Episode 144: What to Track in Your Art Business (And What to Forget About)

Introduction to Vanta

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0:30Are you an artist who's been painting for five years or less, and you're wondering how you can get your art to that fine art status? Or maybe you're an artist who is looking for your voice and your signature style. And I'm here to tell you, that's exactly why I created the Honest Art Workshops, and we have them in gorgeous destinations all over the world. And in them, we tap into you and to your voice. I only host a handful of them a year, three to five. So if you're interested in that, head to the link in the show notes to learn more.

Importance of Metrics

1:02Welcome back to the Honest Art Podcast, everyone. I'm your host, Jodi King, and I'm so grateful that you have joined us again this week. So I've done lots and lots of podcasts on business tips and tools and things like that. But I will tell you that this podcast might be the most important one that I've done in terms of sales.

1:33If selling your art is important to you, this is going to be the podcast that you really, really want to pay attention to. If you can, you might want to take some notes. It's really, really important. And before you start rolling your eyes at me, I just want to tell you that the main thing that we are looking at is metrics, you know, like things that we can measure in terms of success for our business.

2:06Now, the thing is, is that what we don't want to measure necessarily is sales. I mean, obviously, that's what we want, right? But sales is what we call a lagging indicator. I'm going to get into all of that in just a minute. But basically, sales are like, they're the smoke, right? They're not the fire. They're the thing that happens after we do all of the things to get there. So what we really need to be measuring are the leading indicators, getting into that in a minute.

2:41Like I said, we need to be measuring those things because when we actually take the time to look at these things, that's the thing that moves the needle. And I can say with my whole chest that if you're not looking at those metrics, you're not going to be moving your business forward or creating income and revenue for yourself as an artist. So this is so exciting to me because I recognize that not a lot of artists look at these things.

3:15But now you will have the tools to do that.

Leading Indicators

3:19So if you're ready, let's get messy. Okay, so as we get into this, I want to recognize that, yes, sales matter 100%, that sales are what we're going for, right? But they are, like I said, they're the result. They're not the initiator of what has happened. So the two terms that I was talking about earlier that we need to be comfortable with are the terms leading indicator and lagging indicator.

3:57So what does that mean? Well, basically, as an example, is a leading indicator for like gardening is when you plant the seeds, that is a leading indicator. When you harvest the flowers, that is a lagging indicator. Now, the importance of this distinction is that when we look at sales as an artist, what we generally look at is the lagging indicator.

4:31We just kind of think, well, what is it? What, you know, am I being successful? Am I not being successful? And we usually have the metric of just sales as the determination of our success. But what we really need to be looking at are the leading indicators of what is contributing to that. So that's what we're going to talk about is we're going to look at those metrics.

5:03We're going to look at what are the things that we can do. And we're going to talk about it from mindset, from marketing, from all kinds of different measures. What are the things that we can measure? What are the things that we can do that will get us to the point that we have those sales? Now, if you want consistent income, we've got to look backwards.

5:34Now, and, you know, I'm sure you've heard me say a lot of times about planning and looking forward and having a strategy and all of that is true. But doing that without looking backwards at things, we're really missing the boat. So what are some of the things that we can look backwards to? So we can look at how often we paint. We can look at things like how often are we posting on social media. We can look at things like how often are you emailing people who love your work.

6:09And we can look at things like how often are you pitching to galleries or to designers, consultants, things like that. Because those are the behaviors that actually lead to the sales. Okay, why does this matter so much for us as artists? Well, it matters because as artists, we often feel powerless over whether our sales slow down or whether we get sales at all. But when we look and then we take the time to look at these metrics, this empowers us and shows us there are actually things that we can do to increase those sales.

6:49Those are the leading indicators. Those are the things that give us back our agency over our business. So what can we control? Well, we can control whether or not we show up. We can control whether or not we reach out. We can control whether or not we finish work. We can control whether or not we are telling important stories about our art. And we can also control how often we're actually inviting people in to see not only our work, but to see what goes into and behind the scenes of the work.

Metrics for Creativity

7:33So given that, let's talk about some of the metrics for these different areas in our lives. Let's start with creativity. Look at some of the metrics like how many days did you paint? And you can look at this, you know, if you're thinking sales have really been in a slump for a few months, you look back at, okay, well, how many days did I paint last week? And then back that up a little bit more if you can remember it, like how many days did I paint in the last month? And unfortunately, what we usually do is we look at it more of like, well, I wasn't inspired or I wasn't in the mood.

8:13Well, that's not the metric we're wanting. If we really do want to have consistent revenue and consistent income doing this, we really have to treat it as a priority. So look at how many hours did you physically show up regardless if you were in the mood or regardless if you were inspired. And, you know, I've heard, I've said this many times before, and that is inspiration happens when you show up.

8:44It's not the other way around. So you show up and the inspiration will come. But if you're not showing up at all, that's a metric, that's something to look at and something to consider. So we, obviously, we can't sell what we don't create. So here are some metrics to look at. Days that you painted, how many hours were you in the studio, how many pieces you started, and how many pieces did you finish? Because the thing is, is that consistency compounds.

9:20And of all of the different areas, the different metrics to look at, consistency is the key to all of it. And the other thing that consistency does is when we show up consistently, our art can't help but get better. And it can't help but just like the signature of how we do things, our voice and our work, all of that gets stronger, more prominent, and more consistent when we show up consistently.

9:52Okay, here's another metric to measure, and that is visibility. Okay, so notice I didn't say like how many followers you have, because yes, we want to grow social media, but just looking at our following, that's really more of a vanity metric. So what I would prefer that you look at are things like how often are you showing up and posting consistently?

10:23There's that word again, consistency. So how often are you posting? Because if you're not posting, people aren't seeing it. So that's one metric for visibility. The other metric is how engaged are your people that are following you? So you could have 500 people following you that are highly engaged with your content, and that would be much more valuable than, say, having 20,000 people follow you and nobody is engaging with your work.

10:57Those 500 people, when you post something and they comment and they save that post and they share that post, those are people that are so into you. They are picking up what you are putting down. And that's really where we need to be looking at, especially when it comes to social media. So, but of course, we usually go to followers. How many followers do you have? I get it, but it's the consistency in posting and it's in the asking questions that really helps with the engagement.

11:34But here's the other thing. If you're looking at your engagement and you find that people aren't really commenting on what you're doing, that's information. That in and of itself is a metric to look at, and it tells you there are some things that need to be tweaked. So maybe it's that the things that you're writing in your captions, maybe they're not very engaging. And unfortunately, some of the things that I see right now are people are using ChatGPT or maybe they're relying on another platform that says they're going to post for social media for you,

12:16but they're not posting anything that makes the artist stand out, nothing that makes them sound unique. And that's what we need to do. We need to have our voice sound unique in our work. I mean, sorry, in our captions. And I'll tell you this, there are times when I'm writing a caption and I'm thinking, why does this not sound like me? And then I realize, because I use a lot of slang in my words, instead of saying probably, sometimes I'll say probably.

12:50And that's just how I talk, and I think it's fun. So when I'm writing a caption, I'll occasionally write probably, you know. Those are things that connect people to you. So don't be afraid to really use your voice in your captions, because that is going to increase your engagement. Now, here's the other thing. Look at, are there things that you have posted that people really did like? Like, was it a reel versus just a regular standard photo?

13:23Then do more reels. Was it a carousel versus a reel? Do more carousels. But look at those metrics and see what's working and do more of that. So it's not rocket science. We just need to do more of what works and do it, ready, consistently. Hey, real quick while I've got you, I just want to tell you, I know that being an artist can be a lonely job and filled with self-doubt.

13:54So artists need other artists, and we need painting techniques and the skills to sell our art along with it. So that's why I created the best membership group of artists on the planet called the Honest Art Society. And in it, you receive several coaching calls a month with me so that you can get your questions answered on business and on your art. You get monthly trainings from art techniques to marketing and business. You get exclusive art critiques as well as exclusive discounts on workshops and courses.

14:29And all of this is for only $47 a month, and you can cancel at any time. So if you're ready to make your best art ever, along with a great community of amazing artists, I hope you'll join me in the Honest Art Society, and you can find out more at the link in the show notes. All right, now let's talk about email metrics. And this one is huge. Now, for those of you who have not set up an email list, do not turn this off. This is for you as well, because there will be a time when hopefully you will have an email list.

15:05And even if all you have is maybe a holiday list of, you know, if you send out cards or whatever, that's still some sort of list. That's still people that you can email about your work. So when I'm looking at email metrics, there are several different things to look at. Number one, are you even sending them out? So email is a great way to sell your work and to stay top of mind for people. So that's one metric.

15:35If things aren't moving, you know, sales aren't, or maybe in a slump or sales aren't happening, ask yourself, did I send out an email once a month? Doesn't even have to be once a week or any more than that. Did I, in the last several months, did I send out an email, right? That's one metric. Now, let's assume that you did send out an email. Then there's two other metrics that I like to look at. Number one is the open rate.

16:06And the open rate tells you of the emails that you sent, what percentage of those people actually opened the email. And what we all want, obviously, is 100% open rate. But sadly, that is, I don't want to say impossible, but it's extremely, extremely rare. So an average open rate for your emails is anywhere generally between 30% and 40%.

16:38Now, with people with a smaller email list, that, I've seen that percentage go up to like 75%, right? So, but looking at those open rates is important. And how do you find your open rates? You can find your open rates through your email marketing provider. So, like, for me, I use ActiveCampaign. Other people might use FlowKit. Another, other people might use MailChimp. You know, everybody has, or sorry, FlowDesk, sorry.

17:10Everybody has a different email marketing provider, but you can find out those open rates super easily by going to that platform and searching for them. Okay, now, the second metric that I like to look at for emails is a click-through rate. So, the open rate is if they just took the time to open the email to read it, all right? The click-through rate is when we, like, post maybe a painting and there's a link or they

17:44can just tap on the painting to go to your website. Maybe there's a link if you're teaching a workshop. You can see how many people are clicking that. Those are called click-through rates. And, again, what would we prefer? We would prefer 100% click-through rates. I mean, we have taken the time to thoughtfully write this email, to insert photos of our paintings, or maybe insert photos of things that inspire us.

18:14So, of course, we want 100% click-through rate. But, sadly, the average for a click-through rate, this is going to surprise all of you, the average click-through rate is somewhere between 2% and 3%. So, if you are getting more than 2% to 3%, you are killing it. That is amazing. But, if you're sending out your emails and people are not opening them, ask yourself why.

18:45I just was talking to an artist from Studio Elite yesterday, and she was talking about how she had sent out a couple of emails, and her open rate was way down. And I'm like, okay, well, let's look at this. Let's see what maybe caused this. And what we found is that within the very first line of the email where it says, like, hi, so-and-so,

19:19like, if you get an email from me, it's going to generally say, like, hi, Amy, or, you know, hi, Nina. It's going to have a first name associated with that. And that's because within your email, within your provider, you can put in a code that will automatically pull somebody's first name. For ActiveCampaign, I think it says F name or first name.

19:51For other people, it might say collector name, whatever that might be. Well, what we found with this particular artist is that she had done something, something went awry, and maybe she just, she didn't catch something. But rather than that first line saying hi and then someone's actual first name, it just said, hi, collector name. So that immediately, you know, and you can see that as the first line,

20:23and just when you get an email in your inbox. So that was likely the reason that those particular emails, those two emails were not opened. So if you are finding that people are not opening your emails, ask yourself what you can do differently. Maybe it's not that simple as, like, the F name or collector name. Maybe it's not that, maybe you need to be a little more authentic and honest about your art practice.

20:54That's something that so often we want to come off as polished and, like, seem like we've been doing this forever, and we want to feel so professional. But the truth is what really resonates with people is our authenticity. It's like our vulnerability, you know, really, truly showing people who you are and showing up as fully as possible. And especially now that we are in AI, the days of AI, everything is so polished.

21:28So the more that you can show your true vulnerability, your true authentic voice, that is going to be what people want to see, and that is going to cause people to not only engage with you in social media, but it's also going to cause them to open up those emails so they can see your gorgeous work. All right, so let's talk about one more, and that I'm going to call this relationship metrics. But really what they are is kind of like outreach activity.

21:59So when you are looking back at your metrics, ask yourself, okay, what are some of the outreach that I did or did not do? How many, if any, designers did I email? How many, if any, if this is, and by the way, if you don't want to be in a gallery, I'm totally with you, I get it. But for a lot of artists, that is exactly what they want to do. So this is the question that would be like, how many galleries have I pitched?

22:33How many shows have I applied to? So, you know, it is really hard to sell our work just through social media alone or just through email alone. And why is that? It's because art always looks better in person, 100% of the time. I don't care how great your photo or your video is, we have got to get our art in front of people.

23:08And so if we're not applying to have our work shown in an exhibition or if we're not having an open studio. And by the way, open studios can be done in your home and you can be extremely successful for that, doing that that way. But if we don't get our art in front of people, it is highly unlikely that we are going to be selling our work. So back to these outreach, you know, metrics or these relationship metrics.

23:41Did you reach out? If you did, how many?

23:45If you did reach out to exhibitions, if you got a no, did you keep going? You know, rejection is just part of this game. You got to get used to it. And I love the way Jamie Kern Lima talks about it in her book, Worthy. Rejection is just redirection. I just absolutely love that. So when you look at these relationship metrics, ask yourself, did anyone say yes? And then the people that did say yes, can you determine why?

24:16So don't sleep on relationship metrics. All right. And then the next one, I know this is going to sound kind of crazy, but mindset is everything. You can ask all of the top performers in any industry and they will tell you that mindset is the key to success. So we need to look at, I guess you could always call them confidence metrics. All right. So one of them is how many days did you avoid the studio?

24:51When we are avoiding getting in the studio or avoiding creating art, there is a reason for that. And when that amount of time extends, that's when we really need to look at it. I'm not talking about did you avoid the studio for a week? Things happen. That's no big deal. But if you really, if you're looking at a month and you avoided painting for three weeks, it's going to be really, really hard to sell art that was never created.

25:23It all comes back to the art. It all comes back to creating that art and putting ourselves into the art and creating something that is honest and true. So if you're not in there, you got to look at why. What is going on with you? So all of this is to say is that your emotional data is as important as any of these other metrics. You know, I always say that our success as artists is where art, business, and soul all come together.

26:07And it's like that Venn diagram. It's where those things meet. And if we're not looking at that emotional data, if we're just thinking, well, I'm just not motivated, I'm not inspired, and we don't take a minute to dig a little deeper into why that is, what's going to happen is it's going to lead to burnout. And unfortunately, I have seen this too many times when really brilliant, brilliantly talented artists that I know, they just flat out burnout.

26:52And sometimes they don't start painting again for a year, year and a half, two years, because burnout is real. It is absolutely a thing. But it doesn't have to be if we take some time to be self-reflective about it all. So as you can imagine, as I've been saying, there is one metric that is the most important of all of them, and that is consistency.

27:24Nothing good happens without consistency. If you want to have stronger biceps, you cannot do curls one time and expect to get that. If you want to have better health, you can't eat one good meal and expect that all of your health metrics are going to change. And that's the exact same thing when we are trying to build an art business, or even if you don't want to sell your art, you just want to make stronger art, you want to make gorgeous art, you want to make fine art, art that you're proud of.

28:06The metric is consistency. That's the metric that we absolutely have to look at. So in closing, I just want to say, you know, look backwards, right?

Consistency and Mindset

28:18Look at what you've done to see what you'll need to do in the future. Ask yourself, did I show up? Did I create? Did I nurture relationships? Did I ask to be included in, you know, the exhibition, the fair, whatever it might be? And most importantly, did I show up for myself and my creativity? Because remember, the sales are the harvest. The rest of it is the planting.

28:51And if we're not planting, we're not harvesting. All right, I hope you found this information helpful as you move forward. If you did, I would really appreciate it if you would like and subscribe to the YouTube channel. That helps us out a lot. And if you're listening to this on your favorite audio platform, if you could give us five stars and a great review, that would really help us out. Okay, until next time, take good care of yourselves and each other. Peace out.

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