The NFT space has been revolutionary for digital artists in particular. However creating NFTs is not a guarantee of making sales. Here are some tips for growing and selling as an NFT artist.
Reason 1: Many buyers in the current NFT market are speculators.
The Solution: This class of buyers want to make a return on their investment. You need to signal that your work will become more valuable. One such signal is your portfolio, ideally on your personal website.
Demonstrating that you have a track record of creating art will give these buyers greater confidence that your art career will have longevity, making it more likely that you will develop as an artist and your art work will accrue in value.
Reason 2: Many traditional art buyers are yet to enter the NFT market.
The Solution: Your target market is people who buy art, but many of them have either never heard of NFTs or don’t understand them. At this early stage of the NFT art market, buyer education and onboarding are essentially. You should dedicate at least a portion of your time and energy to education: seminars, workshops, online classes, etc, to introduce art buyers to the world of NFTs.
Reason 3: You have not identified your target buyer.
The Solution: Your art is not for everyone, it is for the people who resonate with your work and the ideas in it. Identifying your target buyer will help you to target your brand and marketing to the right people. For example, if your work is for people interested in afrofuturism, you can write articles about the afrofuturism in your work, as well as your influences. This helps journalists and curators to find you and easily promote you.
Reason 4: You do not (explicitly) reference established art/cultural movements and themes.
The Solution: I will look twice at every depiction of the Madonna and Child that I see – it is an established artistic motif and I am always interested to see how new artists interpret it. Similarly, Yinka Shonibare’s work always pulls me in because he utilises themes and elements that speak to me as a child of the African Diaspora. Art is an ongoing conversation and when you reference pre-existing art works or culturally relevant ideas, you join in with existing conversations rather than trying to establish new ones. Some of you are doing this already, you just need to shout about it a bit more!
