Online Marketing Tool Kit for Creatives

The Tools 

Organization
Before you begin online, set up an organizational structure
Create and label separate folders for images and content
Sketch the layout for your website, every page, menus, drop downs etc. 
Use spreadsheets for making lists, email contacts, recording and documenting your work
Create your branding package

Hootsuite – Hootsuite is a gift from the internet god. HS allows you to synchronize your web presence. One article, image, snippet; set the sites where you will post; schedule delivery time and date; and get back to the studio. Once you are organized and get the hang of it, your internet work can be reduced to less than an hour per week.

Hub Spot – You can’t set up an online business and expect it to be successful without knowing something about those strange acronyms – ROI, CRO, SEO, SEM. Make it easy on yourself, let the experts at Hub Spot walk you through it.

Camera –Buy the best camera you can afford. Learn the settings.

Photo editing software - Invest in PhotoShop

Website
A website gives you complete control over content and images. 
The freebies – Weebly, Wix, specifically constructed Wordpress and Blogger pages offer the least control, but more control than social media sites
Always purchase your domain name
There are several web site hosts offering sites designed for visual artists like Icompendium, this is a second step
You gain the most control when you have an independent web site on an independent web site server for instance BlueHost 

Email contact host - Mail Chimp, Constant Contact, lots of others, Google it

Social Media Sites – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, etc.
Set up a business page
Use HootSuite to synchronize and schedule your posts
Use consistent branding on all of your social media sites
Join groups. This is where posts get the most exposure
Build your audience - friend, connect, G+ anyone in your social media groups who comments on your posts  

Online Portfolio Sites
Google “online art portfolio site” – Saatchi, Fine Art America, Behance too many to list

Online Stores (different topic than selling your work in your own online store)
In order of my preference: Artful Home, Big Cartel, Artfire, Etsy, too many more to mention all of them
Selling your work in an online store should be in addition to, not in lieu of, your web site

Public Relations, Press Releases and Media Packages
Still important both for online and hard copy media

Tags, keywords, Meta tags
You need to know how to use them effectively, Hub Spot can help or Google them
Tag all of your work

Quality
Lay out, design, branding, images and content should be the highest quality you’re capable of
Review spelling and grammar and check links

Pricing Tiers
For hand produced work, I no longer believe in the old marketing theory of offering a variety of price points. This is what happens. Makers wind up spending an inordinate amount of time manufacturing (because this is no longer creating) small works at low prices and get stuck in that market. Do the research and the work to develop a market for your best work.

Paid Advertising
Spend the money 
For example:  an online home and lifestyle publication for the 20 to 40 year old demographic sells thumbnail ads beginning at $200 a week. The monthly reach is 1.5 million readers. Six months to a year of consistent ad buying on this site should you get you up and running on your sales.

Added benefit, paid advertising often leads to editorial features.

Notes: 
Leave a comment and let me know how your sales are going.

(In September and October, I will expand on each item in the tool kit, in addition to posting about the new Industrial Revolution – Making, Technology and Manufacturing.)

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