Un-Marketing

Navigating social
media and build-
ing relationships

for creative types while growing

your business

Overwhelmed?
How to take flight and avoid the droppings. It’s enough to
drive you back to
Some Social Media Sites to
Consider: the dark ages!
Digg Like 1992.
Twitter
Facebook
Myspace
StumbleUpon
Technorati
You Tube
Metacafe
del.icio.us
Flickr
Scribd
Blogcatalog
courtesy http://www.freesocialicons.com Mixx
More can be found here

Marketing is a dirty word, right?

Marketing doesn’t have to be a dirty word. It’s simply “sharing your story with your people. ‘Your people’
are the ones who connect with your story and your ideas, the ones who want to see your work, though
they may not know that it’s your work specifically that they’re looking for. Marketing is helping the people
who want to see your work find it. “(Chris Guillebeau, An Unconventional Guide to Art and Money)

We are going to run at this assuming that
you have devoted energy and focus devel-
oping and pricing your product or service
as though this is your business and not just
a hobby. That means that you believe in
what you are offering and you value it as
such.
( Read: Breaking the Scarcity Mindset)
1. FOCUS The first important step
is to have a sit down and really pinpoint
what you are doing, why you are doing it,
who you are doing it for and where you
want to go with it. Just get a pencil and
paper and write down everything that
comes to mind. Narrow it down from there.
Once you have a few concise statements
for your personal and business goals, make
sure you consider what value you are offer-
ing your customer in your product or ser-
vice. This is unique to you and there is a
story and inspiration behind it. Some refer
to this as your Unique Selling Proposition.
Hold that thought. We’ll comeback around
to the importance of that in a moment.
2. BRANDING Consider that
often it’s your professional image that dif-
ferentiates you from being either a big fish
or a little fish in the big pond. Place priority
on getting your business branding sorted
out. Think about what your business says
about you and what you want your busi-
ness to say to the world, and share that
info with someone in Graphic Design who
knows what they are doing. All other busi-
ness materials stem from a great logo, so it
makes sense to focus on that first. Then go
for your business card (which can be your
single greatest person to person market-
ing tool) and then assets for your online
presence, like your Etsy banner, blog and
Facebook page image, etc. Be prepared to
spend some money here. It is, afterall, the
face of your business, and will set you apart
as passionate and devoted to what you do
and who you serve.
3. WRITING STYLE How
you write about your interests and creative
process will dictate who is reading about
your work. This is your unique offering to
the blogosphere. People often like to read
and relate to stories, so try to maintain a
story-like feel (informal and relational) to
your descriptions and don’t hesitate to pro-
vide readers with background information,
what inspired you, and maybe where your
materials came from. Keep it light, humor-
ous, and down to earth. In the handmade
market, informal, interesting and offering
your customers something of value (a
lesson learned, etc) are key. Make sure you
create a catchy headline! Many people will
make the decision whether to keep reading
or not based on the Title. See a recent blog
post on the site Crafting an MBA: http://
craftmba.com/2010/05/24/guest-post-
creating-a-content-library/
4. SOCIAL MEDIA Find
your social media perch(es) and roost!
Position yourself where you are com-
fortable, and, more importantly, where
your target demographic also finds their
perch(es). Website, blog, Etsy, Facebook,
Twitter, Digg, Myspace, Cosa Verde, Artfire,
Stumble, Flickr ... and the list goes on. You
don’t have to storm them all!! Take a little
time and find what suits you best and what
will bring you the right kind of traffic for
your business. Stay focused, but DO try to
find a variety of audiences to give you the
broadest exposure. A note about blogging:
one author recommends sticking with it for
at least a year before deciding to throw in
the towel. Your following may build slowly,
but it WILL build.
Visit and comment on other artists blogs
giving you cross exposure. Make sure your
name is linked to your blog.
5. EMPLOYING TACT
Find a tactful and convincing way of shar-
ing with your customer the value behind
your product or service, while being mind-
ful never to get pushy or exasperated that
they don’t understand the value to begin
with. Even better, Chris Guillebeau sug-
gests, “Instead of convincing people who
are opposed to your message, spend your
time finding people who are already pre-
disposed to it.” No need to be a pushy sales
person. Your audience will already feel they
connect with you. Great marketing is about
relationships and conversation. Pay atten-
tion to where most of your conversations
happen regarding your work, and which
aspects of your work people are talking
about and cultivate that.
6. EXCEEDING expecta-
tions. Mediocrity is rampant in our culture.
We’ve settled for “good enough” in place of
excellent. Most people have learned to not
expect much from other people and busi-
nesses. To quote Chris Guillebeau from his
essay on World Domination,
“If there is any good news to the normal-
ization of mediocrity, it’s that when you do
something excellent, it will be so uncom-
mon that you will instantly stand out.
People will be amazed, because they’re so
used to the good enough that the excellent
is truly rare. This can work to your advan-
tage when you decide to take things up
a level and exceed the low expectations
around you.”
You can accomplish this in several ways:
a) Customer Service
b) Quality of product (material and con-
struction) – take significant time to become
excellent at what you do. Start narrowly
focused and work outward from there.
This is difficult for those of us who want to
do it all, all the time. Never settle for good
enough, when you can be remarkable.
c) Delivery times (under promise over
deliver - this can be applied in other areas
as well.)
d) Offer different price points if appealing
to a wider audience is important to you.
IN CONCLUSION:
The ‘un-marketing’ approach is “all about
relationships, your story, and giving value.
When relationships — not sales — are the
focus of your efforts, it will feel natural to
offer value instead of pushing products.
Offering value may mean allowing some-
one to explore a new perspective by con-
templating a painting on your website. It
may mean writing a blog post about how
Your Humble Information Gatherer
Julie Prescesky is alot like you, trying
to find her way in a huge sea of possibilities.
It’s an honor for her to be able to share with
you some of the information she has com-
piled and sorted through on this topic. And
one of these days she’s going to stop refer-
ring to herself in the third person. Really.
She can be found at her clothing design
blog (http://julesmaeclothing.blogspot.
com) and at her art, illustration and graphic
design blog (http://mymomisageek.blog-
spot.com)
to stitch the binding of a handmade jour-
nal. It may mean explaining to someone on
Twitter why you love painting the trees in
your local park.
When you build relationships that are
based on valuable, authentic connections,
people want to support and buy your work.
Forget about the money while you’re reach-
ing out and connecting. Make your fans
feel like they’re part of a community, not
like they’re just a name on a customer list.”
(-Chris Guillebeau)
There are plently of other approaches out
there, but this is a fantastic start.
If you have a story of how being real,
approachable and relational has trans-
formed your business, post your story in
the comments below, or on my design
facebook page: Design Inkarnation. Thanks
for reading!! Happy marketing ... or un-
marketing :)