Marketing Your Creativity

Heather Morrow & One of her Skeletons

I wish I could say that I don’t have anything hiding in my closet or under my bed that is not scary, but the reality is that I have both imagined and real skeletons in my closet and ghouls under my bed.

They might not seem so bad to you; however, hiding them increases their power and potential influence if revealed by someone other than myself.

Before tackling my skeletons, I wanted to talk about why this is important for your business and how coming clean can help your customers relate to you.

First, no one is perfect.  If you continue to sell yourself as such, your customers will eventually start to look for the imperfections and then use them against you in their buying decisions.

We’ve all seen a lot of evidence of this in politics.  If those running for office would just come clean, revealing all of their hidden secrets, the voters would take notice, but then say to themselves, “Hey, he’s just like me . . . he’s done X and he’s not ashamed to admit it.”

Instead they sweep the “ugly” truth under the bed and into the closet.  The problem is there is always someone who knows about the skeleton and will eventually tell.

Revealing the truth can help people trust in you.  In some cases, this trust is inherent, established by your brand.  I know that I can go into any Starbucks in the world and get the same Iced Chai Tea Latte.  If I found out that the Chai Mix was made by children in an underprivileged country and that Starbucks had been hiding this . . . I would lose trust and probably stop drinking my daily does.  If they were upfront about how they acquired the Chai and that they were giving a percentage of the profits back to that community, I would continue to drink the Chai and probably even pay more.

So, back to me, and my skeletons.  I try to not keep any; however, a few do find their way into the closet and when people find out – they are surprised.  Are they big enough to lose the customer?  I doubt it, but who knows when something will trigger the opposite response.

• For me, I think my biggest skeleton is my credit card debt, which I am working hard to pay off.  I know that a lot of American’s have the same skeleton . . . times have been tough the past couple of years.  I would feel more comfortable if that skeleton wasn’t lurking.
• PotteryDaily.com and creating works of art does not completely support me financially.  So, I have a job teaching people how to use computer applications.  I do make some money selling my ceramics and other works of art.  All income is tracked and declared to the IRS because I believe that if I continue to treat it as a business, it will become one that can support me in the future.
• I have an addictive personality which is why I try to avoid things that could potentially be bad for me.  As you probably noticed above, I am addicted to Starbuck’s Chai Tea Lattes; however, years ago I did give up my addiction to Coke – so there is hope.  Especially if I find out that the Chai Mix is made using child labor.
• I have two sisters and two brothers.  I know I don’t talk about them much and many perceive me as an only child.  As the oldest of five, I was an only child for two years.  My sisters (twins of each other) and brothers (both adopted from Japan) are great – so I should talk about them more.  With their respective spouses, they’ve gone on to produce 11 wonderful nieces and nephews.

I know these don’t sound too bad.  Maybe I should run for political office – NOT!

Bringing the things you perceive as “bad” into the light takes away their power over you and the impact they might have on your business in the future.  So, get ready to throw open the doors and let the skeletons dance into the light.

© 2011 Heather C. Morrow.  All rights reserved

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Heather C. Morrow, owner of Pottery Daily, helps emerging artists express their true value and get paid what they are worth.  Her products and services show you how to make more money, save more time while enjoying the freedom in your art.  For your FREE audio go to www.marketandsellyourart.com.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 1st, 2011 at 4:10 am and is filed under Marketing, Values. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.