I was going through my mailbox and ran across this article by Clint Watson of FineArtStudioOnline.com . I have actually had the experience that he writes about and was wondering what others have experienced. My art has been selling very well now that I have raised my prices. Very cool but is it because I raised the prices or all because of all of the hard work I do marketing it? The chicken or egg thing here. I have actually spent so much of my time marketing that I need to make more art! I am running out of originals…. Which leads to my next question and conundrum. How to do I manage my time between marketing and creating art? I would love to hear how other artists manage this. So feel free to comment below!
Does Expensive Art Just Look Better?
by Clint Watson
"If it Doesn't Sell...Raise Your Prices"
We know a very famous, talented and respected artist whose paintings now sell for upwards of $100,000 apiece. He once shared his pricing "secret" with us. It was a simple philosophy. He told us, "If a painting doesn't sell, I simply raise the price." He went on to relate the story of showing a painting in New York for $2,000 where it didn't sell. So he moved to another gallery in New York and raised the price to $4,000. It still didn't sell. He moved it to a Santa Fe gallery and raised the price to $6,000. It still didn't sell. Finally, he exhibited the painting at a show in Oklahoma and raised the price to $10,000.....and it sold.
How can this be? We've all heard about the "laws" of supply and demand.....but those laws just don't seem to apply to art.....or indeed other luxury items.
Expensive Wine Just Tastes Better
If you can look past the dry title, the study surprisingly concludes, " Our results show that increasing the price of a wine increases subjective reports of flavor pleasantness as well as blood-oxygen-level-dependent activity in medial orbitofrontal cortex, an area that is widely thought to encode for experienced pleasantness during experiential tasks. The paper provides evidence for the ability of marketing actions to modulate neural correlates of experienced pleasantness and for the mechanisms through which the effect operates."
In short, the study concluded that Expensive Wine Tastes Better, or, more correctly, if you charge more money for the same wine.....people will think that it tastes better.
Does Expensive Art Look Better?
It seems to us, that this study, coupled with our anecdotal evidence related in the story of our famous artist above leads us to wonder....if you charge more money for the same painting, will people think it looks better?
The answer seems to be . . . yes.
Sincerely,
Clint Watson
Software Craftsman and Art Fanatic
PS - Raising prices can be a big step. We still feel that it's best to raise your prices little-by-little, consistently over time. Remember that in the wine study that the people did seem to enjoy the "expensive" wine more . . . however, they were given the wine.....they did not purchase it. We have enjoyed a couple of $100 bottles of wine that were given to us as gifts....but we've never actually purchased one.
Editor's Note: While raising prices is a bit counter-intuitive, it is one marketing strategy that certainly can be effective when done right. For more marketing strategies, consider getting a copy of Alyson Stanfield's book, I'd Rather be in the Studio! Learn More.
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This article appears courtesy of FineArtViews.com by Clint Watson, a free email newsletter about art, marketing, inspiration and fine living for artists, collectors and galleries (and anyone else who loves art) .
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