It's Mid-2026. How's Your Marketing?

"The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get." — American folk saying.

We’re halfway through 2026. That makes this a good time to stop for a spell and ask a simple question.

How’s your marketing?

I’m not talking about whether you’ve posted enough on social media, updated your website, or sent your newsletter every week. Those things matter, but they aren’t really what I’m asking.

I’m asking whether your marketing is still helping you build the business you want, or whether you’ve become so busy running it that you’ve lost sight of where you’re trying to go.

If you’re like many artists, the first half of the year has been a blur. You’ve made art, answered emails, shipped orders, entered shows, updated your website, posted when you had something to say, and tried to stay on top of a hundred other details. Somewhere in there you may have taken a vacation, helped with the grandkids, worked around the house, or tried to catch your breath.

That’s life. None of us gets to spend every day thinking strategically about our business. Most of the time we’re just trying to keep things moving.

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The problem isn’t that artists don’t know enough about marketing. Most of us already know more than we consistently put into practice. The real challenge is that when you’re inside your business every day, it’s hard to step outside of it and see it clearly. Before long, you’re reacting to whatever needs attention next instead of making deliberate decisions about where you’re headed.

This year hasn’t exactly made that any easier. There’s uncertainty everywhere you look. AI is changing the creative landscape almost weekly. The economy feels unsettled. Collectors seem a little more cautious. You can find endless marketing advice online, but much less agreement about what actually works anymore.

If your plans feel a little less certain than they did in January, I don’t think that’s unusual. I think it’s reality. That’s why I wouldn’t use the middle of the year to reinvent everything. I’d use it to recalibrate. Instead of asking yourself, What should I do next? try asking a different question.

What am I trying to build?

Not what I was trying to build six months ago. Not what someone on YouTube says I should be building. What am I trying to build now?

Maybe the answer hasn’t changed. You still want to grow your collector base, increase sales, and create more consistently. Or maybe something has changed.

Maybe you’re less interested in being everywhere and more interested in being present where it matters. Maybe you’ve noticed that one marketing activity consistently produces opportunities while two or three others mostly produce guilt because you never quite get around to doing them. Maybe you’ve reached the point where you’d rather have a hundred collectors who genuinely care about your work than ten thousand people scrolling past it.

Those aren’t marketing tactics. They’re decisions about the kind of business you want to own.

Over the years, I’ve also changed how I think about being “on brand.” Most people hear that phrase and think about logos, colors, fonts, and taglines. Those things have their place, but that’s not what comes to mind for me anymore.

I think being on brand is really about alignment.

It’s when your art, your business, and your life are all pulling in the same direction. When they are, decisions become easier because you have something to measure them against. You don’t have to chase every new marketing idea because you can recognize which ones fit and which ones don’t. You become more intentional with your time, your energy, and your attention because they all serve the same purpose.

That doesn’t mean you’ll suddenly have all the answers. It doesn’t mean the economy will improve or that selling art will become effortless. It simply means you’re no longer fighting yourself.

Before the second half of the year fills your calendar with more deadlines, more opportunities, and more distractions, spend an hour looking at your business as if it belonged to someone else. Ask yourself whether it’s still headed where you want it to go.

You may come away with a completely new plan.

More likely, you’ll make a few thoughtful adjustments that put everything back into alignment. In my experience, that’s usually enough.

Everything becomes easier when everything is pulling in the same direction.

See you next week.

— Barney