What's the long-term payoff if I commit to doing shows consistently for several years?

If you take shows seriously, do a number of them per year, and grind them out for five to ten years, you can then potentially stop doing them for life because you’ll have acquired a collector list. When you market consistently after the fact, that collector list will come back and buy from you again and again. Couple this with selling directly from your own website and all the other digital marketing you do without leaving your house—that’s how you build a big art business. That’s how you go from hobbyist to side hustle, from side hustle to a robust, growing year-over-year art or photography business. There’s no better opportunity than in-person fairs and shows to level up quickly. Yes, they’re a pain and very hard work, but when you approach them correctly and know how to execute tactically, it’s a fantastic opportunity. The consistent marketing after shows is what makes the whole system work—you can put in a few years of work doing three to five shows per year, and emerge with a collector list that supports you for the rest of your career.

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Asked by synthesized from teaching · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2022-07-28