Category: Creative Industries and Work

Learn the Eight Steps for Successful Networking as a Creative Business | Eleanor Snare

Learn The Eight Steps For Successful Networking as A Creative Business

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One of the bits of advice Nick gave me - along with, you know, making sure to actually take my own advice - was to experiment with some different ways of connecting with potential customers.

I am a writer who loves the internet. I love emails, and Twitter, and I’m even starting to love Facebook for meeting new potential customers.

I am a sociable person…but boy, do I struggle with networking.

Even the most confident, outgoing, driven person can find networking IRL a bit difficult. It can feel like a really unnatural thing to do, and unfortunately a lot of networking events end up being stilted, awkward and corporate.

Corporate - and a waking nightmare. Like the one where you realise you’ve forgotten your trousers and you’re about to go on stage.

“Ok, so everyone introduce themselves one by one and add in an interesting fact about yourself!”

As soon as someone asks me to give an interesting fact about myself, I become the most boring person on the planet. Networking events like this would make anyone seize up - especially a creative business owner who’s used to being, well, a bit more creative.

But if you find the right group to network with, you can:

  • Make good connections that could lead to future sales
  • Promote your business in an authentic and meaningful way
  • Embed yourself in the local community so you’re likely to be remembered

 

The big barriers to networking

So networking can bring you some excellent results for your creative business - if you do it right. There are a few big barriers to successful networking which it’s important to overcome to make sure you maximise your time (and energy) while you’re there.

First, social situations can be stressful. Some people find social situations more stressful than others. But generally, social situations with new people can trigger stress responses of varying degrees; your heart beats faster, you get sweaty palms and your adrenaline surges - or you might just feel a bit nervous.

Second, finding the right sort of networking can be difficult. There are thousands of networking events out there, some of which will be completely wrong for you and your business. Sifting through all the options to select one or two potential ‘good’ events is a time and energy drain.

Finally, knowing what to say when you actually get to the event is equally as stressful as the event itself. How do you balance professionalism with personality? Do you pitch, or just pretend you’re there to make friends? How do you explain what you do simply and engagingly?

Learn the Eight Steps for Successful Networking as a Creative Business | Eleanor Snare

 

8 steps to successful networking

Networking really can be beneficial to your business - and you can overcome those big barriers to make sure you make the most it. Here are the eight steps I use for successful networking, and they’re easy to follow.

 

1. Hunt out diverse events

Don’t just go along to one networking event, hate it and vow never to do it again. You need to find and attend a mix of diverse events to really understand what sort of networking works for you. The more types of event you go to, the more you’ll understand what’s relevant and worthwhile for your creative business.

I’ve been to a mixture of paid and non-paid events, community run and business run, workshop style and informal, and even ones where there’s not ‘proper’ networking like attending a business fair. I’ve got a handle now on which ones I like, which will help me seek out relevant and meaningful ones in the future.

Don’t forget the power of being the only ‘creative’ business at an event full of ‘corporate’ businesses, especially if you offer any services; many ‘corporate’ businesses are interested in creative activities as part of their engagement and wellbeing programmes for employees, so you could form some good contacts.

 

2. Use business cards

Confession time: for the first year of my business I didn’t have business cards. No need for them (or so I thought) especially with most of my business being conducted via email or the phone.

Except they are very handy to have when you meet new people; not necessarily because of the information they contain but because handing someone a card is a good way to break the ice after you’ve first started chatting. So for networking events, they’re essential.

Your business card should reflect your business, be appropriately branded, and have they key information a new contact needs to know: your name, business and contact. I think business cards should be as simple as possible, because simplicity equates to assurance and confidence, which ultimately looks more impressive. There’s no need to bung your phone, email, website, fax and social media details on there plus images and busy branding, because it doesn’t look confident.

There’s an excellent section on business cards in Paul Arden’s ‘It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be’ if you want to read more about choosing an impressive and useful business card.

 

3. Arrive composed

So you’ve prepared for the event - now to get there. Feeling flustered, running late, carrying loads of bags or sweating profusely are all ways of arriving to a networking event decidedly uncomposed. Arrive composed and you’ll feel more confident, make a better first impression, and you won’t feel more stressed than necessary.

If you do end up dragging along lots of bags or running late, take a few minutes to compose yourself in the bathroom before going into the event; a late, confident arrival is better than an on-time, frantic one.

Another good tip I was given (at a networking event) is to arrive slightly early so you can start conversations before everyone has already formed groups. It’ll also give you a chance to get to the refreshments without saying “Excuse me” over and over again.

 

4. Have a simple answer

A big barrier once you’re at the networking event is to know what to talk about. The question you are guaranteed to be asked is “And what do you do?”.

For creative business owners, it can often be complicated to simply and clearly explain what you do, especially if there are many strings to your bow. But having a simple answer to that question helps start conversations, makes you feel confident, and quickly shows people what you’re about.

Take some time before you start attending networking events to work out a simple answer to the question “What do you do?”. In your answer, try and include:

  • Your customer group
  • A verb that shows what you do e.g. ‘I make’ or ‘I talk’
  • A succinct description of your core products or services

This simple answer is a bit like the 30-second pitch, except about a third as long. So my answer to the question “What do you do?” is: “I help creative businesses market themselves with integrity through marketing and copywriting”. Clear, simple, and plenty in there for someone else to pick up on and continue the conversation.

 

5. Be clear on your aims

While some people might disagree when I said I wasn’t very chatty, no-one would say I wasn’t direct and straight-talking. I like other people who are direct too, which means I find the lack of transparency in networking frustrating.

For me, successful networking means being transparent about why you’re there, and not being ashamed of it. So after an introduction, I’ll often say “I’m here to try and get some new clients” because (a) that’s the truth and (b) actually saying it out loud means you don’t have to sneak around it later on.

Know why you’re at the networking event and state those aims clearly. It might be to gain clients, or connect with local business, or just to meet people. Whatever it is, you’d be amazed at how well people respond to complete transparency.

 

6. Use compliments

So you’re at the networking event, a couple of people have approached you for a chat and now it’s time for you to introduce yourself to some potential new customers. Your stress levels are probably sky high and you’re thinking “How do you even start a conversation out of the blue?”.

The simple solution is a compliment.

Approaching someone you haven’t met before with a compliment is good because:

  • It breaks the ice immediately
  • It gives you something to say which doesn’t sound too ‘corporate’
  • It makes the recipient feel good

There’s a fine line between compliments and being creepy, so avoid anything like “I COULD GET LOST IN YOUR EYES” and stick to “I really like your outfit/bag/shoes/watch”.

If you don’t feel comfortable giving these sorts of compliments, that’s fine; it’s something to use if you need to, but it’s not essential.

7. Give more than you get

Just like Twitter and other social media channels, some businesses can end up using networking events as a way to broadcast their message, without really thinking about what their audience want to hear.

A way to network successfully while you’re at the event is to listen carefully to other people, ask questions and generally give more than you get. People generally feel flattered when you ask them to talk about themselves, and if you can give help - such as linking them up with your connections - then that’s even better.

Anyone you talk to at the networking event will remember how enthusiastic, interested and helpful you were, which aids you in laying the foundations for future work together.

 

8. Make sure to follow up

Now you’ve attended and successfully navigated the networking event, make sure to follow up with the people you met. If you’ve been collecting business cards, send them a quick email saying it was nice to meet them, or alternatively send them a message on social media.

Choosing when to follow up for maximum success is a tricky one. I feel the next day is a good option, because it’s soon enough to jog their memory, but not too soon as to be meaningless (e.g. “I just spoke to her, why is she emailing me?”).

In your email, remember step 7 - give more than you get. Make sure to say if you’re available to help them out, or send them over those useful links you were discussing.

 

Successful networking is possible.

Too many creative business owners are put off networking because they see it as ‘corporate’ - or they feel stressed in that social situation, can’t find the right group to network with, or don’t know what to say when they get there.

I use eight steps to make sure the networking I do is as successful as possible, which any creative business owner can follow.

Preparation is key to successful networking, so hunt out diverse events, use business cards, and arrive composed. When you’re there, be clear, concise and authentic: have a simple answer to the question “What do you do?” and be clear on your aims for the event. Use compliments to break the ice and give more than you get to ensure you give a good impression. Finally, follow up after the event with your new, potential customers.

 

a free website workshop for creative business owners

At the end of this month I’m running a free, face-to-face workshop for creative business owners on how to make your website read well, look good and convince customers. Because websites are one of the basics of marketing – and yet creative businesses very rarely use them to their full advantage.

This workshop is in-person, so if you can’t make it (because, say, you live in Madagascar and the bus fare would be ridiculous) then that’s ok too – I’ll be turning elements of the session into an online workshop which you can do from anywhere in the world.

Sign up for the workshop and the online workshop right here.

 




Stand Out From the Twitter Crowd and Connect People with Your Creative Business

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I don’t consider myself a particularly chatty person (others may disagree), but there’s something about 140 characters I can’t resist.

Since 2009, when I first joined Twitter, I’ve sent over 22,000 tweets. Here’s my first ever tweet, which made sense at the time but now seems slightly cryptic:

I love Twitter because it’s fast-paced, fun, conversational and sometimes a little bit silly. You can legitimately use gifs to talk about your business. You can take part in hashtag games or business ‘hours’.

And you can connect with your potential customers in creative, engaging and meaningful ways.

 

“It just doesn’t work”

Recently, in an entrepreneurs’ Facebook group, I saw someone proclaim that Twitter “just didn’t work” for a particular type of small businesses. While I agree it’s not right for everyone, assuming it won’t work for your business before you’ve tried it isn’t a good idea.

Twitter currently has 310 million monthly active users. They’re still some way behind Facebook (who have 1.7 billion monthly active users) but that doesn’t make it any less useful for creative businesses looking to engage with customers and promote their business.

For example, 80% of Twitter users have mentioned a business in a tweet they’ve sent. If your Twitter handle is included in that mention (as long as it’s positive) your business is going to be reaching many, many more people than by your own efforts alone.

And over half of Twitter users have done something after seeing a business mentioned in a tweet - like visiting their website or retweeting something. So that’s even more people seeing your message and doing something which could lead to buying from you.

The key to making the most of Twitter as a creative business is to use it effectively and stand out from the crowd. Here are some tips.

 

Cultivate your unique voice

Sometimes Twitter can feel like sitting in a pub where you’re trying to listen to everyone’s conversation at once to work out which one is the most interesting.

By cultivating a unique voice for your business, you can attract people - just like if someone in the pub had a unique voice that drew people’s attention.

Many creative businesses don’t think twice about their voice on Twitter, but it is the thing which will make people want to follow you.

A unique voice might be:

…or something completely different. As a creative business owner, you might find that the best and most unique voice is your own with a little more emphasis; a bit like the difference between smiling in real life and smiling for a photograph.

 

Be professional

Having a unique voice is essential and many people find their own voice is perfect for attracting and engaging followers on Twitter. However, if you’re running your Twitter account as a business, you must make sure to keep things professional.

If Coca Cola started grumbling about noisy neighbours, or if M&S used their account to complain to their internet provider, their followers would be shocked. They’d think they were unprofessional and ‘airing their dirty laundry’. Yet small business owners do it all the time.

Professionalism doesn’t mean hiding what you think or feel - it means choosing how you express those things carefully. I often use Twitter to voice my political views, which I try to do as considerately as possible - and I know my political views directly contribute to how I work and teach.

They key is to recognise you are representing your business in front of potential customers, not just you, and act accordingly.

 

Give more than you take

One of the reasons I love Twitter is because it’s conversational - not simply a ‘broadcast’ channel. The businesses that do well are those who realise that and take the time to talk to their customers.

Sometimes, and especially when pressed for time, creative and small businesses end up just talking at customers on Twitter rather than talking to them.

So giving more than you take on Twitter is essential. Share useful tips, retweet helpful articles, provide free advice, and generally engage in conversation where you’re in it for them, not to make a sale.

People will remember your help and kindness and are more likely to turn to you in the future when they need your services or products.

 

Actively seek your customers

There are many ways to find and engage with potential customers on Twitter. You could:

However, the best way to use all of these techniques is to think like your customer, not like your business. What do they need? What are they worried about? What problem do they need solving?

Many small or creative businesses become blinkered and only see things through their own eyes, knowledge or expressions - many of which probably aren’t the same for your customers.

Here’s a recent example: our fridge-freezer broke. I didn’t know what was wrong with it, because I’m not a fridge-freezer expert. So I didn’t search for “broken compressor” (which is what it was); I searched for “warm fridge cold freezer” because that was my immediate problem.

Use your knowledge of your customer to search for relevant phrases. Use your knowledge of your customer to join the right business hours (which might not be the ones in your local area). Use your knowledge of your customer to use relevant hashtags that they’ll be interested in.

Actively seek them out by thinking about them first.

 

Twitter’s not dead yet.

Twitter can be an effective way of finding and connecting with customers in a meaningful way, especially as it allows creative business owners to express their creativity easily and quickly.

But many small businesses use it as a broadcast tool, which means they miss out on the best bits. By cultivating your unique voice, remaining professional, giving more than you take and actively seeking your customers, you can stand out from the crowd on Twitter.

 

a free website workshop for creative business owners

Next month I’m running a free, face-to-face workshop for creative business owners on how to make your website read well, look good and convince customers. Because websites are one of the basics of marketing – and yet creative businesses very rarely use them to their full advantage.

This workshop is in-person, so if you can’t make it (because, say, you live in Madagascar and the bus fare would be ridiculous) then that’s ok too – I’ll be turning elements of the session into an online workshop which you can do from anywhere in the world.

Sign up for the workshop and the online workshop right here.

 

Why It’s Important to Take a Holiday When You Run Your Own Creative Business (and How You Can Do It Without Worrying)

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Today I want to talk about the importance of taking a holiday when you run your own creative business, and how you can do that without worrying.

But first, a story.

I had lunch with my friend Nick the other day. He’s self-employed as a copywriter, excellent at marketing and happens to co-run one of the UK’s most impressive cheese clubs. Nick was giving me some very good advice for the next stage of my business.

“Of course, I never actually take this advice myself,” Nick explained, after he’d gone into great detail about business plans and cost-per-sales.

I looked at him.

“So you’ve never done the things you’re telling me to do for your own business?”

“No, don’t be silly,” he said, “who ever takes their own advice?”

And despite giving good advice to clients, helping my students, supporting my partner and even occasionally giving Nick something to think about - neither do I.

I am so bad at taking my own advice, especially when it comes to running my creative business.

For example, in this article I’m going to tell you how important it is to take a holiday when you run your own creative business. I’ll give you facts, and stats, and loads of stuff to convince you it’s the best thing to do. Then I’ll tell you just how you can have a holiday and actually relax when you’re there.

The last real holiday I had was in 2014. That’s two crazy years of not taking a real break.

I have two weeks booked off work at the end of August and I still haven’t sorted out a holiday. At all.

There’s too much pressure to make this holiday brilliant, to manage my business around it, to make sure I come back feeling refreshed, that I’ve become paralysed with indecision. I am not taking my own advice.

If there is one thing you do after reading this article, please make sure it’s to take my advice and get yourself on holiday.

Then email me and tell me to do the same.

Why holidays are essential for creative business owners.

 

I’m not sure if I even need to explain to you why holidays are so important, but just in case there’s someone out there who isn’t quite convinced, here are just a few reasons.

 

It’s unsustainable to work all the time

Human beings are living, breathing animals. We’re not designed for constant activity; we need regular breaks - hence sleeping - to help our bodies repair themselves. The same goes for our minds; constant thinking work depletes our energy, and leaves us with no space to repair or rejuvenate ourselves.

If you run a creative business, it’s likely your working hours will be longer, or at least more erratic, than other people’s. You might end up checking emails at 7am, or working on a new marketing idea until 11pm at night. You might risk falling into an ‘always on’ mentality, where you never really step away from your creative business to replenish yourself. Research and campaigning body, the Future Work Centre, has even found that ’email pressure’ - the stress felt from immediate email notifications - is an actual thing and pretty damaging.

As if you needed more to convince you about why working all the time is a bad idea:

No matter how much of a go-getter you are, it seems working constantly without a real break from your business will make you physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted.

 

A holiday will improve your business

You might think “But if I take a holiday, my business will suffer. I won’t be there, sales will drop, and we’re all buggered.” Not so. While it can be tricky to manage your business while you are on holiday, there are significant benefits to your business once you return that will ‘make up’ for anything you’ve felt you’ve lost.

When Project Time Off asked HR professionals within companies about the effectiveness of people who took their entitled holiday days, 75% of them reported that people who took the whole or majority of their allocated time off performed better overall than people who took minimum vacation time. I’d suggest that’s because Group A - the Jolly Holiday Makers - weren’t completely burnt out or overwhelmed, unlike poor old Group B.

So having time away from your business can improve how you perform - how you tackle and get on with your work - when you get back. It can also encourage better ideas. Participants in a 2012 study from the University of California were more likely to come up with a creative solution to a problem when they were allowed to let their mind wander after being given the brief - rather than push on straight away to think of an answer.

Better, more creative ideas come from a fresh brain - and a fresh brain is exactly what your holiday is meant to encourage.

 

You’ll find inspiration everywhere

Without a holiday you’ll end up being physically and mentally worn out. With a holiday, you’ll be more productive and hopefully more creative when you return. Most excitingly for creative business owners, though, is what a holiday can inspire.

Visiting a new place, experiencing a new culture, and seeing the world from a new perspective will inspire you to do new things. Maybe it’ll help you create an interesting product range, or develop a particular service for a brand-new target customer. Maybe it’ll give you beautiful photographs to use in your marketing material. Or maybe just a tacky souvenir that makes you smile every time you glance it on your desk.

There is inspiration everywhere, and a holiday away from your creative business allows you to access that inspiration. It takes you away from the monotony of receipts, invoices, scheduling and suppliers so you can revisit that passion which sparked your business in the first place.

You’re convinced you need a holiday. Now what?

 

The biggest myth for creative business owners when it comes to taking a holiday is that their business will collapse without them being there.

The truth is it won’t.

It might be tricky to manage. You might have to set up some things in advance. But you are not going to lose all your customers, piss off all your suppliers, and your business will not go up in flames if you are not there.

Your creative business does need you to function effectively and brilliantly, in its 10 out of 10 perfect experience. But if you go away, it might come down to a nine out of 10. Eight, at a minimum. Because you have a good business, with great customer service and good processes in place.

It doesn’t matter if your creative business is not perfect all the time.

(I really need to take this bit of advice to heart, pronto.)

You will go, you will drink sangria/long island iced tea/martinis [delete as appropriate], you will return and your business will still be brilliant. In fact, it’ll be more brilliant for the break you’ve had.

Here’s how to make that break work.

How to take a holiday as a creative business owner (and relax while you’re there)

 

1. Let customers know you’re going on holiday

Yes, that’s right, tell people you’re going away! Admit you need a holiday, and you’re taking one, and you’re going to bloody enjoy it. You are a human and so are your customers, and they will respect your honesty.

Be clear on how long you’ll be away for and what changes they should expect to your normal service. This information will alleviate any issues that might arise because you’re not there; people know you’re away so are likely to cut you a little bit of slack. How many times have you visited an Etsy shop to find that the owner is ‘on holiday’? No-one gets pissed off; you just favourite the shop, sign up for email notifications and forget about it.

On that point; remember the appearance of exclusivity I mentioned in my article about saying ‘no’? A holiday does the same sort of thing. You aren’t always available - customers will have to wait. And if you have the right processes set up - like an email wait list - then you can actually encourage that exclusivity and gain an eager customer base at the same time.

 

2. Schedule marketing content

You can let your existing customers know you’re going to be away while at the same time making sure you’re still drawing new customers towards you by scheduling marketing content.

I’d recommend you do this for digital marketing content only; responding to print amends are too stressful to try and do while you’re sunning yourself on a beach somewhere. You can schedule social media content using the channels’ in-built tools (for example, scheduling Facebook posts for your business page) or do it all in one place using a third-party scheduling tool like Buffer or Hootsuite.

You can also schedule blog posts for when you’re away, as well as other digital marketing like email newsletters. All of this, of course, does require extra time before you go away to set it all up. But to keep things ‘ticking over’, and especially if your holiday coincides with a useful marketing season for your creative business, scheduling marketing content is incredibly useful.

 

3. Avoid marketing clashes

This seems like an obvious one, but make sure you don’t accidentally schedule any marketing promotions - like a sale or a discount voucher - while you’re away on holiday. Ongoing content which keeps customers engaged is fine, but anything designed to draw in big crowds is difficult to manage from afar and there’s more chance of things going wrong.

Depending on the type of creative business you own, you might find your potential busiest periods are also during traditional holiday times; for example, around Christmas boutique retailers might not get much of a break as they put in the hours for gift-buying customers.

If you can take holidays at the quietest times of your business year, it can be useful for managing your business and making the most of that productivity kick when you get back and jump onto the next busy period.

 

4. Be clear about whether you’re available or not

If you’ve been used to running your creative business single-handedly, the idea of not being in regular contact with customers and potential customers probably makes you feel uncomfortable. It’s also totally natural to end up checking work-related emails or messages on holiday - especially if you love your work.

However, before you go on holiday be clear on whether or not you want to be contacted by customers, suppliers or staff. Once you’ve chosen what you want, stick to it. You might feel like the constant communication - like the ’email pressure’ I mentioned - is actually what you need to escape from. If so, let your customers and other contacts know, and do not look at work messages while you’re away.

If you do, you’ll slide back into it very quickly. If you’re worried things will slip without you to field the communications, you could hire a virtual assistant (VA) for the duration of your holiday, who’ll be able to manage any issues that come up.

Alternatively, if business communication isn’t the thing you need to escape from, then let people know you’ll be available but set yourself specific times when you’ll check and respond to work-related communication. It’s a good idea to do this all the time, but especially on holiday, so you have clear boundaries of when you can switch off from work.

 

Time to enjoy your time off.

 

Taking a holiday when you run your own creative business is essential for your health and the continuing health of your business. It’ll mean you come back refreshed and ready for the next challenge.

Managing your business while you’re away is possible: let customers know you’re going away, schedule your marketing content and avoid any big clashes, and be clear on whether you’re available for business chat - or not.

And make sure you enjoy your holiday.

P.S. Have you seen the free workshop I’m doing in September (back to school time, natch)? Take a look and sign up here.





The Secrets of Successful Creative Businesses: Curtisward

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In this blog series, I profile creative businesses who’ve impressed me with their marketing, promotion and creative presence. I showcase their best bits and talk about what they could do to improve, giving you best practice case studies to help you improve your business.

Despite there being plenty of other shinier marketing tools available online (ooh, Instagram Stories!), a website is still a key part of any creative business’ presence. It’s your home turf, where you can describe your brand and your offer to customers in the way you want.

Curtisward, an independent art supplies retailer, impressed me recently with their website - it’s easy to use, easy to navigate and enjoyable to visit. Here’s why it wowed me so much and what you can learn.

Easy to find

It’s important to remember here that I never, ever click on Google Ads that appear in search results. Never.

Apart from this time.

Although not strictly about their website, I wanted to note how I found Curtisward as it includes some useful lessons for other creative businesses. I was searching for a specific product - Tombow brush pens - and naturally turned to Google.

You can see the results here:

I visited The Pen Company first, because they had three different adverts which suggested a good range of products. Their website was difficult to use and I soon gave up.

I came back and clicked on the Curtisward advert. Why them? Why not scroll? Why not the Amazon link which I know would be cheaper?

Here’s why:

  • When I visited their website, it was easy to use (so I stayed)
  • Their advert imaged showed multiple colours and plenty of pens, suggesting they had lots in stock
  • Their advert image was the only one that showed the pen up close
  • Their advert description had the most detail (I know it’s a pen - they told me it was ‘dual brush’)
  • I was specifically looking for an independent creative business to buy from

(Yes, these really are all the things customers think about in those few seconds when they click on an advert. Trust me.).

What you can learn
  • Don’t be afraid of using Google Ads: there’s a customer out there who will only turn to Amazon if they can’t find you - help them find you!
  • Use product images which show the product clearly and in the most relevant way
  • Use product images to show range if it’s possible
  • Use an advert description which gives specific product detail

Easy to navigate

This sort of thing isn’t very sexy but it’s a critical factor when a customer is deciding whether or not to buy from you. Clear, meaningful website navigation makes it easy for your customer to:

  • Find what they’re looking for
  • Encourages them to explore (and hopefully buy) more
  • Reduces time between exploration and purchase

Curtisward made navigating their website easy through a clear drop down menu - but most importantly, the way they had structured their website and the labels they gave different sections made it easy (and fun) to navigate.

As an art supplier, Curtisward probably stock thousands of individual items. I was looking for a specific sort of brush pen; if they’d simply had a huge category called ‘pens’ I would’ve been turned off from scrolling through hundreds of different products.

Instead, they labelled their sections by what the customer wanted to do. Want to clean something? Click ‘cleaning’. Want to make some marks? Click ‘mark making’. This is an impressive structure because it focuses on what the customer wants to DO, not the product Curtisward wants to SELL. That’s good marketing: “You want to do something, and we can help you do it”.

Within each section there’s clear products, then product types, then brands or ranges. This might seem very complicated (and it might look like that on a site map) but for a customer it’s perfect because it funnels them down a path straight away.

What you can learn
  • Consider what your customer needs to know when they land on your website
  • Make sections about what they can DO, not simply what you sell
  • Lead customers down a clear purchasing path

Mobile-friendly

I searched for, clicked on and bought from Curtisward all on my mobile - and their site was really easy to use on mobile.

This shouldn’t be a thing. Huge numbers of us spend many many hours a day using the internet on a mobile device, for social networking, email, browsing and watching video.

The full size website

Yet there are still many businesses - and unfortunately, small creative businesses tend to be in there - who don’t have a website which is mobile-friendly. This makes it harder for your customer to navigate and use your website when on their mobile, and harder for them to buy from you.

Curtisward has a responsive website, which means that whatever size screen you’re using, it adjusts to look the best for that screen size.

Smaller screen, still looking good

That meant I could find what I wanted, and explore, and therefore buy more, all on my mobile device. What might have been a £1.85 sale for one product turned into a £15+ sale through ease of use.

Mobile phone screen size, and still easy to use
What you can learn
  • Make sure your website is mobile-friendly and ideally mobile-optimised
  • Most modern website builders e.g. WordPress or SquareSpace will do this automatically
  • Test the friendliness of your site using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test

Engaging content

Alongside their product pages, Curtisward have a lovely blog and information page packed full of different ideas and posts. While this engaging content wasn’t a key factor in making me buy from them, it does make me think favourably of them; it shows they want to give more to their customer, and that they really do know their stuff.

They have a good range of articles, from quotations by famous painters to art ‘inspired by…’ and showcase different products, like their travel brush sets. They also occasionally profile customers’ work, which is another nice touch.

I do think they could improve some of this content by making it a bit easier to read (with a larger font size) and perhaps a more contemporary layout. Their articles are also scattered over two sections, so there’s no one, definitive knowledge base they can point customers to.

However, the quality of the ideas and the regular posting mean they’ll always have something to share in other marketing channels, demonstrating their expertise and helpfulness to customers.

What you can learn
  • Think about what expertise you can share with customers on your own website to help engage and interest them
  • Make sure it’s easy to read and pleasant to look at; customers are used to beautiful blogs
  • Re-purpose this content for other marketing channels to demonstrate your knowledge and helpfulness

 

And now for some exciting news…

 

If you’ve been reading this article thinking “My website doesn’t do any of these things - eep!”, then this exciting news is especially for you.

I’m running a free, face-to-face workshop for creative business owners on how to make your website read well, look good and convince customers. Because websites are one of the basics of marketing - and yet creative businesses very rarely use them to their full advantage.

There are only 10 places on this workshop to make sure everyone makes the most of the time and activities (of which there will be many, alongside refreshments and fun - of course). You’ll get advice on best practice alongside expert and peer-to-peer feedback specifically for your business; not just generic advice but ideas for you and what you need to do to make your website brilliant.

Interested? Read more and sign up here.

This workshop is in-person, so if you can’t make it (because, say, you live in Madagascar and the bus fare would be ridiculous) then that’s ok too - I’ll be turning elements of the session into an online workshop which you can do from anywhere in the world, including on the beach. Damn you. You can read more about that and sign up to hear about the launch date right here.

Learn more and sign up for the free workshop here.

 





Why Saying ‘No’ Will Make Your Creative Business More Attractive (and Exactly How You Can Say It)

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‘No’ is an incredibly powerful word. When you use it in the right way, it can make your creative business more attractive through better focus, better clarity and one of the most desirable qualities ever: exclusivity.

But how do you say ‘no’ without losing money, burning bridges and going against the socially-acceptable grain?

In my first job, a not-very-pleasant team leader asked me to work late, for no extra pay. Overtime is pretty normal when you work in a marketing agency, and I had done it before.

But this time the team leader said that, in return for working late, he would buy me (and the other juniors who worked past clocking off time) a bottle of wine. You know, to make up for the hours we would spend on his project rather than on much-needed leisure time.

I said no.

I didn’t say no because I didn’t want to finish the project. I didn’t say no because I wasn’t happy to work overtime.

I said no because I didn’t want him to think that my time was worth a £4.99 bottle of plonk from Sainsbury’s.

I said no because I wanted him to realise there was a line I wasn’t prepared to cross for my work.

I could’ve said “Yes, but don’t bother about the wine”, but I was very young and I was trying to prove a point.

That point still stands, and I still think of it now running my own business: saying ‘no’ means there’s a line. And a line means that you and your business have integrity.

 

A TOTAL LACK OF ‘NO’

How often do you really say ‘no’ in a day? Unless you’re in a really bad mood, probably not very often.

And that’s it – we associate saying ‘no’ with being negative, with being a wet blanket, a killjoy and generally a pain in the arse.

“No, I won’t help with the washing up.”

“No, I’m not coming to your party.”

In a social and cultural time where we really struggle to accept and express negative emotions as useful or healthy, saying ‘no’ is shocking. It’s a radical act.

It’s radical because it appears negative. It can even seem rude or impolite – probably the worst type of behaviour in British society – as it appears as though you’re putting your needs before someone else’s. Saying ‘no’ means you might disappoint someone, or let them down.

 

‘NO’ IN BUSINESS

All these social implications of ‘no’ filter through to the business world, and they’re especially pertinent if you work independently or run a creative business. People expect creative business owners to be ‘touchy-feely’, because they’re creative. They expect them to be nice, and ‘no’ is not nice.

Small, independent or creative businesses are also normally in a precarious position when it comes to saying ‘no’. Turning down work or customers with a ‘no’ might mean burning bridges. It might mean missing out on promotion. It might mean you don’t earn any money that month.

Saying ‘no’ starts to become a question of paying the bills, rather than whether you actually want to do the thing or not.

Some of us end up not saying ‘no’ for another reason; because we don’t know what we want to say ‘yes’ to. We don’t know who our target market is, what our ambitions are, what we really enjoy, or what the future of our business is. So we keep saying ‘yes’, even if we really want to say “No, no, no! I need a bloody break!”.

 

THE POINT OF ‘NO’

Saying ‘no’ means there is a line you won’t cross. It means that you, and your business, has integrity. It means you have principles which are so important to you that you’ll stick by them, no matter what.

By saying ‘no’ to things, you give yourself some time and space to think. You can take a step back from rushing towards another ‘yes’ and really consider what you want to do with your business. Constantly accepting things (whether they’re work, commitments, hobbies or even dates) doesn’t give you any time to reflect. On anything.

The point of ‘no’ is to focus your attention on what you really want.

In your creative business, that’s the core goals you have, the core services or products, the core market you want to attract. You stop saying a scattergun ‘yes’ and find the ability to focus.

Saying ‘no’ can help make your business more attractive to clients and customers because your output is more focus, your USP is clearer, and very importantly: you are exclusive. You do not say ‘yes’ to everything. Not everyone can have a piece of you. That makes you (and your creative business) valuable.

 

HOW TO SAY ‘NO’

We all have problems saying ‘no’, whether that’s to friends, family, or a delicious packet of ready salted crisps (I know it’s the most boring flavour, don’t judge me). Cultivating the ability to say no takes time and practice. I’m no life coach so if you’re a creative business owner who really struggles to say no and you feel like you might need extra (emotional) help, have a Google.

But if you know that you can say ‘no’, you just never seem to actually say it, then here’s some advice.

 

Keep a buffer.

Money is the main reason creative businesses and independent workers don’t say ‘no’. Saying ‘no’ might be turning down your only money for that month, which is a risky, frightening thing to do.

It’s hard at first but keep a financial buffer to help you say ‘no’ when you need to. Two or three months’ expenses is a useful amount, if you can do it, but even a month’s worth can be helpful.

 

Try not to take any shit.

The other very tricky time to say ‘no’ as a creative business or independent worker is in the middle of a project. Try not to take any shit from your clients or customers. You won’t know what that shit is until they do it and your gut goes “Hey, wait a minute…”. Then say ‘no’.

Changing briefs, changing payment terms or amounts, adding or taking away work, messing around with contracts or pissing about with timescales all constitutes ‘shit’ in my book. You are allowed to say ‘no’ if someone tries to mess you around.

 

Have a ‘no’ list.

Actually, have two lists: a ‘no’ list and a ‘yes’ list. On your ‘yes’ list, write everything you really, really want and like when it comes to your business; who you like working with, what work you like doing, etc. On the ‘no’ list, write all those things which give you that ‘euurrgghh’ gut reaction. It might be a type of work, client, customer, payment terms – whatever you want.

Write that list and stick to it.

These lists will grow as your business develops and you gain more experience, but even when you’re starting out you’ll know what makes you want to hide under a duvet.

 

Remember you are a commodity.

You might not say ‘no’ running your business because you’re worried you might let a client down, or put someone in a difficult position. Remember, you are a commodity: if you don’t do the work because the terms aren’t right, your client will most certainly find someone who will without much fuss.

Yes, you might lose the work – but do you want the work if you’re going to be stressed, underpaid and exploited?

 

Be kind when you say ‘no’.

You can still be a nice person and say ‘no’ – in fact, it makes it a lot easier to turn down opportunities when you are graceful and kind. In that first example of me saying ‘no’ as a junior team member, I wasn’t graceful - I was a bit obnoxious. Learning to be kind and saying ‘no’ has helped my business a lot.

By doing it, you won’t burn any bridges with potential clients or customers, but you also won’t sour a good relationship by accepting work that you simply don’t want to do.

 

You don’t have to explain yourself.

I know, right? You can just say ‘no’ without explaining why, or saying “I can’t” or “I’m afraid that”. For British people, this might just be a revelation.

Of course, I never, ever do this because I have frightfully intense levels of politeness buried deep within my genetic code. But you might be able to. It can be useful to explain why you’re saying ‘no’ if you feel it could resolve issues for the future, but that’s your choice.

 

Remind yourself why you’re saying ‘no’.

You are not a fool. You are not an arse. You are a creative business owner who values their time. You value the type of work you do and the type of people you work with. You don’t just say ‘yes’ to any old thing.

You are focused, clear on your goals and exclusive. You have lines you won’t cross. You have integrity. Remind yourself of these things if you wobble from the path of ‘no’.

 

‘NO’ MEANS ‘NO’ MEANS ‘YES, I HAVE TIME FOR BETTER THINGS’

Saying ‘no’ is a tricky thing. It’s socially and culturally conditioned, and yet it’s essential for our creative and professional health.

Saying ‘no’ brings focus to your business, makes your goals clear, and adds desirable exclusivity to your products or services.

‘No’ makes your creative business more attractive because it shows you have integrity. And it gives you more time to say ‘yes’ to better, more exciting, more ambitious and more meaningful things.

 

 

Learn How To Make Your Creative Business Stand Out From the Crowd with this Step-by-Step Guide to Competitor Analysis

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One of the fundamentals I teach our fashion marketing is students is competitor analysis, because to be a successful business you’ve got to know who you’re up against. Creative business owners don’t always take the time to work out who their competitors are, especially if they’ve started organically or are still developing their business alongside a day job.

Knowing and analysing your competitors gives you a really good understanding of where you are in the business eco-system. Are you high or low priced? Are you in a certain clique, or aesthetic, or making style? Are you totally, radically different, or subtly unique? And knowing the answers to these questions will help make your creative business stand out from the crowd.

By doing a competitor analysis, you’ll be able to:

  • See who you’re competing with for customers
  • Understand what other businesses are doing well (or not so well)
  • Come up with ways for your business to stand out

 

But I don’t have any competitors!

You might think that if you run a very niche, very specialist, or very small business there’s no point doing a competitor analysis - after all, how many competitors can you really have?

The answer is more than you think.

Although no one might be selling exactly the same hand-carved wooden yoga sandals as you, there will still be creative people carving wooden ornaments, making beautiful sandals and tapping into the ever-so-bendy yoga market.

Even for independent creative businesses whose service work depends on other businesses - like self-employed marketing consultants and copywriters, ahem - competitor analysis is important. I know there’s quite a few copywriters and marketing consultants in my area.

I know their specialisms, USPs, prices and client base. I know where I sit in the market and what my USP is.

I found all that out through a competitor analysis - not because I had some spare time, but because I wanted to make sure I was running by business in a credible, sustainable way, at the right price, and with a USP that had a true U. Doing it has helped me focus my marketing and my services, and kept my business on the right track.

 

 

How to analyse your competitors

A competitor analysis really is very useful, and lots of creative business owners don’t do them. But if you do one, you’ll be able to make your business better by working out exactly how to stand out.

This guide is going to give you step-by-step instructions on how to do a competitor analysis that you can tailor to your unique creative business. This is something you can revisit in the future when new folk arrive on the scene, or when your business evolves.

You don’t need anything fancy for it, although doing it on the computer makes it easier to keep track of all your information.

It covers:

  • Working out who your competitors are
  • Desk research about your competitors
  • First-hand research
  • Understanding strengths and weaknesses
  • Highlighting danger areas
  • Lessons you can learn from your competitors
  • What makes you different (and how to use this to help you)

 

Step 1.

Work out who your competitors are

 

As I mentioned, it can be easy if you have a creative business that’s particularly niche, or you work independently, to think you don’t really have any competitors. But it’s very likely that you do.

Working out who your competitors are gives you a starting point for your competitor analysis. Your competitors might be ‘direct’ competition - they have the same business as you - or ‘indirect’ - they have a business which overlaps yours but isn’t quite the same.

For example, other freelance copywriters are my direct competition, while freelance community managers are my indirect competition; we don’t do the same thing but it does overlap.

You can start by thinking up a list of all the types of creative business that might be direct or indirect competitors. If you’re a fashion photographer, that might include non-fashion photographers, bloggers, creative directors, stylists - anyone who does something a bit like you.

You can make that list more comprehensive by considering these factors:

  • Geography: who in your local area could be a competitor? What about national competitors? Or international?
  • Product: who sells similar products or services to you? Who sells specialist products like yours? What about people who sell general products, but include ones like yours?
  • Aesthetic: whose business looks and feels like yours? Who has a similar aesthetic? Whose business could yours be confused with?

For example, a fashion photographer might find there’s no people doing fashion photography in her local area, but there are several photography studios which could be indirect competitors.

Step 2.

Do some desk research

 

Desk research means looking at the information that’s already out there and putting together your findings (normally sitting at a desk, of course). In your competitor analysis, it means researching your list of potential competitors online or in print and recording what you find out.

It’s time to be a detective.

I’ve found the easiest way to do this is with a spreadsheet which lists your competitors and different elements of their business. But if you want to work visually, or on paper, then choose the right tools that work for you.

There will be a ton of information that you can record about your competitors, but here’s the essential list to find out and record:

  • Basic details: name, business name, contact, website, social media links, email, where they operate
  • Business type: a short description of what their business is
  • Products and services: short descriptions of the type of products and services they sell (if you’re working on a spreadsheet it can be handy to give each type a different line)
  • Prices: individual prices for their product types or services
  • Aesthetic: description (plus pictures if you can) of their visual style and branding
  • Marketing: a description of what you can see they’re doing to market their business (like writing blog posts, sending newsletters, etc.)
  • USP: what you perceive their USP to be, or ideally what they say their USP is (if you can find out)

Don’t expect this to be a quick process. People have a habit of hiding the most important information in places you can’t find it, or being very vague about what their business actually does. But recording the information like this allows you to see, at a glance, what your competitors are doing - and later in your competitor analysis, it’ll help you work out how you fit in to this creative business eco-system.

 

Step 3.

Do some first-hand research

 

It’s always useful to support your secondary research with first-hand research - the stuff where you actually go out and find out new information. This isn’t always possible but it’s really, really useful if you can do it because you get first-hand experience of the business.

You can try visiting your competitors, checking out prices, seeing what their customer service is like, and generally being a ‘secret shopper’. It sounds sneaky but it’s exactly what big brands do when checking out their competitors (or what they do when testing the quality of their own staff).

 

Step 4.

Strengths and weaknesses

 

Once you’ve got all this information together, it’s time for some analysis of everything you’ve seen. Starting with strengths and weaknesses of your competitors is useful because it’ll help you quickly identify any common themes and any areas you need to think about for your creative business.

Here are some questions to help you analyse your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths:

  • Is your competitor well-established? Are they well-known in their field?
  • Do they appear to be popular on social media? Have you seen them in print or featured on websites?
  • Are they busy? Were there lots of customers or phone calls when you were in the shop? Is their calendar booked up?
  • Is their website easy to understand and use? Do they appear in search results for words related to their business?
  • Do they have a strong list of clients or retailers?
  • Do you think they look, feel and act professionally?

Weaknesses:

  • Is it clear what they and their business offer? Can you understand their USP?
  • Are they actively marketing themselves? Do you think it’s working effectively?
  • Was their customer service acceptable? Are customers satisfied with their products or services?
  • Was it difficult to get hold of them? Do you feel they look, feel and act professionally?

You might not feel like you can answer all these questions - how are you meant to know if they’re busy all the time, or their marketing is working? - but actually, you can. Because you are an expert in your field and therefore you can make a professional, educated judgement about what these competitors are doing.

The more of them you look at the more knowledgeable you become about what’s right for your industry and your business.

 

Step 5.

Danger areas

 

The whole point of a competitor analysis is to understand where you sit in the business eco-system (not just to make a handy list of who you should be keeping an eye on). So using what you’ve collected so far, and especially your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, you can highlight some danger areas.

Danger areas are elements of your competitors which could be dangerous to your business. For example:

  • A competitor offering cheaper services could undercut you
  • A competitor whose brand is similar to your own could confuse customers
  • A competitor stocking the same products could make you seem less unique

Not every competitor will present your business with a danger. But documenting as many of these danger areas as possible will help you in making sure your business stands up to the competition.

 

Step 6.

Lessons you can learn from your competitors

 

If you’re thinking, “I have so many competitors! There are so many danger areas! Eep!”, fear not. This is the part where you learn from your competitors to make your creative business even better.

Every competitor, no matter how small or indirect, will have something they can teach you.

Work through each competitor one by one, look at their strengths, weaknesses and danger areas, and see how they can help you improve your business.

Strengths is a great one to start with. Is there a competitor who is really doing well with local press? What’s her method? How does she get involved? What about one whose online presence is excellent? Learn from that.

Weaknesses next. Which of your competitors makes it hard to find out what their services are? Is there one who seems to be over (or under) priced? Think about why this could be and learn from it.

Danger areas can help you learn lessons from the future. If there’s a competitor stocking similar products to you, what could you learn to help you choose unique suppliers in the future? Or if their brand is so similar to yours it could be confusing, what could you do now to make sure yours is the one customers remember?

Keep these in mind when you’re moving your business onto the next step, as it’ll help you make the right choices so you fit effectively into this creative business eco-system.

 

Step 7.

What makes you different

 

Now you know your competitors inside-out, understand their strengths and weaknesses, and have learnt from what they’ve done, it’s time to re-affirm exactly what makes you different.

Having something which makes you different from your competitors is the way a creative business eco-system thrives. It’s means you’re developing a creative business which fits into a niche.

It’s the same reason why 8.7 million species survive on the planet, or why 18,000 beetle species were found in 2.5 acres of rainforest in Panama. They all find a niche.

That doesn’t mean all those beetles aren’t competing; it means they’re not all competing for exactly the same thing. You and your creative competitors will be competing for customers, but not for exactly the same customer. Explaining what makes you different means you can seek out that customer more readily.

It also means you have a snappy comeback to suppliers, clients or other customers who say “But so-and-so is cheaper/better/greener/whatever-er”.

“Yes they are”, you can say, “but here’s exactly why you should go with me instead.”

For example, I know there are freelance marketing consultants and copywriters out there who are much cheaper than me (and some who are way more expensive). But my cost is based on my experience and skills - which are really quite good.

So I can say:

“Yes, so-and-so is cheaper than me…but they haven’t worked with international brands or given one-to-one workshops or [you get the picture]”.

Compare yourself, honestly, to the competitors on your list. Ask yourself what makes you different. Are you:

  • More experienced?
  • Better priced?
  • Friendlier or more professional?
  • Easier to work with?

Write it all down and be ready to use it as your snappy comeback, and as a reminder about exactly why you’re worth buying from.

You’ve done it.

Phew.

Congratulations - you’ve completed a competitor analysis for your creative business. If you’ve followed each step closely, you’ll have a great database of who your competitors are, what they’re doing well (and not), and the ways in which you can make sure you stay one step ahead.

Everything here can help you decide what to do next with your business, from developing new services to making sure your branding is the one customers remember.