So it’s New Year’s, and we are supposed to look back and look forward and all that. But we don’t always do that because—well, probably because we are supposed to, even though we really should, especially if we are running a business. So let me issue a New Year’s challenge.
Over the years, I’ve talked to lots of people who run creative businesses, and too many of them have this little black cloud hanging over their heads—you know, like Joe Btfsplk in the Li’l Abner cartoons (go on, look him up!). It’s a little black cloud full of sales calls not made, clients drifting away, a team that isn’t working well together, workflow that’s messed up, insurance stuff—that sort of thing. They try to ignore it, but it keeps getting bigger and darker. Over time, ignoring it gets to be harder, and so does dealing with it.
One of the major causes of those black clouds is the fact that creative businesses are not that keen on promoting themselves effectively. It seems they don’t really believe in it. In the commercial industry, we make our living by providing important parts of other people’s marketing programs, but do we market ourselves? Not a whole lot!
Coca-Cola, BMW, Unilever, McDonald’s—they all use marketing and they spend a lot of money on it. They wouldn’t do it if it didn’t work. They use TV spots, print ads, brochures, web sites and giveaways; they even make phone calls and take people to lunch. But too many people in our industry think that money spent on marketing themselves is money thrown away. If that’s what you think, ask Procter & Gamble or Britney Spears why they keep on doing it!
The truth is that half-baked and poorly thought out marketing is money thrown away. For example, running one vanity ad in the trades has as much chance of doing the job as throwing one message in a bottle into the ocean. And as for giving company T-shirts to your babysitter … well, what do you think?
What you do want from an effective marketing program is to tell your story—that focused, coherent story that you’ll spend so much time figuring out and crafting—efficiently, and to have that story reach the person who is going to respond to it and bring you some business. It could be that you’ll reach them with an ad, a holiday party, a phone call, a press report or a referral. It’s more than likely that a combination of several things will do the trick. If you don’t tell them what you can do for them, how will they know? And if you don’t tell them again, how will they remember?
Here we are in a brand new year, so why not deal with your cloud now? You don’t even have to do it all by yourself—in fact, maybe you shouldn’t. You started your business because you wanted to do your creative work. You probably even left some place where the business guy was driving you nuts, but as time passed, you began to realize that there’s a lot of business and management stuff that really does have to be taken care of. Now it’s all there, lurking in that cloud. Also, when you are busy doing your job inside an organization, you are not always in the best position to see the big picture. So there’s a lot to be said for bringing in an expert who’s objective and experienced, and who can ask the hard questions and give some fresh perspective and insight—someone who doesn’t just hear what they want to hear. (Come on, we’re all guilty of that, aren’t we? If we don’t like what we hear, we ignore it, right?)
If you don’t want to put a strategist or a marketing director on staff, you can use an outside accountant and a lawyer. Get some outside strategic and marketing help, too—it’ll make you look smart, and it’ll be another arrow in your quiver. These people won’t just help you figure out what needs to be done, they’ll help you put it into practice—or at least make sure that you do!
So that’s my New Year’s challenge—get a handle on what you do well and where your business should be headed. Craft your story and tell the world. Take the idea of getting some help seriously, and move forward to greater fame and fortune. You and your team can keep right on doing what you are good at. Get rid of that cloud and let business be fun again. And have a very happy New Year.
