Are Paid Ads for Artists Worth Your Money?

Through running Live Your Art Life, I get to talk to a lot of artists, and many of them are pretty early on in their art business ventures, so I was kind of shocked at first to hear this question:

“Am I spending enough money on promoting my art?”

I did a bit of digging, and it turns out that they will mostly referring to digital advertisement in the form of Facebook and Instagram ads, and I totally get why if you’re using Facebook or Instagram to grow an audience for your artwork.

The platform likes to dangle those oh-so-tempting “Boost” or “Promote” buttons right in front of us. And the way they position it it kind of makes it look like “hey, you push this button you put a couple dollars in and you’re gonna get a whole lot more dollars coming out on the other side!”.

And while this can be a reality, it takes a lot of work and even MORE clarity.

So maybe you’ve tried boosting or promoting your posts already and you’re thinking, “Is it actually worth the money I’m putting into it? It kind of seems like flushing money down the drain.”

And that’s exactly why I wanted to talk to you today about whether or not these digital ads specifically Facebook and Instagram ads are actually worth your money.

Step One – Clarity Is Key

So the very first step in all of this is a really important one, it’s just not a sexy one.

You need to get crystal clear on what you actually want from your ads before you start.

So many artists assume that by spending money on ads, it’s automatically going to lead to more art sales.

The dream is a dollar in, and more dollars come out.

It’s easy to get a little caught up in that, but it’s really really important to be able to get clear on what you actually want from those ads.

So most people think they want to “make more money from my art” when it comes to running paid ads.

Right. Who doesn’t?

But you got to break it down a little bit more.

Do you want these art sales immediately, or do you want them in the future?

Do you want people to look through your shop that you already have existing and buy something?

Are you running a promotion or launching a new product?

Maybe you have a promotion or product that you’re launching in the near future, and you want to kind of build up some hype so you have a list of people that are going to be ready to go.

Maybe you just want to grow your audience.

We have to get crystal clear on what we actually want.

That’s the first step. Now, there’s still many more steps, but you’re going to be able to build up on this, as you go.

And not only is it going to help you to actually run ads to your artwork more successfully, but it’s actually going to affect everything else that you do to. We’re definitely part of team #WorkSmarterNotHarder over here!

Step Two – Who Are Your Perfect Fans?

The next thing that you want to do is you want to get crystal clear on who your perfect fans are.

There’s billions of people online. And if you try to get your artwork in front of all of them, you are going to spend a fortune with very likely zero results.

These perfect fans are are going to be the people that are going to be most receptive to your ads – the ones that are actually going to take the action you want.

This means that you need to become intimately aware of who your fans are.

Do they live in a certain country?
Maybe you create artwork that stems from where you live.
Maybe you live near beaches, and that is your primary source of inspiration, and the people you speak to people that resonate with your artwork also live near beaches. By knowing that you can pick and choose which countries that you are actually advertising to.

Another thing to consider is what interests do they have, and how do those interests intersect with your artwork?
If you are a wildlife artist, they are probably interested in wildlife and nature, and it’s kind of obvious to see how those intersect, but it can go on different levels as well. One of the best ways to find this out is to actually talk to them, and it’s a really really powerful thing that not only can help you connect with them, but gain a clear insight as to why they might like what they do.

The next thing to consider is what other things are they fans of?
Are they fans of certain clubs or associations, magazines, celebrities, or companies? What other things would they go and follow on social media go out of their way to learn more about?

One of the great things about the Facebook Ads platform is that you can actually specifically target the fans of different things. If there’s a certain club or an association that you think your ideal fan is actually going to be part of, you can target fans of those specific things, getting right in front of those people who are practically made for your artwork.

You can even narrow in on their age ranges, things like salary levels, job industries or even levels of schooling.

Step Three – How Are You Measuring Success?

The last thing that we need to take a look at when we’re considering whether or not ads are worth the money is how you actually measure success.

As far as actual statistics and numbers go, yes, it’s going take a little bit of time and experimentation to really get a feel for the actual cost of conversion for your art niche.

But beyond that, it helps to get clear on how you actually measure success.

Now, this one kind of brings us back a little bit to our first question that we asked ourselves, which is what is our goal for running ads here.

Are you happy with the cost it takes to attract a new fan to your art?

Maybe you ran ads to a few different groups, and you realized in the end that the ads delivered to your existing audience WAY outperformed all the others.

These little nuggets of info are SO important for the success of our ads as artists.

Bonus – My Favorite Way to Use Paid Ads As An Artist

One of my favorite ways to use paid ads for my artwork is when I’m launching something specific.

In early 2021 I launched my first tarot deck via a Kickstarter campaign, complete with all my own artwork.

And you bet, Facebook and Instagram ads had a large part of that success.

This ads campaign was a very specific thing – I knew exactly who I was trying to get in front of. I knew what my goal was, and my measuring stick for success here was those immediate sales because I was running a live promotion.

You can even use paid ads for a discount sale or an event that you’re having. Not only does this allow people to take a concrete action right then and there, but it also gives you that solid metric to measure within that short period of time.

Ads can be a very powerful tool for artists – it’s like adding fuel to the fire.

But you have to make sure you’re putting the fuel on something that can actually ignite, and in the right spot. It’s definitely a little complicated, but when you start with these basics and get clear on those foundational points, it’s going to set you up for success.

No one wants to throw money down the drain, so do yourself a favor and set the intention to make your ad-running adventure a success. 🙂

Want to take an even bigger flying leap towards your (inevitable) success as an artist?

Watch my FREE masterclass training, Scale Your Art Sales.

It’s the online class for beginner artists that are filled with a fiery creative passion, and want to grow an audience online that actually want to BUY their artwork