARKET ONLINE

If you’re having trouble deciphering what your target market looks like based on analyzing your work alone, don’t worry. That’s normal. Guesswork isn’t always correct. You have to do a little detective work, too, and get observational.

Start with social media. When you post your work, look at the profiles of people who like or comment on it. What’s their age or gender? Are they parents, do they like goth culture, anime, hygge stuff, nightlife, or are they sporty? Eventually you’ll find a pattern in traits they share. Obviously exclude your mom, because she’ll like anything you post. When you find a common pattern, that’s your market.

Another tactic involves peeking over at your neighbor. If you don’t have a big following, your list of people liking your posts may be small, or they may all be family and friends who want to support you, but may not be a real part of your target market. To work around this, snoop into a similar — as similar to your style as possible, not what you WISH was your style — artist’s social media interactions. Find an artist who has a larger following online than you and comb through their comments. What type of people are interested in their work? You could even test the waters by following a few accounts to see if they like your work enough to follow you as well.

If you’ve got a mailing list that you send regular emails to about your new releases and updates,  tap into it. Send them a quick survey, either through a service like Survey Monkey or in plain text. Ask them what they like about your work and ask them questions about themselves. This will help you discover what type of person likes your work enough to subscribe in a more personal way — a true fan — meaning these people will be the market you’ll want to aim for in the future.

IDENTIFYING IN PERSON

Finding your target market in person is easiest at events, exhibits and art shows.

You can ask those who buy from you directly what they like about your work and get meaningful answers. Conversate with them and truly get to know them on a personal level. You can see what your buyers are wearing, their age, the way they talk. This is important for crafting your messaging and understanding what your clients want and need from you.

You’ll be able to see in real time not only who like your works, but who doesn’t. This is equally important. What type of person passes your booth without a second glance? Don’t bother targeting them with ads, sales, or any offers; your chances of success will be much lower among that crowd.

Similarly, who likes your work but doesn’t like it enough to buy? These people may seem like your target market, but they’re not. Your ideal customer is a customer, not someone who admires from afar.

YOUR IDEAL CUSTOMER

The simplest way to hone in on your target market is to imagine them as a single person. This person is a raving fan and a joy to work with. Creating an image of this customer in your mind will help you with reaching out for sales, marketing, and connecting with your target audience.

Design them like you would a brand new Sim character. Dress them in specific clothing, give them a specific job, decide if they’re married or single, artists or just fans, etc. Base them off of traits of your former customers who you loved working with. Give them characteristics of someone who belongs in your target market.

It seems weird, but it might be helpful to give this customer a name. Fully flesh out their personality. That way, when you’re selling online and feeling nervous about it, you can speak directly to this person as if they were on the other side of a DM. You can get personal, understand their desires, and use that information to pull out your marketing skills.

It’s weird but it works. If you’re selling to everyone, you’re selling to no one. So talk to this ideal customer and let people who don’t identify with these traits fall to the wayside. The people who fit will be hyper connected to what you have to say in return. To make anyone feel included you have to exclude someone else — that’s the nature of finding your target market. Who’s in and who’s out?

REACHING OUT

Once you know where you’re aiming, you’ve got to start throwing darts. This is a huge topic that could stretch on for dozens of blog posts, so I’m going to keep it short instead. Below is a list of effective ways to get your target audience to notice you and how to reach them.

Paid ads.

— Facebook ads are the big thing right now and they’re highly effective. Everyone is on Facebook, and your ideal customer probably is too.

— Old-fashioned print ads. Print isn’t dead! Especially if your target audience is over 50, newspapers are the place to put your advertising. Consider relevant magazines. Go big with a billboard. Print is powerful.

— Sponsor a related event. What events are your ideal customers going to? What podcasts do they listen to? Buy a slot as a sponsor and be heard by them.

— Banner ads on relevant websites. What blogs are your market members reading? What sites do they frequent? Pay for a banner ad and be seen by the ones who will be interested in your art.

Specific events.

— Art shows with witchy, dark, or skater themes bring in WAY more revenue for me than art shows including photography and realism. My target market isn’t at every show ever, they’re interested in specific communities and activities. The same is true for you. Participate in events where your target market will be present.

Online groups.

— Whether it’s on Reddit, Facebook groups, or other forums, be active online where your market exists. Don’t spam them, but when it’s relevant, make it known that you create art they may like. If you’re a fan artist and someone mentions Captain America, feel free to slip in that illustration of your favorite hero into the conversation.

— I’m going to take a second to say that Instagram comment pods are not productive forums and that “other artists looking for likes” is NOT your target audience. Spending time in these types of comment for comment groups and getting likes and follows from them is NOT going to help your find your tribe. You’ll attract people who are only in it for the popularity and don’t care about your art. You’ll also waste a lot of time because your market doesn’t live here.

Media coverage.

— Getting featured in a news article or a popular site is not as hard as it looks. Take it from someone who in my previous office job as a copy editor used to accept loads of press releases and op-eds and story ideas and decides which ones are worth covering. If you’ve got a pitch that offers a story that’s valuable for the publication’s audience and puts minimal work on the editor’s shoulders, you’ve got great chances. So don’t be afraid to shoot an email to your ideal customer’s favorite feature site. Exposure is key to finding your target market.

BE SEEN AND HEARD

Moral of the story?

Knowing your target audience helps you know where to show up. You want to show up in front of people who will be interested in you, not people who don’t care. So once you know where your people are, you’ve got to start reaching out!