How important is having a story behind my artwork for marketing purposes?

While you can personally believe that art can just be a beautiful thing to look at—and that’s completely valid—to market it effectively on the internet, you do need to have a story behind why you created it. People buy stories and connect to stories. Even if your initial motivation was simply ‘I wanted to paint this because it’s beautiful,’ you need to develop that into a narrative for marketing. For example, if you painted roses on a canvas, transform it from ‘look at this painting with red roses’ into a story about what inspired you—perhaps seeing something in person that reminded you of those roses. Use tools to help you craft these stories in formats that can be shared through blogs, emails, and social posts. The story doesn’t have to be deep or philosophical, but it does need to give people something to connect with emotionally.

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Asked by an artist who creates art for beauty’s sake · Answered by Kate Cook · art-marketing-podcast · 2025-03-17