By now, you may have already heard of Bēhance, the largest online platform around the globe for showcasing & discovering creative work. The site caters to creative professional that seeks to display their work to millions of visitors by allowing customizable personal portfolios to live on their own sites. Born in 2006, Bēhance also services people seeking to hire creative talent. If you are an artist or creative, or work in marketing and want to hire creative talent, I recommend exploring Bēhance as a highly useful resource.

Recently, Founder and CEO Scott Belsky sat down and shared an overview of Bēhance as well as advice for arts organizations on how they can best market themselves, represent artists, and engage targeted communities with content. In this piece, Belsky also discusses the key ingredients for individual artists who are striving to market themselves and manage their careers while fulfilling their passion. 

“For arts organizations, it is always a struggle,” according to Belsky. “You don’t want to be confined by whatever is in your gallery at the moment or by the genre of art you focus on.”

Instead, he advises organizations to become a curator of the arts in general, whether in your region, genre, or vertical. Belsky finds that when arts organizations are constantly trying to promote things to everyone they know, people tend to tune out. But if these organizations can act as a curator of a region, genre, or vertical of the arts—people start to pay attention, and want to know what the organization is talking about, more often.

Importantly, it is not just stuff about one’s own organization, Bēhance also highlights what is happening with related artists, past exhibits, or changes within the arts. Belsky states, “What you’ll find is that people who have this interest, will tune in, and start to follow—and when you do have something to promote, people will already be listening. What is essential is building a following before you need it, by seeing our organizations and us as curators.”

As for individual artists, Belsky shares similar words of advice related to marketing and career management. He suggests “thinking as a curator, rather than always trying to blast what you’re doing,” and to “become an authority in commentating on your respective region, genre, or vertical that you work within, so people will perceive you as an expert.”

Lastly, Belsky notes that we all need to build upon the power of attribution, and to always make sure that when you or your organization displays someone’s work online, that you link back to their website—and when your own work is displayed online, that the website links back to yours. “When individuals and organizations online really take attribution seriously, it’s the rising tide that floats all boats.”

*Check out the full video interview with Scott Belsky here: