Marketing: Necessary Must-Do or Selfish Plea for Attention?
I recently saw a question posted from a new author who said that he feels that marketing oneself is “rude and presumptuous.” Is it? Or is it a necessary task to succeed as a creative freelancer?
I understand that so many creative people feel timid or rude for promoting themselves. But let me tell you the truth: If you want to be in business and make your creative talents profitable, marketing is a must. Some creatives I know are just making things for the sake of creation, so marketing isn’t necessary. But in this case—trying to sell a book—marketing is vital.
I know because I’ve done it. I’ve published two books, Creatively Self-Employed: How Writers and Artists Deal with Ups and Downs and Ramen Noodles, Rent and Resumes: An After-College Guide to Life. The first book was self-published, so I had to do all the PR. Lucky for me, I have a background in journalism, so I at least knew how to craft press releases.
Imposition or imperative?
The hard part was getting out there, and getting in people’s faces about it. While that can make you feel presumptuous, it’s important to let go of that perception. Most of the people you’ll do business with understand that promoting yourself is essential. And if you do it in a polite, non-pressuring way, they’ll want to hear what you have to say.
For my second book, I secured a small publisher. They’ve helped me get access to more valuable connections, but the legwork is all on me. This time, I had to talk to some pretty large news outlets to promote the book. They didn’t think I was rude or arrogant—they wanted to hear what I had to say. When you do PR, especially, it’s important to remember that these people are looking for fresh content. They want an insider interview. Seeking one out doesn’t make you rude. But you do have to seek it out if you want to build a strong platform for yourself and profit from your creative abilities.
The elbow grease of marketing
The original poster also said that he wanted to be “discovered” instead of marketing his business—and a book is a business! The days of being “discovered” are rare and in many cases long gone. We live in a huge world and many people are leveraging things like the Internet, newspapers and magazines to get noticed. So if you want to be in business as a creative, you’ve got to join in. For many that means creating a website and partaking in activities to boost your image and credibility in the field. Again, people don’t do this to stroke their egos in most cases—it’s just necessary in order to stay on top of their game.
My full-time job as a freelance copywriter means that in order to get projects, I have to let people know why they need me above others. I’ve never had anyone comment that I was annoying or arrogant; instead many of my unsolicited contact has resulted in more work and strong business relationships. Most of my marketing inquiries are well received, and many clients say I must have ESP because my timing is “perfect.”
Can you run a business without marketing?
I am always amazed at how many people marvel at what I do and expect to get the same results without investing in things like a website or business cards. These people don’t take time to network and can’t fathom writing a press release about their latest project. Then they ask me why they’re not doing so well…and in some cases expect me to share my secrets of success. There’s no big secret with me: I’m in business using my creative talents and I treat what I do as a business first and foremost. Otherwise, it’s back to cubicleville for me. There are plenty of others who do what I do—my only option is to stand out. Marketing doesn’t make me arrogant. How we do marketing, however, yes, that can be done in arrogant ways. But the act of it doesn’t make you presumptuous at all.
So I’ll say it again: Marketing yourself is necessary if you want to stay in business doing what you love. Find your own way to do it that makes you assertive yet approachable and you’ll see your creative career take off.
Kristen Fischer is a copywriter living at the Jersey Shore. She is the author of Creatively Self-Employed: How Writers and Artists Deal with Career Ups and Downs. Visit her at http://www.creativelyselfemployed.com.
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Marketing is crucial when it comes down to making a living in my eyes. That’s why some of the best known artists are just great marketers, they know how to sell their stuff instead of waiting for someone to discover them. Building real networks, or finding people who promote your stuff, especially in the blogosphere will help you jumpstart whatever you are doing, without them everything will be hard work.
And marketing your own stuff is not even bad, in case you love what you do and think you offer value to others you should look at it in a good way, you give others the chance to see your great stuff.
Firstly, great post!
I believe that marketing is absolutely necessary for any business. The way you market your business, however, depends on what you want to achieve and what market you’re in.
What do you think happens if you open a design studio and tell nobody about it, expecting that work will come your way automatically? NOTHING will happen.
There is of course the flip side, which is people spamming the universe with their name without providing any value.
If you want to learn a little more about marketing, make sure you check out my new blog, http://www.niksiv.com. I blog mostly about social media and buzz marketing, but also about other marketing related topics.
good article Kristen. I can only agree with what you say.
I also have a plan to leverage the power of social media when launching my site, getting the most exposure out of blogs, twitter and forums as i can possibly get, hopefully without being “in your face”
Thanks a bunch!
I think some folks need to understand that marketing doesn’t have to be a dirty schmoozefest. Letting people know about your service and making it clear that you are for hire does not have to involve Glengarry Glen Ross type tactics.
I would find it humorous that so many people want a business of their own, but don’t want to let anyone know that they’re in business. At least I would find it humorous if it wasn’t so sad.
We want the freedom of running our own business, but we don’t want to discipline ourselves to do the tasks that go into running a business (of which communicating to others what we offer them is a key part).
We want people to pay us for what we do for them, but we also want them to stroke our egos by feeling that they, without any effort on our part, specifically searched US out until they found us.
We recoil from marketing because the examples of bad, intrusive, manipulative marketing stick in our minds. We think that that bad marketing defines what we have to do in order to get business.
In reality, though, those examples of bad marketing are examples that are as unproductive in getting others’ business as they were in getting our business. We fail to recognize good marketing when we see it because it feels so natural and appealing.
How can we recognize it and model our own marketing after it? Just learn from yourself. When you find yourself really being drawn to something or someone, stop and analyze what led you to feel attracted. What did they do to put you at ease? What did they do to tap into a need you were feeling and reassure you that they could fill that need?
Focus on the things that persuade you. Model those examples rather than recoiling from what turns you off and thinking that you have to model that. If you focus on modeling the good, persuasive examples of marketing you encounter, instead of modeling the bad, manipulative ones, you’ll find yourself more at ease with the idea of marketing. And you’ll find yourself doing marketing that is increasingly more effective — and even enjoyable!
I would love to see an article on cost effective ways to advertise. Throwing ads in magazines and on websites is pretty expensive up front, and I can’t find any data on how long it may take to make that investment profitable.
I always wonder why I’m successful enough without marketing, but then I realize that it’s because I have this static view of what marketing IS. And although I don’t do any of THOSE things, I realize that I do plenty of other things that likely fall under the marketing umbrella.
I think it’s important to note that a whole lot of marketing really just involves being willing to talk about yourself and what you do. I have yet to take a ‘traditional’ marketing approach for my business; most of my clients come from word-of-mouth and meeting people at social events, conventions, parties, etc. It’s almost alarming how many clients I’ve made contact with at wine bars and gallery galas. Have fun with it!
Great post! And by the way, I read your book.
I had this same problem when I first started my web design business. I’m normally extremely chatty and un-shy, but as soon as it came to networking and talking about my business – for some reason I couldn’t! I always felt like it was bragging and would shut the potential clients off. I had to learn how to talk about my business by letting the clients talk about theirs first and figuring out what I could offer them in return, and so far I’ve had nothing but great results!
Well, This is gonna help me. I am gonna start freelancing soon.
I think marketing oneself is very important especially in this type of field. No one is going to recognize you if you don’t make an effort to sell yourself or get your name out there. The competition is so high these days that if you are not willing to make a name and push for yourself why would anyone else do it for you? That being said, I do believe there is a fine line between marketing yourself and coming off as being too arrogant or confident.
I want your book!
It is so important to reiterate the importance of marketing.. So many newbie freelancers start out thinking that their work is the key thing. It’s not, getting new business is. It’s that simple. If you own the source of new business, you own a business. I
Great article Kristen! I always love hearing your input on Freelance Radio, and this article is very true. There are just too many people in the creative field today, that the only way you’ll get noticed or stand out is to market your skills. I’ve found that some really simple things like a monthly email newsletter, a simple one page ad that I post on a few websites, and attacking the job boards has yielded some pretty good results.
The other big thing that you have to be able to do is sell. It took me awhile to realize that I had to become a salesman, and be able to sell clients and close deals. I also check out blogs like freelance switch, graphicdesigntwist.com, and freelance folder for tips and good reads like this.
Great article, Kristen.
One of the most common “reasons” I hear from freelancers about why they can’t promote themselves is this: “My mother taught me not to brag, so self promotion is hard for me.”
If this is your “reason,” it’s likely your mother didn’t know you’d need to promote yourself and your
services! And she also didn’t know that self-promotion has nothing to do with bragging. In fact, it has nothing to do with you. Paradoxical as it sounds, it’s true. Your marketing is all about your market. Everything flows from your market, from the way you answer the question “what do you do?” to the way you categorize your client list on your web site. As with anything, it just takes some practice– and as you pointed out, it’s essential to any business.
Dan wanted to know some cost effective ways to market a business. I vote for in person networking– it’s the least expensive form of advertising, and also the most effective if you can find the places to meet your prospects in person. It’s more specifically targeted than any other, and it gets your message across faster… because that message is personalized for every prospect you reach.
You are a business. You should treat yourself as one. How many businesses stay around if they don’t market?
I’m one of those heretics who believes that selling is much more important than marketing. Why? Because, a few years ago, I fell into the marketing trap, and my business almost failed as a result.
What was I doing? Well, I spent a lot of time going to various networking groups, and just didn’t find that many viable clients. What I found were a lot of other people looking for (you guessed it) clients for their own businesses.
I also did a lot of direct mail marketing, and lookie-lookie! It worked wonderfully. For a while. Then I noticed that the people on my carefully crafted list developed an immunity to my oh-so-stylishly designed and cleverly written postcards.
And then there was publicity. I knew quite a few people whose businesses took off like rockets after they’d gotten some media coverage. Matter of fact, that just happened to a good friend of mine.
But for one newspaper story which ran on July 4th (talk about a slow news day), my publicity-seeking efforts were for naught.
These days, I’m a big one for identifying leads, contacting them to see if they might be interested in what I have to offer, then, if there’s interest, proposing projects, then doing the work.
You know how, when you’re all excited about a new book or a great recipe, you just want to tell people about it? Ideally, marketing will be like that. I’m guessing that folks who think marketing is rude and pushy are doing it wrong.
What do those people think that they are doing every time them send out a query? Of course you have to market, otherwise you won’t have any work or money. It does not have to be crass, but yes, you have to market.
Absoloutely – I used to play in a band and some people esp in ‘punk’ circles frown upon self promotion. The way I always looked at it is, if you don’t promote yourself, no-one else is going to!
Thanks, Ilese:)
Dan, good idea for an article. But I generally discourage freelancers from advertising, because, like you said, the upfront costs are so much. Maybe I’ll get an article together on ways to get noticed instead, like leveraging the press, etc.
Thanks for all the comments and input:)
Marketing is very essential to everyday life for business(es). One thing I know is that when you market yourself, it does not actually mean that you will get a sale, but it helps you move forward by getting an appointment with your suspects/prospects before they decide if they will give you any lead. And if you get a lead, then it will take you to a sale.
Anyways, thanks for the info Kristen.
One of the best articles that I have read in a long time on the subject of marketing your freelance writing. So many writer’s get into the swing of creativity, and do not understand that this is a business, and we have to SELL ourselves. A professor that I had for a journalism class while in college said this: “You might be able to knock out essays like Virginia Woolf, or captivate an audience like the famous woman correspondent, Margaret Fuller (1810-1850), who was once believed to be one of the most influential and greatest woman in America, but if you don’t have an equal talent for business, no one will ever know who you are.” I have come to believe this completely. Thank you for sharing such practical wisdom.
Thank you for this timely article. I’ve had a few ‘cyber bullies’ lately that has cused some inner strife and questioning if I want to continue with marketing me, and trying to stay humble in this, so it was rewarding to read your read. Many thanks.
karen