Pricing Art – Mindset

Pricing art is all about mindset which comes so easily to some but others (most of us I would guess) struggle.

This struggle could be causing you to sabotage your own business without you realising!!

4 tell-tale signs that your art pricing strategy is wrong:

1. You find yourself constantly filling orders but money is still an issue.
2. Your customer feedback is full of praise because you’re such ‘good value’.
3. When you price your items you compare yourself with the cheapest on the market.
4. You feel stressed whenever you think about raising your prices.

How do you stop the cycle?

This is quite easy to write but not so easy to implement as a lot of it comes down to mindset…

Let’s address this one point at a time.

For point 1 you need to set some time aside and really get to know your numbers.

Use a notebook (we all have a few lying around!) and jot down EVERYTHING you use when creating – including paints etc. that may have been gifted, this will be your material cost.

Work out your hourly rate – this needs to include time spent on ‘admin’ tasks not just creating, also your overhead costs such as insurance, subscriptions etc. and your tax.

Materials + (time taken x hourly rate) = cost of your creation.

Knowing this and charging it are two different things!

If your customers are telling you that you’re ‘excellent value’ it’s a sure sign that they value you, and your work, more than you do!!

Take on board this feedback and look to raise your prices – you can do this in small increments, a good time is every time you fill your order book, you can offer loyalty discounts to existing customers if raising prices makes you feel too uncomfortable right now.

Did you know that you will view the value of your product through your experience with money?

For example – If you shop in Aldi/Lidl you will price with this in mind, however your customers are over in Waitrose and have a completely different relationship with money!

If you find yourself looking for the market value of your product and enter ‘cheap animal prints’ into the search engine, guess what?

You’ll be looking at the bottom end of the market trying to compete with mass produced goods!

To get a balanced view you also need to search for terms such as ‘exclusive animal prints’ or ‘unique animal prints’.

Ensure you look at a full range of prices and see how the quality of your items fits in these markets, ask friends to help evaluate the comparisons and price accordingly!

And finally point 4:

The thought of raising prices can be terrifying, what happens if your customers run for the hills when you raise your prices?

Chances are they won’t, these are the people who already value your work!

Some customers won’t return but if your margins are right, you can produce less and earn the same if not more.

Having more time to create will mean more enjoyment for you and a chance to experiment and try new things too.

I hope these tips help and feel free to reach out with any questions.

Do what you love and be kind to yourself.

Su x

p.s. you can join me on a workshop here or buy a pastel art kit here too!