The 10 Rules You Need to Follow
The smallest freelancer, even with virtually no marketing budget, should still have a marketing plan. Does this sound over-the-top to you? It shouldn't: every company that wants to survive and thrive needs to market to its customers and prospects, and this is even more vital in the commercial art business.
Marketing can seem like a mysterious topic! Our Support Team regularly get questions from our subscribers asking how to reach their dream clients. Usually most, if not all, of these artists have no business plan or marketing plan (or if they did, they didn't execute it). The majority of them are probably in day-to-day survival mode, dealing with the daily issues of running a business and relying more on instinct rather than on good data and a solid plan. Unfortunately, this does nothing to ensure their business grows each year and gets them the clients who will fulfill them both artistically and financially.
I have already written about marketing and promotional planning in previous articles this year, so - to encourage you to create a plan for your business - I'd like to boil things down to the key elements you just can't ignore! Read on - in this article we will look at ten important "rules" to consider when creating your Marketing/Promotional Plan.
Rule #1: Plans, Plans, and More Plans
You cannot create a Marketing Plan unless you have a Business Plan. This article will not focus on the Business Plan, since that's not the focus of this particular series - but I have included a list of great books on the subject. Don't miss it at the bottom of this article!
What is the difference between a Business Plan and a Marketing Plan? Your annual Business Plan will detail what you want to accomplish during that year and what the key business priorities are. The purpose of the Marketing Plan is to detail how you will achieve your Business Plan objectives - what complement of products, services and solutions are right for your key target clients and prospects, and how you should allocate your marketing investments to retain, and gain clients to grow your business.
Rule #2: Know Your Limits
Never plan to accomplish more than is realistically possible with your available resources. Otherwise you will not achieve your goals, will get frustrated, and will probably abandon planning. Businesses develop over time, so if you are a new artist, your resources will be more limited than someone who has been around for 10 years. But if you don't plan ahead, you won't ever have the money you will need to reinvest and grow. This means if you can only set one or two key objectives, it is perfectly OK. It's better to achieve one or two important things than to accomplish nothing but daydreaming about "what if"!
Rule #3: Stay In Focus
Stay focused on your plan: don't abandon it because something goes wrong or doesn't work the way you thought it would. Don't keep changing it if you don't see fast results. If you do, you will never get anywhere...so give your plan a chance to work. However, staying focused doesn't mean that you can't be flexible. You may need to change and adapt your plan as market conditions change or something dramatic happens outside your control (i.e. your largest client is sold or declares bankruptcy). Bear in mind: there is a huge difference between maintaining flexibility and simply being indecisive.
Rule #4: The Past Predicts the Future
Look to the past. It is critical to look at what worked and what didn't from any previous marketing initiatives, and to determine why. This is the background to your Marketing Plan, and would also encompass your Customer Research. What did you learn in the last year about your customers and your business? How will your insights influence your recommendations for your new plan? Make sure your analysis of past performance is factual and based on numbers, instead of emotion and instinct. Take the time to look at the data objectively and form solid conclusions that no one can debate.
Rule #5: Definition is Key
Before you start, define your business. Who are you now? What is actually happening with the business? What products and services do you currently offer? What do you do well...and not so well? (Tip: try your best to make an honest assessment, not an emotional one!) Based on what you excel at, where is the potential for growth? Based on your strengths and client demand, are there new areas you will be focusing on? Do you want to grow the advertising side of your business? Do you want to get more work from your favorite clients? Make a clear statement that defines where you are now, and where you want to be by the end of the next 12-18 month period.
Rule #6: Look to the Market
You cannot develop an effective Marketing Plan in the comfort of your office or studio. You need to know exactly what is happening in the industry around you. Here is where Secondary Research comes in. You need to look at what is happening with the industries your key clients and prospective clients work in. (By the way: if you missed the November edition of Insight, you can get tips on gathering this information in my article "Branding Strategy: Your Blueprint for Success".)
Ask yourself:
- Are the creative industries in growth mode, stable, or in decline?
- What about your competition?
- Who are they and what are their strengths and weaknesses?
- Who is making moves (right and wrong) that you can learn from?
- What are some marketing initiatives that your competitors launched - and were they successful? Why or why not?
Consider joining an organization such as APA (Advertising Photographers of America), ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers), EP (Editorial Photographers) or CAPIC (Canadian Association of Photographers and Illustrators in Communications); membership could have tremendous benefit for your business.
Rule #7: Do your SWOT.
I keep bringing this up because I cannot express strongly enough how vitally important an exercise this is. If you have been keeping with my articles, this acronym won't be new to you. For those of you who are new to this idea, SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
Ensure that you try to gain a complete and objective view of your Strengths and Weaknesses by consulting with your clients and your prospects. You then need to be really specific about the strengths you plan to leverage and the weaknesses you plan to address, and most importantly how. Prioritize your Opportunities and have contingency plans in place to deal with Threats to your business. This really is one of the most important exercises you will undertake, and you will find that it will significantly impact your decision-making.
Learn more about SWOT in my article "How To Create a Marketing Plan That Works" or in our latest webcast: "Find Your Ideal Buyer".
Rule #8: Reach Out...and Touch (the RIGHT) Someone
What industry or sector are you going after - and why? What is your niche in the commercial art world? If you haven't defined that yet, do not pass "Go". Watch our latest webcast "Find Your Ideal Buyer" and learn all about targeting.
If you don't know yourself as an artist, your marketing will never win you the clients you want, no matter how much time you spend on a plan. Unfocused, mass mail-type promotions will actually hurt you: you will alienate buyers when you don't pay attention to what their needs are. It takes courage and it takes discipline: you need to know who you are targeting in order to formulate your Marketing Plan.
Rule #9: Get Formal With It
My advice to you is to WRITE IT DOWN. Believe me: no matter how convinced you are that you'll remember it all, thinking about it is not enough - you must put it on paper. If you have a team that works with you (studio manager, assistants, etc), share it with them too so you can make sure you are all working towards the same goal. A fringe benefit? You will be doing your staff a huge favor by reinforcing the importance of proper marketing planning. Wouldn't you have loved to be exposed to a learning experience like this before you struck out on your own? Document your Vision, Objectives, Strategies and Tactics formally, with all the necessary research and documentation to support your recommendations. Ask your employees' opinions during the planning process, perhaps conduct some informal brainstorming, and get their buy-in. Making it formal makes it real, and brings your marketing plan to the front lines of your business.
Rule #10: Don't Let Money Hold You Back!
The truth is, using creativity and a little ingenuity you can do some great things on a shoestring budget. For example: with the low cost of email marketing, perhaps you can afford to do print campaigns too? Make sure that every job is executed with the utmost professionalism, as this can lead to referral business from your clients. And don't skimp on quantity: don't forget your existing clients; keep them up to date with your new work so you can remain top-of-mind for future assignments. Another suggestion is to join a professional association (see point 6, above); many offer a database of their members on their websites that can also connect you to buyers.
So now that you have had the opportunity to understand why your Marketing Plan is so important: DON'T DELAY! It's not too late to create one, or - if you have one - beef it up! ADBASE has all the resources you need to get started. (If you have already started, by the way: congratulations - your business will thank you for it.)
Please: don't give up! Like all things, marketing gets easier the more often you do it. And it's never hard to reap the benefits.
ADBASE Recommended Books for Business Planning
Here are some of our Marketing Team's favorite books for learning more about business planning.
- Best Business Practices for Photographers (2007), John Harrington. Boston: Thompson Course Technology
- Starting Your Career as a Freelance Illustrator or Graphic Designer (2001), Michael Fleishman. New York: Allworth Press
- The Real Business of Photography (2004), Richard Weisgrau. New York: Allworth Press
- Photography Focus on Profit (2002), Tom Zimberoff, New York: Allworth Press