Image by Roman Kraft

019 - Building A Marketing Plan

I’m building a marketing structure around my work, here’s how it looks.

Welcome to the Editor’s Journal; A daily thought on writing, the creative process, art, work, the world and how it all goes together. Every morning I rise between 5 and 6 am, I sit here in the quiet of my kitchen and I write whatever’s prominent. I have a bunch of article ideas saved, so I’ll either pull from them or write something new. I also write at larrygmaguire.com. I hope you enjoy the read.

I’m an artist.

Although for a long time I recognised artistic merit in other people’s work, I failed to accept it in myself. I was in business and so I thought I couldn’t be an artist.

It was business or art and I had to be either one or the other.

And so when I did finally accept that I was an artist, and that in fact everyone is, I began to see my place in the world.

You see I love to make and build things, to design digitally and materially. I like things to look good and to flow both visually and in words. I love psychology too, how the mind works and why people behave as they do.

Now, with time, I realise how my experience and skills bridge a gap.

The gap is between creativity and business, and I close it with words.

So my work is two pronged…

1. My Art

My art consists of photorealistic charcoal portraits like this one, and short story writing. Eventually I intend to put my short stories into a compilation called “Stories From The City”.

My portrait work is something I love to do but thus far I’ve not been brave enough to throw myself completely into it, primarily because my mind tells me it will take too long and I need to put bread on the table.

Yeah I know it’s bullshit but that’s how it is right now. Besides, I really enjoy the digital side of what do. That brings me to #2.

Short Stories Archive from Larry G. Maguire

Conor McGregor Drawing [Photorealistic] | Larry G. Maguire

2. Marketing & Business

The second element to my work exists in the digital space of marketing online.

I have to admit I’m a bit obsessed with the online world. I love building funnels and sales pages. I like figuring out how to structure the words and images on the page to convey a message.

I love the technology side of it, figuring out how to make the various platforms work together with one click. Seeing a positive result from days spent building an online process give me a real kick.

Yes, I know, I’m a total nerd, but that’s how it is for me.

The Marketing Plan

I need to be careful here not to make it too elaborate. I can get carried away sometimes and end up driving myself into the ground with all I “need” to do.

I guess you’re no different.

There’s so much marketing information out there it can sometimes seem overwhelming. The trick is to keep it simple and build from small. It’s like when I draw, trying to get to the end result before it’s ready will fuck up the drawing.

So simple at first and steady as she goes.

I’m working on a couple key elements to promote my work. Here’s how the break down in simple terms;

Articles

Writing is playing a big role in promotion and my emphasis here is volume. Writing and publishing every day is key to getting under the noses of people we need to see our work.

Writing breaks down as follows;

1. Journal type article every day here on Storymaker.
2. Daily article on my own site larrygmaguire.com on Creativity or Marketing.
3. Write a guest article on marketing related site once per week.
4. Repurpose marketing articles on LinkedIn.
5. Repurpose marketing articles on Medium marketing publications.

Social Media

Social Media will play a significant role in promotion, Twitter being a primary focus. Twitter works for traffic with volume, so you need to spend time building a big following. This could take you 12 months.

Here’s how Social Media breaks down;

1. Using automation, I set up dozens of promotional and seasonal tweets to go out around the clock.
2. Again using automation, gather feeds from websites producing content related to my niche and set it up to go out around the clock on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Facebook.
3. Create short video daily on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to introduce the subject on daily articles on larrygmaguire.com
4. Share both Medium and larrygmaguire.com articles on my Social Media channels and Social Bookmarking sites.

Weekly Updates To My Subscribers

Every week for the last two months I’ve been publishing Sunday Letters. It’s a weekly email letter to my list that summarises everything that I published from the previous week.

Subscribe To Sunday Letters from Larry G. Maguire

Rather than it being a content dump on people, I write a unique piece of content as an introduction, then bring in the articles from earlier in the week on Medium and larrygmaguire.com.

Sunday is the only day my readers hear from me, and although that might change depending on their preferences, for now it’s adequate for me to keep in touch.

There’s no selling in that email and that’s the way it will stay. I will no doubt have products and services to offer later but Sunday’s email will remain non-salesy.

It’s A Lot More Complicated Than That.

Obviously there’s a whole pile going on behind the above, like liking Mailchimp to other marketing technology and making sure I can see where people are coming from.

Understanding who downloaded what from my site is important too so that I can properly segment them and deliver the things they are interested in.

It takes massive amounts of time to learn the technology and become proficient with it so I can understand why people might be turned off.

I’m into it, I get a kick out of figuring this stuff out so in that way it’s easy for me.

I know that’s not the same for everyone.

The learning challenges aside, we creatives really have no choice. We’ve got get in front of people if we are to make a success of our creative work, whatever you happen to define success as.

We either have to do it ourselves or we have to get others to do it for us.

Bridging The Gap Between Creativity & Business

Business is about human interaction, it’s about relationship. Too many creatives think that business is contrived and is the reflection of an ulterior motive to con or deceive.

Of course that exists, it exists in everything. When you pick up a stick you pick up both ends, and so it is with business and marketing.

To believe that business is inherently bad is naive. That worldview demonstrates an inability to see the world as it is.

To embrace the tools of business is to give yourself a fighting chance in this world we’ve decided to be a part of. If you want to make a career from your art then you’ve got to find a way to make business ok.

Get your stuff out there any way you can. Paint it on the side of a building if you have to, just get it out there.

If you can’t market your art and creative services or find someone else to do it for you then you’re not going to get your stuff under the right noses.

That means you starve.

The Artist’s Manifesto is a short book about staying true to our art. It is a call to Artists and Creatives like you to create from the heart with passion and integrity, disregarding the need for applause and recognition. It’s available from 13th May 2017. Grab your FREE copy here.

Like Some More of This Kind of Thing?

Howdy, I’m Larry, Writer & Artist. Thanks for taking the time to read my stuff. I write about art, creativity, business & marketing. When I’m not doing that I write short stories about the ordinary lives of people and the challenges they face. My stuff can be edgy, hard hitting, and sometimes controversial, but never contrived. If that’s your bag you can Sign-up To Sunday Letters Here.