How to promote yourself as a creative
The non-cringe strategy to making money
Hello, I’m Molly and I write about my slow and simple life in the Scottish Highlands. Subscribe for free to enjoy occasional posts from me. Or, better yet, join our slow community of kindred spirits to unlock ALL my content, including exclusive writing, videos and resources, to help you live the life you REALLY crave. We’d love you to join us for a cuppa…
This post may be too long for email (I had a lot to say!) but you can read it fully on the Substack website or app!
Let’s face it, self promotion is cringe. Yet, if you want to make money as a creative, it’s essential.
I quickly learnt that, if I wanted this to be a full time job, or even start making any money at all, I would need to set up multiple income streams. And, just as importantly, I needed to promote them. A lot.
For info, my current income as a full time creative comes from -
AdSense from YouTube ads
Brand deals (sponsored videos on my YouTube)
Affiliate marketing (I get a payment if someone uses an affiliate link I promote)
Paid membership on my Substack
Paid products - including my digital planners on my Etsy store and my custom merchandise on my Teemill store.
It is the last two income sources (a service and products) that I am going to dig deeper into on this post and share my strategy on how I make money whilst preserving my authenticity.
Its all about mindset
Before we get into the nitty gritty of promotion, I wanted to discuss mindset first, as this is a foundation that can make or break a marketing strategy.
Too often I see creators that fall into the trap of avoiding mentioning their service/product as they don’t want to come across as ‘pushy’.
A rule that has helped me is that I never promote something that I wouldn’t find value in myself. I invested a substantial amount of time setting up my Substack membership and creating my paid products and I’m proud of this work.
Stand by your work and don’t be afraid to shout about it. If you don’t believe in it, no one else will.
Quality over quantity
A less is more approach has always been the most effective strategy when its come to growing my business (read more about this HERE).
Instead of sharing my work across multiple platforms, I’ve been intentional about the ones I choose to focus on which, in my case, are YouTube and Substack.
When considering your online platforms, bear in mind the type of product/service you want to promote. Then think about the best format to market it (e.g., written, photos, short or longer videos, audio etc) and, just as importantly, where your target audience is likely to be.
For instance, most of my merchandise sales come through my YouTube, as viewers can see me wearing the products.
Whereas, despite the fact that I have a bigger audience on YouTube, most of my paid members have come through Substack. This often results from free subscribers upgrading to access the content behind my paywalls.
My Etsy planner sales are more split as I share them on both platforms and it depends on the planner type e.g., I sell more of my Blogger planner on here and my Food planner on my YouTube, where I frequently share cooking content.
Plan ahead
If you’re intentional with your planning, then you should never miss an opportunity to promote your paid work.
For every YouTube video or Substack post I publish, I’ve planned what my call to action (CTA) will be ahead of time, so I can seamlessly include it within my content.
I do this by using templates in my notion planner (which you can buy yourself HERE) and often deliberately plan my content around this CTA.
For example, in THIS vlog I focused on promoting my Slow life planner bundle and in THIS Substack post I included promotion of my Blogger planner.
Often my content will have more than one CTA, e.g., a video may be sponsored by a brand but also includes a mention to my Substack membership. However, I’m careful to balance this and not overload or confuse my audience. Its all trial and error.
Remember, this is an ongoing process. You can’t rely on just promoting something at the launch, then never mentioning it again. Trust me, people will forget and it is your job to remind them what you have to offer.
Be creative
Over time, I’ve learnt to enjoy the marketing side of my business. This is primarily because I’ve allowed myself time to get creative with my strategies, rather than relying on the bare minimum and hoping for the best.
There is a wealth of advice on the internet when it comes to creative marketing strategies.
One of my best forms of inspiration is often looking to other creators. I’ve learnt to make note of tactics that I’ve admired, so that I can refer back to them when its come to promoting my own work.
For instance, on my Etsy store, I included a video overview of my planners after noticing that other bestsellers in the same niche all included this within their listings (example from my slow living planner below)
When it came to launching my Substack membership, I crafted my announcement post and about page by referencing what other successful creators had done and tweaking it to suit what I needed.
We are all learning from each other after all!
Optimise your content
Compared to other full time creators, I don’t publish a huge amount of content on a weekly basis. But I still make sufficient money as I ensure that each piece of content is optimised for sales.
On my YouTube, this looks like ensuring my video description always has the relevant CTA’s and links. I’ve set up a default description in my settings (to save time and ensure I don’t forget anything - really recommend this!) but I tweak this so its relevant for each video and remains enticing for my audience.
For Substack, this looks like including CTA’s throughout my writing, with subscribe buttons and links to my paid products. I always have an introduction for new readers, that includes a mention of my paid membership.
I also link some other relevant posts, to highlight the value of subscribing to my publication.
Prove your value
There are various ways that you can prove the value of your work to encourage sales.
I regularly demonstrate how I use my digital planners or, as mentioned above, wear my merchandise within my YouTube videos. Even if I’m not directly mentioning these products, it serves as a reminder of their availability and increases their desirability.
Testimonies from satisfied customers is another important asset you can utilise.
When I launched my Substack membership, I updated my About page to include blurbs written by other subscribers that have enjoyed my work.
I’ve also included these on my Substack welcome page (learn how to do this yourself HERE) so they are the first thing potential subscribers will see.
On my Etsy shop, I’ve included a screenshot of reviews as one of my listing photos to ensure they are front and centre.
Its a work in progress and I’d love to hear your experience and advice, so please do share in the comments.
Until next week,
Molly xx
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How I earn more by working less as a creative
Thank you for sharing this Molly! I've jotted down a few strategies that I'm going to try myself, starting with better intros and CTAs in my posts...
Thank you for sharing this. I love this script and I think I would love to try these tricks. Thanks