Auction Marketing: A Step by Step Guide

Our auction management software lets you create a custom auction site, boosting your chances of sales and promoting your brand. Below are key marketing opportunities and recommended activities to promote your online auction.

Table of Contents

1. Before you Start
2. Setting Up for Success
3. It’s Live! What now?
4. Post-Auction Comms

Before You Start

There are a few things to consider before you set up your online auction:

Think about your auction messaging

Your wording and Call to Actions (CTAs) should be consistent across the auction description and marketing communications, including press releases, email marketing and social media posts. Brainstorming your messaging before you begin also makes your copy-writing more efficient and less time consuming, as you can copy-paste as needed.

Ensure you have high quality images

Aside from the images of the lots (read our article about image requirements here), think about sourcing other images to market your auction, including images of yourself, your brand and past events. If you are planning an in-person event, think about whether you’d like to organise a photographer to take further images. 

Be true to your brand

The auction software allows you to customise the look and feel of the auction website, so ensure you have your brand/company’s logo on file in PNG format, as well as any relevant brand colours and fonts to hand (e.g. colour hex codes).

Setting Up for Success

Marketing your auction will be easier if you set up your online auction for success from the beginning. Here are some factors to consider to create the best auction site. 

Naming your auction

The title of your auction will be the first thing people see; it should convey the important information without getting too long. If you find your title getting too long, we recommend keeping your main title short and including a longer subtitle.

Choose a Striking Lead Image

Choose one image/lot to be the ‘face’ of your auction and use this for the auction lead image and marketing launch imagery (e.g. first social media post) to create a consistent campaign. Choose a lot that will be striking and memorable for the bidder.

Pictured: 50 x £50, 2024

 

Auction descriptions

Alongside a description of the lot, include interesting details about the creator or piece, for example if the creator has recently been in the press or won any awards. 

Customise Your Links

Each of our templates allow you to add links to the navigation bar - these are the perfect way to direct buyers to relevant information and market other aspects of yourself or your business including retail/storefronts, social media links, mailing list sign ups, donation links, upcoming events, contact information, and more. They are also an effective way to give the auction platform a similar look and feel to your main website.

Don’t forget to hyperlink within the auction descriptions as well, so that things like your website and contact information are easily accessible.

 

Fonts & Sizing

Different font sizes, bolds and italics are a great way to emphasise certain aspects of your auction website. Think about what information is the most important and what you’d like the buyer to see right away. 

 

Colours

Customising the auction page’s colours is a wonderful way to ensure continuity with your website or brand. When working with new colour combinations, do keep in mind legibility and accessibility, to ensure that your content can be read by your audience. Pictured: Luxury watch demo auction

 

 

Spreading the Word 

If possible, we recommend beginning your marketing campaign 1-2 weeks before the auction opens for bidding, in order to amass excitement and as many registrations as possible. 

Be sure to share the auction details (dates, times, link) with as wide an audience as possible, including mailing lists, social media accounts, contacts, and your website. 

Creating and sharing a Comms Pack with auction collaborators (e.g. participating artists) is a helpful way to share all the important information, along with suggestions on when to post.

Plan your marketing schedule for both social media and newsletters ahead of bidding opening. Ensure you space out your communications so that you are posting consistently, while not overwhelming your audience with posts.

Additional marketing channels include:

1. Add the auction to online listing sites.
2. Reach out to press, digital and print media; having a hook, such as an interview with a high-profile creator from the auction can be helpful.
3. Contact potential interested parties, including social media influencers, galleries that represent a participating artist, culture sites/accounts/blogs in your city or community etc. 

It’s Live! What Now?

Marketing is most important while the online bidding platform is live, as bidders can now place bids. Alongside any actions from the previous section, your promotion should ramp up during the live auction, to increase your chances of selling at auction. 

Create and follow a marketing schedule

Post consistently throughout the duration of the auction; this will look different depending on your usual posting schedule and content roll-out. At a minimum, we suggest posting when the auction opens and closes, and at least once halfway through the duration. 

Activate Paid Promotions

These can include Meta Ads, Google Ads, or Boosted Posts on Instagram and LinkedIn. 

Email Communications

Once the auction is open for bidding, notify any bidders who registered ahead of time, to give them a gentle reminder that they can now bid in the auction. 

We recommend sending at least one more email in the day(s) leading up to the auction closing, particularly if the auction is open for a longer period of time. 

Monitor your inboxes, messaging channels and mentions

Check your message inboxes across your communication channels (e.g. emails, social media), to ensure you respond to any queries or help request about the auction promptly. 

Like, comment and re-share any posts about the auction from participants or collaborators, to increase the reach of the auction. 

Follow-up with Collaborators and Partners

Keep in regular communication with ambassadors, auction partners and collaborators about promoting the auction. If you have created specific copy and collateral about the auction for partners to post, ensure they receive it in good time. 

The Final Push

Bidding often ramps up in the last 24 hours of an auction. We highly recommend scheduling content across marketing channels on the final day, to encourage a final push for sales. 

Post-Auction Comms

Once your online auction closes, there are a number of things you can do to continue to engage with buyers and set yourself up for your next virtual auction.

Post a thank you and/or celebratory message

These messages are particularly relevant if it was a charity fundraising auction. Share the actions enabled by the auction, such as goals reached and even other ways to donate.

Keep in touch

With our platform, you have access to all the registered bidder data, including underbidders for each auction, providing valuable insights into buying patterns and potential future clients. In the ‘Bidders’ tab, you can see which bidders have given consent for marketing, so be sure to get in touch with those with a green tick to keep them updated on future auctions, sales, and events.