Marketing is For Creatives
In most creative industries, marketing is a dirty word. It’s hard and misunderstood. Creatives shy away from it because they believe they should spend their time creating. But marketing is just as important as creating. In a sense, marketing is creating, which means, marketing is, specifically, for creatives. They go hand in hand.
What is your relationship with marketing? Is it something that you actively make time for, so your products and services work just as hard for you as you work creating them? Or is marketing something that you shy away from and just don’t bother doing?
What is marketing?
I think we should begin with defining what marketing is. Marketing, in its simplest terms, is the act of making consumers aware of your product or service and what problem it will solve for them. That means that consumers need to be aware that the thing that you created exists. They need to be able to say, “I have a problem that needs to be solved and this product solves my problem.”
But marketing doesn’t stop at your product. What you price your product, were you place it, or how your consumers find it, and how you promote it are the four main aspects of marketing, or the 4Ps. Creatives are very good at creating the product. Where we struggle is how to price our products and where to place them so that our customers (or target audience) can find them. But where we really get lost is the promotion part.
For a book, marketing starts with the title, the cover, and the spine (yes the spine is very important. I’ve picked up many a book because of the spine) and extends to the back cover copy and then your first sentence, paragraph, page, chapter, and the first one hundred pages. The success of a reader picking up the subsequent books in your series depends on how much they enjoyed the first book. These are all aspects of marketing that we overlook daily.
How is Marketing For Creatives?
It’s the creative people who shy away from marketing the most, who are scared of it, and who are constantly saying “I don’t understand marketing. It’s not for me. I’d rather create.” But marketing is a form of creating. When you work with your graphic designer to create a cover for your book, a logo for your brand, a business card, or other paper goods, you’re marketing your product or service. Writing back cover copy, blog posts, newsletters, social posts or web copy is marketing your goods and your company. When you design merchandise, talk to people about your business, go to events, and network with other creators, you’re marketing.
Marketing is not a dirty word or a monster to slay. It’s not even really a scary thing to be conquered, even though it can seem that way when you’re first getting started. It’s not narcissistic to wear a shirt with your company’s logo on it when you go out or go to events. When you see a commercial or ad for McDonalds, your first thought isn’t “Man, I really wish they would stop shoving this in my face. What are they doing?” If you’re hungry you think, “You know, a cheeseburger sounds great right now.”
If your version of marketing is to shout at people to buy or try your product or service, you’re doing it wrong. That’s likely why you hate marketing so much. There is nothing fun or creative about that approach. Marketing our creative works shouldn’t feel like we’re forcing people to buy from us. But it can be hard when we’re not sure what to do or where to start. So, below, I have listed some free resources to get your started.
I wish you all the luck in learning how to market your work!
Resources
Hubspot Marketing Courses – free
Facebook – free 10 week course
If you’d like to see a formal review of any of these courses, please let me know.
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