Promoting yourself can be kind of tricky. Especially if you grew up in a family that taught you that you shouldn’t brag about yourself.
But promoting yourself or your creative business isn’t the same as bragging. It is simply marketing. And all businesses market themselves in one way or another don’t they?
But how do you talk about your work or your business without sounding like you are bragging?
First of all, you need to have a strong sense of who you are, what your business does to help people, solve problems or make life better. Having a mission statement will help you sort some of those things out. What is a mission statement? How do I get one? This article Why Your Creative Business Needs a Mission Statement is a good place to start.
A good mission statement not only summarizes what your company does, but how it does it, and why it does it. It defines who you are creatively and helps to develop your brand, which, in turn, lets your customer know what your business is all about. And knowing all of that makes talking about your business a whole lot easier.
Practice your elevator speech so that when someone asks you about your business you are prepared. Instead of stumbling or mumbling you’ll feel and sound confident and strong when you talk about your creative business. If you aren’t sure about what an elevator speech is, here is some help: Perfecting the Elevator Speech – Part 1 and Perfecting the Elevator Speech – Part 2 .
Practice, practice, practice. Practice your speech so that it sounds natural.
But what if you are just at a show? How do you break the ice and start talking to potential customers? 10 Craft Show Conversation Starters might just be the help you need. It isn’t always easy to talk to strangers and having a few questions (or even a cheat sheet of questions handy if you are timid or introverted) to break the ice will come in handy. Once you get started talking to people it will likely get easier.
Be sure to do your homework and prepare your mission statement, work on your elevator speech and practice talking about your business to family and friends. The more you work out who you are and what you do, the more you practice, the more comfortable and confident you will feel. Then when you get a chance to talk to someone who could really help your business with a loan, a wholesale order, or a partnership you’ll be ready to share information in a way that will impress.
By: Vicki O’Dell, The Creative Goddess
How do you promote yourself and your business?
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