Category: MarketingCategory: Marketing

Before seeking more (subscribers, audience, fans), seek flow. This is something I bring up a lot through my Email Guidance offering.

Is your website set up in a way that pulls people in? Or is it a bunch of links to third party platforms that seek only to monetize and collect data from your fans?

Does your sales page include comforting and informative videos about what you offer? Or do you only post those sorts of videos on Instagram for just 3% of your followers to see?

Does your store have more than one item (this one from Laura Kidd 💌 Penfriend) in stock?

We want to expand and grow our audience, but stepping back and making subtle changes to our current operations might be a better place to start.

Caroline in the Garden explains in ‘Stop being ‘demure and mindful’ when sharing your creative work’ how she tried something new to get people to a recent show:

“I made a list of every single person I had ever interacted with that seemed remotely interested in hearing more about my music. Then, I contacted them directly via emails, text messages, DMs and face-to-face. I was going to make sure that everyone I could think of was invited, personally, by me to my show.”

We covered this in our recent Escape Pod Zoom call, about talking to people in person, and texting people about our upcoming events.

And this isn’t just about getting people to your events and shows. Do this for new things you’ve got for sale, a new course you’re offering, or a group Zoom call you’re trying to put together.

Sari Azout of Sublime talks about a post with a million views doing very little in terms of revenue, but a video with far fewer views being more valuable.

“Attention is cheap and volatile. Trust is slow, expensive and durable, and I think if something reaches a lot of people but creates no relationship, that’s not distribution. That’s just noise.”

We don’t want to build for “eyeballs,” we want to build for the right audience, the right reader, the right fan. To make our work in our own weird, magical way that sends the right signal to the people who appreciate our weird, magical work.

“There’s a way to show up and promote your product where you feel authentically you, and your job is to figure out what that format is.”

There are jobs out there that are one of one, and that’s the job you’re hiring yourself for.

Got this bit from ‘Discoverability for illustrators’ by Tasha Goddard via Robyn Hepburn:

“While emailing is more about outreach than discoverability, I have heard that art directors and art commissioners will actually use the search facility in their email app (e.g. Outlook or Gmail) as a first point of call after any in-house databases – so they might type ‘room illustration, colourful’ or ‘collage illustrator, newspaper’ etc. into the search bar to see if they have been sent any work by a relevant illustrator.”

Keep this in mind when reaching out to art directors and venues and other people you’re pitching for potential opportunities.

Are you asking people to “subscribe for updates” to get people on your email list? Maybe promising a 10% discount?

“Say, “follow our adventures as we leave for tour in a month. Sign up so you don’t miss a single photo of our adventures. Sign up so you don’t miss out on all our crazy tour stories.”

There’s a reason media outlets ask, “got any crazy tour stories?”

It’s because stories sell.”

Remember, you’re competing with Netflix, social media, family, new albums, holiday plans, and a million other things – rework your pitch.