It is rather obvious that talent alone or even education does not guarantee you will become a financially “successful” artist. If you, the artist, are not a recipient of a grant from the Whatzitt Art Fund or your friends or family members do not include the director of the Guggenheim or Larry Gagosian; how can you possibly have any competitive edge against those who are and do? While you may not be able to compete with this type of situation, there are other actions you can concentrate on, that can, somewhat, level the playing field.  You can not control if and when opportunity knocks but knowing what to do when it does, could make a huge difference in your career. 

Just as the marketing industry convinced corporate business of the necessity of logos and million dollar advertising campaigns for selling anything from hamburgers to hair spray, today your narrative style biography and website can  be utilized as effectively as an advertising or “branding” tool.  Branded products or services historically command higher prices.  Where two products resemble each other, but one of the products has no recognized “branding” (such as a generic product or in this case, the unknown artist), buyers often select the more expensive “branded” product on the basis of the assumed quality or familiarity and reputation of the brand. Consider that there are over 300,000 listed artists in the art world.  Establishing your niche in this market and creating value in your artwork is undeniably intimidating but can be accomplished by allowing these tools to work for you. Your biography combined with marketing strategies such as viral marketing can be economical as well as advantageous to the artist’s career. 

Viral marketing is defined as a strategy where marketing information is passed on voluntarily like a virus. It is based on the premise that the message propagates itself and in this case increases the visibility of the artist. Successful viral marketing campaigns can have the potential of exponential growth because the marketing takes on a life of its own. The internet is the perfect Petri dish for viral marketing and your biography can be launched first from your own website. Your biography has another opportunity to become an essential marketing tool when your application is submitted to “Who’s Who in American Art” or your biography is submitted to other internet databases.  Why...? Because, your biography is the critical backbone of the virus that will infect the art world.

Your virus starts spreading because the three main art database websites draw directly from the book and or Website titled “Who’s Who in American Art”.  The annually published reference book gives information on over 14,000 current American artists.  The average artist will rarely ever use the information on these sites but the movers and shakers of the current art world rely heavily on the information found in these databases.  When your information appears, specifically in this book, as well as other art reference books or databases, you are considered a “listed artist”.  To be unlisted is to be unknown. To be unknown has a devastating effect on the value of your artwork. 

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