Branding and marketing yourself as an emerging artist is crucial for gaining recognition, attracting opportunities, and ultimately thriving in the competitive art world. These are essential when looking at launching a brand and fundamentally growing it.
Our Director, Naasier, took the time to unpack this topic at The Lab (in Woodstock), alongside Martin Projects and in collaboration with The Emerging Artist Programme with The City of Cape Town. In his talk, he provides an introduction to key strategies for building your brand and effectively marketing your art:
1. Create a Personal Brand:
Define your artistic voice. Your blend of colour, culture, language and more. Strive to convey information and ideas that reflect you and your brand – whether through straightforward explanations or nuanced interpretations. Be certain and assertive in them and make sure they align with your visual identity. Your visual identity should be designed to be consistent in both your tone and style that rely on delivering informative and helpful content through text-based communication.
Questions to ask: How important is your brand to you? How is it being perceived?
2. Get Online:
Research and review the social media platforms and channels where brands similar to yours are active – think beyond traditional social media channels (NFTs, Etsy, etc). Explore platforms you are familiar with, understand the advantages of each, and determine the best options for your brand and style. View these platforms as your free source of advertising, engagement and networking. Leverage social media for brand reach to see an increase in your brand awareness and visibility. With this, you’ll be able to build a fan base and maintain a consistent presence online while developing a professional profile and bio.
Questions to ask: Who is my market? Which platform is best for my brand?
3. Collaborate with Other Emerging Artists and Brands
This point holds much weight as many artists view collaborations as opportunities to amplify their reach, credibility, and growth potential. Three local artists thats work speak as a result their of is: Amy Ayanda x Woolies, Karabo Poppy x KFC and Yay Abe x HM. These creatives have been able to commercialise their art and generate revenue from their brand partnerships simply by following their ideal potential brand and working towards making their brand visible.
For brands, they are seen as inclusive, engaging and aspirational. For artists, they are automatically perceived as a “bigger” brand, credible and inspirational. Both brand and artist mutually benefit and leverage from each others strengths to create compelling content, prodcuts or experiences. Though, there are many ways to go about finding a collaborations: activations, artist collaborations, exhibitions, events, and more.
Questions to ask: Which social media strategies am I using? How do I approach a brand?
These strategies emphasise the importance of defining your unique artistic voice, leveraging online platforms effectively, and seeking collaborative opportunities to enhance your brand’s visibility and credibility in the art world.
Have questions? Pop us a mail or give us a call. We would love to engage and hear about your emerging/existing brand.
In partnership with:
Martin Art Projects
The City of Cape Town
Emerging Artists Cape Town
Kiff Kicks