Here is a guest post from Alyson Stanfield.

Discover easy ways to create content your prospects want to know from my friend, and every artist’s friend, Alyson Stanfield, the Art Biz Coach.  Check out her powerhouse Art Biz Makeover workshop in November by CLICKING HERE. I will be back next week with new art marketing ideas, and more. — Barney

Learn to get over your writer’s block with these practical content creation ideas.

When you try to sell your art in the virtual space, you are no longer just an artist. You are also a content creator.

This realization is daunting to many artists, which you’ll discover by paying attention. Newsletters are started with a bang and gradually disappear, blogs are neglected or even abandoned altogether, and social media is just…well, just a conundrum.

What do you share when the online world is already full of noise?

Here’s what you do: Remember that people are expecting to hear from you. They friended you, liked you, signed up for your newsletter or blog, or followed you because they want to hear your point of view. Live up to those expectations.

Still, I know that there are times when it’s difficult to come up with subject matter.

When the well has run dry and you have no idea what to write about, return to this list for some quick prompts.

Contextualizing Your Art

Your goal is always to keep the focus on your work when creating content, so don’t stray too far.

1. Discuss your art technique or medium.

Not all art techniques and media are interesting, so how could you make yours more interesting? Unless your audience is filled with experts, you should write as if no one has ever heard of what you do.

2. Expand on your subjects.

If your subject is the landscape, write about the history of the place, the people who have lived there, the native wildlife, or any related controversies.

Feature anything related to your niche market. I often ask my clients and students to mind map their niche market, which increases their content potential exponentially.

If you make garden sculpture, write about fictional gardens and historical gardens. Give garden tips and share other items that might be found in a garden alongside your sculpture.

3. Review an art exhibition.

Visit a new exhibition of art and write about what it has in common with your own. It’s a valuable exercise to place your art in the context of other art, and it’s a service to art viewers.

While you’re at it…write a rebuttal to an art review in the newspaper or on a blog.

Voicing strong or contrary opinions can be scary, but they are what people remember. We don’t usually stick around for limp blogs or wimpy articles.

4. Explore the history of a color, art medium, subject matter, or technique.

This will help you stand out because very few artists take the time to research these aspects of their art. It can only benefit you to know the tradition of what you do.

Margret Short does this very well on her blog, which has had an emphasis on exploring pigments. See this post about iron oxide.

5. Tout a recent award or honor you received.

If you don’t tout your accomplishments, who will? But don’t just say, “I won this award!” Talk about why the recognition is important. What does it mean to you? If you can’t do this, it’s probably not worth mentioning.

I love how Lisa Call did this.

Don’t forget to announce new gallery representation. Again, don’t just announce it. Say why this gallery is a good fit for you, why you respect it, and mention the achievements of the other artists in the stable.

Throw in recent purchases and commissions for more social proof.

Connecting with Community

6. Confront themes around art education.

Write about your favorite art teacher and why he or she meant so much to your creative development. What did you learn from her? Conversely, you might write about where your education was lacking and how art teachers could improve the curriculum.

If you dare get into politics, and I think you should, argue on behalf of more art in the school curriculum.

7. Reveal why you donated artwork to a charity auction or nonprofit.

It’s presumed that you support any nonprofit that you donate your art to. Why? What are they doing that you believe in? How can your readers help support the cause?

Include your donated piece and how it can be purchased.

8. Take a stand on public funding of the arts.

If your state or city has debated a public arts program, it’s likely that there was some controversy in the beginning. Present the facts and take a stand. Research public arts programs in other communities and any controversy around them or any positive impact they’ve had on their communities.

Alternatively, explore the public art in your area and write about what does and doesn’t work for you. Don’t cheat! You can’t write art reviews from digital images online. You must visit the work in person.

9. Interview a local curator or collector.

A great way to meet people is to reach out to the people in your art community for a feature on your blog or in your newsletter. Read how E. Brady Robinson started photographing desks of arts leaders in Washington, D.C.

Repurposing Social Media Updates

10. Compile the top resources or quotes you tweeted or found on Twitter.

The downside to tweeting and retweeting is that those updates usually disappear into the ethers immediately after you’ve shared them. Curate a list of your best tweets to share with your fans.

11. Recount funny or insightful comments from your Facebook business page.

The chances are good that you’re the only person who reads all of the comments on your business page, and that there are probably some gems there that you could turn into a post or article.

There are so many more topics that could be fodder for your writing and social media updates. I suggest brainstorming a list, starting with these 11 ideas, and continually updating it. With this consistent habit, you’ll find that you have more to share than you have time for.

Alyson B. Stanfield is an art business coach and the author of I’d Rather Be in the Studio: The Artist’s Guide to Self-Promotion. She is hosting Art Biz Makeover, a 2.5-day live event in Colorado November 5-7, where you can network and pick up other tips for expanding your photography business. See https://artbizmakeover.com for details

Discover easy cheap ways to promote your art business here.

Here are some useful suggestions for you to promote your art career. You will find links to other Art Print Issues posts in the list. I mention this to emphasize the amount of free art marketing and art business information and ideas you can find here. If you appreciate the content, the best compliment you can give me is to forward the link to this page to other artists, or share it on social media. Let us know in the comments what unique things you do to promote your art business.

1. Press Releases – understand the many ways your business is press release worthy and frequently submit.
2. Blogging – use blogging to allow your collectors, fans and friends get to know you and your work to give a personal voice to your brand. Share your knowledge, not just tidbits about you and your art.
3. SEO – make sure your website pages and blog posts have proper headings, titles, descriptions and relevant keywords.
4. Email list – use every method available to build a responsive email list. Send to it frequently to keep it fresh and your readers’ interest high.
5. Email contests – spike reader participation with contests for recipes, ideas for travel, or travel photos. Get them involved showing your work in a creative way.
6. Free downloads – offer small size high-resolution downloads and encourage them to be printed. Offer to sign the prints when sent with a self-addressed stamped envelope.
7. Include a catalog – include portfolio or flyer with every purchase.
8. Portfolio – create a MagCloud.com online and printable portfolio. Use it as a gift when networking, as well as in other promotional ways.
9. Teach – create a class for a local university or community college. Setup a workshop to teach painting or other art marking techniques. People interested in learning to make art are great prospects to buy your art, or introduce you to important people.
10. Surveys – create online surveys to name your artwork, or learn more about your followers’ interests.
11. Influential people – find ways to write flattering content about influential people on your blog.
12. Unconventional Direct Mail – send a small paintbrush or color swatch in an envelope. Invite recipient to come to your studio or website and use it in some way to claim a prize such as free shipping.
13. Donate – offer your work for the appropriate charity. Use the donation as a wedge to get involved in other ways that can help you network.
14. Art car – turn your vehicle into an art car. Paint it yourself.
15. Vehicle wrap – create a design to graphic wrap your car with your art. This may not exactly be cheap, but it could be fun, dramatic and a cause for publicity and awareness.
16. Gift certificates -  offer your customers the opportunity to purchase gift cards from you. Give them a discount. For instance, offer a $100 gift card for $85.
17. Call – schedule a time to call all your customers and prospects once a quarter.
18. Online galleries – create an online shop wherever possible. Get as much exposure on as many sites as possible. Use a few for heavy promotion, the rest for minimal presence.
19. Submit – submit your site to all global, regional and local search engines.
20. List your site – get your site listed in all the local and social sharing sites such as Yelp, YP, Judy’s Book, and more.
21. Facebook – create a Facebook business page.
22. Shortstack – use the many great, free ideas for Facebook promotion from Shortstack.
23. Guest posts – seek chances to write guest posts on well-regarded and high-trafficked sites in the arts and entertainment niches.
24. Pitch bloggers – Research to find bloggers to review your work, your new collection, your studio opening, or other related products.
25. Vlog – create an ongoing video blog to share and illustrate your ideas, your work and experiences.
26. Social Sharing Buttons – add social sharing icons site-wide (Facebook, Twitter, Google+ to make sharing your content easy.
27. Pinterest – you are in a visual business. Pinterest is a perfect visual platform with a massive female demographic. Use it to create broad exposure with high-quality images of your art.
28. Cover top blogs – write a post about the best blogs and bloggers in the art business. Feature some of the top posts. This can open doors, builds relationships, and create social engagement where many you cover will in turn promote your article, and perhaps cover you, or offer a guest post opportunity.
29. Solicit guest posts from other artists, industry bloggers, local media and local or national celebrities. Doing this will help you make friends and publish free user-generated content that will get reposted and noticed on social media elsewhere.
30. Donate – Give to a local or national charity, (It doesn’t have to be artwork), and gain donor’s page exposure with the possibility for backlink to your site.
31. Cross-promote – find jewelers, crafters, picture framers, galleries and other simpatico partners to cross-promote. You scratch their back and expect they will do likewise.
32. Logo – hire a graphic designer with logo experience to create your logo. Invest in the best because it should last you a long time, maybe even a lifetime. Use your logo on everything you create and produce.
33. Business cards – although they are so 20^th Century, they offer promotional value. Make yours standout with great design and add a call to action.
34. Print material – make sure every postcard, brochure and every printed piece that carries you name is branded with your logo, color scheme, compelling images, and a reason to contact you now.
35. Sponsor – get behind events with demographics that mirror your customers. Leverage your contribution to take advantage of every promotional offer provided to its supporters, including events, website, blog, email, and so forth.
36. Endorse – make an unsolicited testimonial or endorsement for another artist, blogger, author, vendor or colleague on their website or blog.
37. Authority – use your in-depth knowledge about a topic to become known as an authority on it. Are you steeped in local history? Do you know everything about Renaissance artists? Have you visited and written about all the arts scenes in your local and regional area? Do you have a natural way of connecting food and art? If you are an expert, or are willing to study to become one, then you can parlay that knowledge in many ways as the go-to authority surrounding it.
38. Public speaking – get a 30-to-90 minute talk with slides on a topic sure to be of interest to your demographic.
39. Slideshare - turn your public speaking slides into a SlideShare presentation.
40. YouTube – have someone videotape your public speaking presentations and put them on a YouTube channel you create.
41. Google Hangouts on Air – start a regular hangout on a topic of interest to you. Invite other artists and notables to join you.
42. Video demos – film yourself at work and provide a dialog on how you do things as an artists. For example, talk about the importance of underpainting, or building an artwork in the proper sequence. People may never want to do it, but they like being entertained by watching how others create things. Don’t limit yourself to YouTube. Upload your videos to Vimeo, Daily Motion and the other video streaming sites.
43. Art happening – create one day or weekend events where you invite a bunch of local artists to congregate and create work. It could be a plen air picnic, or something setup with pop-up tents, or in a temporary space in a building, business lobby, or at a local mall.
44. Art car – paint your car with your art and have it clear coated.
45. Vehicle wrap – create a graphic design based on your art and use it to vehicle wrap your car. This may not exactly qualify as cheap, but it could be fun and dramatic.
46. Contribute – many local publications, and some online sites such as Huffington Post  accept or consider well written contributed articles, especially those with general or specific interest to its readers.
47. Referral program – start a formal referral program. Offer a percentage of the sale, credit towards new art, a giclée print, free framing, or whatever you find works best to have your family, friends and colleagues refer new business to you. Post your offer to make it public so everyone understands how your program works.
48. Thank you notes – create note cards with your art on them. Use them to send handwritten notes for new purchases, referrals, or just to say hello and thanks for past business.
49. Open studio events – if your space accommodates it, have regular events there. Make it available for other small meetings such as book clubs, masterminds, planning committees, and other creative use of your space.
50. 30-second speech – work on and refine your 30-second elevator speech. Practice until you sound natural and confident. Don’t rush what you are saying. Make eye contact while you are talking. Use a friendly, firm handshake. Smile while you are talking.
51. Network – strategically seek events and targeted people you want to meet. Learn where your best demographics meets and become part of that scene. Attend social events, art openings, gallery openings and other arts scene events. Be ready to present yourself, (30-second speech), know what to ask about to get others talking, have a purpose for being there.
52. Online presence – create online shops wherever possible. Some may not hold great value or need much of your time. Still use them to create online awareness for you and links to your website or blog. Focus on those that have top SEO results and quality in their products, such as FineArtAmerica.com.
53. Virtual assistant – hire a VA to keep up your less often used online sites. The proper ones can do other marketing, sales, promotional writing and even make phone calls for you.
54. Volunteer – get involved with an arts organization so you get to know influential people who are also involved.
55. Recruit – provide printed promotional marketing materials to your family and friends for them to distribute.
56. Sendout cards – join Sendout cards. Make your art available for other members to use on their cards and postcards.
57. Local arts scene – be more than a hanger-on. Get involved. Promote your local arts scene. Not just visual arts, expand to dance, theater, music and beyond.
58. Marketing calendar – create an annual to five-year marketing calendar.
59. Leave behind materials – check events in your area. When there are conferences, meetings and shows that relate to your business, leave your brochures or postcards in strategic spots like visitor registration, hotel lobbies and so forth.
60. Grand re-opening – conjure a reason for a grand re-opening and promote the daylights out of it.
61. Comment – find the blogs your fans regularly read  and leave intelligent comments that add to the discussion on them.
62. Docent– become a docent at a local museum. This gives you opportunities to meet people on the staff at the museum, and you never know who will be in your tour group.
63. Research social media – there is much useful information and insight from learning what groups your collectors belong to on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media. Use the information to decide which groups to join, participate, volunteer, market to and interact with.
64. Be-back offer – not everyone buys the first time they see your work. Create a printed offer with all your contact information and reason for them to come back. Give a discount on their first purchase, such as a free mini print with the original, free local hanging or tax-free first order. Test to find the best offer to pull the potential buyer back to your site, shop or studio.
65. Fund-raiser – if you see a need to raise money, you don’t have to wait for a local charity to get involved. Be pro-active and start a fund-raiser.
66. Local contests – enter into local contests for artists, such as for airport installations. Even if you don’t win, you will be on the radar of those involved in the visual arts community in your area.
67. Link – be both generous and judicious in providing links from your site.
68. Email signature – create an email signature for all your emails. Links are better than images, which oftentimes are stripped from the email. Include a subtle call to action.
69. Befriend – follow local journalists and media who can help you. Support the charities and other organizations that they also support. Send them juicy story ideas, use your blog and other means to promote their articles and publications.
70. QR Codes -  create a QR code to put on all your printed materials. Link it to a landing page with a unique offer and a link to subscribe to your mailing list.
71. Packaging – design stickers or screen prints to use on all your packaging. Include your logo, your website address, your QR code on anything that goes out from your business.
72. e-book – write an e-book on a topic of interest to you. It could be about your life experience, your world views, what is like to be an artist, how to create art using simple shapes.
73. Promote e-book – use your e-book as an incentive to join your mail list, or send it to all your current subscribers. Encourage others to share it freely. Make sure you provide links throughout the book to your website and to your email sign up landing page
74. Book reviews – write Amazon.com reviews about books you know your demographic audience will like. Provide book reviews for local media, or specialized blogs of interest to buyers you want to target.
75. Giveaway – give small bundles of notecards, postcards or mini prints as lead magnets for email subscriptions, thank you for referrals, or door openers with strategic networking prospects.
76. Creatively borrow – tap into the power of the internet to discover the promotional tools and techniques other marketers use and adapt them to your business.
77. Google alerts – use Google alerts to monitor your prospects, collectors,  media contacts and others you want to stay in touch with.
78.  About.me – create an About.me profile to create more digital content about yourself and backlinks to your blog and website.
79. Promote packaging – create videos or a series of images to display on your e-commerce site to show your white glove packing and shipping techniques.
80. Piggyback – create an insert to go into direct mail from non-competitors.
81. Streamline – make your online ordering easy, understandable and quick.
82. Installation services – offer free local art installation services for your buyers.
83. Color consultations – offer your buyers and fans color coordination consultations for interior decor or clothing.
84. Contact database – start a contact management system with Insight.ly.
85. Voice mail – put a promotional announcement on your voice mail.
86. Feedback – ask non-buyers for feedback. They decided not to buy today. Take the opportunity to ask why they did not buy. This feedback can ultimately be more valuable than knowing why others do buy from you.
87. Buyers feedback – ask customers what they like about your art, what kind art they would like to see you make, or if they have ideas on ways to promote your art.
88. LinkedIn – join appropriate LinkedIn groups and become an active participant.
89. Be generous – share this post with your artist friends. Encourage them to sign up for to get their own weekly art marketing news at: https://x.co/Barney