Use Your Advantage

My buddy was asking for some marketing advice. I asked him what advantages he had. For instance awards, memberships, etc. He noted that he was recently accepted into the OPA … Oil Painters of America. This organization holds artists to high standards and they won’t let just anyone in. “Wow,” I said, “Use that to your advantage.”

I don’t have any idea how many artists there are in

America

alone but my guess is there are hundreds of thousands. Everyone is an artist it seems… just like everyone is going to write a book someday. I think people perceive this. So when potential art buyers are considering buying something they don’t want just anybody. They may love your work but may hold back buying for some reason… that reason is confidence. Confidence that you are a good investment. Confidence that you’re not just another schmoe who paints. They want their love for your work to be validated.

I told my friend to make it a point to try and win every award, try and win the signature status to be able to use OPA behind his name and to use every possible opportunity to tell the world he was an OPA member. It’s a BIG deal.

I instructed him to make sure it was in his BIO toward the top (no one ever reads the whole thing). I suggested press releases to his list of OPA awards. I suggested he tag his ads that he is an OPA member (its external validation). I think there are probably 2,500 or so OPA members but of those only a small percentage takes advantage of their membership. Only a small percentage advertise that they are OPA members (perhaps there are restrictions on this I am unaware of. I know only a select few can put OPA behind their signature). So he can gain huge advantage with anything he can do to promote that he is an OPA member. It’s all about trust, remember. OPA is huge validation to a collector.