graphic art of woman on her laptop

Marketing and tools

You have taken the first step: You have uploaded your best works. But now it’s time to focus on letting other people know that your shop exists. The quality of your art is paramount, but marketing is essential for making sales. On this page, we'll give you tips and tricks that will get you started with promotion.

Marketing of your shop

  1. Marketing Art Heroes Artists

Marketing of Art Heroes

Art Heroes is constantly increasing its brand awareness. This means that your profile is also being built as a result. We actively promote through both offline and online channels. These include:

Offline: trade shows, TV, collaborations with physical shops, billboards, radio and the Art Heroes magazines.

Online: social media advertising, affiliate marketing, advertising via Google and online collaborations with partners.

When it comes to marketing, Art Heroes never stands still. Our monthly newsletter and the marketing update on the forum will keep you informed of the latest developments.

Actively promote your shop

Would you rather be in control? Actively promote your shop yourself. You can promote your shop in many different ways. Some suggestions:

Promote through your website

Tell visitors on your website that your works are for sale

Social media

Use Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest to reach more people

Promote in your email

Newsletters or a simple mention in your email signature

Offline promotion

Think of flyers, business cards or posters

  1. Zoekmachine artist shop V1

Helpful tools for getting you started

To make things easier, we have designed a number of tools that you can find in your Marketing Dashboard. There’s a blogpost template that explains how customers can buy your work, a collection of Art Heroes logos and visuals that can be used on your channels and tools aimed at specific platforms and applications such as our WallApp, the Activity Stream and a WordPress plugin.

Log into your dashboard and go to marketing

WallApp

Helpful tool to create beautiful visuals with your art

Go to the WallApp

Wordpress Plugin

Integrate your shop into your own website

The Wordpress Plugin can be found in your dashboard

Helpful marketing downloads

Find our comprehensive promotion kit on Dropbox

Go to Dropbox

Frequently asked questions about marketing

You’ve taken the first step: You’ve uploaded your best works. Now it’s time to focus on letting other people know that your shop exists. Creating beautiful art is the start, promotion is the next step.

In your sales overview you will find more information about your sales.

For each sale, you can see whether the sale took place on:

  • Art Heroes main site

  • Your shop page

While placing their order, we ask customers how they heard about us. The customer can currently choose from the following options: seen at vtwonen & design fair, seen on TV, searched for a subject via Google, I know the artist, seen in Art Heroes magazine, seen on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.


We recommend using powerful titles that are clear and precise. Compare the following: ‘London 12' and 'Panoramic photo of London, the Thames and Big Ben at sunset'. The later more descriptive title is much more likely to increase your visibility; you stand a chance of being found when people are searching for London, the Thames or Big Ben.

Descriptive titles have the advantage of containing relevant keywords and are therefore easier to find.

There are two success factors for good image descriptions: Quality and length. A text is of high quality if it is "unique", i.e. appears nowhere else online. Image descriptions are picked up by Google and other search engines. Make your description as detailed and interesting as possible.

Tell the story behind your photo or artwork and use appropriate keywords to make your image easier to find! Sophisticated wording is secondary. An absolute no-go (also from a legal point of view) is copying text or text modules from other websites. Be creative and unique.

Talk about your style, what you do and the techniques that you use. Describe what moves you artistically; share your likes and passions. Tell readers about your favourite places or about other artists who inspire your art and approach. Be creative! Text length and quality are important! A popular, extensive and well written profile will rank more highly on Google and other search engines and increase your exposure.

Social networking sites are the websites with the greatest reach and therefore the perfect places to promote your uploaded works. Share your images with fans and followers. This is how you gain new followers and potential buyers. We recommend Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Business networks such as Xing or LinkedIn are also worth paying attention to, however.


Facebook

Facebook lives on stories, photos, videos, and contests. Important note: communication should be personal, straightforward and direct. Interact with your followers, fans and other image makers, react and like their comments. Link your shop and profile with ‘Manage shop’. Place new works in your feed constantly, you can write messages and automatically send them later. Use apps such as ‘Buffer’.

Instagram

Instagram is the ideal platform for artists and photographers and it is fuelled by a combination of strong images and the right hashtags. You will quickly learn how to combine the hashtags that describe image content & style on the one hand and are popular on the other. Use descriptive hashtags (e.g. #oldtimer #sweden), product tags (e.g. #wallart #poster or #walldecorations), your artist or brand name (e.g. #meleahphotography).Ensure to avoid branded hashtags in the description of your Instagram post, it will end up hurting your brand in the future. Links don't work there. You can, however, link your shop link in your bio.

Pinterest

Pinterest works like a search engine. Create albums or collections with your photos and, if they fit stylistically, with photos from other users. You can use the titles and descriptions of your images at Art Heroes on Pinterest, but ideally, you should change them slightly. Think of the right keywords in the image description (e.g. abstract, pop art, nature photography or sunset). Link your images at Pinterest!

Tip:

Use our WallApp to make photos for your social media!

Art Heroes is constantly working on expanding our brand awareness to increase conversion. This means that your opportunities increase along with our visibility. We actively promote the platform using both online and offline channels.

Offline

  • Trade shows. Art Heroes regularly attends trade fairs (e.g. vtwonen & design fair) to reach potential customers and increase brand awareness. We advertise on television via commercials and by sponsoring/featuring in interior design focused shows.
  • Art Heroes magazine. We regularly publish our own Art Heroes magazine which is packed with inspiration.

Online

  • Art Heroes is very active with social media advertising. For promotion, we use Google+, Pinterest, Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook and Instagram.
  • Google Ads. We use Google Ads to increase the visibility of Art Heroes and increase conversion.
  • Partners. To promote the platform, we work with many partners such as Flexa. We also use external partners in the field of advertising and suppliers of conversion-enhancing tools.

When it comes to marketing, Art Heroes never stands still. Through our newsletter, we continuously keep you informed of the latest developments.

You can draw attention to your shop in many different ways. Here are some suggestions:

  • Via your website

Linking to your Art Heroes shop or integrating it directly with the Wordpress plugin will attract people interested in your work and make it easier for them to buy.

  • Through your social networks
Social networks are excellent places to promote your shop. The chances are that your friends and followers are already fans of your work! Think Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and, of course, Instagram. But don't underestimate LinkedIn: business contacts can also become clients!Make sure, however, that you use social networks as they are meant to be used and don't just start posting naked commercial messaging. Engage in interaction and build up a high-quality network, as this will benefit you in the long term!With our WallApp you can easily share pictures of your works in situ via social media. The WallApp allows you to place your work in a room and automatically distribute it in the right dimensions via your chosen social media channel.

  • Promote in your e-mail

With every e-mail you send, you can draw attention to your shop by putting your shop's link in your e-mail signature.

  • Links

Whatever channels you are active on, make sure there is a link to your shop. Not only do you make visitors aware that they can buy your work, but links are also used by search engines to find websites.

Being ‘found’ online means that you have to make your shop more ‘attractive’ to the search engines which automatically index the internet ranking the sites they encounter. If your shop can be found on search engines, you’re doing a good job.

Search engines are dynamic so precise advice is difficult to give. However, working on your profile and online visibility via links is the surest way to boost your chances.

Good artwork titles.

We recommend using strong titles. Be as clear and precise as you can in this. A bad example is; “London 12.” An excellent example is; “Panorama photo of London, the Thames, Big Ben at sunset.” Make sure every work has a unique title, but that it isn't absurdly long. Use the description for adding further information.

With a strong title, such as the example above, you have a good chance of scoring high in the search results if people look up, London, the Thames of Big Ben.

A good description

There are two success factors that make a successful description:

  • Quality. The quality has a lot to do with the uniqueness of the description. This ensures that the text you write can’t be found on other websites. Copying a line of text from Wikipedia, for example, only lowers the quality of the description. The more distinctive your description, the better it will score on Google results.

  • Length. The more text, the better! Google loves text. We suggest you aim for a minimum of around 100 words

Writing good and unique content takes time, yet this investment can be profitable in the future.

Copying texts from other websites ensures that the quality is very low, and also may infringe someone else’s intellectual property.

A good profile

In your profile, you can share more information about yourself. The same tips as for the artwork description are applicable here. The more text, the better. Cover things about yourself, your style, and your favourite topics. Remember though that uniqueness is also key. It is in your interest to write a different text than you might have on your own website.

With our Wordpress plugin you can easily integrate your shop into your own website. More information about the plugin can be found on your dashboard when you are logged in to your shop.

With every upload of new work to your shop, you should take the chance to share it with your followers. It’s best not to share everything at once, however, but to stagger posts over a number of days. This avoids information overload and boosts your social media presence. Tip: Check out Buffer. This service helps you spread your posts on your social networks over a period of time.

Promote within your shop

You can also showcase new works within your shop by, for example, creating a specific album for new material or favourites.

Promote on your website

Share your new works via your website. Give them the attention they deserve. Experiment with presentation methods. For instance, use a sample room image and place your art piece in it. You can easily create such images via the WallApp.

Promote on your social networks

Announcing the inclusion of new works in your shop via social media can be very effective. Try to vary the form of these updates. The message could feature an in situ image created with the WallApp, or you could simply present the picture with a more subtle label suggesting that it was available. Short videos with yourself or others can also be extremely effective. Take inspiration from other artists with successful social accounts. Do remember not to flood people with your (commercial) messages. Spread them out over time.

Tip

When you click on one of your works there is a button with "Download share image". Choose the channel where you want to distribute your work and a preview room with your work including price is automatically generated in the right format! Ideal for promoting your art!

Yes, you can surprise your potential customers in so many different ways. Unleash your creativity! Tip: people love a discount! This is a great way to claim time in the spotlight, with periodic discount promotions or short sharp sales. Lower your margin and share this promotion everywhere you can; your website, blog and social channels.

You can integrate your Art Heroes shop on your website with our Wordpress Plugin. This is handy, as visitors to your website can buy works directly (without having to go to Art Heroes first), but don't worry, we handle the rest. You don't have to use iframes, which are sometimes difficult to integrate, but instead you can include the works directly in a page. You can download the plugin from the Wordpress Plugin Directory. In your dashboard → 'Wordpress Plugin,' you will find detailed instructions to install the plugin.

We only have a Wordpress plugin at present. You can of course manually place the most popular works on your site and then link to them.

We have documented the API we use for the Wordpress plugin (API documentation forum https://forum.werkaandemuur.nl/t/api-documentatie/1457) so someone else could potentially pick this up for other platforms.

Great that you are organising an exhibition! Who are you trying to appeal to? Who will visit? These questions should play a role in the selection of works to display. It’s a good idea to look at your statistics to see which images are viewed the most in your shop. When thinking about format you should think about the circumstances in which the works will be displayed. Do you have 1 large wall? Or will the works be spread over a room? Here are a few ideas:

  • 1 art piece in 3 sizes and 3 different materials, this shows immediately that variations are possible in terms of both size and material.
  • Perhaps think of displaying one piece in a (very) large format in a luxurious material - this focuses attention and creates that show piece gallery effect.
  • Other works can be displayed at smaller sizes on canvas once people understand that more drastic effects are possible.

Tips for promotion:

Maybe produce a postcard for promotional purposes with an arresting image on the front and your Art Heroes address on the back. Giving people something they can take away is a way of sticking in minds and increasing your profile.

Business cards and flyers are also handy ways of promoting your shop. A press kit can be found in Brandox. Make a video of your creative process so that people have an idea of how your work is made. This could be shown on a screen at the exhibition to give context and help produce a narrative.

Tip: people love discounts! It’s a fabulous way of attracting attention. Perhaps devise periodic discount promotions, or make one work cheaper for a week? Lower your margin and share this promotion everywhere you can; your website, blog and social channels. If you want to work with a discount, let us know via email (note; discounts are always a maximum of 10%).

At the moment, you cannot do this yourself. Please email community@Art Heroes.com and provide the following information:

  • Name of discount code
  • Duration discount action
  • For which country do you want this code

For discount codes, we always apply a 10% discount.

When a work is added to a basket or sold, you will see additional marketing info (utm) in your activity stream. UTM information helps us to see how customers enter the Art Heroes website. With this info, we can better understand what works well in our marketing campaigns. Below, we explain what some of these terms you see listed in your activity stream:

In UTM terms, 'source' is used to identify where exactly the traffic is coming from. This could be a search engine, a social network, a specific website, an email campaign, and so forth. Most common are:

- Google

- Bing

- ActiveCampaign: Email provider, these are the newsletters

- Email: these are automated emails

- Instagram

- Facebook

In UTM terms, 'medium' is used to identify the type of traffic or the channel that is driving the traffic. Most common are:

- cpc: ‘Cost per Click’, these are our paid advertisements. You’ll see these in combination with Google, Bing and the social channels.

- organic: this is traffic from the search engines, where people did not click on an ad.

- referral: this is traffic from other websites. This could also be your site!

- social

In UTM terms, 'campaign' is used to identify the specific marketing effort or initiative that is driving the traffic. It's typically used to track the performance of a specific marketing campaign. By using this parameter, you can differentiate between the traffic coming from different campaigns, even if they are all using the same medium or source. The campaign UTMs are build up by different elements, so its easy for the marketing team to analyse and optimise the campaigns.

Google elements:

- nl_: We start with the country code, for example ‘nl_’ for the Netherlands and ‘dach_’ for the german speaking countries.

- pmax_feed: this is the ‘Performance Max’ campaign in Google. It works with a product feed with all artworks.

- sbr_: this stands for ‘search brand’, someone used a keyword like ‘Werk aan de Muur’ or ‘Art Heroes’

- snbr_: this stands for ‘Search non-brand’, someone used a general keyword to find our website.

UTM info

Email elements:

- tv_: these are emails about the tv shows.

- nb_: this is the newsletter

- tips_tricks: this is an automated email we send to people who leave their contact information because they are interested.

- Cart_f1 and cart_f2: these are emails we send to people who leave their cart without buying. we send two reminders: f1 and f2.

- wish_f1 and wish_f2: these are emails we send to people who leave their wishlist without buying. we send two reminders: f1 and f2.

Didn't find your question?

Go to the forum and ask your question! Among thousands of artists, there is always someone online who knows the answer.

View all frequently asked questions

Go to the forum

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