Many creative types are not natural-born marketers and may feel a bit like a fish out of water when it comes to creating a marketing strategy that works for them.
So, with this in mind, I thought I’d put together a list of useful tips for those creative folks who want to start growing their business but don’t know where to begin.
Keep in mind that these tips are not written specifically for one industry and can be applied no matter what type of creative business you have.
| Takeaways |
|---|
| 1. Understand your target audience’s preferences and behaviors. |
| 2. Set clear and achievable goals for your marketing strategy. |
| 3. Utilize a mix of online and offline marketing channels. |
| 4. Develop unique and compelling content to showcase your creativity. |
| 5. Regularly analyze and adjust your strategy based on performance metrics. |
| 6. Leverage social media to engage and connect with your audience. |
| 7. Collaborate with influencers or partners to extend your reach. |
| 8. Incorporate storytelling to make your brand relatable and memorable. |
| 9. Stay updated with industry trends and adapt your strategy accordingly. |
| 10. Continuously refine your marketing approach to stay competitive. |
1. Know Your Audience
You’re only as good as your audience, so it’s essential to know who they are. Understand what motivates them and how you can help them achieve their goals. Who are they? What do they like?
Do they have a specific age group or gender? Where do they live? How much money do they have available in their budget for your products or services? What do they want out of life?
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2. Create Your Brand Identity
When you have a solid understanding of your target audience, you can begin to understand your brand’s values and mission.
Your brand’s personality should reflect the spirit of the business, but not necessarily how it actually operates in real life.
You can still be friendly and helpful while also being quirky or sarcastic the key here is to avoid seeming like a boring corporation that only cares about profit margins.
As sensitive as this topic may be for some creatives, it has to be said: if you’re going to create something that’s meaningful or valuable enough for someone else to pay attention to (and hopefully spend money on).
Then there needs to be an element of uniqueness involved in order for people want it enough so they’ll buy it from you instead of someone else who makes similar products/services available at comparable prices.
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3. Build Your Own Website (And Make It Responsive)
When it comes to creating a marketing strategy for your creative business, one of the most important parts is having your own website.
A website is the hub of all information about you and what you do, so it’s essential that it’s well built and easy to navigate. Here are some tips for designing and building a great website:
Make sure your site is responsive. This means that it will look good on any device, whether someone is looking at it on their computer or phone. It’ll also be more likely to show up in search engine results if it’s responsive!
Make finding what they want easy for people who visit your site both visually and through navigation menus (think about how many times have clicked on something only to end up lost in an endless page full of links).
Make sure that any content on there is easy for new visitors (or even existing clients) to find what they’re looking for without getting frustrated along the way because this matters more than anything else when trying to build trust with potential customers/clients/patrons/etcetera!
4. Understand Search Engine Optimization And Take Advantage Of It
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a process that helps websites rank higher in search engine results. It involves things like keyword research and backlinking, as well as content creation and marketing.
SEO can be a powerful tool for your business, as it helps you get more traffic from search engines, which can lead to more customers or clients.
However, it’s important to note that there are no guarantees when it comes to SEO—it’s not just about putting the right words into your content; other factors play a role as well. In order to make sure your business gets the benefit of SEO, here are some tips:
Improve Your Website’s Loading Speed
This is an important factor in how Google ranks pages on its search engine results page (SERP). The faster the loading speed of your website’s pages, the better they will perform in SERPs once they’re published online by Googlebot (the crawler used by Google).
As such, you need someone who knows what they’re doing when it comes down to optimizing web performance and making sure everything works seamlessly together.
So users’ experience won’t suffer due solely on how long their computer takes before finally fully loading all items within each page load sequence – including videos which tend towards being larger file sizes than most images found sitting next door…
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5. Create Content That Is Useful
When creating content for your audience, it’s important to remember that you want to create content that is useful, helpful and entertaining. You also want to give people information they didn’t know before, or provide them with valuable insights into a topic of interest.
Finally, you should try to make sure your content is as educational as possible while also being inspiring and funny (or at least humorous).
If you’re able to accomplish all of these things in one piece of blog or video content then all the better!
6. Become A Social Media Wizard
The first step in developing a social media strategy is to identify which platforms are the best fit for your business and audience.
For example, while Facebook has a large number of users, it may not be the right platform for your niche if you’re selling handmade accessories or hand-painted furniture.
Instead, consider using Instagram or Pinterest to reach your target market where they already spend time online scrolling through images of things they want but can’t afford (or vice versa).
The second step of creating a social media strategy is deciding how much time you want to invest in each platform. Some people prefer using multiple social media accounts on different sites simultaneously, while others find it easier to manage just one or two platforms at once.
Take into account how much time you have available before deciding which platforms will receive the bulk of your attention during each week so that no matter what type of content needs sharing across all networks at once like when launching new products!
7. Utilize Analytics To Improve Your Strategy
It’s not enough to only focus on the content you create and how it will be shared. You also need to pay attention to the analytics of your social media and website, so you can see how people are interacting with what you publish.
For example, if someone shares a post from your website on Facebook, it doesn’t automatically mean that person likes or follows your page they might have no idea who you are!
But with Google Analytics tracking in place, you can see exactly where they came from (i.e., what page they were viewing before they clicked “Share”), which gives valuable insight into how others are interacting with your content as well as helping inform future strategies for sharing.
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8. Perfect Your Email Marketing Campaigns
An email campaign is an automated series of emails that are sent out to customers who have already purchased something from your business. They’re a great way to keep customers engaged with your brand, but they can also help you increase sales and get more referrals.
Make sure the content in each email is relevant to the recipient. This means that if someone has signed up for updates about new products, an email about customer service wouldn’t fit well in their inbox.
If you send out too many emails with irrelevant messages (or no messages at all), people will hit the “unsubscribe” button as soon as they see one come through their inboxes.
Personalize each message according to what you know about your audience’s interests and needs and don’t be afraid to send them a follow-up email after making some changes or updates!
When people feel cared for, they’re more likely to stick around long term rather than jumping ship when things get rough (like when another company offers better deals).
9. Learn How To Write Great Emails For Your Business
Ultimately, the success of your emails depends on how well you can connect with your audience. This requires that you spend some time studying their wants and needs, evaluating their preferences and habits, and discovering how they like to be approached by brands.
The best way to do this is to think about what kinds of messages resonate with them in general: Do they respond better to a casual tone or a more formal one? Do they like receiving information in bullet points or paragraphs?
What kind of content do they share most often on social media and does it have anything in common with what works for your company?
Once you’ve determined what makes an effective email from a marketing standpoint (as well as from a personal standpoint), try writing an email that incorporates those elements into its own message.
It doesn’t have to be long if done correctly, it should be short enough so as not to overwhelm your reader but also long enough for there not to be any confusion about what its purpose is (e.g., “To inform readers about our upcoming event” versus “To inform readers about our upcoming event”).
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10. Advertise On Google, Bing And Yahoo!
Google and Bing are the most popular search engines for a reason: they have the most traffic. Yahoo! also has a large share of the market, but its popularity is waning as it struggles to compete against Google and Bing’s superior offerings.
Because these three engines have so many users, you can expect that your ad will be seen by more people than you could on any other website or platform.
As far as advertising options go, there are no other websites that offer so many different types of ads like these three biggies do.
You can choose from text ads, image ads (like banners), video ads or sponsored results and if you’re willing to spend some money on clicks and impressions you’ll find yourself in good company among large corporations who want their products advertised everywhere from Facebook to Twitter to Instagram (but not Pinterest).
The downside? If a lot of advertisers are trying out these platforms then there will be lots of competition for your product or service!
But this isn’t necessarily bad news because it means that people need what you’re selling and will pay attention when they see an ad about it pop up on their screen during their search for something else entirely!
11. Keep Detailed Records Of Everything You Do
It’s important to keep detailed records of everything you do. You’ll want to track your results, so that you can see which marketing activities are working best and which aren’t worth your time. There are a few ways to do this:
Keep spreadsheets or other documents you can organize easily. Or use a CRM (customer relationship management) tool like Salesforce or Highrise, which will help you track leads, manage contacts and automate workflow.
Use Google Analytics, Woopra or another analytics tool to monitor traffic on your website and social media accounts as well as how many people open emails from you (and then click through).
12. Connect With Influencers In Your Niche
Another important aspect of any marketing strategy is connecting with influencers in your niche.
If you’re in the business of making videos, for example, there may be some people who have more clout than others when it comes to your audience like popular YouTube creators or influential Instagrammers.
It can be hard to build relationships with people like that they’re busy, they probably don’t know who you are yet and they may not even want to work with someone new until they have a better understanding of what you do and how good your work is.
But here are some tips for getting started:
Know who the influencers are in your niche so that when opportunities arise (like when one of them makes their own content about something related to yours).
It won’t just be an anonymous person contacting them but rather someone familiar enough with their work/brand to make a real connection.
Find out how these influencers prefer to communicate (email? text? phone call?) and make sure everything is professional from there on out;
This includes asking questions without being too pushy or demanding too much from them right away (try asking if there’s anything else I can do).
Don’t be afraid if the answer is no! It’s okay if someone doesn’t want anything from me at all because then maybe later down the line when my brand becomes bigger/more established then maybe te could collaborate again.”
13. Start Collecting Testimonials And Reviews
A testimonial is a quote or endorsement by someone who has used or been involved with your business. They are powerful tools that can be used in all areas of your marketing, including advertising and social media.
Testimonials can be used to:
- Showcase the benefits of using your product or service
- Prove trustworthiness and credibility
- Convert customers into repeat buyers
14. Treat Every Client Like They Are Number One
One of the most important things you can do as a business owner is to treat every client like they’re number one.
This means that you should make sure that your customer service is always top notch, and that you go out of your way to ensure that clients are happy with their experience.
Don’t forget the little things: Little gestures like sending an email or text message when you come in early or stay late for a project mean a lot to customers.
Be proactive about following up on projects, and don’t hesitate to ask for feedback from customers if there was any confusion along the way. It’s also important not just to focus on getting paid you want customers who will remain loyal fans even after they’ve paid their bill!
Ask for help: Don’t be afraid if something comes up during normal business hours; we’re here for these situations so use us as resources when necessary! We’ll take care of any issues (like late payments) so don’t hesitate asking us questions or seeking advice when needed!
15. Expand Into The Offline World With Traditional Marketing Tactics. Don’t Forget To Track These Efforts Too
- Traditional marketing tactics, such as print or radio ads, can be a great way to reach new audiences.
- However, tracking how your offline marketing campaign performs is crucial so that you can optimize it in the future.
- You can use Google Analytics or another analytics tool to track these campaigns and determine what’s working and what isn’t.
For example:
A local newspaper advertorial may not drive many leads but could increase name recognition for your business and its services.
In this case, tracking metrics like impressions (how many people saw the ad) and click-through rate (the percentage of people who clicked through) will allow you to understand the effectiveness of this particular tactic compared to other forms of online advertising that might be more cost effective.
16. Use Direct Mail Marketing To Get In Touch With Customers Who Aren’t Online (Especially Older Generations)
You can use direct mail marketing to reach your target audience. You can also target specific demographics, especially if you are working with a small budget.
Direct mail marketing is still a great way to get in touch with people who aren’t online. It’s also a good way to reach older generations, so it’s one of the best ways to market your creative business if you have an older clientele.
17. Understand How People Are Finding You and What Content They Are Engaging With The Most. Then Create More Of It
One of the best ways to create a content strategy for your marketing is to understand where your audience is finding you, what content they are engaging with, and what types of posts are bringing in the most traffic and engagement.
The first step in this process is understanding how people are finding you how did they come across your website or blog? How did they find out about you?
This will help you determine whether or not people found you organically through search engines (Google, Bing), and social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter).
Or other sources such as an email newsletter signup form on your site that collects their contact information so that it can be used later on if needed (which we’ll talk more about later).
Once we know where our visitors are coming from, we need to better understand their behavior once inside our website/blog by looking at specific post categories individually rather than just overall session duration times.
Because each category may have its own unique characteristics when it comes down to engagement levels per visitor type like new versus returning visitors vs time spent reading articles etc..
Conclusion
We know there’s a lot of information here.
But if you take a few minutes to sit down, make a plan, and start thinking about your creative business in new ways, you’ll likely find yourself with more energy, more time on your hands, and a healthier bottom line. And isn’t that the ultimate goal?
Write the conclusion for one of your blog posts. This should be at least 100 words long and include an emotional appeal such as “As we’ve seen …
I think it’s important for everyone to …” or “I hope that by reading this post you will feel better equipped to …” or something else along those lines.
Conclusion. Grammar is a tool. It has many uses, but it should always be used with purpose and intentionality. In today’s world of digital communication, the importance of grammar can sometimes get lost in the shuffle;
After all, many people don’t think twice when they send off an email riddled with errors or hit ‘send’ on another text message full of typos (myself included).
But no matter how much technology changes our lives for better or worse – which is another subject entirely!
Good grammar will always remain essential for effective communication in both written and spoken forms because it lets us express meaning clearly without confusion or ambiguity.’
Further Reading
Explore more resources to enhance your understanding of marketing strategies and creative business development:
Marketing Strategy Examples: Discover real-world examples of successful marketing strategies that can inspire your creative business growth.
Fresh Marketing Ideas: Gain new perspectives on marketing ideas to invigorate your creative business and captivate your target audience.
Effective Marketing Strategy Tips: Dive into expert insights and practical advice for crafting and executing an effective marketing strategy.
FAQs
How can I leverage marketing strategy examples for my creative business?
Analyzing marketing strategy examples provides valuable insights into what has worked for other businesses. By studying these examples, you can adapt successful tactics to suit your creative business’s unique needs and goals.
What are some innovative marketing ideas to explore?
Innovative marketing ideas can include interactive content, influencer collaborations, and creative social media campaigns. Experimenting with novel approaches can help your creative business stand out and engage your target audience effectively.
How do I develop an effective marketing strategy?
Developing an effective marketing strategy involves understanding your target audience, setting clear goals, choosing the right marketing channels, and creating compelling content. A well-defined strategy aligns your creative business with its objectives and maximizes its impact.
What role does content play in a marketing strategy?
Content is a cornerstone of a successful marketing strategy. High-quality content educates, entertains, and engages your audience, driving brand awareness and establishing your creative business as an authority in its field.
How can I measure the success of my marketing strategy?
Measuring the success of your marketing strategy involves tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) such as website traffic, conversion rates, engagement metrics, and return on investment (ROI). Regularly analyzing these metrics allows you to fine-tune your strategy for optimal results.
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.