According to Wikipedia, growth hacking is a marketing technique… which uses creativity, analytical thinking, and social metrics to sell products and gain exposure.  Growth hacking can be seen as part of the online marketing ecosystem. Many growth hackers are simply good at using techniques such as search engine optimization, website analytics and content marketing which are already mainstream. Growth hackers focus on low-cost and innovative alternatives to traditional marketing– utilizing social media and viral marketing instead of buying advertising for radio, newspaper, and television. Growth hacking is particularly important for startup businesses as it allows for a “lean” launch that focuses on growth first, budgets second. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Dropbox are all companies that use growth hacking techniques.

To quote Aaron Ginn, from his article Defining A Growth Hacker: Debunking The 6 Most Common Myths About Growth Hacking, “The magic of a growth hacker is not a mysterious power but rather a mindset that focuses on what most startups deprioritize: distribution. …, growth features tend to be forgotten and under-optimized until it matters most. Dave McClure, founder of 500 startups, said that most startup founders focus heavily on product but most of a startup’s risk lies in distribution.”

When these same issues are applied to any emerging fine artist’s business, the artist is typically focused on creating product–that is producing art works– to the neglect of distribution–that is making submissions.  When discussing an artist’s business concerns, rather than use the term distribution we refer to *submissions* made to *get the  work out there* and into gallery exhibitions, art publications, and online galleries to make sales and gain visibility. Artist submissions are presentations to art professionals in positions to do much for an artist’s career– be they gallerists, art dealers, art collectors, art consultants, fine arts publishers, arts magazine editors, art licensing agents or other arts professionals.

What many artists typically do, is focus on creating new work and only when their studio is filled do they begin to think that they might need some help getting the work out there and about gaining exposure. Gaining exposure, getting shows, and making sales begins with making submissions. For any artist, a great way to gain exposure is in a feature article written and published and shared widely on social media to increase visibility. The process of getting an article featuring an artist’s work begins with research into publications and then making submissions–all time-consuming tasks. The process of getting gallery representation also begins with research.

When any artist begins to understand all the things they need to spend time doing researching their market, they typically begin to feel overwhelmed. Where to begin? How do to find the time? They really don’t want to shift focus away from the studio to begin marketing and promoting. It’s a long hard growth process to discover how best to market and promote oneself. That kind of understanding doesn’t happen overnight! Even with the ease of social media there is much to learn and it takes years to understand how best to use all the tools that are available.

That’s where we come in! Artist Marketing Resources is in our 6th year of helping artists at all levels of the growth process. Yes, we really are growth hacking artists every day!

If you are an artist interested in finding opportunities, then follow and read our blog posts.

If you are an artist who would like your work featured, support us and we will do the same with perks–find the details here.

If you are an artist who wants to take more of a DIY approach to submitting your work, then we offer ten important tools and time savers  here.

If you’d like to avail yourself of our submission services, contact Marie Kazalia for details, email: MarieKazalia@gmail.com

(images via freedigitalphotos.net)