Obstacles You Must Overcome to Grow Your Art Business Today
The biggest obstacle facing art businesses today is that artists sit back and wait for opportunities to get them. This results in middle-men/ intermediaries taking up the challenge, reaching out to the market and raking in higher returns than artists. In the fast-developing world of technology, artists and art businesses are still lagging as people outside the industry rush to create new products, such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and sell them for millions of dollars, leaving out the artists.
The challenge facing the art business today as we described above is only the starting point. The list is indeed longer. As we are going to demonstrate shortly, there is huge potential in the art business, and it is time for managers and business leaders to wrestle down the obstacles on the way. Let’s start by looking at these issues.
Non Standardisation
In the arts industry, no two pieces of art paintings are similar. Every artist has a unique style, and even when the same person works on two pieces of art, they can demand very different prices.
Lack of standardisation in the painting industry is a big obstacle for businesses, and it can easily result in under-pricing your collections and losses.
As a business, you need to adopt a professional approach and brand the enterprise to win a bigger market. This should start with identifying the best works of art and building a strong community around your brand. Just like it happens with precious metals/ products, more clients will be willing to pay more when they develop trust in your brand. You might also want to work with a team of experts to demonstrate the high standards of your work.
Authenticity
This is one word that you are likely to find getting thrown at your works of art, disputing the origin. Your business should ensure that all the works or collections in its space can easily be traced back to the author or origin.
You might also want to employ advanced technology, such as blockchain applications, that can help to make traceability along the supply chain easy and protect authenticity.
When working on a large project, such as preparing shows, bring on board a team of experienced professionals to help visitors comprehend every attribute of the selected work of art. They will not only ensure that the information provided on the works of art is correct, but also promptly engage visitors to address inquiries for greater satisfaction.
Financing
Like other businesses, financing is a major challenge to art businesses. If you do not have ample capital, there is a danger of the business failing in its obligations, such as marketing or paying staff.
Therefore, it is a good idea to ensure your company has enough funds to run all operations for about one year or until it becomes self-sustaining.
To address short financial shortfalls, you can develop cordial relationships with financial institutions. This implies that if you need urgent cash, but clients are yet to clear the invoices, banks can help to provide the liquidity. Shareholders can also inject additional capital to help meet key financial obligations.
In addition to the above challenges facing the art businesses, you should also be aware of issues with labour, time and project management. According to Adrian Cheng, the founder of the K11 brand and CEO of New World Development in Hong Kong, managers must be innovative and come up with solutions that can help to make their businesses stand out in the industry.
K11 has outperformed in Hong Kong by adopting advanced offline-to-online practices through membership systems that help promote loyalty.