The Art Marketing Podcast

There's an artist I talk to every Wednesday. Could be 60s, 70s, 80s, even 90s. Brilliant. 50 years of work. Galleries gone. No website, no email list, no story they can tell in their sleep — just the same panicked question every week: what do I do on social media?
I want to tell you about them before you become one of them. There's still time. That's the whole point of this episode.
The macro is brutal — Iran, gas, frozen real estate, no photography demand, AI panic. That panic is real. But on a 30-year horizon? It's noise. The basics in 2013 are the basics in 2026 are the basics in 2055. Build on the part that doesn't move.
In this episode:
The 78-year-old artist still asking the question — and the version of you that's still mid-vine
Why the macro doesn't matter on a 30-year horizon (the real estate parallel)
The trinity of what's not changing: attention, business ownership, the basics
The Six Basics — the list nobody wants to hear
#1: A website you own — storefront, not brochure. Plus the SEO foundation: own your name before the next paradigm decides who's allowed in.
#2: Print on Demand — sell what you don't have in stock. Unlocks the full pricing range.
#3: Capture email every which way. The trifecta: email + phone + address.
#4: Run marketing and sales campaigns. You are a business. The muscles compound — 1st campaign awkward, 50th a real machine.
#5: A story you can tell in your sleep. Know, like, trust — and things in common.
#6: Show up consistently. Do your measure best. Drop a tier when life happens. Just don't go dark.
The wine vintage frame: some years fire on all cylinders, some go sideways. The vine doesn't care.
The runway ladder: 45 → 40+ years still to come, 55 → 30, 65 → 20+. You are not at the end of anything. You are mid-vine.
The tragedy of delay — not the tragedy of talent
Why we built Copilot: a gallerist that keeps you consistent when life happens
This week's homework: audit yourself across the six basics. Score 1 to 5 on each — website + SEO, POD and pricing range, email list, campaign rhythm, story, consistency. Pick the lowest score. That's your priority. Start today — not next quarter, not when rates drop. Today. Don't be the 78-year-old still asking the question.
Resources mentioned:
Art Storefronts — the website built for working artists
Related episodes:
All Oars In — The Anatomy of a Sale 
Nothing New Under the Sun — The Rules That Actually Sell Art (
The Algorithm Doesn't Care About Your Art 
The Coffee Shop Test — Why Your Social Media Is Failing 
You are not too late. You are exactly on time — if you start the basics today. Pick which 78-year-old you're going to be, and how many of the next 20, 30, 40 vintages you're actually going to fill. Pick. Then build.

Mother's Day is 18 days out. At the end of the last episode, I promised you a refreshed anatomy of a properly run sale. This is that episode.
Two things today: how a properly run sale actually works, and why omnichannel marketing is the whole game — today, 30 years ago, and 25 years from now. The rules are the rules. By the end, you'll have the playbook for Mother's Day and every sale you run for the rest of your life.
In this episode:
Why attention in 2026 is 15 tiny flashes, not one long read
The Trireme: why coordinated oars beat more oars every time
The 20+ marketing surfaces you already own (and the 3 you actually use)
The Sale Equation: Incentive + Scarcity × Attention
The 3-4 week calendar: warm-up, launch, reminders, 24-hour push, extend day, follow-up
Why humor and memes charge the battery for the sale push
The Mustang Sally walkthrough: one message, 8 coordinated channels
The life-skill reframe: these rules work for bake sales, gallery openings, fundraisers — any promotion you'll ever run
This week's Mother's Day homework: the 6 steps that start today
The Omnichannel Campaign Prompt (copy into Art Helper, ChatGPT, or Claude):
Act as my marketing strategist. I'm running [SALE TYPE] ending [DEADLINE] with [INCENTIVE]. I make [ART DESCRIPTION] for [AUDIENCE]. My voice is [VOICE]. My 4 hero pieces are [LIST]. Build me: (1) a day-by-day 3-week calendar with warm-up humor content, launch day, mid-sale reminders, 24-hour push, and extend day; (2) one 60-word core sale paragraph; (3) full asset set — 4 emails with subject lines, Instagram caption, IG carousel slides, IG Story frames, a Reel/TikTok script, Facebook post, SMS, and hello bar copy. Keep voice consistent across every asset. Put scarcity on every sale-phase asset. Warm-up content must be funny and human, not sales-y.
Resources mentioned:
Art Storefronts
Art Helper
ChatGPT
Related episodes:
Nothing New Under the Sun — The Rules That Actually Sell Art (Ep 10)
The Algorithm Doesn't Care About Your Art. Let's Fix That. (Ep 8)
The Coffee Shop Test: Why Your Social Media Is Failing (Ep 5)
Spring Clean Your Art Business (Ep 9)
The Nuts and Bolts of a Well Run Art Sale (#7)
Things About Running a Sale Nobody Ever Told You (#45)
This week's homework: pick your 4 hero pieces, write one 60-word sale paragraph, run the prompt above, build the 3-week calendar backward from Sunday May 10, and launch your warm-up memes this week — not next week. Happy selling.

Stop chasing shiny objects. The rules of selling art haven't changed in a century — you've just been ignoring them. In this episode, I break down why artists who follow basic business fundamentals outsell artists who chase every new platform, and I lay out the art-selling holiday calendar you should be following right now.
A buddy of mine sold thousands of photo books. Last week he texted me: "Sold two pieces for $65,000." Where did those customers come from? They bought books first. It's not some secret. It's just the rules of business. Nothing new under the sun.
In this episode:
Why "nothing new under the sun" is the most important business lesson artists ignore
The difference between being an artist and having an art business
The art-selling holiday calendar and why every holiday applies to you
How Target's end-cap strategy is your playbook for selling art year-round
Why Mother's Day matters even if you don't sell "mom art"
The fishing analogy, the blackjack analogy, and the self-excuse trap
Mother's Day is 25 days away. The fish are biting. Are your lines in the water?
Related episodes:
What Are the Biggest Art Selling Times of Year?
The Next Big Art Selling Holiday: Mother's Day
The Mother's Day Marketing Playbook
Get Buyers to Act Fast: Impulse Purchases
Merchandising 101
Selling From Now Through Father's Day
Spring Clean Your Art Business (last episode)

Your art business needs a spring cleaning — and not the kind where you reorganize your studio. If the only thing you sell is wall art at $500+, you're leaving most of your potential customers on the table. This episode breaks down how to restructure your product lineup, why low-ticket items are your secret weapon, and why RIGHT NOW is the moment to act.
In this episode:
Why a $2,000 Facebook ad campaign got zero purchases (and what it teaches you about your lineup)
The price ladder framework: three tiers every artist needs
How selling a $40 phone case leads to a $5,000 original sale
Americans check their phones 186 times a day — why that's your biggest marketing opportunity
The 5-step spring cleaning action plan you can start this week
Key stats from this episode:
Average tax refund: ~$3,100 (that's a painting)
186 phone checks per day — Reviews.org, 2026
$26 billion US phone case market
84.6% of people check their phone within 10 minutes of waking up
Related episodes:
Get Buyers to Act Fast: Tips for Setting Up Your Art for Impulse Purchases
Staggering Art Economic Trends, the Spring Selling Season
Merchandising 101
The Importance of Print on Demand
How Many Times a Day Do You Pick Up Your Cell Phone?
Your homework: Audit your lineup today. Write down everything you sell and its price. If you don't have something under $50, add one this week. Easter, Mother's Day, and Father's Day are coming — the wind is at your back.

Most artists treat social media like a gallery wall. Art, art, art, art. The algorithm doesn't care. It rewards shares, watch time, and laughs. This episode is about charging up your engagement battery with entertaining content so the algorithm actually delivers your art to people who want to see it.
In this episode:
Why the algorithm ignores your art posts (and what it rewards instead)
What a meme actually is — and why artists are already halfway there
How a 77-year-old museum curator got 9 million views with Gen Z slang
The Marco Rubio couch meme: proof you don't even have to try
Free tools that make meme creation embarrassingly easy
Memes and accounts mentioned:
National Gallery of Art on Instagram (@ngadc) — Alison Luchs viral Reels
Marco Rubio Couch Memes on Know Your Meme
Devon Rodriguez on TikTok (@devonrodriguezart)
Freeze Magazine on Instagram (@freeze_magazine) — art world memes
BarkBox on Instagram (@barkbox)
Liquid Death on Instagram (@liquiddeath)
Scrub Daddy on TikTok (@scrubdaddy)
Duolingo on TikTok (@duolingo)
Free meme makers (no design skill required):
Know Your Meme — research trending formats and templates
Imgflip Meme Generator — 1M+ templates, pick and type
Canva Meme Maker — templates + custom layouts
Supermeme.ai — describe it in words, AI makes the meme
Kapwing — video memes, 2000+ templates
Adobe Express Meme Maker — free, no experience needed
Your homework: Make ONE meme about being an artist this week. Post it. Compare the shares to your last art post. If it wins — and it probably will — you just learned the most important lesson in social media.
Related episodes:
The Coffee Shop Test: Why Your Social Media Is Failing
How to Know What Will Sell Before You Create It