Set Your Holiday Art Sales Goals

Last week I shared 5 ways to sell your art during the holiday season. I hope you’re excited to take part in the bustling holiday sales season and share your art with gift-givers and their loved ones! But hold up a minute: you need to make a solid plan before diving in. Here’s some guidance about creating your goals for holiday art sales:

Make Specific, Achievable Goals

Either on pen and paper or on the computer, write down your exact goals for selling artwork this holiday season. Your goals need to be very specific, answering the following questions:

  • Exactly what will you sell? 

  • How many will you have available to sell? How many do you think will sell?

  • What are the prices you will charge? Will this include shipping, if applicable?

  • How will you package the artwork that you sell?

  • What are the costs you will pay in this effort? Include holiday market booth fees, advertising, packaging, and any other costs.

  • What is your estimated income and profit? This is the time to sanity-check your prices.

Not only do these goals need to be specific, they need to be achievable. For example, you may say that you’ll sell 150 ornaments or twelve 8”x”8 artworks, but how many do you currently have on hand, and how long will it take you to create the rest? Don’t set yourself up for deadlines that require all-nighters; just adjust your goals. You can always start making your holiday art sales supply earlier next year!

Create an Art Sales Timeline

Now that you have specific, achievable goals, make a list of all of the actions you need to take to accomplish the goals. Leave no tiny task unlisted. Consider activities like:

  • Creating art

  • Designing how your holiday market booth will look

  • Creating email campaigns and/or ads

  • Creating social media posts about your holiday art sales

  • Finishing the artwork, including varnishing, signing, and framing

  • Sourcing marketing materials like business cards as well as packaging materials

Create due dates on the calendar for each task on your list, leaving plenty of “flex time” in case there are delays.

Make Notes for the Future

One final appointment to set on your calendar is with yourself, on a date after the holiday sales season has ended. In this meeting with yourself, reflect on how your holiday art sales went. What went well and what didn’t? What will you do differently next year? This is not the time to beat yourself up if you didn’t achieve the goals you set. Rather, it’s a time to discover what you learned and to set yourself up for even more success next year!

After you’ve evaluated how things went, make detailed notes for yourself for next year, put holiday art sales activities onto your calendar for next year, and keep all of your notes in a file that you can access next year as you begin this process again.

I wish you a successful sales season and lots of learning and growth! If you’re looking for a great-selling holiday art product, I’m getting ready to offer an inexpensive, comprehensive guide that teaches you how to paint expressive abstract floral art onto tree ornaments. Want to be the first to find out when it’s available? Get on the waitlist.

 

A Creative’s Exploration Guide

This free, step-by-step guide will help you progress in your creative journey.

Grow as an artist by building a solid foundation in your painting practice. Develop your confidence. Then, if you choose, charter a thriving creative business to call your very own.

 
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4 Clever Marketing Strategies for Holiday Art Sales

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5 Ways to Sell Your Art This Holiday Season