There are thousands of people the world over, including Brendan Wetzel, who are talented illustrators and artists. However, many of those are unable to properly market their skills, which means that the general public will never truly be able to enjoy their work. It is common for very good illustrators to have boxes and boxes full of fantastic artwork that simply sits there rather than generating an income. Since art is meant to be shared, this seems like a huge waste.

Brendan Wetzel on How to Market Illustrator Skills

The internet is a fantastic and powerful tool that people can use, often for free or for very little money, to market themselves. Doing this means starting by identifying your target audience and developing your message. Next, there are the 4Ps of marketing: Product, Price, Place, Promotion. The internet can target each of those 4Ps.

First of all, therefore, you need to create a website. This doesn’t have to be a huge complex endeavor. There are many free sources, such as WordPress, available nowadays. It is also likely that you know at least one person who has a baseline understanding of building websites. Once your website is set up, you need to start blogging. This allows you to talk to others about our illustrations, setting yourself apart as an expert. The more you blog, the more search engines will pay attention to what you are saying as well.

Once your website is set up, you need to find the various free listing sites and directories and put it there. This will increase your overall exposure. It attracts people to your website and ensures your search engine rankings increase. Make sure you also promote your website offline, however. Quote the address on your business cards, your paper newsletter, and anything else that you use.

You should also identify other illustrators’ websites and talk to them about sharing links. This is called reciprocal linking. It ensures your website gets found by the search engines, but it is also an opportunity for you to network with others.

Last but not least, consider how beneficial it could be to publicize your art and illustrations using email communication. You can take and send email shots using things like Thunderbird and MS Outlook. There are also more sophisticated systems to choose from, such as Constant Contact, that also allow you to track how well your emails have been received. However, that requires a further investment and most people would prefer to wait with doing that. Artists, traditionally, do not have a lot of money to spend, after all!

Through email communication, you can make sure you are always visible to your target audience. You can promote any new artwork you have created, any new services you offer, details about exhibitions and new budding artists (remember reciprocal linking) and so on. None of this needs to cost the earth, if anything at all, so why not give it a try?