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Before an artist launches their website and builds a marketing strategy, they need one critical thing: research.
Module 3 of the Artist’s Launch Academy is designed to lay the groundwork for everything that follows—your website, your brand messaging, and your marketing approach.
This module ensures that when you launch, you’re not just throwing art into the void but strategically positioning it in front of the right collectors.
For the public version of the academy, Module 3 will be taught through pre-recorded video lectures where I walk artists through each exercise and workbook section, ensuring they understand how to apply the research directly to their brand. But for the pilot program, I decided to take a different approach.
I wanted to test the workbook in real-time, gathering feedback from artists with diverse backgrounds and experiences. That’s why I turned Module 3 into a live Google Meeting session where artists could ask questions, clarify concepts, and help refine the workbook in ways I couldn’t achieve alone.
With 112 pages of research exercises, their insights have been invaluable in improving the clarity and depth of this module.
This module is especially important because it acts as the foundation for every decision artists make regarding their business. The research done here will influence how they shape their website layout, the kind of messaging they use on social media, and how they structure their sales funnels.
Without understanding their audience, artists risk creating content that doesn’t resonate, leading to wasted effort and missed opportunities.
By integrating strategic thinking with personal reflection, Module 3 helps artists break away from a "one-size-fits-all" marketing approach and instead craft a strategy uniquely suited to their art and audience.
Breaking Down Part A: Identifying Your Collectors
Part A is where we begin crafting Collector Profiles, a crucial exercise that allows artists to understand who buys their art and why. Here’s how we break it down:
Exercise 1: Identifying Past Collectors
Before jumping into theorizing who might buy our art, we start with what we already know. Artists reflect on at least three people who have purchased their art in the past.
Who are they?
What was happening in their life when they bought the piece?
What motivated their purchase?
This helps warm up the brain to think about collectors as real people, not just faceless buyers.
For the example artist I created, Alex, one of her collectors is Jamie, a 23-year-old from Harlem who is deeply embedded in her local community.
Jamie first RSVPd to one of Alex’s paint-and-sip events, loved the energy, and purchased a piece that resonated with her. Since then, she has attended every monthly event, slowly becoming a dedicated collector.
Artists often overlook how personal connections influence purchasing decisions. This exercise forces them to reflect on past experiences, highlighting patterns in what motivates their audience.
Exercise 2: Understanding the 8 Collector Types
Once we’ve identified past collectors, we take a broader approach.
This exercise introduces eight collector archetypes, similar to horoscopes—meaning most collectors will fit one or two but not all of them. These types help artists categorize different buyer motivations and behaviors.
For example:
The Passionate Connoisseur – Values technical mastery, loves behind-the-scenes content.
The Emotional Investor – Buys art based on deep emotional connections.
The Status Seeker – Purchases art as an investment or luxury item.
The Local Supporter – Buys art to support community-driven artists and local culture.
By identifying which types align with their audience, artists can better tailor their messaging and marketing efforts. Understanding these types also helps in pricing strategy, branding, and customer communication.
For instance, if an artist finds that most of their buyers fit into "The Status Seeker" category, they might focus on limited-edition releases, higher-end packaging, and VIP customer experiences.
Exercise 3: Building Psychographic Profiles
Now that we have data on past collectors and understand the broad archetypes, artists create two in-depth collector psychographic profiles.
For Alex, her second collector profile is a couple from New Mexico who collects pieces that reflect their cultural heritage. They are deeply drawn to Alex’s landscapes, which remind them of their childhood home, and they prioritize art that carries a strong personal or historical narrative.
Psychographics take demographic information and go deeper—focusing on values, emotional triggers, and personality traits. Instead of just knowing "this person is 35 and lives in LA," artists will understand why this person buys art, what messaging will resonate, and what platforms they frequent.
Pilot Phase Adjustments: Refining the Exercises
One of the biggest benefits of running the pilot program is being able to refine the academy before launch. During our three-hour Google Meeting, artists provided real-time feedback, and one major insight stood out: Exercise 4 (Adding Language to Website Pages) felt too soon.
Originally, this exercise was meant to help artists implement collector-focused language into their websites right away. However, after testing it with the pilot group, I realized it was too early in the process—artists needed more time developing their brand messaging before jumping into website copy. As a result, I removed Exercise 4 and will integrate it later in the curriculum.
Another key takeaway was the importance of peer review. Some artists found it challenging to define their collectors because they had never thought about it before. By incorporating live feedback, they could refine their ideas and build stronger, more accurate profiles.
This kind of iterative improvement is exactly why I’m running the academy in a pilot phase before the public launch. Having real artists with diverse backgrounds go through the material helps refine it in ways I could never achieve alone.
How to Join the Academy and Win a Free Spot
If this type of strategic research sounds like something you need in your art business, I’d love for you to join the Artist’s Launch Academy newsletter.
By signing up, you’ll not only receive early bird pricing once enrollment opens in April, but you’ll also be entered into a raffle where I’ll waive one artist’s enrollment fee every month—indefinitely.
Why?
Because I believe in investing in artists and making sure this education is accessible. My older sister is an artist and one of my heroes, and I know firsthand how difficult it is to sell art without the right tools. That’s why I built this academy.
Sign up now and be the first to know when enrollment opens!
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