ASLU 066: Your Creative Work Won't Sell Itself (And Here's What to Do About It)
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When it comes to selling your work, making the thing is only the first step.
As fabulous as it would be, nobody will knock on your door asking if you have something to sell. We’ve seen countless online forum, Facebook and reddit threads of Etsy shop owners who opened their shop a week ago and are frustrated they have no sales. Or can’t understand why they don’t have a thriving sales platform on Instagram or Facebook. Or can’t understand why they’ve only had 20 visitors to their brand new, shiny website.
As Deb Wong, the founder of Dessert By Deb, said in Episode 58 on Starting a Subscription Box Service, “if you build it, it does not mean they will come!” And that can be hard - because for a lot of us, making something and just getting up the courage to put it out there is a huge hurdle to overcome. When you realize that’s only the first step, a sinking feeling can fill your stomach and it’s easy to feel down.
So in this episode Melissa & Heather talk about what you need to do to get your work out there, whether you write, design, compose, film, make, paint, or craft. And posting to Instagram a few days a week isn’t going to cut it.
A lot of us who create for a living struggle with putting ourselves and our work out there. We don’t want to seem pushy or salesy. And if you struggle with imposter syndrome there could be other reasons deep down that are holding you up. Or maybe, you just can’t stand social media or you have no real idea how to go about marketing yourself. But marketing (every day) is a cornerstone of owning a small business so it’s one we all have to get comfortable with!
This Episode is Great For…
This episode is great for anyone who struggles to get their work seen, who struggles to make sales or who struggles with self-promotion - whether it’s a mindset struggle or a lack of marketing knowledge or a a mix of both. So let’s dive in!
If you enjoyed this episode, you might also find Episode 22 on Promoting Your Work Outside of Social Media helpful!
If you just want the links to the resources mentioned in this episode, scroll down to the bottom.
Listen To the Episode
Here’s a direct link to Episode 66 . You can also listen via the player below or on your favourite podcast app (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, and more). Just search for And She Looked Up!
plant some seeds
everywhere you go.
In this episode we cover…
In this episode :
Some Business Basics
sales don't just magically happen - even on large scale shopping platforms like Etsy or Ebay
persistence, determination, and stamina are requirement to being a small business owner in any field - if you give up after a week, a month or even a year, you were probably not going to have a successful business
you have to get over the idea that you can't sell, don't think you should have to sell, or think selling sullies your work as an "artist"
people will not just magically know who you are or what you do and show up at your door. Not even your mom, your best friend or possibly even your partner will know what you do if you don't tell them!
Some Marketing Basics (Really Basic Basics):
is it obvious your work or your services are for sale? You don’t have to have a website. Sell through Instagram DMs if that’s what works for you. But you have to tell people that’s where you sell! (over and over again)
pricing: if it's not obvious your work is for sale, and somebody asked you what it would cost to buy that print/rug/necklace/throw pillow, what would you say? Are you prepared to answer that question?
is it obvious where people can buy your work? Sounds silly but… it happens more often than you might think
More Tips
you need to have confidence - this is easier said than done but it’s something we all need to work on this every day
you need to talk about yourself and promote yourself way more than you think - how do you do that?
you need to talk to other people and sometimes you need to feel uncomfortable
part of promoting yourself is asking questions of your potential customer base and listening to the replies
everyone is a potential customer or somebody who can connect you to a customer
you have to work on building a community or fan base around your work - how do you do that? Engagement is key!
you have to get in front of people who can share your work outside of your network - how do you do that?
your work has to be easily available for sale - how do you do that?
you need to learn some tech marketing basics like SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Sites like Etsy, Amazon, eBay, YouTube and Pinterest are all search engines so you need to know how to make your content easily searchable with keywords and tags. Even if you have your own website, SEO is critical to be returned in google search results
will you “pay to play”? Many large scale selling platforms show listings that have paid for advertising in the first line or two of results
find a tribe of people you can talk to about your business. We all need a support network and a second set of eyes who can give us feedback or suggestions
build it, tell them about it, and then they will come. And then tell them again!
Mentioned In This Episode
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