marketing

Self-Promotion Shameless and Otherwise

C2O Editor Conversation Pieces, Creative Professional, Productivity aggrandizement, marketing, self-promotion, shameless plug 0

In today’s world of reality television and the social media celebrity no one is surprised to see a person shooting a selfie in the middle of a baby shower without tagging the baby they are there to celebrate. As entrepreneurs we have to be our own marketing department, public relations, and sales teams so it is also not uncommon to see someone taking a photo of their food before they eat it to keep their feed populated with regular content. Where do we draw the line on the self-aggrandizement?

In the end it may come down to statistics. If you spend more time promoting the work you are doing than doing the work, you are certainly going to yield a larger audience, but a far less intimate relationship with them. On the other hand if you spend much of your head down and never take a moment to share your work then you can’t really expect anyone to be there when you finish it. We have to measure our progress based on the goals we want and that will help guide our behavior.

Perhaps it is not so much that you are humble, but instead don’t feel comfortable taking the spotlight. That is okay but just as there are some entrepreneurs who don’t feel comfortable with spreadsheets, they have to either delegate/hire, or learn to cope.

The case for growth:
Spending time and energy on self promotion may be what you are best at. There are those of us who are best as figure heads and speakers even though we may not be the most creative or prolific. Talent comes in many forms. As marketer this takes the shape of gaining awareness, being interested in the results of actions and measuring the growth of the audience.

You can have the best content, product, or art in the world but if no one is around to see it then no one can be around to buy it. If you want to be in business as a creative you must have this function embedded in your operation one way or another.

How To Approach:

Be proud of the work you are creating. You may not feel comfortable talking about yourself, but at very least you can talk about the concepts and quality of what you are doing. Be willing to shift the focus to how excited you are about your projects or content versus how excited you are about yourself.

Integrity here is key, if you are making mountains out of molehills and trying to exaggerate your work or accomplishments this is unethical. However, to speak plainly about your efforts and accomplishment can still be effective at bringing awareness to your work.

It is no better to diminish your excellence than it is to embellish it. We have come to a place where few find a binary between one large group of people seeking only to expand steal the lime light while others are fearful of it. Neither is the course we should find ourselves on.

Intent:

It is always good to check in with your motives and ask if you are seeking attention for a specific purpose, or non specific purpose. A purposeful marketing plan is one that is more likely leave you with success because the reward is not in the number of eyeballs, but the number of conversions. If you are growing a brand or seeking to establish a profile for yourself you need to know what you will do with the attention when you get it. Not only will it help you maintain personal integrity, but it will be easier to identify what to share and who to share it with.

If you have a moment to drop a “plug” for your latest project or endeavor it will be easier to discern whether the audience you have is one that would be most engaged in that message. It could be actually harmful to deliver a message without the proper context.

Appreciation:

To close, always thank your audience for your attention where possible. This will keep you humble and drive home the sincerity of you message.

Thank you for reading.

The Right Way To Fight For Your Dream

C2O Editor Business/Finance branding, ethical marketing, marketing, money, sales, soft sell, story 0

As creatives, we are pretty savvy about what advertising looks like. We can feel advertising trying to sneak up on us in social media. We are not fooled by branded content. Hell, its most of our jobs to create it. We know that traditional marketing has morphed into a much subtler animal. Not so much a bull anymore, but a slippery snake that wants to charm us with stories, and visuals, pulling away at our heart and sentimentality. We know that at the end of the day, the beautifully crafted imagery is still geared to quietly whisper to us, “BUY”.

Our aversion to advertising is well founded, as we are still constantly bombarded with garish tactics and near psychological warfare ploys by mainstream media and marketing. It is hard to tell an honest campaign from fluff.

With all this in mind it seems that many of us with start-ups and small businesses have gone almost cold turkey on marketing as we know it. We have come to believe that there is something inherently deceptive about advertising, marketing, and to some extent, selling. Our community, in theory should embrace us and support us, and our work if it is relevant and contributory to a better quality of life through our product or service.

This is true, but even within the constraints of ethical and sustainable business there is still a lot of saturation. Everyday a new bootstrap start up, or small business opens up with the hopes of creating something better for their community, and existing companies are ever growing. There is still a heavy burden on any business owner to get the message out and be heard. Without investing the effort in communicating the stories of our work, we may be doing a disservice to ourselves, and even to potential customers that would love to know about us. In an effort to seem authentic have we pushed too hard on the breaks? Is it possible to grow a brand in the current marketplace to a sustainable place without having to push a little, or even a lot? Have we gone too soft on the soft sell? It is worth taking a look.

Imagine you have small, made in USA, environmentally sustainable, artisanal bakery that is using all organic and locally sourced ingredients. You are running your Instagram, and Twitter accounts yourself along with your accounting, and doing almost all of the baking. You are going to the local farmer’s markets, and craft fairs, and things do well enough for you to get a physical space to work from. But all of a sudden business takes a hit. You are not sure exactly why you know you have to get people in the door to keep things running.

Just running your social media when you get around to it may not be enough to keep your business in the buzz. At the same time, it feels “forced” to constantly post and tweet, and hashtag when you would rather be developing new recipes and doing what you love. Here is the dilemma that many of us face when our organic growth has gotten us to a good place, but variables outside of our control effect our business. For others it may seem that the light touch isn’t getting us where we want to be. A service like small business health and safety consultancy service can help your business in so many ways.

You’ve got to have a voice in the world, and you have to make sure it is heard but being ethical in how you do so is paramount. First, ask yourself why you are creating a piece of content or material. You should always be striving to inform people of your cause and business purpose, never to create a false impression. For frequency defer to your own email blasts. What feels natural for you and what feels like overkill can be a good compass for how your audience will perceive your contact.

Do not try to compensate for low sales with being too overly aggressive in trying to get the word out. Instead, contact your best customers or strongest supporters with a personal message. Ask them to help you get the word out and if it feels right, offer a small incentive. They will appreciate your forthcomingness about your business and will be open to helping out because they want to see you succeed. Their referral or direct support will go a lot further than any expensive campaign that you could put together to pitch yourself to a new audience.

Transparency is the most important key. The more open and honest you can be about your story and business, the more it will resonate with your community. This resonance is what all this branded content is about in the first place, simply telling a story.

It is absolutely possible to grow your business, push through the noise and get to where you want to be in an ethical way. To be honest, it is not even an option.

Social Derby: Digital Strategy Workshop

C2O Editor Creative Professional business, chelsea matthews, digital, marketing, matte black, social derby 4

Good design and best backlinks are two of the most necessary aspects of digital marketing. Any one running their own shop creative firm will tell you that you end up spending a disproportionate amount of time on operational action items. More managing invoices, emailing, and marketing your work with the help of Freshlinks packages and far less time than you would have imagined on actually creating it. Many of us are not yet at the point where we can afford hire some one like Chelsea Matthews, a marketing maven and her culture marketing agency Matte Black .That doesn’t mean we don’t need to make sure that the time we invest in marketing ourselves is most fruitful, and where is more fruit than the trees of online and social media. I remember that when I’d hit rock bottom, the youtube views from TheMarketingHeaven.com kept me going. To fill this need, Matte Black Design puts on Social Derby, a one day intensive workshop that is a bang for your buck crash course in digital brand strategy.

If you are wondering how many posts are going to deter your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram followers, then you should definitely check out social derby. It is not just a once sided program, but more so, a social learning experience lead by Matte Black. The workshop is populated with other creatives that have their own challenges and some common solutions are shared in discuss and group work. Along with that you have the opportunity to engage with others in the creative community so there is of course the added bonus of a networking opportunity.

Ironically you may not have the cash to hire professional marketing firm but Social Derby gives you the opportunity to beef up your own skills to actually make it to a point where you can. Enough praises can’t be sung about the workshop without it sounding preachy but if nothing else consider the impact you might be missing by not educating your self where other businesses are.

We’ve gone to the trouble of arranging a special code for our readers so if you do decide to enroll in Social Derby use the discount code “Derby VIP50” for $50 dollars off. The next course is November 22, so they are accepting enrollments on the site here. Once you finish the workshop its okay to email us and say thanks.

enjoi.

www.socialderby.co

http://wearematteblack.co

John Lehman and his Royal Bank

C2O Editor Citizens bags, craftsman, Fashion, john lehman, l. bazaar boutique, leather, local, made in la, made in usa, marketing, mcdavid, organic, rb of mcd, silverlake 0

“What makes us special? When you receive it no more than 5 people have touched your product, from design to sale.” That is what John Lehman had to say when we spoke about his high end leather goods line R.B. of McD. We had been playing social media tag since we featured his preview at L. Bazaar Boutique in Silverlake last year and finally had the chance to get together. We talked about grass roots marketing and why it is important to build your brand around a core value.

Yes, RB of McD is made is a made in Los Angeles brand, but that is not the thing that is not done in protest, “The protest is in the design.” ,says Lehman. ” The artists, designers, and architects are shaping their world through the products they create.” It might seem unlikely that a guy running a luxury leather line is talking about shaping the future but it is true. John McDavid Lehman is a native Angeleno and has seen the neighborhoods change a bit and has seen tourists come and go.

Lehman comes from a marketing background at home and has a firm understanding of that side of the business. He also understands that it is the businesses that are shaping cities, and it is the products those businesses provide that are shaping our lives. “We design for real people, not the 1% The Los Angeles I know is [full of] tons of phenomenal working people.” Quality does come at a price, and though his items are not cheap, they are also not fluffed by need to fund major marketing over head, “I outsource very little, and commit to my customer to tell the same story time and again… The new way of marketing is social connection.” They keep the line lean with only seven silhouettes and they don’t waste resources on multiple samples. “I am pretty proud of the facet that once we get to sample, we are 100% confident that it is ‘RB’ ready.

John doesn’t spend a lot on marketing nor does he really need to. Most of his customers come from word of mouth, and they spend little time trying to “sell” their goods to the masses. ” If you are looking for us to dictate your style, RB of McD is not for you. Our brand demands a certain self-awareness.” It is not so much about tapping peoples pockets right? Not about just getting to know your market, but getting to know your community. At the same time RB of McD isn’t spending a ton of money on marketing, he can’t really afford to that requires a huge amount of capital and is a shot in the dark for return on investment. That capital usually comes with strings attached, heavy ones. “Investment changes your business.”, say John, who has self funded his line from his previous work in the corporate and freelance marketing world. He’s actually got all the creative capital in the world and that is really where the name comes from, Royal Bank of McDavid.

Looking towards the future we wanted to know what was next and how he planned to grow with his grass roots approach. They has plans to add some additional silhouettes and John admits, press (like this) does help get the word out about the work they are doing. “I wish I would have this discussion with every possible customer.” it is in this moment that John McDavid Lehman reveals himself. He has made his money as a marketer but he is really a story teller and his medium is this brand RB of McD.

rbofmcd.com