When creatives often hear “Marketing Strategy” their mind immediately jumps to social media, paid ads, cold calling. What a lot of creatives don’t know is it actually can be way simpler than that. For creatives, the best marketing strategy is the simplest one, just show your work. Here are a few easy ways to turn consistency into a strategy that attracts future clients.
Why Showing Your Work Works
People hire interior designers, home organizers, photographers, artists, painters, and even wedding planners because of what they see. By sharing your work in a well organized and visual way, you will build trust and position yourself as a professional.
Ways To Show Your Work:
- Home Organizers: Show a before and after closet makeover
- Interior Designers: Explain the client process, visually, of designing a Chef’s kitchen
- Wedding Planner: Write an article featuring one of your favorite couples, explaining their dream wedding and how you brought that to life.
What to Share
Our favorite exercise with our clients is to think through their Pillar Content. Pillar content is roughly 3-5 topics based on the client’s niche or speciality that we feel their target audience would be most interested in. This is also a very easy way to organize or group what it is you would like to share.
Over the next day or two, we challenge you to look at your competitors or mentors in your industry. See what they are posting on social media, what they are writing about, and how their work is displayed. By working through this exercise, you will be able to identify some key topics or questions your ideal audience may have.
An example of how this exercise may play out is maybe you are a newborn photographer. You notice that mom-to-bes are asking how long a shoot will take. This would be a great opportunity to show some Behind-the-Scenes work, like your tools and process. You may even have a few images of you showing how you pose a newborn during a session.
Here are a few pillar content ideas you can start with:
- Finished projects (interior rooms, art pieces, organized spaces).
- Behind-the-scenes (your tools, sketches, process).
- Client stories or testimonials paired with visuals.
- Small wins (even personal projects or practice pieces).
We recommend either writing in a notebook or creating folders on your desktop of the different pillar content groups and jotting down what of your work will go best under that pillar. This is a great way to see how much you have to play with and if you want more of something. You may have a ton of client stories, but maybe some of those could also fall under finished projects.
Where to Share & How To Stay Consistent Without Burnout
Now that you know what work you would like to display and you know what pillar content you need to reach your audience, you can start thinking about where to share your work. There are several options that you can try. We recommend you start with one channel. The reason is its easy to get overwhelmed and wanting to share your work on every social media platform, sink money into email marketing AND post on your website 5 times a week. Time is your most valuable asset, don’t waste spinning your wheels on channels that may or may not work for you or your audience. It will take time to see what works well for you and what doesn’t. Start with your favorite channel. If you love to write, start a blog, and dedicate 30 minutes a week to writing at least 1 article. If you enjoy Instagram, share your favorite work on there 3x a week. The cadence needs to be what is manageable and authentic to you.
Here are some channels you can get started with:
- Instagram (visual platform, perfect for photos and reels).
- Pinterest (great for long-term visibility).
- Your website/blog (portfolio that works 24/7).
- Email newsletter (send a quick monthly “project spotlight”).
Conclusion
Remember, marketing strategies do not need to be complicated. The simplest and easiest way to get started is to show your work consistently. We would love for you to share one photo or a link to your portfolio with us. We would love to provide feedback or help you with a template to better display your work.
