The case for slow growth

Thoughts on TikTok, going viral, and sustainable marketing for creatives.

Hi there. 🖤 Happy December. I hope you're feeling well.

It's calm and peaceful here in my little corner of the world. The snow's almost melted away, but it looks like there's more coming soon. Haven’t had time to put up Christmas decorations yet, but that’s what this weekend is for. I’m not big on decorating and usually just do the bare minimum, but this year, I might try a little harder. Gotta help that Christmas spirit out when there’s so little snow outside…

Do you decorate a lot this time of year? 😊

This week's video is about social media, and about TikTok in particular. But it's also about marketing. Sustainable versus unsustainable ways to show our art, build an audience and sell our work. There are many, many ways to do those things, and while there is no one-size-fits-all, there are some key principles that are good to know. And that can ease a lot of our confusion and frustration.

I get asked all the time:

"How will people find me if I'm not on social media?"

It's a good question. Social media has become almost synonymous with marketing nowadays. For good reason. We are just now coming out of the golden age of social media. For years, we have been spoiled with quick, cheap growth. Where algorithms were easy to figure out, all our followers saw our every post, and our Instagram profiles and Facebook pages grew organically, with minimal work (and the right hashtags.) Or, we could just pay a few bucks and have our content go viral.

Nowadays, things are very different. Both with social media, and on the internet in general. SEO doesn't work the way it used to. Platforms like Medium and YouTube are oversaturated. Facebook and Twitter are sinking ships, Instagram is a thankless grind, and TikTok is...well, I get into all of that in my video.

My point is: Quick and easy growth is increasingly hard to come by, and comes at a (ever-increasing) price. I believe that, instead of chasing the next platform that's going to let us go viral, we need to re-adjust our expectations. And think about what sustainable marketing looks like for us.

Virality, however nice it can be sometimes, does not automatically equal success. We like to believe it does, because it feels a lot easier and more exciting than going the slow and steady route. But I'm starting to realize, after spending the last decade or so of my life chasing quick growth in my various businesses, that slow growth is the way to go. At least for an independent creative business owner like myself. One who doesn't need to become famous or move a ton of products, but rely instead on building a quality audience, and selling directly to them.

If that's the type of business you're trying to build as well: slower, more deliberate, more authentic, more sustainable marketing will get you there better, with less stress and more ease, than chasing virality on social media will.

So to answer the question above, "How will people find me if I'm not on social media?":

Don't wait to be found.

Go out and find these people yourself. Find out what places or events they go to, what websites they visit, what blogs or newsletters they read, who they follow on social media or YouTube, what podcasts they listen to, where they like to shop, et.c. Map out all of the contexts you would ideally show up in, if you could dream freely. And then make a plan for how to get there. Get creative. Do real-world events, get yourself into newspapers or magazines, pitch yourself as a podcast guest or as a guest writer, pitch collaborations with other creators, pitch brand collaborations, get your art into stores or cafés or galleries or just your friends’ houses. Start creating (quality) content yourself, so that you can provide value to your people and not just ask for their money. Find a way to market yourself that doesn't feel like marketing but simply like doing your heart's work.

And then, of course, make sure you have a website, a shop, and a way for these people to stay in touch with you. Preferably a newsletter or email list, so that you're the one who owns their email address, not a social media company. It doesn't matter how much you're "seen" if you have no way of gathering those people and building a relationship with them.

You can still be on social media, IF you enjoy it and it makes sense for your business. Just don't expect it to do a lot for you in terms of growth. Instead, use it to build a body of work, show your art, and serve your existing audience. And make sure everyone there knows that you also have an email list. That's why you're seeing me pitch my newsletter in almost every video I make. If I didn't, all of those hard-earned viewers might just forget about me and go their merry way. It’s the same with all social media or content platforms. Their main purpose should be to funnel the right people into your email list, not to go viral or build a platform-specific following that you don’t own or have any control over.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself. Bring out your journal, or an empty document, and workshop with yourself:

1. What am I trying to sell? (And what else might I want to sell in the future?)

2. Who do I want to sell to? Who's the most likely to buy my stuff?

3. What are some places (social media and non-social media) where these people might discover me?

4. What steps can I take to start showing up there?

This gets you back to basics. So that regardless of what route you take in your marketing, social media or not, it will be grounded in actual strategy and not FOMO or peer pressure or "expert advice" online.

Okay. Enough business talk. 😅

I have made three new charcoal portraits since last time we spoke. Here are two of them:

As you might guess, we're still re-watching Breaking Bad...

And I've been working hard to get my print collection off the ground. Here's some radical honesty and vulnerability for you: I've had second thoughts about this all the way through, wondering if it's worth all the work and the hassle of figuring out international tax laws and shipping. Wondering if anyone's even gonna buy anything. And I still feel that way. I'm nervous about how the print-on-demand service is going to work, if the print quality is going to be good enough (still waiting for my samples), or if there's going to be some other glitch along the way and people are going to get mad at me. I was so close to cancelling it last minute, flushing weeks of work down the toilet, just to spare myself the anxiety and uncertainty. But now I'm just gonna go ahead. Because if I listened to all my fears, I wouldn't get anywhere at all. And besides: what's the worst thing that can happen? No one buys? Well, at least I tried. And the prints are there for someone else in the future. People buy and are not happy? They'll get their money back and I'll get some valuable feedback. No actual harm done.

Let's just launch the damn print collection. 😅

So yeah. There are prints, for those of you who might want them. 🥳 For yourself, or for a bird-loving friend perhaps. You can purchase them framed or unframed. The price and shipping time might change a bit depending on where in the world you live. I'm not the one printing and shipping these, Printful is. And I'm trusting them to do a much, much better job than I ever could.

On another topic:

Thank you so much for your response on my essay last week. The one about writer's block.

I'm relieved to hear that none of you were offended by it (at least no one let me know they were offended.) And that a few of you were helped and inspired by it. That makes me so happy. I’m feeling inspired to write more about writing, and maybe get more into detail about it, for those wanting to improve their prose. Maybe to write better essays or sales copy or video scripts or personal bios or any of the other hundred ways writing serves the independent creative and business owner. Even if writing is not your main job, being a good writer is still insanely useful in so many ways.

So, out of curiosity: How many of you are interested in writing? So that I'm not going balls-to-the-wall on writing advice and 80% of you are going to get bored with it. 🙄

And for bonus points: what type of writing, or aspect of writing, are you the most interested in? Use the comment button below to let me know:

I will of course continue to write (and make videos) about both art and writing, and creativity and creative business building, just like before. But it feels good to know where you're at. And on that same note, if you ever have suggestions for me, they are more than welcome. Just reply to any one of my emails and let me know. 😊 Could be everything from videos you'd like to see, to topics you'd like me to discuss, to a personal situation you'd like my advice on. My inbox is always open.

Now, I'm off to a lazy weekend of reading, board gaming, mulled wine drinking, and Christmas decorating.

With love,

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New video: No, you DON'T need to put your art on TikTok

"By only showing up in these short little snippets, you're denying your audience the chance to get to know you for real, and you're denying yourself and your art the dignity of taking up time and space in the world."

Reading:

Almost finished with The Year of the Witching, by Alexis Henderson. I'm right at the end now and tension is building up. Can't wait to finish the book tonight. And then probably dive right into her second book, House of Hunger. She inspires me to write again...

Watching:

Sticking to the theme of social media, Adam Duff has good things to say about that:

I'm also halfway through season 1 of Andor.

Honestly, I had given up on all things Starwars after getting disappointed so many times during recent years. But I chose to give this one a chance, and I'm glad I did. Finally, a Starwars production with some thought put into it. With good actors, mature storytelling, impressive environment design, photography so gorgeous I get goosebumps, a diverse cast (without making a big deal about having a diverse cast.) This feels like a real world, populated by real people and not perfectly groomed 20- and 30-somethings trying hard to emote in front of green screens. I love the grittyness of this show, the old school Starwars aesthetic. The subtle world building. Oh and the music is 👌🏻.

That's my little pitch for you.

Listening:

I'm not really a fan of Lady Gaga's music. But I'm a big fan of her as a person, and as a singer/artist/actor/performer, and this is why:

That's how I discovered this album, which I'm enjoying in the background right now:

Gaming:

Yup, still Gloomhaven. Nothing new to report here. 😆

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