In this series, we’re sharing the lessons we think we learned in 2024.
You can view Miriam’s Etsy shop here at MiriamMcClung.
In brief bullet format, here’s what we learned…
• We’ve had an Esty shop for many years, but only got serious three years ago.
• We started out listing around 20 reproductions.
• We only offered reproductions on canvas with archival pigmented inks.
• We didn’t stick to a theme or style since Miriam’s work spans decades.
• We optimized the listings based on the keywords we wanted.
• We followed all the Internet and Etsy guidance.
• We realized < 10 sales in three years.
We then decided to double down rather than close up shop, so we:
• Changed our prices downward–no sales.
• Adjusted our prices upward–no sales.
• Placed our paintings in pictures of rooms–no sales.
• Tried a very low (less than $10/month) ad spend on Etsy–no sales.
• Increased our listings to over 100 reproductions–no sales.
And then it all changed…
• First, Miriam’s grandson put together a video reel that went sort of viral on YouTube, then viral on IG with 5.8M views, 4K comments and 630K likes.
• That viral video introduced Miriam’s work to many people and led to many sales of her work, offers by galleries to show, and the sale of 24 originals.
• This led to increased traffic to our Etsy shop from IG (which was linked), and over 20 sales of reproductions and digital downloads.
• We suspect the traffic to our Etsy shop got Etsy to notice us and one of Miriam’s abstract expressionist reproductions was selected as an Etsy Pick.
• Producers for two home makeover shows (Who’s Afraid of a Cheap Old House [HGTV] and Happy to Be Home [Magnolia] saw Miriam’s IG reel and came over to Etsy to follow her shop.
• We eventually worked with HGTV to have a reproduction of Miriam’s “Abstract – Orange” piece in one of their homes and episodes.
• Mid 2024 we deactivated all but seven reproductions. We did this for a number of reasons:
— While we already had hires images of the 95 listings we offered, managing the set up for single orders and production (we used Picture Salon) was outside our normal workflow. Picture Salon is great (service, quality and price), but there just wasn’t enough profit or volume to justify the time and effort for single sales.
Most importantly…
• We began evaluating Miriam’s entire remaining collection and position as an important Alabama woman artist in the 20th century.
• Low-cost, low-volume sales of reproductions on Etsy (even though the reproductions themselves are museum quality), didn’t fit with our understanding and direction for her career and art’s place.
• So we began offering a limited edition reproduction of seven pieces of her early abstract expressionist work created in the 1950-1970. We’ll see how that works out.
• Over a year ago, Miriam’s grandson opened a custom-designed candle shop on Etsy called WiseCrackle. He’s sold over 2000 candles. He has been successful because he offers a unique product at a reasonable price. But on Etsy, that isn’t enough. You have to know how to dominate your product category through Etsy search, traffic, ads, timing, etc. He’s figured that out.
Here are some non-scientific conclusions about Etsy and art selling:
• You have to be completely committed to selling on Etsy. By that, we mean long hours, figuring out search algorithms and timing, lots of high-quality product listings, ad purchasing on Etsy, etc. Anything less will net you nothing in sales.
• No matter how niche or popular or good your art is, Etsy is a search algorithm puzzle to solve.
• Etsy is a good place to get exposure to newbie and bargin art collectors.
• Etsy might be a good place to sell product spin-offs from your art.
• Etsy listing costs are fairly inexpensive, so view Etsy as marketing to future potential collectors/fan introductions rather than an original art sales platform.
