22 Marketing Ideas for Creatives Who Hate Social Media
Here’s your permission to stop chasing the algorithm. The golden era of social media marketing is over.
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Are you a creative entrepreneur who’s tired of the social media race?
Good.
Now is the perfect time to find a different way to market your work.
And you’re not alone. Most artists and designers I know are tired of social media too.
“I’m tired of fighting for attention on TikTok. I should focus more on content but I already spend more time fighting the algorithm than I do actually making art. I need an easier way to market my work.”
You’ve already taken the first step: considering that marketing your work doesn’t have to include building a large social media following.
And you’re right.
Easier options exist because the golden age of social media marketing is behind us.
So let’s find you a better way.
Social Media Marketing Is So 2000s
Social media upended the marketing world in the 2000s. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram all built huge audiences by giving us new ways to connect with people. They enabled the rise of influencers to keep their audiences captive and make them receptive to advertising. And they gave companies a cheaper and easier way to advertise than they’d ever seen.
Advertising budgets shifted from TV, radio, print, and public display to social media. Tech founders got rich. Influencers got (less) rich. Consumers got…well…consumers kept consuming.
That started two decades ago. It might as well be ancient history in the tech and advertising world.
Social media marketing isn’t cheap or easy anymore—because of the exact pain you’re feeling right now.
Fierce Influencer Compeition
Competition for eyeballs among creators has become fierce. Look at the top influencers on every platform. How did they get there? Most used one or more of the following strategies, none of which will work for you.
They got in early before competition was fierce. You don’t have a time machine.
They brought a following from celebrity status built somewhere else. You’re probably not a celebrity yet or you wouldn’t be reading this.
They built a following by teaching people how to build a following. I could be cynical here but I’ll just say…that’s not expertise you have to sell right now.
Is this true for every large creator? No. Some were blessed by a viral moment. But even if that happens to you, and you suddenly gain a huge audience, the competition to keep it is intense. You have to invest even more time and money to maintain that top creator status.
Because now you’re competing with creators who produce content as a profession. The top “creators” on most platforms don’t actually create their content, at least not alone. Most lend their face to a professional production team they’ve hired to do it. That’s why we’ve seen a huge increase in the production quality of content over the last 20 years among top creators. And yes, that includes TikTok creators.
Plummeting Consumer Trust
Just because you have a large social media following doesn’t mean you automatically make money. Your followers have to buy something. Which leads us to another problem: consumers are much more savvy than we were in the 2000s.
We now know that these platforms were never really about connection. They exist to sell us stuff and nobody likes it. Dopamine keeps us scrolling anyway.
And social media is full of scams. I get dozens of scam offers every week and the volume is increasing. Scammer output (measured in weekly scams per scammer) might be the most visible productivity increase from AI.
So not only are influencers competing with one another for attention, with ever-increasing production budgets. The consumers they’re competing over trust them less and less. It’s harder to get people to buy anything. Cost is going up as the return on that investment is going down.
That’s a zero-sum game that you don’t want to play.
But That’s Not Your Business
Now here’s the good news.
You’re not in the content creation business anyway. You want to sell art, design, music, or whatever creative work you’re building a business around.
And now is a great time to build a creative business. Demand for what you offer—real human connection through your work—is booming. People are tired of fake. The frustration you feel with social media—is actually evidence that you’re needed.
So don’t be discouraged. You’re on the right track. You just have to find an alternative to social media that works for your business.
The Secret to Good Marketing
Good marketing happens in two broad steps.
First, you study your ideal buyers. Learn what they need and how they buy. You do this by talking to them, through a series of interviews called “customer discovery.” If you need help with customer discovery, I wrote about it a few weeks ago and provided a tool to guide you.
You can also download the customer discovery guide I provided in that article here:
Once you understand what your customer needs and how they buy, your job is simply to show up. Marketing is connecting your brand to their buying journey. Its showing up at the right time and place (digital or otherwise) when they’re making decisions that could lead to a purchase. And influencing them to move in your direction.
How that happens depends on you and your buyers. I can’t tell you the best way to market your work. The right marketing plan is unique to your business and your buyers. And it’s always evolving, through experimentation, as buyer needs and behaviors change over time.
But I can get you thinking beyond social media views and follows.
22 Marketing Ideas for Creative Businesses
Read through this list of alternative marketing ideas and see if it inspires you to come up with your own.
Social Media Shift
Shift the purpose of social media from gaining a mass following to building trust with one buyer at a time.
Search for buyers and connect in the comments. Spark their curiosity to engage with you.
Stop trying to beat the algorithm. Create simple content that tells your brand story to individual buyers who come looking at your profile.
Make it easy for buyers to reach out to you from your bio. Have a link to your website, an email address, or an invitation to message you there.
Marketing Partnerships
Outsource your marketing to other people in exchange for direct payment or a share of your revenue.
Partner with similar artists who are already successfully marketing to the same audience. Ask them to represent your work too.
Partner with businesses who provide complimentary products to the same audience. If you’re a sculptor, you might partner with a painter, for example.
Partner with businesses who influence buyers’ decisions about what to buy. Examples include interior designers or art curators for public spaces like hotels.
Sell in the Real World
Capitalize on the demand for real human connection by selling to buyers in person.
Sell at events designed to sell your type of work. Like art fairs.
Sell at events that provide other things your audience buys. If you sell art to people who also love heavy metal, sell your art at heavy metal concerts.
Sell your work in high traffic areas where your buyers go for recreation. Think pop up shops at sporting events, parks, or shopping districts.
Network Effects
Reward buyers who promote your work to others.
Give discounts to buyers who refer others to you.
Ask buyers to write a testimonial for you after they purchase.
Send personalized messages or gifts to buyers who give you referrals.
Create levels of rewards for different referral milestones.
Include a referral link in every email you send to your customers.
Existing Customer Base
Market first to buyers who already trust you and the experience you provided.
Create a customer email list for new release announcements.
Offer exclusive discounts for existing customers.
Offer discounts for bundled purchases or subscription models.
Build a community of customers and provide ways for them to connect with each other.
Combinations
Create combinations from the ideas above to find additional ways to market.
Partner with an established influencer on social media to represent your work in their content.
Schedule events for your most loyal customers as a reward. Ask them to bring friends.
Partner with complementary product sellers to host events.
Partner with established retailers in high traffic areas and create a shop within a shop.
If you found this useful, please repost or share it so other creative founders see it!
This Week
It’s hard to quit chasing the algorithm when you see creators bragging about how much money they make on social media. But that’s not the business you’re in.
This week, accept that content creation isn’t your business.
Selling your creative work is.
Pick one idea from above (or one that you came up with based on reading the list) and start experimenting with it.
You won’t learn how to beat the algorithm.
But you’ll start learning how to market to your customers.
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