10 marketing strategies for artists that do not involve social media!

Oh lordy so here we go. Social media and marketing for artists. I made the mistake of sharing some advice in an online entrepreneur group I belong to (not for artists) about how much time and energy to invest in social media and was attacked rather viciously for my simplistic answer. The question was about how to manage overwhelm and a sense of social media dominating your time use.   It was the same question I had posed to some social media specialists the day before. Verbatim I asked “so for people who are feeling really overwhelmed, how much of our marketing time would you advise dedicating to social media” and their advice was “about 30%”.

This is of course not a hard fast rule. Not many are. Some people have made it almost exclusively using social media as their sales avenue. Some people are awesome at social media and know how to rock it big time. Some people have huge, loyal followings and a real love and skill at using social media. For some people almost all their customers are hanging out on social media and therefore that’s where they need to invest most of their time. You need to know who your market is and where they hang out. You need to know your business strengths and exploit them.

Social media is a vortex, some people love it and dive in deep and deliciously, lost for days, others avoid it like the plague at best lurking in back corners of special interest groups or simply taking a flat out I won’t play approach. For some artists, especially introverts, it can seem like the holy grail, a virtual world to reach our markets without ever actually having to interact face to face. For others who live in a tactile, tangible and sensory world social media can seem impersonal or counter creative.

Because as artists we need to have time to actually create our product we cannot spend all day selling it. If you are really well resourced (money, time, support) you may be able to outsource a bulk of your marketing and/or pay a specialist to analyse your exact business and develop a very specific strategy. Most of the artists I work with are generally under resourced. Myself included. This means a fair bit of DIY marketing and a need to be really smart in how we manage our time. If we only create and don’t put it out there (market it) we won’t be able to make any kind of living off our art. If we only market and don’t create we will have nothing to sell or an inferior product. It is a balancing act. Time to create vs time to sell.

For most of us our marketing will need to include a mix of strategies well beyond social media to reach our ideal customer. For most of us social media will have to play a considerable role in our promotional strategy. Here is a list of 10 key non-social media marketing strategies that you need to consider adding to your mix.

1. Website – A quality designed site, great SEO, quality content (blogs, freebies, images, updates), functioning ecommerce.

2. Visual branding – Promotional photos, logo, website style/font use, postcards, business cards, brochures, posters.

3. Packaging – CD covers, movie posters, wrapping/boxing, labeling

4. Exposure – High profile performances, competitions and awards, exhibitions, showcases, trade fairs.

5. Face to Face – Networking events, conferences, trade functions, going to coffee with key people, presenting and public speaking.

6. Email – Building and managing your mailing list, writing and sending newsletters and personal emails.

7. Video – Film clips, how to videos, promotional films, previews, youtube clips, webinars.

8. Print Media – Local press, magazines, gig guides.

9. Radio – Interviews, radio advertising, airplay.

10. Direct Sales – Gigs and festivals, shops and stockists, markets, galleries, performances (this includes playing/performing/selling/exhibiting at places that reflect and build your brand).

For more reading check out this article –  marketing for artists