How does the bell curve distribution of my audience actually help me reach wealthy buyers?

Everyone’s followers—on social media, email lists, or website visitors—fall on a bell curve from lower income to high net worth individuals. Most artists worry about having too many lower or middle-class followers who can’t afford expensive art. But here’s the key insight: all those followers across the entire bell curve know people, including high net worth individuals. They have the ears of wealthy people—maybe it’s their uncle, best friend from high school, someone they work with, or a family member. They play an incredibly effective role in your marketing strategy, similar to how property managers and lenders in commercial real estate introduce business to building owners. Rather than trying to target one segment of the curve, focus on lifting the entire bell curve through consistent marketing—more attention, more followers, more website traffic. The bell curve will take care of itself, and sales to wealthy buyers will come through these unexpected connections.

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Asked by an artist concerned about audience quality · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2021-02-03