the opportunity when you can. It’s more about having a representative selection of great, well lit shots than having dozens of moderately good ones.
If video is appropriate, for instance to capture the excitement of a piece being made or performed, or to explain a unique process, then find a way of getting the video too. And don’t forget to put it on your website or blog.
Whenever someone says something positive about what you do, capture it – write it down, record it, video it – whatever you need to capture it for posterity. Collect press cuttings, and don’t be afraid to ask for quotes and testimonials. If people like you and your work they will give these freely.
Superb communications
Think about a business or individual that has really impressed you recently. The chances are that a large part of the impression they have made on you comes down to the quality of the dialogue you have had with them. Politeness, patience, promptness of response. Did they listen carefully to your request, and answer the question you posed, rather than trotting out a carefully rehearsed corporate pitch? Great communications differentiate a great business from a merely good one.
Talk to your competitors – they might actually be your allies
I’m always amazed by how cagey people are about their perceived competitors. Scared I guess that others will grab their share of the market. To use an analogy – if you are shopping for shoes, where would you rather go? To a local village with one shoe shop, or to a city where you know there are many shoe shops within striking distance of each other?
Big retailers use this clustering phenomenon to their advantage. The lesson to be learned here is one of differentiation. If your work stands out you will have nothing to fear from being in proximity to, or even working with, your competitors.
Find the gatekeepers and befriend them
People who run small businesses find themselves being encouraged to network all the time. That’s fine, but you can spend a lot of time talking to people who have also gone to the networking event to sell, not buy. Also, very few of us are natural networkers – it can be an uncomfortable and unrewarding activity. By far the best strategy is to take time doing a bit of forensic research to work out who the gatekeepers really are. By gatekeepers I mean people who have influence or decision making power, and who probably already know all the other contacts you are trying to find.
Find the gatekeepers and expend your efforts on building a relationship with them – preferably in advance of asking them for their advice or help. Build on any common ground you find. Then show your hand and ask for the help you need. I can’t stress enough that success depends on building first class relationships with people.
Get some feedback
One of the very first things to do is to get a thorough appraisal of your work – from as many viewpoints as possible. If you are a student, you will be used to hearing the views of your peers and tutors. This is not the same thing, I’m afraid, as bravely putting your work in front of potential customers out in the real world. Don’t rely on Ma, Pa, mate or partner to tell you whether your output cuts the mustard. You need to know the ugly truth.
Without that feedback, you don’t get the information you need to fine tune your creative output to the needs of the marketplace.
It’s often a good idea to test the water in small ways first. By that I mean trying to sell some of your products before formally committing to starting a business. Start by talking to family and friends – do a bit of ‘mates’ marketing. Let them know what you are trying to do. See if there are any social opportunities for you to show your work to people and give them the opportunity to buy it. You can also try things like approaching local traders or even going to local community fairs just to engage with a lot more people and see if they are interested enough in the things that you make or do to buy them.
Geography and critical mass
Geography is a critical factor. Where do you want to live and work? It’s worth opening up a large scale map of your region and thinking about the following things:
How many cities and towns – large population centres – are within striking distance? List them. Draw a circle on the map that delineates a comfortable travelling distance – to visit retailers to encourage them to take your work and later, to deliver stock to them. Do some research. How many shops and other potential outlets are there within your chosen area? In marketing terms, is there a big enough slice of your target market close enough to you so that you can both make and sell effectively in the time you have available?
If you are going to supplement your making with teaching or workshopping, you need to think about all the places that might be available to you for that portion of income too.
Baby steps
The appeal of starting out small and growing in small increments is that you lessen the risk. The truth of the matter is that it’s a minority who make a full time living straight away, and those who do tend to be mature businesses that have been building up turnover over a number of years.
By building the business up over time it lessens the need for huge amounts of startup capital, and allows you to make informed decisions about when to move to the next stage.
A lot of people dive straight into starting a small business and invest large sums of money on equipment, stocks of materials, perhaps even renting studio or retail premises before they have really tested the market. It’s a worrying statistic, but around a third of small businesses fail within the first three years. This happens for a number of reasons – usually because people fail to check out the actual demand for their product before they start the business in the first place, or because they don’t take account of the real costs of running the business and the cash-flow difficulties those costs can create.
Take advice – and then some more – and then again
Use experts in areas where you are clearly not expert yourself. In areas such as taxation, book-keeping and accountancy, it’s very easy to think that by doing your own tax returns, self assessment etc., that you will somehow save yourself loads of money. The truth is, an accountant will spot everything you can legitimately claim, and will save you much more than the cost of their fee each year. A good book-keeper will also save you money by presenting your finances in a format that your accountant will find easy to read and interpret. The less time it takes for your accountant to read your accounts, the less you will have to pay them.
Don’ t be afraid of the taxman
For some reason, people develop a huge fear of dealing with the tax office. I have to say, in my experience, they generally bend over backwards to be helpful, as long as you play by the rules. Most tax offices run advice sessions, surgeries and workshops for start-ups. The tax office websites are very helpful, with loads of advice on what to do at each stage of getting started, in relation to tax and national insurance.
Tackle problems early
Lastly, if you run into difficulties, ask for help. Struggling away on your own might feel heroic, but it seldom solves the problem. A bit of timely advice can work wonders – and often others can think of solutions that you have missed. And if the situation is bad, a bit of moral support goes a long way.
Nurturing Relationships
It’s all about relationships. Everything. All your marketing efforts boil down to one thing - getting warm human beings to say ‘yes’ to your proposition. And it’s these relationships, once built, that will sustain you through good times and bad.
People buy from people. People buy when they sense there’s a shared value system, or shared world view, or a shared aesthetic. In short, when they feel they have something