Working with a Business Mentor

Ever wondered what it’s like to work with a business mentor? We ask Jane Vandemeer, CWC treasurer and board member for her advice.

Jane Vandermeer is a creative & entrepreneurial thinker who doesn’t thrive under red tape or lots of rules. Having worked within the Fashion industry for 30 years, you can definitely say that fashion and small business is in her blood! Her strengths are to problem solve, particularly with a small budget, and to look into a small business to see what areas need help and guidance. Read Jane’s advice on working with a business mentor, and what you can get out of it.  

Part of my story

Not sure about you but I often found it challenging to cost up my garments. There was also the difficult task of promoting myself. Whether I was producing a range, making one-off pieces or providing a service (they were harder actually!), there was always the conundrum:

How do you price something when you are not sure how long it might take?

Perspective customers need a price or price range. So many times, I wanted the sale so I guessed the price, hoping that I was close to right. But it can be hard to remain competitive, cover your time, costs & make a profit!

Having a professional mentor can help

A professional mentor will look at your business from a different perspective. It is so hard to do that yourself when you are in the thick of small business.

Life gets in the way. It can be hard to keep yourself accountable. It is easy to push things to ‘next week’, particularly the things you don’t love doing.

One of the benefits is that having regular meetings with a mentor creates accountability and deadlines. It is one big way that can help propel your business forward, and significantly quicker.

Who is mentoring suited to?

• You are at the start up stage and not sure where to start. This includes important things like where to focus or spend money first.

• You have been in business for a while, feeling like you are working around the clock but can’t seem to get ahead and not sure why.

• You are looking at an exit plan but not sure how to do that

• You are passionate about so many things

• Those who are willing to take advise & learn

• Those who are brave to grow

• Many creatives’ are multi-dimensional but this can be overwhelming. Then comes paralysis…so you do nothing! A mentor can keep you going.

Tips when selecting your mentor

I often describe selecting a mentor as like selecting a councillor. Working one-on-one with a mentor is such a personal experience. If you are going to invest in a mentor, you need to connect and align with the right person.

A good place to start is to spend time at an initial meeting to ‘get a feel’ about a perspective mentor before diving in. If after the first meeting you don’t think you’re the right fit, that’s totally ok. Be upfront - they might also be able to recommend someone who is. 

Do you want your perspective mentor to be someone you admire?

Are they someone who has achieved or brings experience within the areas you need help & support?

Considerations for offerings/packages

In the initial meeting together, whether that is online, on the phone or in person, ask lots of questions. Make sure you are both clear on things like fees and what the mentoring service involves. 

Mentors might have different fee structures depending on the type of service you require. Here are some examples:

• An hourly rate. This is good for casual mentoring where something is project/problem based. 

• A program with a set number of modules. This type of structure gives perspective clients an idea of prices up front, so there are no surprises.

Some areas to consider:

• Appointment/meeting duration

• Frequency of meetings

• Does it include support such as emails, resources, phone calls outside of meetings?

• Are there certain days you can communicate?

• How is the payment system structured?

• Many do offer payment plans. This is often great for cash flow for small businesses.

Don’t be afraid to ask for clarity if you are not sure and get everything in writing. 

Expectations

It is good to set some expectations between yourself and your mentor too. Do you want someone to ‘teach you’ how to do various tasks/aspects of your business? Or do you want someone to ‘do it for you’?

Different mentors will have different approaches. For me, I have always come from the space of teaching & sharing knowledge, so that you are empowered to know, understand & grow. Everyone works in their particular way and there will be a mentor which will suit your style. 

Here is an example of what a mentor does…. 

A beautiful client of mine had been in business for over 5 years (so not a start up). She was working very hard yet not making enough at the end of each month.

After spending the time to understand her costs and sales. I discovered that she was only making 2% profit margin on many of her services!

We worked on a solution which gave her four options/strategies to increase profit within those existing services. The important thing was that they were all practical & easy to implement.

Her services were back up to 75-90% profit margin and best of all, it didn’t require that business owner to work any harder. 

A final note…

Different ideas can provide a different perspective to a business. Professional assistance can help set up ways to attract prospective clients who happily and joyfully pay for your beautiful and considered work!

Jane is the owner of Finesse Business and Style which provides services in business mentoring and styling. She is also the founder of Intuitive Whispers which provides intuitive products for the heart and soul.

How to plan a photoshoot

As a small ( or not so small ) business owner / creative there will perhaps come a time to consider hiring a professional photographer for a photoshoot. Whether it’s for a headshot / portrait, product photography for your website or social media, a market stall application, event photography, pitch to a magazine… but where do you begin?

There are many things to consider - including choosing the actual photographer, but first up is usually the budget - what can you afford? Perhaps you have the $’s to fly to the Maldives with a team of stylists, models and make-up artists - but realistically, most of us don’t!

Costs

After you’ve established your rough budget, most photographers will work in hourly or half day / full day rates. Their rates are usually dependant on their skill and experience, plus post production and editing time on your chosen images.

Communication with your chosen photographer is key - from the outset, know what you want and whether it is achievable in the time frame that meets your budget. Shooting 50 products in 2 locations in 1 hour is unlikely!

Licensing of images

There are usually licensing or usage costs per image - this will vary from photographer to photographer and the client. For example, the terms of usage for a big brand’s large scale advertising campaign would generally cost more than a small business product shoot. There may be usage limitations on the images, and a smaller usage will often equate to a smaller fee. Some examples of usage are:

• Usage for social media content only.

• Photography for use in a packaging / element of a new product or that will be a product for resale.

• Photography of your business / product for your website and branding.

Some photographers may also set a time frame limitations in licensing. One example is that you might have usage of those images for 12 months, then they will be available for you to re-license for an additional time and fee. Or they will give you total rights to those images for 6-12 months and then after that the photographer may license the images to another company or magazine.

How to find a photographer

Unless you have a good friend or a family member that is a professional photographer, it can be difficult to know where to start. Word of mouth is usually the easiest way - ask around your network. There are also many creative networking groups online where you can post a job and then go through the photographers profile/ website. Another good way is to look on social media at other brands/ imagery that you like and see who they have used. Many will include a photographer’s credit on a shoot. 

Questions to ask/ things to think about prior to booking a shoot

Location: Where will the photo shoot take place? Is it in your own home/ office/ studio? Does the photographer work from their own studio? Will your shoot be on location, in a public space?

Some locations require permits for a photo shoot, with approval and payment prior to the shoot taking place. As an example, see Heide Museum which has requirements for using their site. With this in mind, is the location/ studio hire an additional cost to add into your budget ? Is the location out of town, and will it incur an additional photographer’s travel fee?

Props: Will you be sourcing the props / backdrops yourself or will you be employing a stylist ? A photographer will often have an existing supply of props or backdrops, however there may be a need for prop hire for flowers, food, additional products, plinths etc. Who will supply what ? Can you borrow items from friends ? Many retail shops will also hire furniture and props for a fee.

Create a brief: What exactly are you after ? Try to include any image examples/ sketches /mood board /colour /vibe etc. Pinterest is a great tool for this. Here’s an example of a food mood board I created recently.

Set a time frame: Do you require the images under a tight deadline? Most photographers will have a 1-2 week turnaround on post production of images, if not longer. If you need images ASAP, there may be an additional fee.

Know what you want, so that you can communicate your needs to your photographer, then they can provide a quote.

Here’s an example…

I was approached via email to shoot a product range of 5 new artwork prints, with the possibility of photographing the existing range if time permitted. I met in person with the business owner of Gussy - Simone (who agreed to me including this shoot here) to discuss further and to provide a quote. 

Considerations were her budget, the time required for the shoot - we agreed upon a half day / 4 hour shoot. The chosen location was her home interior, utilising 6 different rooms. Each artwork required individual styling, using props from her home, my collection or borrowed from friends. So additional costs were minimal. We set ourselves the target of photographing her entire range of 18 prints in 4 hours, prioritising the new edition prints. We discussed that the images were for her website and social media/ promotion.

We created a Pinterest board and Simone organised a shot list, including which artworks would hang where within her home and with what props to suit each artwork, so time was not wasted on the day. 

Here are some of the images from the shoot:

One thing to also consider with image usage is that we shoot in either and landscape or portrait mode, however posting to Instagram or your website design may be square - so images will need to be cropped. Remember to discuss this as an option in your usage/ editing or composition at the shoot. Also websites such as Shopify have their own file specifications / colour management. 

Find a Photographer you can work and communicate with, ask questions - it may seem daunting, but most of us are nice!!!

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Based in Melbourne, Australia, Natalie Jeffcott is a professional freelance photographer - specialising in editorial, interiors, small business lifestyle and product photography.

All images by Natalie Jeffcott.

http://www.nataliejeffcott.com/

How to set up an online business - Tips from Christina Lowry

When I started my online business I wasn't sure that I could run a business without a business degree. I laugh now at how innocent I was and I want to share my top tips and techniques to first create a business and then build it online.

I’m Christina Lowry, a jeweller and photographer. I created an online jewellery business, Christina Lowry Designs, when my first son was just a toddler and worked from home for several years. I started my online business after completing a bachelor of fine arts visual arts at Griffith University and working for ten years in the jewellery industry. I studied photography and gold and silversmithing as part of my degree and decided to pursue a jewellery apprenticeship upon completing my degree.

In my business, I handmade collections of gold and silver jewellery in my workshop, as well as taking custom orders. Recently I closed my online store for this business as it was generating more work that I could manage since I took on the opportunity of home-schooling our three children, which I love. Looking for greater flexibility, I followed my passion down a different avenue that emerged out of that business and now I run Christina Lowry Photography. I work with small businesses to create beautiful product photography for their websites, advertising and social media. This grew out of my initial business after creating several photoshoots for my jewellery collections and having other business owners contact me for the photographer’s details. I have been able to apply the knowledge gained from my retail years and online business experience into this new business

Image: Christina Lowry

Find your ‘why’

There is a saying that not every great baker should open a bakery. Is it a hobby or a potential business? Businesses are hard work. You need passion and commitment to even start a business, let alone maintain one through the ups and downs. So before we start discussing how to start a business you need to find your why. You’ll hear this all the time. ‘Find your why’. And that why may even change over time. Why do you want to start a business? Do you want to work from home in your pjs? Do you want to take control of your career? Are you looking for a way to contribute to the finances while raising children? Are you looking for pocket money in retirement? Do you make something that you want to sell? Do you want to help people? Help the environment? Knowing your why helps answer the questions that will follow. The why is not just about money.

If your why is because you want to earn over $100,000 a year while travelling the world, your business model will look very different to that of someone whose why is to follow a passion in retirement.

My why is that I want to get paid for doing what I love. I need a creative outlet that is flexible enough to fit with my lifestyle, I want to contribute to the family finances while staying at home and homeschooling my children, I want to follow my photography passion and use my skills and knowledge to work with other small businesses to up-level their brands. I’d like you to take to write down your why. Maybe next time you are sitting with a cuppa try explaining to yourself why you want to do what you want to do.

What’s your product?

Every business sells something. Product is the starting point of business. What is your product? A product can tangible, physical, expertise, virtual. Like online bookkeeping, stylist, business coach. Can you create a viable business around it? If your why is to support your family with your business, how much money do you need to make each year? If your product is hand carved wooden spoons, can you carve enough spoons a year to reach your goal? Or can you supplement that income by selling spoon carving kits and teaching workshops? Your product needs to fill a gap in the market. It needs to be useful to the client. A bag they can carry their groceries in, a wedding ring, a light shade for their lounge room, a candle as a gift for a loved one. So once you have decided on your product, it’s time to think about the client. Some clients will buy a $2 wooden spoon, some will buy a $60 hand carved wooden spoon, you need to find the right clients.

A note on pricing…

As a rule retail price is twice your wholesale price. To be a business and not a hobby you need to make a profit. Too many businesses start by charging too low, then worry when they lose customers once they adjust their prices. Start where you need to be. Being the cheapest is not a great strategy long term. Be the best. People pay more for great products and great service. For instance, Australian handmade businesses cannot compete on price alone with products coming from countries overseas with a lower cost of living. But we can compete on quality, design, innovation and customer service.

In terms of pricing, keep in mind that jewellery has up to a 300% mark up while stationary can be a lot less. Perceived value, cost of stock, insurance, overheads; there is a lot to take into account. But this rule of thumb is a great place to start.

Materials + labour x 2 = wholesale

Wholesale x 2 = retail

Even if you aren’t yet selling wholesale, you need to price accordingly for growth. When you are approached to sell in a bricks and mortar store you can do so. (Don’t be scared to lose clients by putting your price up. Educate them on why the price is the way it is. Your tools, experience, skill, aesthetic, customer service, overheads etc.)

Find your market

Once you have a product you need to find your market. Who are you selling to? You can have a great product, but if the people who need your product can’t find it, you won’t have a business. If your product is nappies, you need pregnant women and mothers to see you. If your product is silk ties, you want businessmen and women to see you. So, a nappy advertisement in the magazine on a first class flight would miss its mark. Silk ties in a mother and baby magazine is missing its mark too. You want to define your audience and then find where they are, what they are reading, what they are looking at. Who is your audience? I can guarantee it isn’t ‘everyone’. Is it you? People like you? Male or female? Age range? Are they buying for themselves or as gifts? This is going to affect the way you write about your product. There are a lot of exercises online about finding your ‘ideal client’. It may be a customer you already have. It might be an imaginary dream client. You can look at your current followers to research further. Knowing who they are gives you the tone on how to talk to them.

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Tip: Your budget is not their budget. This was a great piece of advice I got early on. I have never spent over $1000 online on a product I have never seen, but I have made $1000 plus sales in my online shop. Don’t underprice because it feels expensive to you. Something is only expensive if you can’t afford it. Other people can afford it.

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My ideal customer for Christina Lowry Designs jewellery was a female, 25 and over, university educated, working in a creative field like graphic design, who doesn’t buy mass produced items, is eco-conscious and prefers shopping online with small businesses.

Next, what is a brand?

Do you need a brand? I want you to think about some big, recognisable businesses. Big businesses have spent a lot of money on marketing and research and we can learn a lot from them that we can apply to our own businesses. Think of McDonalds. The golden arches. Red and Yellow. A fast, inexpensive, family-friendly restaurant. They never go off brand. Think of Tiffany’s jewellery. That duck egg blue box. Luxury Diamond jewellery. Their brand is simple and memorable. Your brand is everything about your business – your name, your logo, the colours you use, your tone of voice. Have you seen ‘who gives a crap’ toilet paper? Their tone is humorous, from the wrapping around their toilet rolls to the toilet humour in their emails. But they are also eco-conscious and installing toilets in third world countries.

What is your name? Logo? Colours? Copy Tone?

My brand for Christina Lowry Designs was black and white, clean and minimalist, my images had a creative and slightly vintage feel. My logo was cohesive across all my packaging. My tone was personable.

Image: Christina Lowry

On to the second part – building an online business.

Once you have your why, your product, your market and your brand you can start building your actual online website. Please, don’t even start until you have these things or it will be random rather than cohesive.

It’s not an online business without a website, and there are many platform providers out there these days. Your decision will depend upon your product, market and brand. From my experience, I love Squarespace for their websites, portfolios, blogs etc, and Shopify for an online storefront. You may want to sell on Etsy, Madeit on another online platform. This may work great for you. In my experience, even if you sell on one of these platforms you still need your own website to be sending your traffic too. Online marketplaces can close, or shut your account without warning. When people shop on Etsy you have more chance of losing a sale than if they shop directly on your website.

Even without much experience, you can create a great website using the templates Squarespace and Shopify provide. Or, support another small business and hire a graphic designer to create your logo, brand and website with you.
Once you have your name, claim your website and get an ABN. You can’t run a business if you aren’t buying your materials at wholesale. Research any other relevant legal issues pertaining to your business – eg, if you sell food or baby items. I don’t give legal advice. There are lots of government sites online that you can find out about things like registering your business, when you need to register for GST etc.

A mailing list!

It’s a must. It is easier to sell to a past client than to find a new one. Keep them up to date with what it happening behind the scenes, with promotions and product launches. Don’t be scared to email them. They love your business and they want to know about you and stay up to date. If you lose some subscribers don’t worry, they weren’t going to buy off you anyway. Most people use an opt-in to get subscribers. Be careful that your opt-in is attracting the right subscribers. If you do a giveaway of your product to drum up mailing list subscribers, you may just end up with subscribers who are after freebies and never buy.

Social Media

Social Media is a must in today’s day and age, but you don’t have to do it all. By knowing your market and researching where they are spending time, you will know whether you should be targeting Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube or a blog. Pick one or two and do them well. You can’t and don’t need to do them all. You will have the most success with the one you enjoy spending time on the most.

As a visual person I love Instagram and I love curating my feed, writing captions and creating conversations in this space. I tick the box in IG that posts the same post to Facebook, which gives me a facebook feed for my business with minimal fuss. I love Instagram and I could talk all day about it. But a few tips for Instagram.

• Only post your best pictures. If you only have a crappy picture don’t post it. Can you imagine Tiffany’s posting a crappy photo?

• Be genuine. Leave genuine comments and always answer comments.

• Use hashtags and locations

• Write a list of content ideas, batch shoot and edit them and have them ready in an app like Mosaico

• Don’t use bots to gain fake followers

• ‘Like for like’ and ‘follow for follow’ are the saddest sayings on the net - again, 100 genuine followers are better than 1,000 fake followers

Keep it maintained

So, once that is all in place you are done, right? You have created a business. You created an online storefront and you can sell to the world. Well, like a garden, it is never done. Your online store needs constant maintenance. But just chip away at it. One thing a day for your business = 365 things in a year.

Show up, set goals, embrace rejection as another step closer to a yes.

Image: Christina Lowry

How to build a strong brand on social media

Following on from my previous post about what creatives need to know about the new Instagram algorithm, this one is all about how to build a better brand on social media beyond just Instagram.

Social media is huge these days. According to the 2017 Sensis Social Media Report, more than 59 per cent of Australians use social networking sites at least once a day and 94 per cent have used Facebook in the last year. In short, you can reach an incredible number of people on social.

But hey, we’re all busy, amiright? To make sure you’re spending your time in the best way possible, here are eight steps to build a strong brand on social media and stand out as a creative — without going crazy in the process.

Step 1: Know your goals.

I’m talking business goals. What are you actually trying to achieve by using social media? You need to know why you are even on social media in the first place and clearly understand why it's a good use of your time. Your social media goals and objectives should be in line with your business goals.

For example, if one of your business goals is to increase revenue by 20 per cent this financial year and you make some sales from Facebook, a social media objective could be to increase traffic from Facebook by 30 per cent. Note that this doesn’t have to be purely revenue related: you could instead be aiming to get more people on your email list, to attract more client enquiries or lots of other things.

Step 2: Know your customer deeply.

‘Everyone’ is not a target market. You need to get hyper-specific about who your audience is and why they're buying from you. What are their motivations, fears and pain points? What do they love doing day to day? How does your brand fit into that? Focus on who you're talking to, what you want to say and what success looks like.

Step 3: Consider your content.

Photo by Clarisse Meyer

Get clear about the type of content you're going to deliver on social media for your audience. Remember: it's about them, not you. Be generous, add value and build trust.

Generally, content will fall into one of four buckets: education, entertainment, information, or inspiration. Understand what content your audience likes and focus on that. For example, for CWC, this would be to educate, inform and inspire — and less so to entertain.

Step 3: Focus on two to three platforms, max.

Once you understand who your target customer is, take the time to figure out the two to three platforms where they hang out online and focus your energy there. It’s much better to be  present and consistent on two platforms than to spread bits of your brand all over the Internet with no love. Meaning: just because someone else killed it on Snapchat doesn't mean it's right for you.

When choosing which platforms to focus on, also consider where your content fits best, and how much time you can realistically commit. For example, shooting and editing video for YouTube will require more time than a quick video on Instagram Stories.

And here's a pro tip: if you’re already using social media, check your Google Analytics to see which platforms bring the most traffic to your website, then focus on the top two.

Step 4: Batch, schedule and automate.

One of the keys to growing a strong brand on social media is consistently showing up. This means contributing regularly and being active. It’s far more time-efficient to block out a couple of hours on a Sunday night (or whenever suits) to schedule content for a month, than to do a little bit every day.

Great scheduling tools for Instagram include Planoly and Later. For Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, try Hootsuite or Buffer. If Pinterest is where your people are, check out Tailwind.

Just make sure you’re still answering messages, responding to comments and contributing to your community. Remember, social media is a two-way street.

Step 5: Include calls to action.

A ‘call to action’, or CTA, is when you tell your audience to do something. We humans are lazy and need to be told what to do most of the time. Some examples might be to follow you, to share a post or to visit your website.

One useful CTA might be to join your mailing list. Remember, you don’t own your social media account; it can be switched off tomorrow (which has happened to brands before). To combat this, your aim should always be to get followers to your website and better yet, onto your email list. That way, you own that relationship and contact information, not Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn or YouTube.

Step 6: Make your brand cohesive.

Your brand, your profiles and the content you're putting out there should all be consistent, above and beyond your social media accounts. This is another time when focusing on just two platforms makes life a lot easier. Whether it's your website, your email newsletter or your Instagram profile, your brand aesthetic should be cohesive, consistent and recognisable.

Step 7: Be authentic.

It might sound obvious, but social media is designed to be social. Talking to your audience should feel like any good friendship or relationship: comfortable, relaxed and genuine. You should be able to laugh and tell stories and contribute to conversations. Be yourself and be true to your brand.

Step 8: Check your data.

The final step is to check your data at least once a month to see what’s working and what’s isn't — and make changes accordingly. Google Analytics offers a truckload of information to help you see what’s bringing in website traffic and making you sales.

On top of this, each platform has its own analytics tool that can provide great info about your audience, which posts are performing best, and what day and time you should be posting.

Schedule it in your calendar to dive in once a month and get familiar with reading your data.

Sadly, there’s no winning formula to growing your brand on social media, but following these steps will position you as well as possible. The most important thing is to not get overwhelmed, and stay focused. You can do it!

Courtney Goes is a Melbourne-based digital marketing and brand consultant with experience across a range of industries in Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Since leaving the corporate world in 2016, she’s been on a mission to help women make smarter marketing decisions to elevate their businesses and personal brands through simple, effective strategies. Working mostly with creatives, freelancers, and female-owned startups and small businesses, she provides clarity, structure and accountability to get real, tangible results. She has also launched Marketing Emporium, a resource hub designed to provide simple and straightforward marketing advice. Contact her at courtneygoes.com.

Opening image by Jaelynn Castillo.

What creatives need to know about the new Instagram algorithm

How does the Instagram algorithm work? This is a question I get asked a lot, as if I’m the KFC colonel with the secret herbs-and-spices recipe.

It’s only April and already there have already been so many changes. Each time I can’t help but shout ‘Instaaargghhh!’ in the hopes that Insta HQ hears me and stops meddling with the recipe.

So how do you keep up when you’ve also got a business to run and people to delight? It can be tough, so I’ve distilled what every creative should know about the algorithm along with five simple actions to take your Insta presence to the next level this year.

1. Engagement matters

There’s no way around it: Instagram is still growing fast and it’s becoming more and more saturated. More than 95 million photos are posted every day, but 70 percent of them are never even seen, let alone engaged with. This can be incredibly frustrating for anyone trying to grow her business.

For a long time now, the algorithm has been based mainly on engagement. This includes numbers of likes, comments, video views, saves, shared posts, DMs and any other type of interactions with a post. In a nutshell, when a post gets a lot of engagement, Instagram deems it high quality and engaging, so shows it more. This hasn’t changed, but it now also includes all the interactions you receive on Instagram Stories as well, such as views, replies and shares. In short, the more a user interacts with your stories, the more likely it is that your individual posts will also show up in her feed.

I also have a theory (but can’t confirm it) that variation in engagement type matters, too, to combat the fact that you can now easily buy thousands of likes or views in the time it takes to order a cup of coffee.

ACTION #1: TELL STORIES
If you haven’t got on the Stories bandwagon yet, it’s time to jump on board. Instagram Stories now has more than 300 million daily active users, almost double the number on Snapchat! More importantly, it’s a great way to connect with your followers and share a behind-the-scenes, unfiltered view of your business.

Here are some simple ways to maximise engagement with Stories:

• Share progress shots of work.

• If you’re self-branded (i.e., photographers and designers), don’t be afraid to share more human moments to give insight into who you are.

• If you sell products, use it as an opportunity to be transparent about your products and supply chain.

• Take advantage of built-in engagement opportunities, like the polling feature.

• Tell followers to ‘DM us for a 10% off code!’ (or similar). This is a great way to build relationships and drive people to your inbox, boosting engagement figures through more DMs.

• Include the ‘Swipe up’ option if you have a business account with more than ten thousand followers.

• Include links (again, only available if you have a business account with more than ten thousand followers).

2. Speed matters

Not only does the algorithm factor in the amount of love your post gets, it also cares how quickly you get it. If a post gets a lot of engagement shortly after it’s posted, this signals that it’s quality content, so the post will be shown to even more of your followers.

ACTION #2: POST DURING PEAK TIMES
Take two minutes right now to find out when your followers are most active, then schedule your posts during this time, when you’re most likely to get engagement.

To find this out, click on the Insights graph for your business account. Scroll down to Followers and click ‘See more’. At the bottom you can see when your followers are online each day, and at what times. Easy!

 3. Lingering matters

Since Facebook bought Instagram in 2012, it’s been rolling out features that ‘work’ in Facebook-to-Instagram, and this is one of them. It’s not just about how many people view your post, it’s about how long they view it for. So how do you stop followers in their tracks?

ACTION #3: SLOW IT DOWN
There are two simple ways to do this: write longer captions, and use more videos and carousel images.

If your post has an in-depth caption, your followers are more likely to actually read it or click the ‘more’ button, which increases the time spent on your post. Try spending a few minutes to write your captions for the entire week when you’re feeling creative or in the zone, then schedule them using a tool like Later or Planoly.

One of the reasons why videos perform so well in the Instagram algorithm is because they take longer to view than an image. So post more videos. If videos aren’t part of your visual strategy, try carousels (multiple-image posts) every now and again.

4. Hashtags matter

Instagram recently rolled out the ability to follow hashtags, which means your posts could show up automatically in the feeds of potential new followers. The downside is that users also have the power to mark your hashtagged content as irrelevant, marking it ‘Don’t show for this hashtag’ and potentially raising a red flag on your account.

ACTION #4: STAY RELEVANT
As we learned from the Shadowban scare last year, posting the same block of hashtags over and over can have a negative impact. Instead, switch it up and use hashtags that are hands-down relevant to what you’re posting.

Tools like Planoly or Later allow you to save a library of hashtag blocks. Or you can use this amazing hack using the text replacement setting in your phone.

5. Your interaction matters

I’m (sadly) not the KFC colonel with the secret recipe so can’t confirm this for sure, but it’s believed that Instagram may also restrict exposure based on your engagement with your followers. I know, keeping track of Instagram comments can be hard if you have a lot of followers, but to get engagement, you’ve got to give.

ACTION #5: STAY ON TOP OF COMMENTS
Social media should be just that: social. Treat comments like a conversation and avoid comments like ‘Great pic!’ or ‘Nice feed!’ that can be seen as coming from a robot.

Instead, include a question or some sort of meaningful response. At the very least, show some love with an emoji. Try to respond to comments within the first hour if possible, as this is likely to lead to more comments and, in turn, increase your post’s visibility.

Keep your eye on the prize

When using Instagram for your business — whatever your industry — your end goal should be to get customers to buy your products or services, not to increase followers. Sure, your initial aim might be to grow brand recognition or do more collaborations, but the overall aim is to grow revenue.

At the end of the day, the harsh reality is that your follower count is a vanity metric. Focus instead on measuring engagement and making incremental improvements as you go, and you’ll be well on your way to a strong, highly engaged account.

Courtney Goes is a Melbourne-based digital marketing and brand consultant with experience across a range of industries in Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Since leaving the corporate world in 2016, she’s been on a mission to help women make smarter marketing decisions to elevate their businesses and personal brands through simple, effective strategies. Working mostly with creatives, freelancers, and female-owned startups and small businesses, she provides clarity, structure and accountability to get real, tangible results. She has also launched Marketing Emporium, a resource hub designed to provide simple and straightforward marketing advice. Contact her at courtneygoes.com

Should you trademark your business name?: Brand protection tips for creatives

This week we’re introducing a new regular column for 2018, focused on legal issues for creatives. To kick things off, let's take a look at trademarks.

Why trademark your business name?

Trademarking your business name can help ensure your customers identify your product or service as unique, and ensure your business is – and remains – distinguishable from all others. You can trademark your business name on a national and/or international level, after considering whether your business will operate locally, nationally or globally.

The pros

The benefits of registering your business name as a trademark include:

• Protection of your name against imposters and copycats

• A secure brand on social media. Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and other social media venues have policies in place to protect you against abuse.

• Trademarks are easy to renew.

• Trademarks build brand loyalty and may even evoke pride in employees.

• Trademarks can safeguard against cybersquatting (domain names that are identical or similar to your trademarked name).

A business name alone does not give you exclusive trading rights or ownership over that name. A trademarked business name can be extremely useful as a marketing tool; it gives your business an identity, or brand. You will have ownership and exclusive rights to the commercial use, license or sale of your business name as a trademark. No one else in Australia will be able to commercially use your business name within the class of goods and services it is registered under. It will carry intellectual property protection and you may use the trademark symbol (a capital R enclosed in a circle) following your business name, alerting others that your business name is a registered trademark. This can help build the value of your business, and the trademark may hold value in itself. If another trader tries to pass off her own product or service using your trademark, it will be an offence under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.

It’s possible to protect your business name as a trademark without registering it, if your business has been using it for a sufficient period of time and has built up a significant reputation. However, in the long run, protecting a trademark without the benefit of registration is likely to be much more difficult and expensive.

New businesses registering their business names will be alerted to your trademark when they use IP Australia’s TM Check to ensure they do not infringe on an existing registered trademark.

The cons

The negative aspects of registering your business name as a trademark include the hassle of dealing with government agencies, the time it takes to jump through legislative hoops and the cost—which is not large, but not insignificant either.

How to register

To register your business name as a trademark, use the Australian Government IP Australia online services. You’ll be offered different cost structures depending on whether you use the TM Headstart service or the Standard filing service; application costs range from $130 to $480 per ‘class’. The ‘class’ refers to the category of goods and services, which are divided into forty-five classes. To discern which class/es you need to register your trademark under, think about the exact nature of your business and consider the following:

• Where do you derive your business income?

• What is the nature of your business?

• What are you known for by your customers/clients?

• What products or services does your business provide?

Once your trademark application is approved, there is no further cost to register the trademark.

It takes three to four months for IP Australia to examine your trademark application and ensure that it meets legislative requirements, is under the correct class and so on. Refunds are not given for errors, so it is important to get the application perfect the first time around. You might save time, energy and money by engaging a lawyer to do the application on your behalf; if you are moving your business to a global platform, a lawyer’s advice on trademarking overseas will be indispensible.

Once your trademark application meets all requirements, it will be registered and you will be notified in writing.

Maintaining your trademark

If you do decide to trademark your business name, you must actively use it in the course of trade. If you do not use it, the trademark can be removed on the grounds of non-use. (Trademarks are not allowed to be registered to simply stop other traders from using them.)

Once registered, your trademark remains for ten years from the filing date. You can renew your trademark from twelve months before the renewal is due, or up to six months after. Current on-time online renewal fees are $400 per class, however there will be extra fees if you renew after the due date.

Weighing up the pros and cons

Overall, trademarking your business name is usually worth the time, effort and cost. It ensures the business you have built will remain solid and hold its reputation for the long term, and you won’t need to change your name or branding down the track.

Jessica Kerr is the director of Sinclair + May, a female-led, boutique commercial law firm that works extensively with the creative industry. Jessica set up Sinclair + May with a view to do law differently and make legal services accessible for small businesses. You can follow Jessica on Instagram for useful legal tips or visit Sinclair + May at sinclairmay.com.au.

Photo by pixabay.com

Leading creative organisations

Over the course of this series on creative leadership we have focussed the discussion largely on individual leaders, while acknowledging that you can’t have a leader without a follower. For this last post, it’s worth taking a look at leadership within creative organisations, the traits that make them distinct and the best strategies to effectively lead them to success.

Most research into leadership and management in organisations is conducted in large corporate workplaces. This happens for a variety of reasons: big profit-driven organisations have the money to do research and the motivation to determine how leaders impact performance measures like shareholder value, and are large enough to undertake research of significant size and anonymity.

A significant portion of creative workers, however, do not conduct their business in large-scale companies. Research into the Australian creative industries from the census and other industry sources show that around 13 percent of those in the cultural sector are sole traders, compared to 6 percent in the broader economy. There are approximately 123,000 creative businesses in Australia; 98 percent of these employ less than twenty staff and have a turnover of less than $200,000 annually.

If creative businesses are largely small-scale and tight on resources, how does this impact the role of creative organisational leaders?

We typically associate leadership with positions of authority, what is known as headship. Those who are managers, owners, founders and directors are generally recognised as leaders by those around them. Research has shown, however, that leadership does not necessarily equate to managerial position and, importantly, those who do not have a role function that includes leading people can still display the characteristics, and exert the influence, of leaders. Creative leadership, despite our preconceptions of it as a hierarchical construct, is often more distributed in nature.

In the reality of creative occupations, leadership is more likely to be associated with influence than organisational power. To get things done as a small business operator or sole trader, a leader needs to clearly articulate her creative vision, build relationships, communicate needs and outcomes, and effectively and encourage others to support her goals.

This distributed—or relational—idea of leadership actually aligns with the current understanding of creativity. Whereas historically, creativity was associated with individual talent, something only a lucky few were born with, it is now recognised as existing in the spaces between people. It is a process that is fostered and enhanced in the sharing of collaborative ideas. Thinking about leadership has travelled along a similar path. We no longer ascribe to the “Great Man” theories of the past, in which leaders are born with inherent traits that lead to their positions in society. Leadership is rather a collective process enacted by many.

Research shows that creative leaders are comfortable with the visionary aspects of leadership. Perhaps unsurprisingly, creative leaders are good at crafting narratives and communicating their stories to others. What they are less comfortable with, however, is the ‘people side’ of leadership, the area where it overlaps with management. Many creative leaders struggle with the idea of working through others, delegating instead of being a one-man band. This reluctance or inability to share responsibility means that creative organisations may fail to grow, and those who work with such leaders may fail to develop their own skills.

What can be done to develop operational management in creative organisations?

I hate to put my ex-HR hat on here, but a bit of structure wouldn’t go astray. One creative leader told me that in her job description (she had one!), point number 16 was “Manage team and HR.” This shows how far down building and developing a successful team lay in her company’s list of priorities.

The solution to these problems doesn’t have to be overly burdensome. If you are a leader of staff (or volunteers), you need to give their management and development some thought. To start with, ensure all staff understand the strategic aims of the business and, crucially, what roles they play in the achievement of those aims. Second, all staff need accurate, up-to-date job descriptions that include not only their required tasks and priorities, but the skills required to do them. Third, using job descriptions as a basis, have a discussion about staff performance and development. Does your team have all the skills necessary to do the job? If not, what can you do together to develop those skills (projects, research, on-the-job experience in addition to learning options)? If they are performing well in the job, what’s next? How can you provide stretch in their roles?

The common theme in the above activities is conversation. Take the time, regularly, to talk to your team about their role and development, not just the work of the day. Step away from the activity at hand to discuss their performance, find out how they are doing and ask if they need support. Staff perform best with a clear understanding of what is required of them and how it fits into the bigger organisational picture, regular feedback, and leadership that recognises their input and development.

By focussing more on staff, or followers, your organisation will not only flourish, but you will become a better leader. A true win/win situation.

Kim Goodwin is an academic researcher and arts manager with a background in leadership, human resources, and career development. Since leaving her corporate career, Kim has focused on building understanding in how creative leaders are developed while working in a variety of arts organisations and academic environments. She can be found on LinkedIn, or follow her on Twitter (@KimAroundTown).