Digital marketing is a big deal for small creative businesses. In fact, it can end up being the source of their bread and butter because it is what drives customers to their sites to make purchases. With that in mind, it’s pretty crucial that creatives get this part of their business right. Luckily, you can get some help on how to do this in the following post. Don’t forget either that creatives have an added edge when it comes to their products and process that they can leverage for more effective online marketing. Read more about this and other tactics below.
Platforms
The first thing to consider when embracing digital marketing for your creative business is the platforms your strategy will work across. It used to be that you only platform was your website, and while this is a hugely important aspect on your online marketing strategy that we will go into more detail on below, it is not the only area to that we need to cover.
In fact, now more than ever before other online marketing channels can have an enormous impact on the success of your business. One in particular that has a considerable effect is social media, and this is a fabulous form for creatives because it not only connects us directly with fans of our work but also allows us to showcase what we are doing and publish this for the world to see.
However, it is also important not to devalue the other channels that are available such as reviews sites. Review sites are hugely important to the creative community because of the stark differences between seeing a piece of art in a gallery and purchasing it online.
Good reviews help market your business.
In fact, for customers, this can be a genuinely terrifying experience because they cannot be 100% sure of what they are paying for before they have seen it. Luckily, by displaying positive reviews about your work and your customer service from independent sites such as Feefo, this can help to alleviate your customer’s anxiety and so push them to close the sale.
Written content
It’s a cliche, but it’s true that content is still king when it comes to online marketing, and the first step in getting this right is to get a good grasp of is the written stuff.
Written content can take many forms including web pages, titles, and headers on your website, as well as informative news articles, and personalized blog posts. The kind that you pick should be the one that most appeals to your target audience, but no matter which type you use there are some rules to keep to that will ensure it is as high quality as possible.
First of all, specificity is always better than general, when it comes to written content. Always think how you can make what you are writing about match directly with the needs of your target demographic.
Next, quality over quantity is the motto you should be using every time. Pages and pages of poorly written and edited nonsense will do nothing for your brand, so be sure always to edit and format correctly before you publish.
Visual content
Now, here is something that in particular the visual artist, but also other types of creatives can make specific use of. In fact, it’s almost as if they have this side of things built into to their process. After all, they can create beautiful photos of their work, and the potential for images and videos of their methods, as well as simplified how-to videos of some of their skills is enormous.
In fact, you can check out some excellent examples of simple, yet fun how-to videos that working artists are using to draw attention to their work on Youtube, one of which you will find below.
Of course, it is easy to assume that creative folks have the skills to produce images and videos that are captivating and visually exciting without any tuition. However, there is no need to panic if you find yourself lacking in this area because you can find out more about how to hone your skills online.
Interactive content
Lastly, concerning content, it is essential for creatives to be up to date with the current trends, and the one in particular that you should not ignore is interactivity. We have seen a little of this before on social media where people get to like and comment on your posts, but the potential for interactivity in marketing is much more significant.
For one, gamification is a fantastic way of getting people to engage with your content that is fun and entertaining. In fact, it feels like you are doing them a service by providing it, and this is super important if you want to secure potential customers’ focus and time, as well as their good will.
Of course, how you affect this for your product and brand will differ. Graphic designers may choose to create basic 8-bit style type games that demonstrate their abilities while encouraging customers to come back and beat their high score, something that can reinforce their brand message over and over again.
However, those looking to sell online art tuition courses may include interactive quizzes about a particular problem that other artists have in their work. These quizzes can then be used to set up the need for their product subtly and logically.
SEO
SEO is another vital aspect of online marketing for creative small businesses. The thing about this is that while you may hear the term a lot, you still may be asking yourself: What is SEO? Well, while you can find more detail in the link, in very basic terms, SEO is how easy it is for potential customers to see you online.
Online visibility is, of course, something that is hugely important because if they cannot find your business, then you will have trouble making sales no matter how good the product is that you are offering.
Simple ways to boost SEO include being aware of the changes that different updates to Google and other search engine make to the way that terms are searched for. After all, if you optimize something to be found it has a much better chance of being seen by the audience you want it to be seen by.
Of course, all the different types of content mentioned above all have their part to play in improving your creative business’ SEO. In fact, companies that do the best often combine more than one type across different platforms for the stellar results.
Website design
Lastly, a significant part of any online marketing strategy is your website itself. This is of, course what all of your other marketing tactics are directing customers towards, so it’s essential that it is fit for a purpose. Otherwise, all of that work will be wasted.
Luckily, there are a few things in particular that you can do to ensure that your website is as useful as possible for your business.
The first is to create a filtering system which offers different types of content and forms of engagement to visitors, no matter where they are in the buying process. What this means is that you can collect customer information and encourage positive regard whether your site visitors end up buying anything or not.
It is also essential to get the two areas of UX (user experience) and UI (user interface) right when it comes to your website design. Sadly, many people confusing the two, but they are in fact entirely different.
UI is all about the visual side of things and how that relates to the actions customers can perform on your site. It’s about choosing the right images, layout, typography, and fonts, something that graphic designers will no doubt be familiar with already.
Of course, much of this fluency will apply to other areas of visual art practice as well. Although just because you understanding the principles, don’t feel like you are obliged to do the UI design for your site yourself, especially if you have no experience working digitally. After all, some folks do this for a living and can quickly create a great site UI for your business, something that can free you up to do what you do best, and create art.
UX, on the other hand, is the behind the scenes stuff, it is how the visitors feel and experience their interaction with your site and therefore should be based on well-done research.
In particular, it can be useful to roll out A/B testing which can show how effective each of your UX choices are. Also, good UI will account for the structure of the information that it provides, something that ties in with the idea of funneling visitors, as mentioned above.
Of course, one of the newest trends in UX design is about offering personalized content to visitors based on big data. This is an opportunity that can help your site provide more attractive offers and content to visitors, making them more engage and more likely to buy. Something that, in turn, has vast potential to transform the way in which small creative businesses conduct their online marketing.
Want to learn more?
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We’re here to help you to take action just like we’ve helped thousands of other entrepreneurs, business owers and creative professionals all around the globe.
Now is the time to let your passion SHINE.
Now is the time to Make Tomorrow Today!
To your success,
Vinh Van Lam & Stuart Horrex
Your Creative Coaches @ CoSydney & ArtSHINE industries
