Lately I have seen tons of creative people - lets face it - complaining about how did they don't achieve success!

Success, except rare cases doesn't happen over night and takes a lots of work, trial, failures and disappointment along the way.

I'm sure we all came across to this image and this is a realistic diagram of what its need to achieve success.

Each brand/business have their niche of public, no matter how big or small.
First of all you have to know your competitors, your audience, your public, clients - learn about their personal behavior, likes, life in general, etc.

Every business / magazine, coffee shop, painter, etc. must start with a Marketing Plan.

This plan is an extensive report about the market (may be local or national. International is way more complex)  where your business will act, the evolved cultura, target public, how your public like to be approach, the voice to use to contact them - friendly or formal or institutional, which tools -p aid or gratuity - you can use to promote your business, how to act and where to reach the most potencial audience. This is some of the factors / elements that are present in Marketing Plan.

We are in a digital era, learn to use all social tools for your brand and how to get into your audience - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, email marketing, Pinterest, etc. Each brand have to know where to act. Your brand may need to be more ative on Pinterest and not on Facebook or vice versa

No brand start to make profit over night or conquer tons of followers over night.

Be aware followers can or not be your costumers. 

In the beginning you may need not to wide your public but to fidelize your small audience, then later you may start to work your way to wide your public.

Some brands hired agencies to do 'Brand Activation', where events are designed to promoted a new brand, sometimes they even invite famous people and influencers.

Creating a brand is kind of easy! Hard is to maintain it and make it grow. Normally is here where creative people deal with struggle because their brand just doesn't grow. You need patient, perseverance and lots of none creative work.

I will give you and example of a friend who opens a coffee shop. She knew her first year would be hard, she considered year zero, when she doesn't make much profit but she knew that:

- First: catived clients from other competitors;

- Second: make them loyal to her shop;

- Third: Make the difference, not only by the way she welcomed the clients, by the decoration of her shop, by promoting the new business in the area.

One time sheconfessess me, she didn't use Facebook and some clients contacted her via messenger and she didn't replied. I suggest her to use it more often and interact with her clients there because the majority of her clients only use Facebook, but she didn't like Facebook... Clearly, she was missing an opportunity and could miss some clients to other coffee shops in the area... I gave her some advice and she started to use it in her advantage. Nowadays she is very well-known, has lots of followers on that social media.

Lesson: Know where your clients are more active and create empathy. Nowadays, her clients call her 'friend' and she knows by heart all their daily orders. 

Every single social media have this ugly thing named algorithm!

Know it and learn to use it at your advantage.

Don't forget Facebook, Instagram and all social media are companies and in the end of the day, they want profit!

Read their privacy policy, rules and norms so you can have in your hand knowledge. Knowledge is power! If you know how they work and rules you can use it to post correctly and not being banned!

Forget censorship, lets fight this, we make art! Its their space, their business, their rules. 

Remember: My house, my rules. They have the right to banned or censure who and what they want...

"Did you know Instagram stories no Instagram have more views then feed posts?"

Either on Facebook or Instagram the key word is 'Relevant'.

What this means? Simple, more one page or account is relevant to its followers more likely to be on top of your feed and will ne shown often to its followers.

One way to be relevant is making shares, making call to action, using stories for a wider reach of your public (At the moment stories have more audience than post feed, in fact Instagram suggest people too watch stories and we can use that suggesting people to watch our new post on our - call to action).

Share posts, mentions, share relevant account - those who are relevant to your business, talk to your followers, make your brand familiar and necessary on a daily basis.

Note: I follow several accounts of Instagram and check them on a daily basis, if I log in an I don't see it, I kind of miss it! Is a bit like soap operas and people, they get attached and want to see it. This idea can be extrapolated to everything.

Onthe web or website knowing how to be on top of any engine search is gold. And learning to improve your online presence is important. Even to SEO (search engine optimization) being relevant is the keyword.

In some cases, being relevant is all about content and creativity. Google also take relevant content into account to search better website to a determinate searcher, however, Google algorithm is a bit complex but onc you stuy a bit everything becames clear.

Example: two only shops that sells TV same products with similar websites, etc. who search engine will eterminate which is more relevant and how they will show website Y on top of website X? Based on unique and creative content about the same prouct. So creativity is the key.
Obvsiouly SEO is way more complex but creativity is the main point to determinate, among other factores like, rate of exist, etc.

"Relevant is based on content and its creativity!"

Creating a data base of regular readers is also important, not even about website readers but creating a small or big community of email marketing readers - newsletters

Thru newsletters you can promote new products, sales, new posts, new events, etc.
You can even appeal to sign in to your newsletter, 5% of discount for example, giving a benefict via signup, be creative!
By oing this, your brand can achieve 100% or close to your public, because lets be real them may miss your social post, our social stories on Facebook or Instagram, no going to your website.
By the way, newsletter CMS system like (Chimpmail, Sendinblue, etc) have metric tolls to mesure your success or not so good success including segmentation via links.
Case study (personal experience): A well known brand send me an email/newsletter with some dresses, I felt for one and spent some time looking at him… End up not buyng. One week later I got an email from that brand, super personalized. One week later I got a second email from that specific brand super personalized, with my name on subject informing me that dress was on sale. I didn't think twice and bought it. This type of segmentation is possible and its call remarketing and it can be done in any business. be creative!

Use all available tools to you advantage.
On year zero you can have only one website but at some point you will feel the urge to take a next big step. And this idea of isolation is simplistic and useless, because not new user or buyer will came to you and you just float
Many users many not be costumers, butyou can turn them into costumers, use 5% discount on sign up newsletter, for example. Sometimes it not easy but once again be creative. Learn about your public an make expericences.
In some case paid content may be need to promote in s few plataforms paid promotions on facebook or instagram or google ads can be an options, depends of your budget.
Because this post was written to creative people maybe with not lots os money to invest in TV, newspaperads etc. try other cheaper plataforms where your audienceis more ative.

Clear and easy to read websites, important information on top, like newsletter sign in on top, buy product visible and highlight to the rest of content.
Mobile fiendly website - important -, tags with relevant words of people that search your brand.
Google Analytics have a series of tools - free - to optimize your website and correct what is not perfect so you may be on the top of your game. Including data informationwhere key words search and be analized so you see how people go to your website.
All online presence is important, must be taking care, thoughful and consistent.

Creat empathy, connect with your audience, this takes time and work yes, but think in a long run. In a digital era, mouth to mouth references still have power. If you are kind to one person, he might call well about you to 5 or 6 persons.
Case study*: Belcanto restaurant own international fame in a simples way: One ady comment with the waiters she liked their uniform, the waiter went to his locker and took one clean uniform and gave to that clients; another couple of costumers went to this restaurant later at night and tried to have dinner but thought ot give up ue to high prices. The chef made steak and chips and mae them pay low prices.. Those clients felt special and talked those experiencesto their friends. The story was talkedin Danmark! Litte guesters may counts sometimes more than money.

Everyday personal experience is importante to bran awareness.

Konw a bit of human psycology, learn how people like notoririus and use that to your own favour. Tag people, mention, thank others sahring, etc. Give and receive affect!

Give back the affect people give to you. Make yourself relevant to that one. All this is a now ball.
Those how see your mention/tag will feel proud and normally share. Free sharing jst for being kind.

If you think well all social media givez you tips juts open your eyes.
Just lament this or that won't solve nothing. Learn a bit or marketing (see end of spot) Will make a hug diferrence to your brand.
For example, paintor Chris Guess became famous not over night but after years of work. Ysars!
Nowadays his painting sold out in hours. How? He makes limited editions, share his creative process in every social media, and this create empathy, film 'making of' etc. His work had a boom over the last years an it was not over nught. Thank you time and work hard.

"They seems to like my work, followed me but apparently they report it!"

Another points I have seen lately, lots if artis complainging about pam and ads...

Tip 1: On each ads, choose to not see it, ocult it an show option: Not relevant (see relevant in here on instagram!!).

Tip 2: Spam can be good! wht? Spammers create and algorythim to know which account or webste are more relevant, if you are invaded by spam, you are in a good path. Just block and move on. On less known wrebsite will not have spam because is not relevant. So just erase those comments and block.
Dica 3: Censorship. Right...... I had that isse until I blocked a few followers. Why? They seems to like my work, followed me but apparently they report it. With experience and commom sense I nothing the contact me to make revolution aggaints instagra, etc., searching for atttention
So I just block them and voilá, no more blocked posts, I can even say Ipost one pic non nipple censored and my image still life n IG. Read the signs!

Few artists lack kwonledge of marketing. Noboduy lives in a isolated island. Nobody will promote your work if it not online. You are not isolated in an island with your art.
Don't expect some stramger t do your work... and promote your work as you shpuld do.
In the past you could online use TV ads, newslepaper,etc. not you have a countless of free tools. MAjro free. Leant o use them into your avantage.
Another major thing, listen to your followers what they want to see, what they enjoy must, take survey, ask!Don't be shy.
Above all be tuth to yur brand,the way you speak must be consistent so whe people see your work somewhere can recognize immediately.

Not creative people,be creative in every aspect! Becfreative to promote your work. Takes lots of works truth, needs time, true, in sane cases you need to spen money to gain some money. But be optimist and dpn't give up in the first obstacle.

If you want to know more abot marketing and digital marketing, Google has a free plataform to teach you. Facebook has an e-learning plataform too. All free.

Alternative, I'm available to help any business and brand to grow and create a plane to grow.
Interested go to www.anaperes.com and fill my online form. I will be gla to help you out.

Note:

*Belcanto case study - Thhose stories were veridic adneven thr main chef talk about them and talk about his fame, how he learned marketing and educate his staff to became better professionals and always take an extra mile for the brand.


Feel free to add any ideas and comment!