The one page marketing plan every creative needs

Very few creatives go into their field with a solid business or marketing plan. Most creatives ‘fall into’ their profession from dabbling in a skill as a passion or a side project that eventually organically evolves.

If this is you, well done on making a career out of your passion! But if you’ve got the ability to generate a higher income by charging more, attracting more clients, automating some of your processes or monetising elements of your business, why wouldn’t you?

Don’t be put off thinking you need a complex 10-page document outlining every little detail and strategy. Nobody’s got time for that. I like to keep it simple, so instead let me introduce you to the 1-Page Marketing Plan.

The one page marketing plan

It’s exactly what it sounds like - a clear understanding of what you’re offering, to who, and how you’ll get it in front of them, summarised on one page. This means you can stick it on your wall or somewhere prominent and easily remind yourself with a glance what you should be focused on.

Who it’s for

In short, anyone selling a service or product. For those of you who work under your own name, make no mistake - you are a business. If you’re not already thinking this way, this is a fundamental shift in mindset you need to make first.

If you work for someone else, this is still relevant to you too. Your employer sees value in you that they’re willing to pay for, and having a plan around how to maximise this value can be hugely beneficial for your career.

Let’s dive in with an example of one for a completely made up business running art workshops for kids:

Above: An example one page marketing plan. Download a free template PDF

As you can see, it’s made up of 10 simple boxes for you to fill out:

Product/Service

This is about what you’re selling in the simplest form. Keep it short and sharp, with only a few words maximum.

Audience

Who’s actually paying for your product or service? This might be different to who your product or service is for. In the example above, the service is for kids, but the audience is actually their parents because they’re the ones paying.

Pain Points

If you can pinpoint the deeper reasons why your audience is seeking out your product or services, you’re onto a winner. This will help you write benefit-focused copy that speaks directly to the problem they have.

Value Proposition/s

What is it that makes you and/or your business truly different? What sets you or your product apart? You might have a significant amount of experience in your field, or your product is handcrafted locally. Whatever makes your product or service special, put it here.

Influencers

I’m not talking about Instagram influencers here, although they could factor in. Consider who might influence your buyer’s decision. In the example, teachers and the kids participating in the workshops would be strong influencers on whether their parents enrol them or not.

Key Message

Think of it this way: if you were chatting to someone while ordering a coffee, what’s the one thing you’d want them to walk away knowing about what you offer? Keep this short and sweet - our human brains simply can’t retain too much information so if it’s long-winded, people don’t remember anything at all.

Free Channels

Write down every free channel you can think of that you could reach your audience or their influencers through - both online and offline. Now go back and highlight the ‘quick wins’ that are likely to have the biggest impact.

Paid Channels

This is the same as the free channels box except, you guessed it, paid. This will often refer to advertising, but it could also be things like competitions (because giving away product costs you money) or paid partnerships and collaborations. Be specific here - instead of ‘Instagram’ you might write ‘a collaborative competition with brands X and Y on Instagram’. Come up with as many ideas as you can, then highlight the channels likely to have the biggest impact.

Cost

Time is money, so consider both the financial and time implications of focusing on the free and paid channels you’ve listed. Consider whether this is something you can truly commit to.

Goal/ROI/Success Metric

How are you going to measure whether all this time, effort and potentially money has paid off? By writing a SMART goal in here of course! This could be anything from a particular number of bookings, sales, a specific return on investment (ROI) or adding people to your email list.

Whatever makes sense for you, write a maximum of three here and make sure they’re specific and timebound. I recommend not looking more than three months into the future to keep you focused

I strongly recommend reviewing this at least once every few months to keep you focused on one thing at a time. For example, your goal initially might be to increase subscribers on your email list, and the rest of the page is also focused on this. Then the following month might focus on converting a percentage of these subscribers into customers or clients.
Most of all, this is designed to be completely flexible so I encourage you to download the empty template and find what works for you.

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.

Meet the CWC board: Fiona Brand

Team CWC! Left to right: Alessandra Azzone, Yvonne Meng, Samantha Jayaweera, Anika Cook, Fiona Brand, Bec Mackey, Liz Anderson, Jane Connory

We recently sat down and interviewed our board members to give you a chance to get to know them better, and we’ll be featuring one of these Q+As each week on the blog. Today we introduce you to Fiona Brand, the Secretary of the CWC board.

What is your current business/creative pursuit/job?

Founder of Brand by Name, an award-winning brand identity, graphic design & web design studio based in Melbourne, Australia

Can you outline the journey that got you here? What previous work/creative pursuits/life decisions brought you to this place?

I’m a largely self-taught, hands-on graphic designer. I started out as a Finished Artist in the early 90s, in the last few years of paste-up, cow gum, spray adhesive and bromides. Over the years I have worked in various design-related industries – Advertising agencies, Children’s television, Public Relations and Marketing agencies. On April Fools’ Day in 2012, at a tiny school desk in my lounge room and a 2011 iMac, I started Brand By Name.

When did you first come across Creative Women’s Circle?

I discovered CWC in 2011, when I had recently moved to Melbourne, and was looking to connect with other creatives.

Which creative person, living or dead, do you most admire and why?

I admire anyone who tries to make a living as an artist! Right now that person would be Jess Thom – I just saw her show ‘Backstage in Biscuitland’ – it was joyous, moving & laugh out loud funny. The best theatre I’ve seen in ages. http://www.britishcouncil.us/tourettesheros-backstage-biscuit-land

How do you challenge yourself creatively?

I usually have a side project or two on the go.

What is your ‘other’ dream job/business?

If I weren’t a graphic designer, I would be a chocolatier

Fiona is a highly experienced designer with 20 years’ involvement in the design, advertising, web and interactive industries. Fiona’s strengths lie in her depth of knowledge across a variety of design areas: her understanding of interactive and accessibility issues on the web, knowing her way around printing processes, how to achieve a brilliant result within a tight budget, and a design style that adapts itself to every different client. In 2011 she founded Brand by Name, an award winning creative design studio, providing design expertise across branding, print and web communication. Connect with Fiona or check out her work via her website, Instagram or LinkedIn.

Why desire and motivation pull us in different directions

3 min read

"Our lives are defined by opportunities. Even the ones we miss."

F.Scott Fitzgerald, 1922.

Every new year I promise myself that I will get in shape. My vision is toned and tight, tanned skin and an ability to lift my body weight effortlessly. I go to the gym, I do yoga, I eat well, drink heaps of water. For a few weeks I’m moving towards my goal and starting to feel and see results. My mood improves, I feel confident, capable and strong. And then… out of the blue, I start skipping classes as I meet my own destructive personality habits and inhibitors.

In her book, Write; 10 Days to Overcome Writer’s Block. Period.  Karen E. Peterson suggests that this blockage is due to the struggle between the left and right hemispheres of the brain leading to an ultimate toddler tantrum show-down. While “the ‘just-do-it’ left hand side of the brain is logical, language-based, and adult-like, the ‘just-say-no’ right side of the brain is dominant for emotion, negative memories and sensory output.”

In the moment of deciding whether or not to go to the gym, I can logically understand that going will make me feel good because it will help me move towards my vision and goals, but in that moment, my right brain wants to feel less pressure, take the easy route and have a good time. Wine and cheese in front of the telly? Oh yes, Emily, you know me so well. Right-brain wins. I lose.

The Divided Self 

“I am dragged along by a strange new force.

Desire and reason are pulling in different directions.

I see the right way and approve it, but follow the wrong.”

Ovid, 43 B.C. – 17 A.D

In The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, Jonathan Haidt explains what he calls “the divided self” quoting Roman poet Ovid to define the difference between logical and emotional thinking. Haidt goes further than left and right brain dualism, believing that the brain is divided by four parts; Mind vs. Body, and Left vs. Right, Old vs. New, Controlled vs. Automatic, thus likening the self as a “committee whose members have been thrown together to do a job, but who often find themselves working at cross-purposes [contributing] to our experiences of temptation, weakness and inner conflict.”

This idea of a divided self is not new; Plato split the body into soul and mind; Freud divided the mind into three parts; the ego, superego, and id. The common theme among philosophers is that our multi-dimensional personalities work best when working together, instead of in conflict which each other. So how do we get our divided selves working together to achieve the things we want?

 Motivation and Drive

"We do things because they're interesting. 
We do things because we like them, because they're inherently gratifying."

Pink, 2010

Daniel Pink, in his book, Drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us, artfully surmises why we engage in some tasks, and not others. It’s interesting to note that motivation is often created after we start a new behaviour, not the other way around. Taking a single step towards achieving your goals and vision is a great start. By actively going to the gym, taking that initial action, I was on my way.

To maintain drive and momentum:

1.    Set yourself realistic and achievable goals, but be kind to yourself if you don’t nail them on the first attempt. Be a personal coach, not a dictatorial punisher. Positive self-talk is really important – be kind and patient with yourself.

2.    Scheduling is important. If I don’t have dedicated time that’s in my calendar, there’s a higher chance my inner toddler will want to sit on the floor and avoid it.

3.    Procrastination is an avoidance mechanism which helps us find alternatives to fill in time and entertain ourselves. Procrastination is fine, so long as it has a time stamp and doesn’t interfere with your non-negotiable scheduling.

4.    Give yourself mini-deadlines to review your achievements and acknowledge your loses.

5.    It can take a while to develop a new habit, so don’t give up after a few weeks. The literature suggests it can take 10 – 16 weeks, so keep up the momentum.

6.    Be aware that motivation may come and go. Ride the wave and stay connected with your desire. This will fuel your motivation when you’re feeling challenged.

7.    Life doesn’t have to full of tasks, give yourself pockets of time to play or do nothing. You’ll feel less guilty taking time out if you’ve actively made the decision to keep periods of time free and open to fill at your will.

References and further reading:

De Botton, A (2001). The Consolations of Philosophy. Penguin Books: London, UK.

Fitzgerald, F.S (1922).  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Colliers Magazine: USA.

Haidt, J (2006). The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom. Basic Books: New York, USA.

Ovid, 43 B.C. – 17 A.D. (1989) Metamorphoses. Spring Publications: Dallas, Texas.

Peterson, K. E (2006). Write; 10 Days to Overcome Writer’s Block. Period. Adams Media: Avon, USA.

Pink, D. (2010) Drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us. RSA Animation [Online] Accessed 09/06/2014 from, http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=SG&hl=en-GB&v=u6XAPnuFjJc

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Emily Wills is the creative director of surface pattern design studio, SURFACE 1°22. In her various manifestations, she has worked as a fashion designer, illustrator, curator, arts educator and printed textile designer. Emily founded the SURFACE 1°22 Design School in Melbourne, offering hands-on workshops and short courses in surface and textile design. Find out more on the SURFACE 1°22 Design School Facebook or Instagram.

Meet the CWC board: Jane Connory

2 min read

Team CWC! Left to right: Alessandra Azzone, Yvonne Meng, Samantha Jayaweera, Anika Cook, Fiona Brand, Bec Mackey, Liz Anderson, Jane Connory

We recently sat down and interviewed our new board members to give you a chance to get to know them better, and we’ll be featuring one of these Q+As each week on the blog. Today we introduce you to Jane Connory, the new Vice President of the CWC board!

What is your current business/creative pursuit/job?

I am currently a full time PhD candidate at Monash where I am exploring the visibility of women in Australian graphic design. I also teach in the Communication Design degree, honours years and masters programs there and are employed two days a week as the National Head of Communications at the Design Institute of Australia.

Can you outline the journey that got you here? What previous work/creative pursuits/life decisions brought you to this place?

I have been a potter, an illustrator, an art director in advertising agencies, a camp councillor in the US, a senior designer in publishing and a Program Manager at a private university – but it all started doing colouring-in competitions at primary school.

When did you first come across Creative Women’s Circle?

I was keen to engage with other creative women and help to champion their contributions to the Australian design industry. I approached the outgoing President, Tess Mccabe , to run a work shop at a national event I ran at Billy Blue College of Design, which celebrated women in design with NYC designer Jessica Walsh.

What has your experience been being a part of the CWC community?

It sounds a little cliché but it is really like finding your tribe.

How would you describe the value of membership with CWC?

CWC offers a safe space for women to meet and share creative hobbies and careers without the ego that can exist in other parts of the creative industries.

Which creative person, living or dead, do you most admire and why?

Eirene Mort was a designer in Sydney in the 1900s who designed logos, textiles, typography and many beautiful objects typical to this Arts and Crafts movement. But Eirene was also integral to pulling creative groups of women together and providing platforms for education and to exhibit their uniquely Australian work. A founding member of The Society of Arts and Crafts in NSW, Eirene left a legacy of championing creative women that I am proud to see the CWC continuing.

How do you challenge yourself creatively?

By getting myself out the door every morning with 2 kids in tow.

What would you be doing if you weren’t in your current career? What is your ‘other’ dream job/business?

I often fantasise about going into business with a friend of mine as a florist.

Where do you see Creative Women’s Circle heading over the next two years?

Our fantastic new board want to continue the amazing legacy of the outgoing team by adding to the benefits open to our current members and giving them lots of reasons to stay engaged.

Why is this a great time to renew/sign up or volunteer to join the CWC community?

We have some exciting things planned which just might include craft markets and Christmas presents!

Jane is a PhD candidate at Monash University, and is working towards a gender inclusive history of Australian graphic design. She has been a practising designer and illustrator in the advertising, branding and publishing sectors, in both London and Melbourne, since 1997. When she’s not teaching at Monash University you’ll find her being the National Head of Communications at the Design Institute of Australia. Find out more about Jane and her work via her website, podcast, or check out her research here.

Creativity is just simple math. Here are the formulas to prove it.

Mathematics can indeed be defined as the general science of pattern and structure. Because art also involves patterns and structures, art and math relate to each other in many natural ways.” (Farsi and Craft, 2005)

Creativity can be defined as an ability to create new ideas by combining one or more existing ideas. Like adding, building and connecting - sounds a lot like simple arithmetic to me. The more I looked at this, I discovered that Creativity has some fundamental similarities with Mathematics. Both areas require creative thinking and problem-solving processes such as addition, subtraction and multiplication. Reckon you’re not that good at math? Turns out, you are more than likely engaging in maths in your creative practice…

Addition and subtraction

It may be reductive thinking, but I propose that there is a unifying connection between Addition and Subtraction as they can be considered the same process working in opposite directions. Addition works to group objects, ideas and thoughts together. The old Fashematics website (see end of post for link) was a hilarious example of reverse addition; the contributor looked at images of fashion couture and worked backwards to suggest their original inspiration from unrelated, and often innocuous objects.  

Similarly, a mash-up demonstrates how music producers cut two parts of two separate songs apart, then stitch them back together to create something new. Simple subtraction and addition. The concept of mash-up moves from music to art through collage where cut and paste uses subtraction to isolate and fragment one image into singular parts, and then reassemble these pieces into new compositions by pasting seemingly unrelated objects back together again.

Multiplication and repetition

Multiplication can be defined as the repeated process of addition. While for me, multiplication dredges up memories of learning my times tables, repetition is used by artists and designers to create a sense of movement or point of interest. Repetition, and the act of repeating, creates new rhythmic patterns and places emphasis on a word, image or sound. Repetition of a beat, lyrics or the arrangement of notes can create a catchy hook.

Art and creativity are simple math  

Creative Thinking requires an ability to see and recognize patterns, the fundamental ability of mathematicians who “start with some basic rules, then make any moves that fit those rules—which includes inventing additional rules and finding new connections between old rules.” (AAAS, 1990). It is not surprising therefore to find that each artist, author or mathematician is building and multiplying knowledge based on existing concepts and theories. These high functioning cognitive skills show a balance between right and left brain thinking; the ability to come up with complex solutions for multiple outcomes.

Clever, aren’t we…?

References/further reading on creativity and mathematics:

• http://fashematics.com/

• American  Association  for the Advancement  of Science. (1990). The  Nature  of Mathematics. https://www.aaas.org/programs/project-2061

• Farsi, C. and Craft, D. (2005). Mathematics and the Arts. University of Colorado, Boulder & Lakewood. http://staff.washington.edu/rockne/math-art.pdf

• Gavosto, E.A. and O’Donnell, L.E. (2012) Learning with Technology: Similarities in Mathematics & Writing. University Press of Kansas.http://math.uoc.gr/~ictm2/Proceedings/pap431.pdf

• Haren,  F. (2004).  The  Idea Book.  Interesting  Books: Stockholm,  Sweden.

• Turner, M. and Fauconnier, G (2002) The Way We Think. Conceptual Blending and the Mind's Hidden Complexities. Basic Books: New York

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Emily Wills is the creative director of surface pattern design studio, SURFACE 1°22. In her various manifestations, she has worked as a fashion designer, illustrator, curator, arts educator and printed textile designer. Emily founded the SURFACE 1°22 Design School in Melbourne, offering hands-on workshops and short courses in surface and textile design. Find out more on the SURFACE 1°22 Design School Facebook or Instagram.

Advocating for the recognition of creative women

3 min read
At Creative Women’s Circle we know the work women do is valuable and deserves recognition. And not only the paid type, it is also all those unpaid hours which need to be celebrated and championed – whether raising a family, volunteering for a good cause or contributing hours to the creative community.

The Australian Honours System is one way that our Government celebrates such achievements, through awarding medals for achievement and distinguished service. In 2018, extraordinary women like Liz Ellis, awarded for her support and advocacy for young women and contributions to netball, the late Betty Cuthbert, awarded as an advocate for research into a cure for multiple sclerosis and her distinguish athletics career and Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, the eminent tennis player, all received Appointments as Companions (AC) by the Governor General.

Although this list of high achieving females is impressive, the reality of the Order of Australia is that since 1975, only one third of the nominations for all categories have been women and only 30 women overall have received appointments. The creative sector is also quite underrepresented, with only a handful of architects being nominated in the history of the awards.

One of our core values at the Creative Women’s Circle is empowerment and we take our mission —to champion, support and connect women, very seriously. Early in October, Samantha Jayaweera, our new President and myself, attended the Recognition Matters co-design workshop held by the Department of Premier and Cabinet and Office for Women. Here we heard the disturbingly common statistics about the systemic undervaluing of women in our society. As I write this, the media is reporting six deaths of women to domestic violence in the past seven days. Gender inequity is not only desperately unfair but also life threatening.

Upheavals in the structures of our society need to be made before any changes can be affected. Nominating more women for an Order of Australia might seem meagre in the grand scheme of things but, the narrative surrounding women needs to change from vulnerable to empowered for these behaviours to change. We believe that having a 50/50 ratio of female nominations in the Australian Honours System is one way of doing this. As Emily Lee-Ack, CEO of the Office for Women, said at this workshop, “If you’re not advancing equality, you’re reinforcing inequity.

At CWC, we believe that creative women make an impactful and important change in our community and that (unlike Wayne from Wayne’s World) we are worthy of recognition in this platform. So we challenge you to think about who, in your sphere of influence, deserves this and to put them forward for an Order of Australia. The process is surprisingly easy and you can band together with friends and family to complete the form.

It’s a common belief and harmful social norm that women often shy away from applying for jobs if they don’t meet all the criteria. Sadly, this mind set extends to other forums for achievement and recognition like Order of Australia nominations. Let’s start to change this by thinking about the strong, talented, generous women in your life that you could nominate in these categories. The criteria on the four categories are very simple, for example:

·       The Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) is for eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree in service to Australia or humanity at large.

·       The Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) is for distinguished service of a high degree to Australia or humanity at large.

·       The Member of the Order of Australia (AM) is for service in a particular locality or field of activity or to a particular group.

·       The Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) is for service worthy of particular recognition.

So, gather a group of CWC friends, brainstorm a nomination and make it happen. After all, we all make valuable contributions and deserve the recognition.

Jane Connory is a PhD candidate at Monash University, and is working towards a gender inclusive history of Australian graphic design. She has been a practising designer and illustrator in the advertising, branding and publishing sectors, in both London and Melbourne, since 1997. When she’s not teaching at Monash University you’ll find her being the National Head of Communications at the Design Institute of Australia.

Meet the CWC board: Samantha Jayaweera

Team CWC! Left to right: Alessandra Azzone, Yvonne Meng, Samantha Jayaweera, Anika Cook, Fiona Brand, Bec Mackey, Liz Anderson, Jane Connory

We recently sat down and interviewed our new board members to give you a chance to get to know them better, and we’ll be featuring one of these Q+As each week on the blog. Today we introduce you to Samantha Jayaweera, the new President of the CWC board!

What is your current business/creative pursuit/job?

I work as a Graphic & Digital Designer at Intrepid Group with the APAC Marketing Team. Outside of work I really enjoy pursing craft based projects like quilting, screen printing and collage.

Can you outline the journey that got you here? What previous work/creative pursuits/life decisions brought you to this place?

At uni, I studied a Bachelor of Multimedia (Media Studies) and shortly after completed a Master of Design (Graphic Communication). After graduating, I worked at a small boutique medical publisher that publishes guidelines that recommend medical dosages and therapies. This gave me a priceless foundation in typesetting and layout design which directly led to my role at Penguin Random House (PRH) as a specialised typesetter and layout designer. I worked at PRH for nearly five years where I worked on over 400 works of fiction and non-fiction across the Adult and Young Readers lists. Last year, I opted for a new challenge by moving out of publishing design and joined Intrepid Group as a marketing designer. I am really enjoying my position working with a multi-disciplinary team, learning more about digital marketing and getting the opportunity to creatively lead marketing campaigns.

When did you first come across Creative Women’s Circle?

I was working in a previous job where I wasn't getting any professional development or access to industry mentors. I decided I needed to look for opportunities outside of work, preferably in a volunteer position. I found Creative Women's Circle through some research, read about the amazing ladies on the board on the CWC website and volunteered shortly after. 

What has your experience been being a part of the CWC community?

I joined CWC because I wanted to surround myself with creative, intelligent, kick-arse women that could empathise with and advise me about my professional path. I found this and so much more! Among the group of incredibly talented women on the board, I found some of the most supportive mentors who epitomise the open, kind and generous spirit of the CWC community. 

How would you describe the value of membership with CWC?

In my mind, the value of CWC is best described by the creative community you are enveloped by. It is a really open, kind and generous community of women that want to support each other through connection, collaboration and championing each other's successes.

Which creative person, living or dead, do you most admire and why?

I really admire Bjork for her avant-garde approach to everything she creates. She is a classically trained musician that has pushed the boundaries of music, art, fashion and even dabbled in acting. She is constantly evolving and doesn't let her success or failure dictate where or what she should do. 

How do you challenge yourself creatively?

I see myself as a creative problem solver and over the years I have come to realise that I work best when navigating around constraints. I have often found that some of my proudest results were born from extremely constrained circumstances where I didn't settle for an average option.

What would you be doing if you weren’t in your current career? What is your ‘other’ dream job/business?

I have always really loved patterns and screen printing so I think I would pursue textile design or surface pattern design.  

Where do you see Creative Women’s Circle heading over the next two years? Why is this a great time to renew/sign up or volunteer to join the CWC community?

Creative Women's Circle is a rare combination of creative community, friendship and professional development. We are so proud of each of our creative community and want to tell the world about each one of them. At present, we are in the midst of reimagining member benefits, events and resources we offer to better suit the needs of our dynamic member base. So be sure to sign up or renew your membership to take advantage of these new changes. Now is also a great time to volunteer with us and develop skill-sets with a bunch of super friendly ladies. Plus there are always snacks! 

Sam is a graphic designer with experience in editorial layout design, typesetting, marketing digital design and production. As an avid learner of all things, Sam has embarked on further study in user experience design, surface pattern design and digital design. She is endlessly inspired by beautiful, thoughtful, innovative human-centred design across all creative industries and strives to imbue her work with the same love, devotion and meticulous attention to detail. Connect with Sam via her Instagram or LinkedIn.