Marketing your creativity? Here’s what you need in your arsenal
While marketing yourself as a creative can be pretty tough-going, you should never just rely on that ‘foot in the door.’ While surprise opportunities might come along, it’s always a good idea to market yourself on your own terms first and promote your work using every tool at your disposal.
While your first audience may be mostly friends and family, you never know who will come across your work, and coming across as professional is the first and biggest step. Here’s how to market your creativity.
A business plan
The term ‘business plan’ can be quite intimidating, but all it means is organising the stages by which you are going to achieve your strategy. If you’ve just got your products or your designs and not much else, then a business plan is absolutely vital to ensure some degree of success. If you’re worried you don’t know what a business plan looks like, then even the UK government gives templates on how to create one – it’s much simpler than you might imagine. It can also help you get your ducks in a row:
- Arrange for professional photographs of my product
- Create a website
- Learn how to create an invoice
- Understand how to file a tax return to HMRC
While it might seem simple, the above demonstrates how simple and yet how helpful a business plan can be. As you tick each item off you will feel a little closer to achieving your aspirations.
A professional website
As mentioned above, a website should be included in your business plan. It’s true that creating an entire website is a little more difficult than setting up a social media page. However, a website should be a window into how you operate as a business and what your values are. It showcases your talents and demonstrates that what you’re producing isn’t just for the sake of a hobby. If you’d rather not constantly keep checking that your website is functioning and that it’s accessible, then there are options to assist you. Using a managed WordPress hosting platform will ensure that your site is always available online, without you having to check in constantly.
On your website you should also have social media buttons, ideally including Instagram. If you create artwork or work in any creative field, this social media app is perfect for giving a thumbnail-sized demonstration of what it is you do.
A subscription newsletter
Depending on what creative field you’re working in, this could be incredibly useful to you. If you create recipes, then you might not want to rely on Instagram and a devoted section of your website to lure in customers. Inviting people to join a newsletter will give them an incentive to keep coming back to your website and checking in on what’s new. Releasing new recipes, products or performance dates will help encourage people to share and forward details about your company.
It can feel like a huge leap to decide to take what was once a hobby and turn it into a full-time career. However, by simply acknowledging that you want to apply a business plan to your craft, you can open up a whole new chapter and begin a business you’re genuinely passionate about.
