Marketing Value and Prestige

When you're marketing to your ideal prospects, it's important to market the right product at the right price. A lot of artists struggle with pricing their work when it's offered to the public. Ask too much, and it won't sell. But asking for too little can cost you credibility, worthiness, and - oddly enough- a sale.
   For years people have been telling me my art was priced to low. For years, my paintings sold here and there at those prices, so I was satisfied. I would rather have sold two paintings at $150.00 each than no paintings at $300.00. So my prices stayed low.
   Since I have become serious about learning to market and sell my art, I'm repeatedly coming across advice on pricing your goods, and the overwhelming consensus is that many businesses, not just artists, under price their goods and services. Many of the qualified authors I've read encourage business people to raise their prices. So I bumped my prices up by about $25.00. Wow.
   In 2010 one of my paintings (below) sold at the Upper Peninsula Children's Museum benefit auction for $1000.00! I was very happy to be able to help the museum, and it felt great to see MY art go for such a high price. After that, I felt more confident to raise my prices. Since I've done so, I've been busier than ever.
   A friend of mine told me that he knew a gallery owner in California. If the gallery had something they couldn't sell, he doubled the price, and it would sell.
   Another friend told me just today that he used to be a shoe salesman. They had a 'real dog' of a pair of shoes in the window. He said nobody wanted them, nobody looked at them, nobody asked about them. They told their manager what 'dogs' those shoes were. The manager raised the price, and the shoes were soon gone!
   These are just a few stories. You can find dozens of accounts telling how a higher price means higher value. Many people, especially the affluent ones who I'm trying to reach, will pay extra for the prestige and status. This is one of the reasons that having a positive impact on your community -and then marketing yourself as such- is so important!  Hopefully your customers will appreciate the higher value!

Part of the reason this sold for so high was because of the hidden images in the painting, and the fact that I was there to tell people about those hidden images. There are four faces in the trees. These are some local historic figures who helped shape Marquette, MI. There is also a violin in the tree trunk and buildings in the stones. The rock outcrop is actually a sleeping dragon. Plus, if you look at the red lighthouse, you'll see it may be hanging from the tree, or it may not.