If I decide to go direct, what do I need to succeed?

Once you commit to direct sales as your primary model, you need two things: First, a proper art gallery website—not a generic e-commerce site or portfolio site, but one designed specifically for selling art. Second, and most important, you must solve the marketing problem. 99% of generic online stores fail because people think they just need a website. Wrong. You need a sustainable marketing strategy. If you have great marketing, you can succeed even without a website—the website just makes it easier and scales it. But without marketing, even the best website will fail. Don’t look for one-off hacks; commit to long-term, consistent marketing.

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Asked by an artist starting a direct sales business · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2020-06-16