How you can market your art without social media

Before I decided to start marketing myself as an artist, I believed that all artist had to market themselves in order to be successful, and one of my biggest struggles that I ran into, was my own belief that it wasn’t possible without social media. That was until I got accepted to my first fair in 2024. Since then I still manage to get commissions and attend fairs despite not having many views or followers, and today I want to talk about How you can market your art without social media.

• Word of mouth

Probably one of my most effective ways of earning money through art was through word of mouth. At first only my friends knew about my artwork and poetry, but as time went on that changed to reaching people that allowed me to gain more experience with setting professional prices on my stage performances and commissions, valuing myself as an artist.

Personally, I recommend attending events, and network around, meet new people and other artists and see how they network, and ask if there's any opportunities that they also know of to help you get your foot in the door.

NOTE: DO NOT DROP YOUR CONNECTIONS

Once you make connections keep them. If you don’t you will literally loose that connection, Send an email once in awhile checking in, if they mentioned a future event, or even a few days after your commission or work send them an email of thanks.

• Connect with local bookstores and Hosts for Vendor Events

No… like actually, walk into a bookstore and give an elevator speech, or even if you want to shoot an email, but in my personal experience the best way to do this is by going in person and seeing when the manager or owner (if its a small bookstore) is going to be in. Then arriving at that time. Some bookstores sell stickers, prints, postcards. Its always worth a try to see if you can get your work within a bookstore. Alongside of what I've already shared, its best to keep up to date with these connections as well.

Final Thoughts:

This is two of the many ways of marketing without social media, but this is what I used in 2024 to now that has really helped me grow as a poet and artist. I'm not saying social media is bad, but there are many ways of marketing then just social media. Personally I think social media should be used as a tool to help, not be the main foundation to art business.