Christmas is the largest shopping time of the year. This is when most retailers make their money and normally support their businesses all year from this one season. Are retail shopping chains the only ones that take advantage of this festive season to market their wares? As an artist, author, or other creative using the seasons, Holidays, and other important dates of the year may be just the thing to create new interest in your work.

Lets look at the visual artist. Maybe you are a painter and sell your paintings through websites, festivals, and other local platforms. If you try to sell the same items at every show you may be missing big money in sales. It is not that your work has to be that different, but you have to think like a customer instead of a vendor.

If I am a customer looking for art at Christmas time for a gift and someone is selling summer landscapes there may be a disconnect of the mind. A summer landscape won’t be as festive as a winter landscape and may result in less sales. You could have painted the same scene at different times of the year and it would give you more opportunities to theme your sales with the season. I did this with a painting I previously worked on. I painted the exact same scene in Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Even when displaying them together I found that they sold at certain times of the year based on theme. Try it and see it works great.

The other part of the puzzle is to create discounts based on your product or service. As a caricature artist I have a standard discount that runs all year for returning clients. At certain times of the year we also offer additional discounts based on the holiday or season. Since our busy time for events is the Christmas Season we have a promotional discount that runs throughout November enticing people to book for their events. When people are looking for gifts in December we have a different promotional offer that entices sales of gift caricatures.

So if you are trying increase sales for certain shows or times of the year, try showing certain work at times of the year that matches the season or holiday at that time. It may just increase your sales and allow you to find different perspectives for your art. It has worked for me in the past and it can certainly work for you.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is an artist, author, consultant, speaker, and podcast host. He has been a professional artist for over ten years and is the author of the book How to Start an Artistic Business in 12 Easy Steps and host of the Cashing in on Creativity Podcast. You can listen to episodes of the podcast at www.cashinginoncreativitypodcast.com or learn more about Bruce and his work at www.bruceoutridge.com or www.bruceoutridgeproductions.com