Marketing is sometimes looked at as a dull and painful process. There are facts to learn, strategies to put in place, and activities to track. While marketing may never shake its snooze factor for some, you can take a much different approach. You can actually thoroughly enjoy this “must do” process for your handmade business!

The key to making marketing more manageable is often the perspective you take. Handmade artisans have the upper hand on this one! All they need to do is harness their creative energy in a “marketing minded” direction.

To be successful at marketing two key components are needed, knowledge and creativity. Since knowledge about the latest marketing trends and strategies are readily available, the knowledge component can be obtained with a little bit of research. On the other hand, the creative component is much harder to obtain. Creativity is often a skill or characteristic that one is born with. Handmade artisans figured out somewhere along their journey that they process this valuable tool. The great thing about creativity is the variety it comes in. It can take any shape and be manipulated to work to the artisan's advantage, especially with marketing. After actively working on the knowledge component of marketing and getting a good handle on what goals the artist wants to achieve, they can start to use their creativity to make those goals a reality! The more creativity used the better because that’s what will stand out from the crowd.

When asking fellow artisans what creative marketing strategies they have tried, Jennifer of Simply Smiss, jokingly replied that she uses smoke signals. After having a good laugh, it became apparent what strong imagery this can be for an artist trying to make marketing work for them. Most artists are visual learners, and it helps them to have a visual metaphor to think of when it comes to what is perceived to be boring, dull or complicated concepts.

Instead of looking at marketing as something to dread, an artist could think of marketing as an epic TV series or movie trilogy. For example, the artist pictures a big cloud of smoke billowing up above the treetops off in the distance. Upon realizing something is going on in the distance, the main characters squint and try to get a closer look at what’s happening. The characters would now have to make a choice that would result in their immediate reaction to either get closer to the source of the smoke to find out about the mystery character behind the smoke signals, or an immediate retreat tactic.

In this example, the artist is the smoke signaler. Their target audience are the main characters in the story, who catch a glimpse at their creations. The smoke is the marketing strategy chosen.

Following this illustration, the artist's target audience has two options. They can either follow the “smoke signals” to get a better look at the artist's creations, or go for the immediate retreat option which lands them following someone else’s “smoke signal”, bread crumb trail, or whatever marketing strategy is more creative and alluring. Of course, each artist is battling to be the one that throws the plot twist into this epic tail and steal the show. The ultimate goal is to get the target audience allured (in a good way) to the artist's creations. Artists who use their creativity and research knowledge will ensure this happens. They will be sure to figure out what will make the “main characters follow the smoke signals” and what will send them “running for their lives!"

Making marketing a creative adventure is much more appealing and will help artists stick with it. They already have the power of creativity and know where they want their adventure to start and finish. Now all they need to do is a bit of “adventure research” so they can fill in the middle of the script. If Oreo cookies have taught us anything, it’s that the middle (of anything) is the best part.

Image Credits: D'Arcy Norman, flickr.com