Whether you’re a Digital Artist, Self-Pub Author or even a Record Label – there’s a handful of universal truths that can give you the edge in your marketing endeavours. To effectively sell products or services, there are two major factors that can’t be ignored when traipsing the digital landscape… visibility and trust. In this short guide, we’ll break down 5 top tips for getting your work seen, making those sales and scoring new clients.

5. Branded Domain

Before you run out into the market-place, firing off links into the ether and screaming about your services – you need to ensure that your ‘base of operations’ is up to scratch.

I’ll make no apologies for this scathing nugget of wisdom, but a Wix / Weebly / Free Blogger / Free WordPress site etc. just doesn’t cut it, not when you want to play with the big dogs.

For better or worse, it’s a very straightforward test to see how seriously someone takes their business or craft. Has the individual made the initial effort and investment, to represent themselves properly online? By using a free provider, you are at the mercy of  the site’s terms and conditions, and can have the plug pulled on you at anytime. Yes, this applies to operating from a Facebook profile also.

A ‘proper’ website should be your first port of call before you undertake any online promotional activities – even if it acts as a glorified business card, it will instantly raise your credibility.

4. Blogging

Many people perceive marketing to be the act of indiscriminately shooting out promotional messages, and that’s just not the case – as we’ll explore further on.

To build a ‘presence’, you need to tell your story – and a great way to do this is via a blog on your website, or to a lesser extent, frequent posts on your Facebook Fan Page. ‘Telling your story’ could mean sharing marketplace insights, things you find inspiring, tips, tutorials, snarky obersvations – you name it. Blogging builds authority within your chosen niche, and bolsters your ‘brand equity’.

Using a blog on your branded domain will bring in additional search engine traffic, and lead cold prospects to your brand, products and services. If your content is engaging enough, you’ll build a following and further increase awareness for what you have to offer to the world. A worrying number of people employ a self-serving, spammy approach to online promotion – which really doesn’t bode well with an increasingly sophisticated marketplace.

People buy from people they like; so by sharing your thoughts and being yourself, you’ll definitely connect with others out there that resonate with what you have to say. Some of those people will like you enough to buy from you.

3. Mailing List

You’ll find many marketers and service providers arguing the case that the mailing list is the strongest asset you can own in your marketing endeavours.

A mailing list / subscribers list / newsletter is a direct line to those who care about what you have to say, and it’s a tremendously powerful tool for making connnections and promoting your wares, whatever they may be.

With a list, you have full control of the message, and for a split moment within your prospect’s email inbox – undivided attention.. the scarcest commodity available. For example, if you were to launch a new service, and attempt to promote via the various social media channels – you’ll be competing with millions of other messages, all vying for unfocused attention. Send that same message to 10,000 subscribers on your mailing list, and you’re working with a totally different beast indeed.

There are a number of solutions available out there, just remember, as ever in life you get what you pay for. Free plans like the one available with MailChimp for instance, prohibit you from sending commercial messages, so be sure to look into that before you make the jump. For SurrealPSD, we use Aweber which starts at $19 per month, and is incredibly easy to use.

2. Join the Conversation

This pointer is huge: Join the Conversation.

I have seen a worrying number of small businesses or freelancers that will just splurt out an unfocused torrent of promotional messages:

“New website, check it out..”

“Hire me for Book Cover Art..”

“New release out on our label..”

..and nothing much else.

This approach may get a few cursory clicks here and there, in truth it’s just an insane waste of the immense opportunities we have in the social sphere. Talk to people!! Ask your fans how they’re doing, compliment the work of others, re-tweet, re-share, engage, interact. You are not dealing with faceless numbers, or an amorphous horde – these are real people, and we are in the business of connections. Two way traffic.

Why bother?

In a world of information abundance, it’s the emotional hook and sincerity that will win the day. By no means be disingenous, if you’re cantankerous by nature, connect with like-minded, crotchety old gizzards – and celebrate your shared interests!!

One of the key figures in Social Marketing is Gary Vaynerchuck, thought leader and prolific innovator in the field. I sincerely urge you to investigate his work further, this man truly knows how it’s going down

1. Consistency = Growth

The final and most important point in our guide.

Whatever approach you take, the only way to maintain growth is to be consistent.

If you make two posts on your Facebook Fan Page every day, maintain that volume. If you blog, and decide to post one new blog post per week – maintain that schedule.

I know from bitter experience that things quickly die away if you don’t maintain continuous momentum. I’ve seen the stats and wept, when I didn’t keep the plates spinning. To increase your audience on any platform, you need to be steady and thorough, whether it’s interaction or the creation of content.

We ALL have goldfish attention, we are ALL fickle.. you’ll be catapulted into the chasm of non-relevance if you don’t maintain your presence. This isn’t to say you should be a slave to your marketing efforts, moreso a dedication to consistency – no matter what your posting / promotion frequency may be.

Employing a half-hearted approach, posting dribs and drabs across various platforms – you’ll be devoured-whole by those with a desire to win.

Scary stuff indeed, but if it were that easy – everyone would be doing it

Review

We tackle these topics a lot more in-depth in our video series The Digital Artist’s Marketing Blueprint – so if you’re at the stage where you’d like to beef up your presence, and acquire more work, be sure to check it out!

Conzz

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