What should I focus on right now to prepare for the biggest selling season of the year?

Focus exclusively on acquiring leads—getting more people onto your email list and growing your audience. This is more important than growing social followers, though both matter. Lead acquisition is the only thing that will enable you to have a big fourth quarter. Think of Q4 as the Super Bowl—it happens once a year, and you’re either ready or you’re not. Right now is your training period. Every smart business owner in every industry is laser-focused on lead acquisition before Q4. Do all the marketing you possibly can right now to build your email list. Then, when the time comes, follow the fundamentals of running a good sale (incentive, scarcity, omnichannel execution). If you do this work now, you’ll have the best Q4 you’ve possibly had given your effort. Most artists and photographers won’t do this work—they’ll show up at the last minute thinking they can make it work, get poor results, and conclude that art doesn’t sell online. Don’t be one of them.

---

Asked by general teaching · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2020-08-21