Top Ways for Creatives to Get Their Brand Noticed
As a creative individual, you may not be exactly business minded. Instead, you’d likely rather spend your time making things for others to enjoy. But, if you’re planning to make a business out of your art, you have to create your business first, learn how to market, and then get back to the fun part. Here, Holistic Home Office shares a few ways to get the ball rolling.
Understand the Business World
Although your goal is to create, you also have to earn an income. Because of this, it pays to get familiar with a few important business tasks. Two that come to mind here are forming your official business structure and setting up your invoicing software.
For your business structure, you have a few options. These include sole proprietor, LLC, and corporation. Choose the latter if you think you might take on investors or hire multiple employees in the future. A corporation is easier to alter than an LLC, and it shows that you are serious, well structured, and established. Use an online formation service to confirm your local state laws around corporation formation and save money on the process.
As far as invoicing, look for software that allows your customers to order and pay online. Ideally, you can find a program that helps you schedule invoices ahead of time for those customers who have recurring payments. Remember, accurate accounting is essential, even if numbers are not your thing.
Master Your Marketing
Marketing begins with a brand. No matter how good you are at what you do, people will look for your brand, not your work. Fortunately, branding is one business activity that allows you to get creative. For example, you can design a logo online quickly using free logo maker/design software. This way, you can truly showcase your personality without paying another creative to do it for you. It’s easy, and all you have to do is choose the right icon, change the text, and make any other pertinent adjustments necessary until you’re happy.
Another great way to market as a creative individual is to attend farmers’ markets and craft fairs. This involves lots of planning, and you’ll need to have plenty of your products on hand. At the very least, make sure that you are set up to demonstrate your form of art, which might mean bringing paints and canvases, a portable laser printer, or other media with you. If you do plan to sell on the day of the event, have plenty of bags on hand, and seal them with custom stickers, which you can also design online and pick up at your local Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples, or local print shop.
Other Tips
● Start a YouTube channel. According to audio and video equipment retailer Adorama, there are only seven steps between you and your first official YouTube video. Before you get started, make sure that you have appropriate video equipment and know what you’re going to say.
● Launch a podcast. People love podcasts for all sorts of reasons, but mostly because they are easily accessible, and you can listen while you’re cleaning, driving, or working. Your podcast has many benefits for you, primary of these is that it helps position you as an authority in your creative industry.
● Look for inspiration. Although the world may be your muse, if you’re looking for success, look to others that have gone before you. If you are a writer, for example, read other people’s stories. You can also take your pen and paper out into the public to look for inspiration around every corner.
● Examine the competition. No matter what you do, there will always be competition. As an artist, it pays to know which artists are similar to you so that you can see how much they charge and get a glimpse of their customers. All of this information is freely available by following them on social media.
Starting your own creative business isn’t all creative. There are many business tasks that you must take care of so that you can better focus on what you do best. Start by forming a solid foundation, which includes your business structure and invoicing processes. But also don’t forget to also stay inspired and scout the competition.
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