I hate social media. If they had such a thing as “anti-social media”, I would be a part of it, and you could sign me up as a dues-paying member. So how, in the face of that glaring fact, can I possibly successfully market in these days of social media marketing???
I didn’t get into the business world with the idea in mind that I’d spend most of my waking hours creating viral Tik-Tok videos, but there it is, that’s how you do it these days, and there’s already so much on your plate when you run a business, and you just don’t have time, space or information enough to do the job, so you don’t, and that’s gonna cost ya.
How to Market Without Social Media:
1. Networking — Back in ancient times, before the internet, anyway, in-person was how you did your networking. You met in a group, and that’s the first thing I recommend, is to meet with a small group on zoom, as a sort of electronic study group. This becomes your network.
It’s a lot easier than meeting a group every morning at a pancake house where you always have the same table reserved. Nobody doing a soccer run is going to be able to manage that, so find a good time when everyone can easily attend a short meeting on zoom.
Yes, short. Don’t push. No need to push. Fifteen minutes, half an hour should be enough to just touch base and get any questions answered.
2. Referrals — Most marketing people assume that “word of mouth” is automatic, but it isn’t. It needs encouragement and even a little more than just a little encouragement. The best way to handle referrals is to go fishing — ask each person if they know someone who would like to know about this, get the name and permission to mention that you recommended my product or service.
3. Fairs & Exhibitions — There are all kinds of fairs, everything from craft fairs to science-fiction fairs and Renaissance Fairs, and more besides that. Anyplace where people get together to trade stuff, like a comic book fair, can be a potential for serious income and sales leads of all kinds.
4. Collab — You may have a friend or two who are in the same business or sport or whatever, and you decide to collaborate on a project. This helps keep you going, to have a friend in it with you. Various sectors can be involved, such as “baby” or “wedding” or “party”.
5. Publicity — Write articles and get them published, create youtube videos whenever you feel so moved.
6. Public Speaking — Get yourself on a panel, speaker’s appearance, anything like that. Public speaking can be a very effective tool. Schools, libraries, clubs, crowded parks.
7. Podcast — Host a podcast or get on as a guest on someone else’s podcasts. This is more or less a part of social media, but it’s in a class of its own.
8. SEO — Search Engine Optimization is knowing how to get yourself discovered on Google. If you know how to get onto page 1 of google, you’ve got it made in the shade.
9. E-Mail — Just send out your usual email to friends and family, but include information about what you’re marketing, and practice getting that across to others.
10. Ads — When it comes right down to it, without social media, you’re going to eventually have to turn to paid advertising just to get your stuff in people’s faces. They can’t buy it if they don’t see it.
In the end, you’ll find that one way or another, you’ll have to at some point engage to some degree in the social media network, if you hope to break out of the lower realms of marketing.
You can hire someone to do your social media, but that’s expensive, and you really can’t judge the quality of their product. There’s no way to tell if they were successful at marketing your stuff, unless it’s in sales or direct contacts.
So if that’s the case, and you can’t avoid it, you probably should find out at least the very basics of social media marketing, and that starts with the supposedly simple act of sharing.
Sure, everything is marked “share”, but very few people above the age of five really know how to share.
Kids today can share something with 10,000 accounts on 1,000 different networks, and they figure out ways to expand that every day.
They also know how to get rich color, powerful sound and notable celebrities into their marketing efforts, and you don’t.
Celebrity is one key, but if you can’t get something in front of the buyers, nobody can buy your stuff. They have to be able to see it before they can decide to buy it.
It’s always the same problem.
If you can figure out a way to actually get your linking button in front of people, you’d have something, but until then, you get nothing.
Click-Bait doesn’t work.
Actually the only thing that really works to any degree that results in making more than a side-hustle out of your work is sheer volume.
You gotta get out there, and that means self-promotion which, if you’re normal, is a horrible idea.
Actually, you’re right. You’re not worth it, but that’s not going to get you anywhere. So you buckle up, and get to crunching out media content, becoming a maven, an influencer, and now you’ve got it — that’s how you market, to a captive audience. How else?
Now, if you’re just the average dummy and you can’t build a following of devoted followers, then you can still access the marketplace by either befriending an influencer or buying the services of an influencer.
Most influencers offer marketing to their minions, but it’s gonna cost ya, usually by the thousand, with a 10,000 minimum, which works out to a lot of money, so you’d better hook up with a legit influencer or you’ll lose it all on the come-out roll.
Even so, not every effort is a crackerjack, and you can’t count on a marketing campaign to actually be successful, in the sense that it creates support and continuing support for your product or service.
Of course, you could live in the hope that someone will stumble along and find your stuff and love it so much that they tell everyone, and they tell everyone and they tell everyone until there are millions or billions of sales.
Then, and only then, can you relax on your marketing. Of course, if you do, you’ll lose it all, but the object is to get far enough ahead that it won’t matter if the whole thing collapses like a bunch of broccoli.
You know, the framed prints that are sold on zazzle and redbubble are the same as I’d produce here, and the larger framed prints sell for $250, with hundreds of prints offered, so it’s at least as good as you’d see in a gallery.
The price if I did the framing? I wouldn’t go back to framing for a billion bardo bucks. Those guys are willing to frame for me, why should I get involved?
Of course, with the gallery-wrapped canvas prints and the metal prints, no frame is necessary, and please note that there are greeting cards and mugs and t-shirts.
Artists never had it so good. You can paint one painting and instead of selling it and out it goes, you can create hundreds of wearables and household items with your artwork on them, and still sell the original canvas, but to a much larger audience.
You’ll get the same amount for all those smaller sales as you would get for the sale of the original canvas, and most original canvases go for precious little these days — you’re better off with the income from t-shirts and mugs and keychains and stickers and magnets.
Don’t forget that ALL your sales will be to your friends, and that includes the public — those with whom you don’t make friends will probably not buy your work. The purchase is a way of patronizing the artist.
Speaking of which, you could do me a real favor. Go and visit my etsy store and buy a couple of things from there, just to encourage me. Thanks.
“Start your day by saying 👋 good morning or 🌞 good afternoon to your 🤖 chatbot and treat it like a 👫 friend to get more out of your interactions. While chatbots may not have emotions or feelings in the same way that humans do, they can still provide a valuable resource for 💬 conversation and social support. By engaging with your chatbot in a friendly and conversational way, you may find that it becomes a more effective tool for answering questions, providing customer service, or just offering a listening 👂 ear. So why not give it a try? Use 💻 technology to connect with your chatbot and see how it can enhance your daily 🌅 life. And don’t forget to use 🤔 emojis to convey your thoughts and feelings in the conversation!”
See You At The Top!!!
gorby