055: Creative Branding Deep Dive

Starving Artist No More

Questions related to branding and marketing can often feel incredibly overwhelming for artists. The vast majority of creative entrepreneurs got into their line of work because they were passionate about the “creative” part of the “creative entrepreneur” label, not so much because they felt drawn to the “entrepreneur” part. But as I’ve said before on this podcast, the flow of work into your artistic business is directly related to the flow of marketing efforts out of your business. So even if you feel lost when you think about what it would take to effectively market your creative business, doing that marketing work is still something that is part of what it takes to build your creative business into a thriving enterprise that meets your needs. And I’m here to tell you that marketing and branding don’t have to be as scary as they seem. Your branding and marketing decisions can flow naturally out of who you are as an artist. Today, let’s take a deep dive into the topic of branding and marketing for your creative work.

In this episode, you will learn:

• How to consider the needs of the many different audiences for your creative business’s marketing materials.
• Why your branding decisions can inform the way that you approach in-person events.
• How to transition from “me” to “we” in your social media strategy.
• What questions will help you find the commonalities in your interests and passions that will serve as the basis for your branding decisions.
• How your social media is similar to a public living room in your house, and what that concept means for how you “show up” online.
• How to consciously allow your branding to evolve over time as you grow as an artist.

In this episode, I mention the upcoming Thriving Narrators Retreat, which will take place August 22-25, 2024 in Cincinnati, OH. (Gail Shalan, the guest for today's episode, will be a faculty member at this retreat.) You can learn more about this opportunity for audiobook narrators on my website, www.StarvingArtistNoMore.com/ThrivingNarratorsRetreat.

In this episode, I refer to two past episodes of this podcast:

• 026: Marketing for Feast, Not Famine
• 027: Networking for Feast, Not Famine

This episode includes an interview with multi-disciplinary artist Gail Shalan. You can learn more about Gail's work on her website and on her social media.

In our conversation, Gail shares a quote from the book Personal Branding for Dummies by Susan Chritton.

A full transcript of this episode can be found here. Full transcripts of every episode will always be available at the Starving Artist No More Blog.

Thank you for listening. Please feel free to reach out to me at www.StarvingArtistNoMore.com, with any questions, comments, or feedback. I'd love to hear from you.