Feeling a bit lost when it comes to making your practice marketable? Intimidated by pricing and marketing? We’ve broken down some of our best advice to help you get on the track to success.
1) Focus.
Do you ever feel like you’re channeling Dug in Up!? You’re focused, you’re building a relationship talking about why you were hiding under someone’s porch, and all of the sudden SQUIRREL. Well, maybe not the porch part, but it’s easy to let exciting new possibilities pull us from what we’ve already got in the works.
Don’t get distracted. Bring an idea to completion to the point that it is sellable. Otherwise, you’re wasting one of your most valuable resources: your time. Pick the product or project that you think has the most promise, will sell the best, or that you’re the most passionate about. Spend 90 days bringing that project to completion, meaning that it is marketable. Got another idea in the meanwhile? Write it down. Save it for the next 90 days. That squirrel will still be there.
2) Price with confidence.
- Affirm yourself. Remind yourself that what you have to sell is valuable and can make a difference. Take time each day to affirm your work, your process, and what you have to offer to the world. Heck, say it out loud! “This is great! I am powerful! This can make someone’s life better!” It’s a little act that will make a big difference in the long run.
- Determine your pricing in advance of trying to sell your work. It may help to create a price list based on material and scale. That way, you don’t have to deal with individually pricing works, and your customers easily will know your price ranges.
3) Market and sell
- No closets allowed. People in your life should know what you’re doing and that it is for sale. And nothing should be languishing in a closet. You are not a Monsters, Inc. monster. Your success will never come from creeping.
- Create strong social media relationships. Pick one or two social media platforms where your target market is. Don’t spread yourself too thin. It’s better to update one platform consistently than four or five when you finally feel you have the energy to deal with all of them.
Know your customer for that platform. Market directly to them. It helps to incorporate the personal and the professional. Include your face in some photos and in videos to help build your brand. Get customers invested in who you are as a person and a practitioner, so that they think of you when they need your product.
Feeling overwhelmed by all this advice? Start with step 1 and go from there. After all, if Up! Taught us anything, it’s that you can’t launch a house into the sky without blowing up a lot of balloons. Take this one balloon at a time. You’ve got this!