Designers tend to reduce marketing to a hard sell. It is much more than that when it comes to Branding and promoting you. I will let you know about my personal experience with the subject and how I used Wix to achieve it.
When was the last time you updated your online portfolio? Do you even have one?
I have been working as a graphic/web designer for more than I can remember or willing to admit (Just to give you a hint, my first design software was Coreldraw 3 running on a Compaq Presario 4122). So yes, it has been a while. However, I still don’t have a decent portfolio nor a proper business card, and please don’t ask me about that online store at creativemarket I never got around to set up.
Yes, I suck at marketing. Or maybe, I have just been neglecting for years now.
Two months ago, I decided to give my professional profile a change. So, I embarked in a Digital Marketing Specialization and I updated my CV accordingly. This led me to land my first job -officially- in a digital agency. As I was revisiting my work experience over the years, I noticed how I was indeed rather good at marketing… but for others.
This is a very young company. They hired me to support their digital marketing division. Just at a quick glance, I could identify their weak points and opportunities in terms of their online properties and social networks. By the time I had my interview, I already had a tsunami of ideas for them on how they could grow their business and enhance their branding.
But why could I do marketing for them and not for myself? What was stopping me from achieving those goals that I earnestly recommend to others?
It was the shame.
Yes, I was secretly considering marketing beneath me. It was ok for others to show their hunger to sell, to make money. But not for me. The geeky introvert that I am, felt that marketing was the spoiled chubby daughter of capitalism.
Now, after working on a Digital Agency for two months I have realized that marketing permeates every activity of a business the same way that it does for yourself and your personal branding. Delivering a good product is marketing. Giving great customer experience is marketing. Presenting yourself under the best light is marketing.
Ultimately, marketing is for me the sum of all actions needed to accomplish a tangible goal — In business and in life.
Love yourself as your most valuable client. The one you pamper and the one whose business you want to see grow and be successful. To make you proud.
So, here is the thing. The process can be as simple as following these 4 consecutive steps. And, my weapon of choice is Wix as always. I have been a fan of them since the beginning. They have the most eye-catching design and easy-to-use website builder. Plus, a plethora of tools to grow your business. I will mention some of the most fundamental ones, but I encourage you to explore beyond that.
First: Please change your mindset! Stop being a condescending smartass with your carrier, get rid of the isolated tormented genius archetype and get to work -for real- on your self-promotion. You can be a genius and commercial self-promoted success at the same time. There is nothing wrong with that!
Second: Set a platform to showcase your astonishing work. Get yourself a nifty portfolio. That’s the cornerstone. Curate your work, ask for help with that if you can’t decide on what to display. Remember that is always about quality. A well-balanced portfolio it is not the one that has a vast amount of work but one that -even if small- shows great diversity and it is exciting to an audience. After that, you can pick an eye-catching template — I know, I know, why would I use an unworthy template when I can fabricate the most amazing one from scratch just for me. Newsflash: you won’t! You will procrastinate ad infinitum.
Then take that awesome html5 website templates and customize it, make it your own. It will look beautiful with your own stuff. Believe me. Think of it as a foundation, not a finished product. Wix has refined their aesthetics over the years. Just look just at these lovely examples below, imagine them with your own images. Customizing them is a breeze with the Wix website builder. It is so easy that you will start being an advocate of their service with your friends and clients, believe me.
Third: You need be discovered. So, you have already curated and published that portfolio. You feel very proud, you even ask yourself -“How come I haven’t done that before? it wasn’t that hard” Now, get discovered! You can have an amazing idea (yes, maybe the next best thing), but if nobody knows about it won’t get anywhere. All that you will see out there is the same pretentious mediocre work done by other designers who get paid large sums of cash. Leaving you saying, “I could have done that, and better!” And most probably, you could. But… you didn’t.
Having said that. You must also check the SiteBooster and the GetTraffic app. SiteBooster will send your details to top notch sites and directories making it easier for your site to be indexed and rank better. And GetTraffic will create customized web ads that target your audience.
Fourth: Engage with your audience. Once you have your platform and your audience you must engage with them. Interact, converse, amplify your message. For this, you will need the Wix Social Media Integration. From Facebook posts to Instagram updates, you can have all those streams directly integrated to your site. Boosting the interaction with your business and your social media presence.
Conclusion
As you can already see, using Wix will provide you with a comprehensive, cost-effective, and easy solution to your promotion needs. You have no more excuses, get your hands dirty. There is nothing wrong with putting yourself under the best light. There is nothing wrong with feeling proud of your work and promote yourself. There is nothing wrong to grow professionally, that doesn’t make you superficial sellout. You can be both, the genius and the commercial success. It’s ok, trust me. Become your own best client.