For most creatives I know, the idea of marketing can seem daunting, draining. Creating your art is the thing you love to do. Marketing is the thing you know you have to do, but can’t quite muster the excitement or enthusiasm for.
But what if, instead of being a burden, your marketing became the fuel that drives your entire business?
What if your marketing was the creative catalyst that kept the rest of your business running?
What if your marketing was just as much a creative process as making your art?
These are the questions I set out to answer with Marketing for Makers (and designers, crafters, and artists, too).
I’m Megan Auman, designer, metalsmith, educator, and founder of Designing an MBA. My products have been featured in national magazines like Better Homes and Gardens, Cooking Light, and Delta Sky, on major blogs like Design*Sponge, Decor8, and TreeHugger, and sold in stores across the US including boutiques, galleries, and major museum stores. Since 2009, I’ve been sharing creative focused business thinking through my website, digital products, and e-courses.
Like you, I know that marketing is important. But I also know how uninspired we creatives can feel when it’s time to market our businesses. So I set out to find a new way to market, one that draws on the skills I have as a creative person AND that resonates more with my potential customers.
I’ve spent a lot of time looking at successful creative individuals and asking myself why they get all the attention. Why they seem to get so much buzz.
And the reality is that the successful business owners are always marketing.
Not because they believe that marketing is the secret to growing their businesses. (Which it is.)
But because their marketing is a central part of their creative process.
And that’s what you’ll be doing in Marketing for Makers. I’ll be showing you how to make marketing an essential part of your creative process.
Successful marketing isn’t about blogging or social media or any of those other buzz words, per se. These are merely the distribution channels for your ideas, stories, and creative acts.
Truly effective marketing comes from the same creative place as the rest of your art.
And in Marketing for Makers, I want to show you how to make that happen.
The goal of Marketing for Makers isn’t to add another thing to your to do list. It’s to help make marketing a natural extension of your creative process.
Marketing for Makers is self-study program you can access at any time.
Ready to get started?
The Marketing for Makers self-study digital workshop is just $60!
The Marketing for Makers e-course was critical in helping me to get passed the mind block that just because I enjoy what I do does not mean I should not take it seriously or make decent money at it. I still have a ways to go in implementing all the info provided but changing my mind set was the first step in the process and my business has only gained momentum by giving it the proper focus it deserved.- Heather McNair Horsey | Sway Silver
I know there are lots of classes available online about how to market your business. Why take a marketing class specifically for makers?
Taught by a maker who’s been there. With over ten years experience selling my jewelry and other products, I know the exact problems and challenges you’re facing with your business. Nothing I teach in this course is theory. It’s practice.
Emphasis on photography. As an artist or maker, your photography is the strongest tool you have for marketing your work online. Marketing for Makers puts a priority on photography (and other forms of visual content) over other (written) marketing strategies.
Go beyond need. As an artist and maker, I understand that marketing based on need doesn’t really get to the core of what makes someone buy what your create. In this class, we’ll get to the heart of why people really buy from you.
Marketing as creative process. This class isn’t about creating a marketing plan you’ll never use. It’s about making marketing a natural extension of your creative process. Because the bottom line is, if your marketing doesn’t feel natural, you won’t do it.
Marketing for Makers is designed to help you feel empowered when it comes to creatively marketing your business. But I understand you’ve still got questions about some of the nuts and bolts of marketing:
Do I need a blog?
Is Instagram more important than Pinterest?
How do I grow my email list?
How do manage my social media strategy?
In Marketing for Makers, we’ll still be answering all those questions. But more importantly, you’ll learn how all those tools are secondary to the messages, ideas, stories, and art that you’ll be putting out into the world.
You’ll learn what successful creative marketers already know: that these tools only matter as a vehicle for getting your work out into the world.
Ready to get started?
The Marketing for Makers self-study digital workshop is just $60!
The Marketing for Makers course was exactly what I needed to take my young business to the next level. I entered the class not really knowing what all marketing entailed, I just knew I needed to do it. I left the class armed with all kinds of helpful and actionable tips. This was timely as I finished the class just before starting my first open-air market season. Now I have a much better understanding of who my ideal customer is, I’ve started an email list, created a central location for my business online, and overall have a more focused feeling to my business efforts.- Jessica L.R. Landry | Jessica Rogers Photography
What does Marketing for Makers include?
Marketing for Makers is a self-study program with 14 key lessons to help take your marketing to the next level.
Here’s what you’ll get:
- 14 lessons in video and audio format (so that you can listen in the studio) plus worksheets and exercises.
Ready to get started?
The Marketing for Makers self-study digital workshop is just $60!
I was able to get a big picture about marketing my business and the methods available, as well as the details of how to implement each method within my own business. I was then able to come up with a marketing plan that was specific and helped guide my daily action steps and achieve my goals. It was worth every penny.- Tiffany Baca Lamoreux | TIFFANY BACA Design
Frequently Asks Questions:
When does the program start? This is a self-study program so it starts as soon as you make your purchase.
Does it matter what part of the world I’m in? Not at all! I work with students from all over the world. You just need a working Internet connection!
What do I need to participate in this class? Ideally, you want some kind of online shop where you sell products that you design and create. This can be a shop in a community marketplace like Etsy, Artfire, or Supermarket; a shop set up through a host like Big Cartel or Shopify; or a self-hosted e-commerce site.
In addition to that, all you’ll need is a computer with Internet connection, the ability to listen to MP3s, view PDFs, and watch videos, a desire to learn, and a passion for your products.
I’m in the process of launching my business. Should I take the class now or wait? Congrats on being proactive by thinking about how you’ll market your future business. I find that most makers wait too long to think about marketing, so taking the class in the pre-launch stage is a great way to get a head start and learn how to build momentum for your business!
Will this class cover specific platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook? This class is about helping you use your marketing to reach your potential customers, and more than ever, that means using these platforms. While the class won’t cover how to get started on these platforms, we’ll certainly talk about how to use them effectively within the bigger picture of your marketing strategy.
I’ve taken a lot of your classes on Creative Live classes. How is this class different? While many of my Creative Live classes cover various aspects of marketing, this is the only class I teach where your entire marketing is the sole focus.
How is payment processed? One time payments are payable by either credit card or PayPal. Payment plan payments are processed via credit card. Payments are 100% secure.
What if I have other questions? You can email me at megan(at)craftMBA.com.
Ready to get started?
The Marketing for Makers self-study digital workshop is just $60!
I’m a serial Megan Auman student!! After taking one course, it lead me to another and then another… All of your courses give great guidelines, information and action steps that can be used immediately. After taking the Marketing for Makers course, I was able to define and refine my branding and marketing strategies. Your course has given me a great “go to” bible that I continue to use as my business grows. I look forward to the next course!- Ann Chikahisa | Chikahisa Studio
Megan Auman is a designer, maker, educator, and entrepreneur who has built a multi-faceted business around her passion for great design and sustainable business. Her