#038 Six Actionable Steps to Grow Your Creative Business

Six Actionable Steps to Grow Your Creative Business

In this episode of Bright, the podcast for wedding creatives, host and money mentor Melissa shares six actionable steps to help you grow your creative business. From establishing a strong foundation and leveraging social media, to building genuine relationships and staying resilient, Melissa provides comprehensive insights and real strategies for business growth. 

She summarizes key takeaways from her recent interviews with industry creatives and discusses the importance of adaptability, consistency, and sharing knowledge within the community. Tune in next week for an interview with Maria from Derev Floral and Wedding Planning in Toronto, Canada, for more tips and inspiration.

00:00 Introduction to Growing Your Creative Business
00:28 Podcast Overview and Upcoming Interviews
01:13 Step 1: Establish a Strong Foundation
02:01 Step 2: Leverage Social Media and SEO
02:58 Step 3: Build Genuine Relationships
03:59 Step 4: Adapt and Evolve
05:04 Step 5: Stay Consistent and Resilient
06:16 Step 6: Share Knowledge and Resources
07:41 Conclusion and Next Week's Preview

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Transcript

Do you wanna grow your creative business? I have six actionable steps to help you do just that. Stick around.

Welcome to Bright, the podcast for wedding creatives that want to earn more and have a life and business that they love. Hi, I'm your host and money mentor, Melissa. I make understanding money in your business easy. Each episode, we'll be talking about finance, growth, mindset, and real strategies for your creative business.

Are you ready? Let's get started. Welcome to today's podcast, where we're going to dive in deeper to each of these six points and provide insights and actionable ideas.

Over the past few months, I have had podcast interviews with creatives that have demonstrated where they began to where they are now and what steps they took in order to build their business.

I have learned so much and I hope that you have too.

I thought it would benefit my listeners if I summarized some of my takeaways from these interviews. Next week, I will be sharing an interview Derev Floral and Wedding Planning located in Toronto, Canada.

Don't miss this interview because she literally gives you her blueprint for success, and she does it with a huge smile. So don't forget to listen next week. So for the six takeaways from the interviews that I've done over the past few months, I'm going to start with number one, establish a strong foundation, create a business plan, outline your vision, your mission, your target market, and your financial projections.

This will guide your growth and help in making strategic decisions. Know the direction you want to go. And you'll know you'll get there by putting a number out there. Build a professional website. Your website is often the first impression clients will have. Ensure it's visually appealing, easy to navigate and optimize for mobile devices.

Include essential information like services offered, testimonial, and a great portfolio of your work that you update regularly. And of course, your personality be uniquely you. The second takeaway is leverage social media and SEO. Identify the right platforms. Focus on social media platforms where your target audience spends their time. For wedding creatives, Instagram and Pinterest can be particularly effective, as I'm sure you already know by now.

regularly update your content. Create engaging posts that showcase your work, share tips, and connect with your audience. Use high quality images and videos to capture attention. And please be consistent, optimize for SEO, research, relevant keywords for your business and incorporate them into your website, blog posts, and social media content.

Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush to identify effective keywords. And despite what you might hear, blogging is not dead. In fact, it is one of the number one ways to drive traffic to your website, so get writing. I promise it will pay off for years to come.

The third takeaway, build genuine relationships. Network actively, attend industry events, workshops, and local business meetings to meet potential collaborators and clients.

Building rapport can lead to valuable partnerships, but always be genuine. This relationship works both ways.

Follow up and stay connected. After meeting new contacts, send a follow up email or message to express your appreciation and interest in collaborating. Regularly check in with vendors and clients to maintain relationships. Surprise them, feature them in a social post, or include them in a blog post. Not because you expect something in return, but just because you want to offer them a little value. Offer support, share referrals, collaborate on projects, or provide assistance where possible. This creates goodwill and encourages others to reciprocate. This was key to the long term success of our business. Building these reciprocal relationships is invaluable. 

four, adapt and evolve, stay informed on industry trends, subscribe to industry publications, attend webinars and engage with online communities to stay updated on trends and changes in the market. Gather feedback. Regularly seek feedback from clients and vendors to understand what's working and what isn't. Use surveys and formal check ins to gather insights.

And don't forget to get testimonials and social proof from clients and fellow vendors.

Be open to change. If a service or marketing strategy isn't yielding the results you want, don't be afraid to pivot. Experiment with new offerings or marketing techniques to see what resonates with your ideal clients. Don't be a victim to sunk cost fallacy where just because you've invested time, money or effort into a product or service and it isn't working, then don't be afraid to pull the plug and make the necessary adjustments to grow in another direction.

Too many people lose time when they hang in there for way too long.

The fifth takeaway from my interviews, stay consistent and resilient. Develop a brand identity, create a consistent story, create an impeccable client journey. You want your clients to align with your brand and find themselves talking about you at any opportunity they can. 

And this is what I need to do more consistently. Create a content calendar. Plan out your marketing content in advance to ensure consistency across channels. This will help you stay organized and maintain a steady flow of communication with your audience.

This is super important. Practice resilience, embrace challenges as opportunities for growth, develop a positive mindset and surround yourself with supportive peers to help navigate difficult times. Guys, this also means digging into some self improvement, business books, podcasts, however you like to learn.

Part of staying relevant is being a business owner that is open to new ideas, to getting smarter, trying new things, showing up every day, being consistent, and being resilient, because that is what will help you grow, and consistently be there, no matter what.

My last one, number six, is share knowledge and resources. Host workshops or webinars, share your expertise with others in your industry. This not only helps your peers, but it also establishes you as a leader in your niche. Create valuable content. Write blog posts, create videos, or host podcasts that provide insights and tips for others in your field. This positions you as an expert and can attract new clients.

Encourage collaboration. Foster a culture of sharing within your community. This can involve sharing resources, strategies, or even co hosting events with other business owners.

A final word on that. Referrals from past clients are an excellent way to grow your business, but referrals from fellow vendors, even your direct competitors, is an important referral source as well. Make friends in the industry and be reciprocal in your referrals for one another when you're already booked.

six points, you can create a roadmap for building a successful and sustainable creative business. Each point is interconnected and together they form a comprehensive approach to marketing and business growth. strategies can help you not only attract clients, but also foster a supportive community around your brand.

And you know what that means? Your business grows. Thank you so much for being here today. Please stop by next week when I interview Maria from Derev, a floral and planning company in Toronto, Canada. We had such a great conversation about all things, creative marketing, and the not so secrety secrets to growing your business.

I'll see you next week. Thank you.

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