The Beginner’s Ultra Guide to Making Money Online
Part #3
Selling Arts & Multimedia
Tasos Perte Tzortzis
Business Organisation & Administration, Marketing Consultant, Creator of the "7 Ideals" Methodology
Although doing traditional business offline since 1992, I fell in love with online marketing in late 2014 and have helped hundreds of brands sell more of their products and services. Founder of WebMarketSupport, Muvimag, Summer Dream.
Reading, arts, science, chess, coffee, tea, swimming, Audi, and family comes first.
Selling Arts & Multimedia
We already mentioned Freelancing as a route to take advantage of your artistic skills and make money using freelancing and virtual assistant platforms or your own website. Now I want to emphasize the latter approach and other monetization methods to offer you another point of view and more opportunities.
There are various ways to make money selling arts & multimedia and in this guide, we’ll be examining these monetization options:
- Freelancer (already analyzed) – guide
- Virtual Assistant (already analyzed) – guide
- Marketplaces
- Communities, forums, job boards, groups
- Careers
- Social Media
- Hosting courses
- Creating a website – full guide here
- With or without a website (pay per click marketing, seminars, training, consulting, coaching, speaking, live events, business pages)
- Video marketing & Vlogging
- Podcasting
- Guerilla marketing
In this part we’ll be exploring skills like:
- Web design (website creation, landing pages, brochures, digital advertising material, magazines, vectors & illustrations, icons, fonts, apps, logos, 3d graphics, digital painting, photoshop, book illustration…)
- Videos (production, editing, animation, rendering…)
- Music, Audio (production, editing, mastering…)
- Painting
- Drawing
- Cartoons/comics, anime/manga
- Photography
- Handmade products
You can set yourself apart from the high competition on the Freelancing websites by creating a website on your own. More on the creation of a website in the last part of this guide.
As an artist, you have a competitive advantage, because art can be sold at very high prices when you establish an authority brand name in the marketplace.
How To Get Started
Create a portfolio
Create a strong portfolio (samples) of your work. Be generous at this point and include various pieces of your work, create a gallery that shows who you are and your style. This gallery will be published on your own website so that people visiting it will immediately understand what to expect from you.
Example #1:
You’re a photographer. In this case, you already have hundreds or thousands of photos in your archive. Select 20-50 photos and create a few portfolio pages.
Create a dedicated page to give away free material once per week (2-3 or even 10 photos). Visitors will have to sign up with their email addresses in order to download the material.
Every 2 weeks send emails promoting a premium collection of photos.
This is what PicJumbo does and is a huge success. The site receives millions of visits per month. Thousands of people download photos for free but there are also fans of the site that purchase the premium collections as well.
Example #2:
You’re a musician and music producer. You already have produced dozens of music songs, projects, intros, or music parts that need to be finalized.
Create a few portfolio pages and include 2-3 complete but short songs that people can download immediately by giving away their email addresses.
Every week send an email to give away 1 new song (not a complete project though, just a part of it, 1 up to 2 minutes will do the trick). People will have the right to use the project however they like but a part of the song will be kept hidden and will be included in the premium part of your site.
All the songs you create will be added to your premium collections. You only give away 1 song (part of it) once a week.
This is what MusicForMakers does and is a huge success.
Freelancer and Virtual Assistant
Next Steps
The next steps would be working as a freelancer and virtual assistant. For that matter, I refer you to the Freelancing part of this guide.
Freelancer and Virtual Assistant
MarketPlaces
Join Marketplaces
Join marketplaces related to your niche. There are marketplaces for all kinds of artists and you can take advantage of that to boost your visibility instantly.
The majority of marketplaces will charge you fees per sale but these sites receive massive traffic, therefore it’s crucial for you to join and showcase your work.
Buyers from all over the world visit those networks on a daily basis so you have a chance to get noticed
Insense
Slogan: Find creators and generate custom content.
About: Insense is a creative platform that helps brands to get custom creative assets, and to run influencer campaigns at scale.
Advertisers can source creators who are a good match for their brand or message, whether it’s a broad category or a more niche interest. Creators on Insense are all verified by the moderation team, ensuring that their accounts and followers are real and that they are safe for brands to work with.
Over 5000 creator-to-brand connections made. Over 35K creators are already on board
How it works for brands: Create your brief, collect responses, chat with creators, get content, amplify content
How it works for creators: you sign up and your account is moderated, get an offer from a brand, create content, get paid immediately
Categories:
- Videos, video editing, and mobile videos
- GIFs, motion graphics
- Photos
- Design
There’s a mobile app you can use, case studies to explore how other brands and creators collaborated successfully, which types of campaigns they created, and so on. Also, you’ll find useful advice via the blog and the FAQ page.
There’s a 14-day trial period.
Etsy
Slogan: The global marketplace for vintage and handmade items. If it’s handcrafted, vintage, custom, or unique, it’s on Etsy.
About: The platform empowers sellers to do what they love and helps buyers find what they love. With low fees, powerful tools, and support and education, they help creative entrepreneurs start, manage, and scale their businesses. More than 33 million buyers around the world shop on this platform.
Categories:
- Jewelry & accessories
- Clothing & shoes
- Home & living
- Wedding & party
- Toys & entertainment
- Art & collectibles
- Craft supplies & tools
- Vintage
You can sell your own goods, all it takes is $0.20 to get started with a listing. You only pay transaction and payment processing fees when you make a sale.
There’s a management system in place, marketing tools, and support. There are forums and a tech team to help you.
Creative Market
Slogan: Learn, share, and connect with a community of like-minded creators. A platform for handcrafted design content from independent creatives around the world.
Categories:
- Photos
- Graphics
- Templates
- Themes
- Fonts
- Add-ons
- 3D
In this marketplace, graphic designers all around the globe are opening their private shops presenting their work. You can list your design bundles and projects for a price. Additionally, you have the opportunity to connect directly with other freelancers and entrepreneurs, discuss and interact with them.
You grant around 70% commissions of the sales setting your own prices, although you have to keep in mind the competition’s prices. You can update your shop with new artwork whenever you want and your products go live instantly. There are tracking tools to analyze traffic to your shop and a messaging system to stay connected with buyers. The market will deliver your products instantly.
A nice trick to attract buyers to your shop is to create and offer for Free some mini projects. Not only you extend your reach but you give your potential buyers the chance to test your work for Free. Imagine what will happen if they stay satisfied. They will buy the next time and they will share your brand’s name with their network
You are giving a small part of your work for free in exchange for popularity.
This is the modern era of things and you should play by the rules. Along with your premium offers, do include some free offers. This will make a huge difference and get your brand name recognized faster.
Therefore you can connect with other designers, companies, and buyers inside the Creative Market website. There is an option to follow people and create a small private network.
Moreover, Creative Market runs a separate blog and there is a forum full of discussions and topics.
Envato Market
Slogan: The leading marketplace for creative assets and creative people. Millions of people choose our marketplace, studio and courses to buy files, hire freelancers, or learn the skills needed to build websites, videos, apps, graphics, and more.
Departments:
EnvatoMarket : Browse 9+ million digital assets- EnvatoStudio: Hire designers and developers
- EnvatoTuts: Learn with tutorials and courses
EnvatoSites : Launch simple websites, no code required- EnvatoElements: Download 400,000+ creative assets
- Forum
- Blog
- Community Meetups
- Careers
Categories:
- ThemeForest: themes and templates for WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Magento, landing pages and more.
- CodeCanyon: Sliders, plugins, scripts, and code for WordPress, PHP, Javascript, HTML5, Bootstrap, iOS, Android.
- VideoHive: A huge range of stock footage, after effects, logos, intros, Apple motion, templates.
- AudioJungle: Music, sound effects for films, games, trailers, promos, podcasts, backgrounds.
- GraphicRiver: Flyers, resumes, logos, and banners, illustrations, icons, web elements, templates…
- PhotoDune: Royalty-free images of weddings, fashion, business, food, family, fitness, people, tech, travel…
- 3dOcean: Games, animations, models, textures, materials, base meshes, plugins.
As you can see, Envato is a huge place ideal for designers, web developers, music and video producers, animators, photographers.
You display your products, you have a chance to get hired as a freelancer, and you gain popularity, visibility, and recognition in the market.
Make sure you read the terms and licenses before you publish your artwork.
Finally, the career department offers flexible job positions.
DealJumbo
Slogan: Discount design bundles with extended license.
Categories:
- Creative and Unique Hand Drawn Fonts
- Presentation Kits
- Logos
- Typography
- Photograph packages: Vintage, Retro etc.
- Backgrounds & Shapes: Abstract, geometric
- Decorative Graphics
- Posters, Flyers
- Mock-Ups
- Textures
- Branding & Print Templates
- Effects
- Graphic elements: Icons, vectors, illustrations
You can become a vendor and sell your media.
Renderosity
An online art community operating since December 1998 and the name Renderosity was created and voted by the community of digital artists in October 1999. The graphics arts industry grew worldwide and a need for a medium of communication that could link this diverse and international group was born. Renderosity came to life to fill that need.
Their mission is to create a thriving, productive community that encourages an atmosphere of respect, collaboration, and growth for 3D & 2D digital artists, animators, photographers and writers of all backgrounds and levels.
Categories:
- Grabbed by the Ghoulies sale
- Music – Soundtracks – FX
- Poser software – Smith Micro
- Prime flash sale
- 3D models
- 2D
- 3D figure essentials
- Services – Rosity stuff
- Merchant resources
- Lights or cameras
- Game content – Games and apps
- Software
- Tutorials
- Gaming extended licenses
Join and reap the many benefits of being involved in a global marketplace which reaches half a million registered members, 250 new members daily and 330 million hits per month.
You can become a vendor and sell your media. As a vendor, you can set an exclusive status on some or all of your products. That means that these products will be sold only at Renderosity.
Moreover, you can add coupons and you can track the progress via a code that can be used on Google Analytics.
The Renderosity Marketplace welcomes products of all types, including but not limited to models, textures, props, morph targets animations, pose sets for existing models, software, and much more.
They charge no fees upfront and you pay nothing for membership or the ability to submit your products, have them tested and then released into the Marketplace. All it takes is a FREE membership signup and uploading your first creation!
They do payments both monthly and bi-monthly through a number of payment options. Those can be selected in your Vendor Details after sign-up.
You can have partnered products for sale on Renderosity. You can have up to 5 vendors on a single product and you add all of those participating vendors on your product when submitting it to the marketplace.
InkyDeals
Slogan: The best deals for digital design assets.
Since 2011 Inky is bringing the Black Friday Deals every day for creatives all around the world. InkyDeals was created from the desire to offer fellow designers (beginners and veterans alike) high-quality resources at unbeatable prices.
Inky is a lovable little blob who’s passionate about design and creativity. His daily routine involves searching for great deals with all the resources a creative professional may need.
Categories:
- Patterns, backgrounds, icons, vectors, illustrations
- Ribbons, Typography, Lightroom presets, Floral packs
- Css3 utilities, Html5 templates, Photoshop actions, Add-ons, Textures, Badges, Brushes, Buttons, Fonts, HTML, CSS courses, Mock-Ups
- Stock photos, PSD templates, UI Sets, Origamis, Tags, T-Shirt Designs, Vector Mascots
- Bundles, web design
- WordPress, Photoshop, eLearning
You can join hundreds of vendors already selling their digital products. Advantages for vendors:
- No upfront marketing costs
- Exposure to a large audience
- Extra marketing channel
- Test products really fast, get traction to products you launch
- They handle payments, refunds, affiliates, promotions on partner websites
What you get:
- Extra income without spending anything on marketing
- Customers
- Free website traffic
- Editorial features on their partners’ websites
Stats:
- Over 250,000 email subscribers
- 13,000 FB likes
- 5,000 Twitter followers
- More than 300 vendors
- Thousands of campaigns
How it Works:
After you submit your product, one of their colleagues will contact you to discuss if your deal fits their audience. Once everything is in place (agreements, terms & conditions) you start working on the promotion of your product.
They do the featured image, the copy for the deal description, they set up the systems so customers can access the product as fast as possible.
Once the promotion has started they start promoting your deals to maximize revenue and impact.
Once the promotion is over, after 2-4 weeks you get your payment via Paypal or bank transfer.
BigCartel
Slogan: Easy online stores for artists and makers. We make it simple to build a unique online store, sell your work, and run a creative business.
BigCartel is active since 2005. It’s built by artists for artists. It’s an independent organization, self-funded…They say “We are selling a handmade product. We are doing it in
There are 4 different plans to which you can subscribe. You can upgrade, downgrade or cancel anytime, a very convenient system. Another important factor is that they do not take a percentage of your sales. All the money is going into your bank account.
You can customize your store, the stores are SEO ready, they provide statistics and other promotional tools. You can search your full order history, view specific order details, print packing slips and track the shipped orders even with the free membership. Inventory tracking is only available with the premium packages.
They run a sister service application called Pulley with which you can sell digital products as well, along with the physical artwork. Digital art, music, images, fonts, videos or even e-books.
You can also use an i-phone app to accept order wherever you are. You can link the store with your Facebook fan page or with a website that you own. You can set discounts via promoted codes for enhanced promotions and marketing.
Departments:
- Blog
- Support
- Jobs/Opportunities
- Guides (various topics that can help you grow your business. Social media, video, fraud, t-shirts, wholesale, pricing, own domain, customer care, copyrights, taxes, packaging, shipping, store customization, product photography and finally marketing.
- Community
More MarketPlaces
Pond5: Videos, footage, music, after effects, sound effects, photos, illustrations, 3D models.
500px: Photography (abstract, animals, architecture, black & white, commercial, family, fashion, fine art, food, landscapes, macro, nature, people, sport, still life, street, transportation, travel, underwater, wedding)
Behance: Architecture, art direction, branding, fashion, graphic design, illustrations, industrial design, interaction design, motion graphics, photography, UI/UX, web design, cartooning, cinematography, crafts, drawing, films, graffiti, jewelry design, makeup arts, music, painting, retouching, sculpting, sound design, textile design, toy design, visual effects, web development
ArtPal: Paintings, prints, drawing, illustration, digital art, sculptures, carvings, ceramics, pottery, glass, jewelry, textile, apparel, crafts
Zibbet: Handmade, fine art, vintage, supplies, jewelry, home & living, kids, photography, weddings.
FineArtAmerica: Wall art, apparel, paintings, photos, drawings, digital art, home decor, phone cases, tech, lifestyle, stationery, beach products (towels, bags, pouches)
Yessy: Paintings, prints, photography, drawings, illustrations, computer & digital art, sculptures, carvings, ceramics, pottery, glass, jewelry, furniture, textile, apparel, antiques, collectibles, crafts
EmptyEasel: Paintings (oil, acrylic, watercolor), graphite, pencil art, pen & ink artwork, mixed-media art, fine art photography, sculpture, 3D art
Art: Framed art prints, framed mount, framed canvas, decor, fine art, photography, vintage art
CafePress: Gift shop – t-shirts, clothing, bags, buttons, stickers, magnets, cases, covers, baby blankets, home accessories, shower curtains, hats, jewelry, scarves, neckties, watches, posters, wallpapers
ArtFire: Indie supplies, vintage treasures, antiques, jewelry, weddings, clothing, accessories, children, home & living, crafts, tools
Society6: Art prints, canvas, metals, wall tapestries, wall clocks, stickers, bags, pillows, blankets, towels, mugs, phone cases, laptop skins, leggings, t-shirts, sleeves, tops, hoodies
Online Marketplaces
The Ultimate List
(Buy and Sell Products)
Join Communities/Forums/Job Boards/Groups
Join communities and forums related to your industry and participate. There are communities for example where photographers or video producers give away samples of their work for free in exchange for popularity. Many artists have acquired clients by using this giveaway method as potential clients took some samples for free, recognized their talent, and so they hired them.
Furthermore, there are communities where you can discuss with like-minded artists, spot fans and enthusiasts related to your niche, and make connections.
You can get ideas for your projects, get inspired, or even get hired. You can learn about marketing, sales, and how to monetize your online presence. You can read the news, get your projects critiqued, participate in contests and competitions, and get advertised.
If you want to get found, you have to make it happen
Design communities:
- WebDesignerDepot – Authors, jobs, deals, news
- Digital Point – Forum for designers, developers, and marketers
- DesignerHangout – a dedicated, invite-only network of UX designers and researchers who discuss trends, give advice, share stories, uncover insights, surface opportunities, and connect in-person.
- #Launch – a community of like-minded entrepreneurs, designers, developers, & makers.
- CoffeeCup – software and web design forums
- TeamSketch – a community for Sketch designers
WebDeveloper – a community for Web Developers- TheWebDesignForum – web design, development, software, hardware, business, marketing, networking
- TalkGraphics – web design, general graphics, resources, Xara
- GraphicDesignForum – general, inspiration, news, resources, typography, web design, illustrations, students, software, classified ads
- StackOverflow – over 50 million developers come to Stack Overflow to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers
HowDesign – news, inspiration, careers, business, tech & web, online learning, events, competitions, jobs, magazine- Graphic Design Forums – classifieds, graphic design, illustration, logos, brand identity, printing, print design, font, critiques, websites, SEO, social media, marketing, Adobe, software & hardware, photography, jobs & employment
- LaraChat – Chat and share with over 23,608 worldwide members. Live discussions. They’re building the biggest PHP virtual user group in the world
- WebDesignForums – website ratings & reviews, general, tutorials, Adobe, programming & development, web marketing, hosting and server setup, announcements, contests, premium, marketplace
- HTML Forums – lounge, web 2.0, technology, website review, development, multimedia, tutorials, server administration, freebies, advertising, links, sales, website content for sale, security, promotion & commerce, legal issues, announcements, feedback, spam box.
- SitePointForums – programming, design, UX, marketing, server configuration, community, business, CMS & WordPress
- WebDevForums – web design, tutorials, website design reviews, SEO, marketing, freelancing, web hosting, domains, monetizing websites, news, announcements, suggestions
- Dribbble – get inspired and hired, post jobs
- UX Mastery – careers, mentoring, feedback, problem-solving, design thinking, process & techniques
- UX Design Community – a platform for designers and researchers to share inspirations, resources, and knowledge to help each other grow
- UX Stack Exchange – a question and answer site for user experience researchers and experts.
- Web Designer Forum – news, competitions, website design & layout, resources, development, SEO, marketing, business, software & hardware
- Designer News – you can read stories, find jobs for designers and developers, listen to the podcast, explore the galleries, get advertised
- DesignersTalk – general, web design, CMS, development, graphic design, illustration, flash, motion graphics, print, photography, logo and brand identity, promotion, marketing, business, hardware, mobile
Photo and video communities examples:
- Unsplash – Gifted by the world’s most generous community of photographers
- Pixabay – Over 1.3 million photos and videos by a generous community
Coverr – beautiful, free videos for your homepage.
Music/Audio communities:
- FutureProducers – Music forum
- Beatport – The worldwide home of electronic music for DJs, producers, and their fans
- TuneCore – sell your music online
- eBay – a vibrant worldwide marketplace
- eMusic for Artists – transforming the industry through Blockchain
- Label-Worx – digital label services
- ReverbNation – digital distribution
- Pond5 – sell stock
Painting communities:
- PaintTalk – Professional Painting Contractors Forum
Drawing communities:
- DeviantArt – Forum for artists and art enthusiasts
Mixed Arts communities:
- ArtistForum – Artist community for discussing drawing, painting, sculpting, photography, graphic design, sharing your work, and more.
Cartoon communities:
- CartoonsForum – people and characters, the art and business, magazine cartoons, newspaper strips, comic books, caricature, editorial, film and TV animation, graphic stories, mini-comics, cartoon jams, humorous illustration, and online cartooning
- AnimeForums – a friendly community welcoming anime fans from around the world! You’re welcome to take a look around, but to join the fun and discussions you will need to register for a free account. Registration allows you to
setup your own profile, join the discussions, participate in clubs, making your own blog, as well as submitting anime reviews
Mixed communities/Job Boards/Groups:
- TalkFreelance – news, feedback, marketplace (sell & get hired), design & development, business, website management
- FreelanceUK – general, accounting, legal, business & contracts, graphic design, web design, journalism, copywriting, photography, PR & marketing.
- Freelancers Union – free membership, exclusive deals, monthly events, download tax & insurance guides, blog.
- Smashing Magazine – helping designers and developers find jobs and connect with companies.
- Mashable Job Board – Post your job on Mashable and they’ll actively promote your opening to their 45 million monthly unique visitors and 25 million social followers. Administrative, clerical, advertising, customer service, design, finance, operations, IT/engineering, journalism, marketing, pr, sales, social media, web development
- Coroflot – creates better professional experiences for designers of all backgrounds all over the world. You can post a job and browse their listings. Graphic design, industrial design, 3D modeling, product design, user experience, design management, creative direction, advertising, animation, architecture, art direction, branding, business development & sales, concept art, copywriting, education, engineering, and more…
- Working Nomads – Remote jobs. Development, management, marketing, system administration, design, sales, customer success, writing, consulting, finance, human resources, administration, education, healthcare, legal.
- Authentic Jobs – A leading job board for designers, hackers, and creative pros. Full-time and part-time listings. Design & UX, front-end engineering, back-end engineering, apps, product management, content & copywriting, marketing & sales, customer & community, management, various.
- WP Hired – Search for a WordPress job. Design, migration, performance, plugin development, programming, SEO, theme customization, writing jobs.
- Krop – 3D artist, art director, designer, fashion, illustrator, marketing, SEO, presentation, product/packaging, UX/UI, web developer, administrative, copywriter, freelance, industrial design, mobile developer, print, production artist, upper management, animation/motion, creative director, environmental, graphic designer, interactive, photography, producer, project manager, web designer
- Folyo – get project alerts that will help you land your next client. 3500+ design firms.
- OnSite – quality, curated freelancers, no middle-men, no percentage. You can apply to showcase your portfolio. Categories: design, development, illustration, motion, management. A very well organized directory showing potential freelancers with detailed statistics.
- Gun.io – elite professional freelancers augmented by AI. 25,000+ members. Software engineer, UX designer, product manager, scrum master, UI, full-stack developer, front-end developer, back-end developer, QA, DevOps, SecOps.
- Crew.co – Build your next app, eCommerce, or website with their network of freelance designers, software developers, and small studios. Mobile app developer, web development, back-end frameworks, front-end frameworks, back-end languages, front-end languages, agencies & studios, graphic design, web design, WordPress design, UX design, UI design, product design, logo & branding.
- Envato Studio – A community of designers, developers, and creatives. Audio, design, graphics, WordPress, logo & branding, online marketing, video & animation, mobile & apps, websites & programming.
- Juiiicy – a private community for top-notch designers to refer freelances jobs to others or apply to jobs posted by others. A platform that let the best designers in the world spread the word about inquiries they receive so other talented designers can take them on. The best way to support and motivate designers to post a job on Juiiicy is to give them a commission. 7% of the final invoice feels to be the right number.
- Local Solo – Top freelancers in your city. Copywriters, content, design, creatives, developers, engineers, game design & development, marketing, social media, SEO, photography, commercial, project manager, producer, sound, music, strategist, consultant, UX, IA, video, motion, 3D, website creation, design & code.
- CloudPeeps – over 20,000 customers, over 150 countries. Web design, growth hacking, public relations, social, content, community, SEO, paid ads, admin, email, copywriting, design, strategy
Careers
You can track local artistic jobs or other related and remote positions using these extra platforms:
Monster – Creative design jobs by state
GlassDoor – find the job that fits your life. Refine your search by job, company, salary, interviews.
TheGuardianJobs – Refine your search by industry, job function, job level, location, salary, hours, contract, listing type, education level, recruiter type, job title.
AIGA Design Jobs – the professional association for design. 207 current creative employment opportunities.
DesignObserver – presented by AIGA. Empowering designers to grow as leaders, strategic thinkers, and inspirational motivators. 461 current creative opportunities.
DesignJobsBoard – Most of the jobs are in London, UK.
Alliance of Artists Communities – Storytelling design, art design, graphic design, fashion design, and more. 370 current listings.
ArtJobs – latest jobs, contract, freelance, full-time, internship, part-time, temporary.
Creative Pool – 310 current positions.
DeZeenJobs – jobs by type, company, location. Creative jobs, design, freelance, and more.
TalentZoo – advertising, marketing, design & creative, geek & web.
The Dots – freelance, internships, account manager, art director, copywriter, marketing, design, graphic design, photography, project manager, strategy
The Drum – 429 current jobs in design, advertising, marketing, digital, social media, and PR.
If You Could Jobs – find and advertise creative jobs. Most of the positions are in London.
Creative Review – find creative jobs and apply today. Graphics, print, digital, web, and more.
Airtasker – Design jobs near you, over 500 opportunities. Top locations: Far West NSW, Sunshine Coast, Darwin, Townsville…
Social Media Exposure
You can not go without being social. The more you appear online the more people trust you. Social channels offer you an opportunity to spread your message, create fans and connections.
Every network has its own rules and terms but one thing is in common. People hate being spammed and bombarded with irrelevant ads.
You can create personal or business profiles and pages, and create or join related groups.
On your personal profiles, you want to make connections with people related to your work but also with people that share common interests. The more you share other people’s content, the more your content will be shared by others in return. Try to be polite, and don’t use a personal account only to talk about your work. People will ignore you.
On business profiles and pages you can display your work and use them as a magnet for potential clients. Share the latest artwork with your audience, giveaway bonuses, create polls, quizzes, questionnaires.
Join groups. Some of these groups are open to everyone, some are private and require invitations. You can spot several places to discuss with like-minded people and expand your online presence and knowledge. Everybody contributes to these groups by sharing tips, presenting small portfolios and by asking questions.
You have to carefully read the group’s rules and terms of service and act in a decent and appropriate manner. You have to be professional and follow these teams to expand your horizons.
The main objective for you is to create connections and reach a wider audience. Let the communities know about your interests and share valuable insights.
When you gain some momentum with your business pages move to next level and create a group on your own.
You can even create special chat rooms where you invite social followers to participate in private discussions. Answer questions politely and entertain people. It’s OK to partner with competitors and other entrepreneurs on that matter.
Here are a few ideas to leverage on social media:
Independent campaigns/ads
Promote your products and services usually in the form of banners with catchy headlines. Send people to landing pages on your website to signup with their email addresses (more on that later).
can be used to raise brand awareness. People ask questions on these platforms so if you can enter a conversation showcasing your expertise you’ll gain valuable followers. Do not only post business stuff that has to do with selling. On social media people enjoy various types of content.
Other popular social platforms:
Create boards on Pinterest and Flipboard.
Create business boards and boards on various topics beyond the design world. You can add boards about your personal preferences, interests, anything that could make people interested in you as a person. Remember, on social you’re not trying to sell directly, rather than interacting and educating.
Answer questions on Quora
Quora is very popular and it’s a great place to showcase your expertise and redirect people to your website, landing pages, or offers. Share useful content, advice, link to your guides. Participate and comment on various threads to gain insights into the community.
Surveys, quizzes, polls
Our goal here is to create a buzz about our brand, and people enjoy this kind of interactive media. Redirect people to your landing pages and start collecting email addresses. Ask questions that will help you understand what people are looking for in your respective niche.
Business pages
Google+, Twitter, and Facebook can be used to create pages strictly for business. Here, we want to create a loyal fan base. We do that by educating people about our products and services.
We use lead magnets in the form of discounts, promos, and special offers that only members of our pages can enjoy. We want them to feel special for being our loyal members on social.
On business pages, do not share other brands’ content, like you do with your personal profiles
Public or Private Groups and Chatrooms
Our goal is to gather business people in our niche, to share ideas and opinions on hot topics. In the case of public groups, people will see the interaction in the group and they’ll be interested in joining, to learn more about the design industry. With these boards, we try to network with other alike entrepreneurs. These public groups act as a magnet for potential customers. Suddenly, you’re not alone, you’re not one company trying to sell to people, you are a group of companies that interact with each other
Broadcast live/video streaming
Content Formats
You can publish any type of content you want on social media, just like you do on your site:
Posts, articles, news, lists, reviews, comparisons, guides, research, case studies, landing pages, polls, quizzes, contests, testimonials, galleries, infographics, charts, maps, audio, podcasts, interviews, videos, webinars, presentations
Monetization Techniques
- Independent campaigns/ads: Promote your products and services (memberships, courses, books…) and promotional offers of affiliated merchants (Pay per sale, CPM, CPA, Pay per lead)
- Discounts, promos, prizes, special offers, exclusive downloads
- eCommerce stores, shops hosted on social platforms like Facebook Store
- Sponsored content (interviews, testimonials, videos, articles)
- Digital content for clients strictly on social media (clips, promo videos, trailers, audio, graphics, ad campaigns)
- Create and manage social media accounts, business pages, profiles for clients (advanced)
- Paid advertising (advanced)
Host Courses On External Platforms
There are online marketplaces filled with classes for students. You can use these platforms to sell courses related to your medisa production. You can teach others music, video production, or anything else. Make sure you read the terms and conditions of every community carefully as probably you won’t be allowed to sell other products to your students.
Skillshare – tomorrow is for the taking. Thousands of classes to help you do your best work. Creative, business, technology, lifestyle.
Udemy – Get courses starting at €9.99. 65,000 online courses. Development, business, IT & software, office productivity, personal development, design, marketing, lifestyle, photography, health & fitness, teacher training, music, academics, language
Teachable – create and sell beautiful online courses. 7M+ students, 34K+ active courses, 22K+ instructors, $100M+ earned by instructors.
LearnWorlds – Get a fully professional, social, engaging and interactive online school. Don’t just sell online courses, sell learning experiences.
CourseCraft – everything you need to build superbly designed self-paced online courses. Share your passion, make money, and help people level up their lives today.
Thinkific – the online course platform you can trust with your business. Create, market, and sell courses online from your own website. 25K+ course creators.
Academy of Mine – Start your Own Online Academy. All-in-one Platform to Create, Sell and Market Courses.
WizIQ – Easy-to-use, affordable Virtual Classroom, and LMS Software. Get all the tools to teach or train your students, customers or partners.
Ruzuku – Teach amazing courses people will love. Everything you need to connect with your audience, create inspiring content, and change the world.
Educadium – deliver self-paced training, manage eLearning courses, free online support.
Your Own Website
You should take advantage of your own website to gain a competitive advantage over your competition. This is true no matter if you’re an artist, a writer, or a freelancer.
A website is your online property, and can be used as a store, as a gallery to showcase your work as we mentioned in the introduction of this part, as a magnet to attract traffic, and can be monetized in various ways that we’ll analyze them in the Last part of this guide.
Basic Methods
- Showcasing your work (portfolio, gallery, videos)
- Selling your artwork directly to customers
- Selling memberships (you have to produce new media)
- Selling advertising space
- Email marketing (informing your members about new releases, discounts, promos)
Podcadsting and playing music as adj (you can arrange sponsorships if you have traffic)- Accepting donations
- “Hire me” calls to action (if you want to get hired by companies to produce media for them)
- Paid advertising: buying ads on various platforms (search engines, social media, forums, communities…) to drive traffic to your website in order to create awareness about your products and services
Additional Monetization Methods
- Online courses related to your media production (with or without a website)
- Workshops, webinars, seminars (with or without a website)
- Write your own books related to your media production (with or without a website)
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Video Marketing and Channels
YouTube, Facebook live, Vimeo and so many other video hosting services offer an opportunity to attract people with your valuable content. Just like with email marketing you want to educate your prospects on the quality of your products and how your products are going to change their lives for the better.
You can earn trust immediately if you show up as a real person in front of the camera. People want to do business with real people, and not with commercial or impersonal brands.
Have in mind that You-Tube videos get rankings in the search engines with ease, as You-Tube is part of Google. Videos get viewed, you receive traffic, and can be used as a magnet for leads/email subscribers, thus building a fan base.
Monetizing Videos
With You-Tube and the other vlogging platforms we mentioned earlier, you can make money by letting Google or other Video platforms display ads on your videos. You can use videos for vlogging, for sponsored reviews/articles/lists. You can use them to close branded merchandising deals.
You can use videos as a lead magnet (subscribers, registrations), to promote your website, to promote other companies products, or to create videos for clients (trailers, footages, clips, advertising campaigns).
Types of marketing videos:
- Demo videos of products, releases, and launches
- Brand videos, commercials, mini-films, trailers, clips
- Live Events
- Workshops
- Webinars
- Seminars
- Presentations
- Educational, How-Tos
- Live streaming, live shows
- Interviews
- Explainer videos
- Animated
- Case studies
- Product reviews
- Customer testimonials
- 360-degree or VR (virtual reality) videos
- Augmented reality
- Personalized messages
- Thank you videos
- Behind the scenes
- Vlogs
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Podcasting
Podcasting is a superb medium and underutilized and can boost your visibility online faster than the other channels mentioned above. Minimum costs, instant credibility, bond with listeners, relationships with ‘Icons’ and influencers, lead and sales.
You can run your own podcasting show and appear on other people’s shows as well.
To maximize this opportunity, use these 5 core engagement strategies:
- Informing
- Teaching
- Entertaining
- Intriguing
- Challenging
To make people enroll in your offers, programs, and services use these enrollment strategies:
- Website/pixels
- Social media
- Lead magnets
- Exploration sessions
To be able to make money you can utilize these methods:
- Merchandise
- Online courses
- Membership programs
- Live events
- Coaching
- You artistic skills and products
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Guerilla Marketing
Guerilla or Outbound marketing is marketing that aims to interrupt people, usually masses of people. Companies use those so-called ‘cold’ techniques in order to bring people in front of their work no matter if those people are interested or not.
Use these methods to spread the word about your artistic skills and products.
In that category, you’ll find techniques like cold calling, emails to random people or companies (spam), phone call promotions, and interruptive media. Other companies use trade shows, seminar series, billboard ads, direct mail, TV and radio ads, listings in newspapers, magazines, brochures that are delivered to your door.
This type of marketing includes unconventional, unusual ways to market products in the market. Again, companies and entrepreneurs use interruptive strategies to push their message in front of random people. In most of the cases, they try to keep the budget low
The concept here involves the marketer’s imagination, energy, and ambitions. These tactics are usually applied in public, crowded places to get the attention of the masses. Guerrilla marketers hope to create a buzz around a company so that the message will spread with the word of mouth from people exposed to the campaign to their friends.
The media in this section could be anything from flyers you leave in a bus station, under doors, inside of mailboxes, and any idea you can come up with. You can even share your business cards with strangers, buy someone a coffee, print messages in public toilets.
Or even create graffiti on the walls, ads on taxis, buses, public transportation, posters on the streets, at stations, airports, and all this crazy stuff.
If you want to get found, you have to make it happen!
Arts & Multimedia – Final Words
As you can see, the opportunities for artists, multimedia, and handmade products are endless. If you can commit to working, deliver high-quality products to your clients, and build a good reputation, then the sky is the limit.
Every piece of art you create is an asset and can be used as a magnet to attract traffic. Start by creating a strong portfolio so that you can advertise yourself and your brand name.
I would start off as a freelancer and join job boards to quickly make some cash. From there I would enhance my online presence on forums, communities, marketplaces, and social media.
Then you would need basic marketing knowledge to create a website and take your artistic business to the next level with various methods and by selling courses online.
Of course, video marketing, podcasting, Joint Ventures, co-operation, reaching out to influencers or guerilla cold tactics are always welcomed.
Giveaway free samples so that you can immediately start collecting emails in order to build a loyal fan base, whether it is in marketplaces, on social media stores/business pages, on your site.
Your site should be your primary focus as you advance and if you manage to gain popularity and receive regular traffic you can monetize your site in various ways beyond selling your products and we’ll analyze these methods in the last part of this guide.
*But don’t get overwhelmed by the plethora of options. And most importantly, don’t be afraid to start small. Take one step at a time.
That’s it, another article has finished, here on Web Market Support. I look forward to seeing your next artistic success story online and I’m waiting for your comments and thoughts. Till next time
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