Where to sell your creative gifts.

Awesome, you’ve created something.

Man, you’d really like someone to buy this thing wouldn’t you.

Well lets just sit here and people will turn up and buy it. Right?

No. You know this, I know this, but people don’t just buy whatever it is you’re making, you have to work for it.

And after over a decade of hiring creatives and being one myself, I know that selling ourselves is a rare skill that most of us shy away from.

Now, I’ll break down full marketing and sales strategies in other content, because to be honest, I actually love that side of it, but for now as a creative, I just want to share a line of thought that’s helped me dramatically.

That is the big question, “where do I sell this”

Im assuming that firstly, you have something that you’ve created or can create that adds value to people. (Knowing how your creative work adds value by the way is another superpower to you getting paid to do what you love).

Now this might be a service, or a physical product, or even some tech or information based product. It works for anything.

The first step to the Where is question, is Who is going to buy this?

By that I mean, who is the person that is going to pay for your creative work?

I used to freaking hate this stuff, Im telling you now. In fact if you mention buyer personas to me I’ll generally gag. Oh, Its Sarah, she’s a white 26 yo with a small dog who lives in a Northern Suburbs 2 bedroom apartment with a degree is communication. Blah,

But, what Im going say hurts me a little bit, and that is, you should kind of know the type of person who is buying this thing.

Look, stay general with it. One of the least sexy photography products my agency does is corporate headshots. To make it worth while, we typically lock out full days and try and shoot as many people as we can at once, up to about 50 per day. So I know I’m looking for companies, typically in the city, that have 100+ employees, in a corporate setting. I find its mostly finance, medical, investment or real estate groups. And mostly there’s one decision make for this who’s like a head of marketing or brand.

Most of these I find on Linkedin, cause these people spend a lot of time there trying to recruit professionals 30-50+ years old, or I find these as associations to my other clients, such as, my real estate clients, know finance guys.

And listen, this might not always be the most obvious group of people, and it definitely doesn’t always have to be “your people”.

Lets go something completely different, lets say you design and build Custom Motorcycles. You think awesome, where and what do people who like motorcycles do? Great questions, maybe they’re the same clients as tattooists, as breweries, rock concerts. And culturally yeah you might be aligned,

But, I’ll put money that the tatted up dude smashing beers of a Saturday afternoon at the pub watching the footy isn’t going to be the dude buying a custom motorcycle.

Do you know who might be more so, the fucken 48 year old finance guy I just did headshots for because he’s worked his butt and now has disposable income to treat himself and go for roads on a Sunday while the kids do their sports days.

Or you know, me, an agency owner, an entrepreneur, something who values creativity and craftsmanship.

But the bottom line is, if you want people to pay for your shit, be realistic about who can afford your shit and who is more likely to actually pay for it. Don’t be idealistic, be realistic.

People who buy art go to a lot of social events, cause they seek status and recognition.

People who buy video products generally spend a lot of time of social media cause that’s what they see and want that same attention.

People who buy furniture and interior design are likely on pinterest.

Identify the person who is going to buy. Find where they’re at. Be your own algorithm and think about their interests and life, and go to where they are.

Making this change in my business made a massive difference to our work and sales. Its also a fun exercise and helps align what you make to the value you provide. If it works, awesome, I’m not saying you’ll nail it, but imagine if it worked.

Keep creating. And think about where that creation is going.