Auction marketing, step by step

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

Before you start promoting your auction, there are a few things to consider to set yourself up for success.

1. 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.

2. 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. 

3. Be true to your brand

Ensure you have your brand assets ready, including your logo in PNG format, brand colours with hex codes, and fonts, so you can customise the auction site to match your brand identity. Having a brand kit or guidelines on hand will help maintain consistency with your brand voice.

4. Collaborators and ambassadors

Running your auction with partners such as charities, creators, or influencers can double your marketing reach. Consider forming an ambassador committee to help source and promote lots. For more on expanding your reach, see our article on the network effect.

5. Plan ahead

Plan your marketing campaign before your auction opens to space communications effectively and cover key touchpoints such as launch and close. Learn more about marketing and timeline strategy here.

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. 

1. 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.

2. 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

3. Lot 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. See advice on writing lot descriptions here. 

4. Customise your links

Our templates let you add links to the navigation bar and auction descriptions to guide buyers to relevant info, promote your business, and align the auction’s look with 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.

5. Fonts and 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. 

6. 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. See more about customising your auction here.

Pictured: Luxury watch demo auction

7. Spreading the word 

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. For more information about leveraging your network, read our article on the network effect.

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.

8. Using additional marketing channels

Promote your auction by adding it to online listing sites, reaching out to press and media with a compelling hook, and contacting potential interested parties such as social media influencers, galleries representing participating artists, and local culture sites or blogs.

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. 

1. 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. 

2. Activate paid promotions

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

3. 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. 

4. 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. 

5. Follow-up with collaborators and partners

Maintain regular communication with ambassadors, partners, and collaborators, providing them with timely copy, collateral, or a comms pack to guide promotion and ensure key information is shared effectively.

6. The final push

Bidding often ramps up in the last 24 hours of an auction and 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.

1. 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.

2. Keep in touch

With indy, you have access to all registered bidder data, including underbidders, offering insights into buying patterns and potential clients. In the ‘Bidders’ tab, contact those with a green tick who have consented to marketing to keep them informed about future auctions, sales, and events.