Learn how to sell your services and creations without selling out your soul, from someone who has been doing this for almost two decades.
“If you don’t make content, people won’t pay attention. If you don’t post frequently, people will forget about you. If you don’t follow through with a commitment, people will think you’re flaky and won’t listen to a thing you say anymore.” I've heard this from so many people, and sometimes I repeated it. Now, I'm not so sure it's a message I can stand behind. Read more...
Creatives typically find marketing tasks a chore, but it doesn't have to be that hard. People in the creative fields have an advantage when it comes to content marketing. Learn how you can use any of the digital tools currently available, and create new art forms that complement your primary medium. Read more...
When it comes to the very highest level of branding and marketing approaches, currently I see two currents: “Be focused” or “Be all of who you are”. Which one should you adopt? It’s not a decision anyone else can make for you. What I can do is give you pros and cons for both to help you make the right choice—so let's do that. Read more...
Last year I’ve updated my blog every single week without fail, despite all the client deadlines, long workdays, launches, teaching, traveling and conferences, vacations, burnout... It was quite an eventful year, and my blog kept on ticking like clockwork. Want to know how? Read more...
If you've found yourself in a situation without clients and many bills to pay, you might get tempted to start pitching your services to people who haven't heard about you yet. Pitching is not fun, it puts you in an inferior position, and the effectiveness can be hit or miss. Here's what I recommend instead. Read more...
Service businesses can’t afford to work with the wrong kinds of clients. We spend so much time immersed in the projects and client communication, and constantly taking on people who are a poor fit will destroy your business. Here are practical ways to use your marketing to repel the wrong clients from your business. Read more...
Wide-eyed, rookie business owners tend to think that everyone in the world who has any use for their products or services is their potential client. And that’s precisely where they go wrong. Having a brand that targets everyone is like not having a brand at all. Read more...
I write a lot about branding on this blog, but I don’t blame you at all if you’re getting sick and tired of hearing this word all the time. Let’s try something different today instead. Let’s drop all pretense of there being any system or formula that you need to know or follow in order to succeed in business. Let’s deconstruct “branding”. Read more...
Your unique value proposition is a statement of how your business solves the customer’s problem in a unique way – what differentiates your business from thousands of others in the world who are attempting to do the same. Finding it may be one of the most challenging aspects of branding and marketing. In this post, I offer tips on how to do that. Read more...
My marketing was the most effective when I wasn't aware what I was doing is in fact marketing. I was completely oblivious to the concept, yet I did things right. Where did I learn that? I have no idea. My theory is that the best kind of marketing is indistinguishable from a regular conversation people have in real life. The same skills we use to get around in relationships are essential to any marketing endeavor. Read more...