STI AS2002 Creating a Strategic Business Plan PDF

AS2002 CREATING A STRATEGIC BUSINESS PLAN The business plan is a road map for the business. This will be a guide on what exactly needs to be done and what is the direction of the business. Having a business plan means that you are a serious entrepreneur because...

AS2002 CREATING A STRATEGIC BUSINESS PLAN The business plan is a road map for the business. This will be a guide on what exactly needs to be done and what is the direction of the business. Having a business plan means that you are a serious entrepreneur because you are stating the goals to consider for your start-up business. WRITING A BUSINESS PLAN The common impression of some when they heard the word “Business Plan” is a business research paper with many pages. While sometimes, it may be true, but you will be putting up a Multimedia business or a creative business as a future creative entrepreneur. So, this will be a different approach for creative or multimedia businesses. The business plan that you will be writing as creatives is somewhat different from the usual business plan because it is specifically designed for creative business and will discuss every aspect of the business plan in detail in a simplified way. HOW TO WRITE A BUSINESS PLAN FOR CREATIVES? Start by introducing your business. Share your mission, vision, goals, your business’s look and feel, why did you choose that business name, why did you choose that kind of business, etc. Give your potential clients an overview of what you do as a business. This is a good start to create a good impression on them. Make it simple. This means that you use basic English for your texts, avoid deep vocabularies. Make it brief and straight to the point. It means that you go straight into discussing the most important details of your business plan. Since you are putting up a creative business, put a little design on your document but still looking professional. It is because when you put a little design on your business plan, it will look inviting to your potential client. THE COMPONENTS OF YOUR Market Competitive Marketing Products BUSINESS PLANS AS CREATIVES Pricing Validation Analaysis Plan and Services These components will be discussed in further detail in the next pages and handouts. Client Workflows and Business Goals (which includes Summary Processes the financial plan) Brand Summary 08 Handout 1 *Property of STI Page 1 of 5  AS2002 BRAND SUMMARY The brand summary is giving your potential clients an overview of your business. It is introducing to them what the business can offer. Brand Look and Feel When you present your business to potential clients or business partners, you must keep in mind running a creative business. This means that you must include visuals. You may start your introduction with your demo reel during your presentation, or you may want to design your PowerPoint presentation for them to have a glimpse of what your company does. All strong brands are consistent and strategic with their visual identity. So think about how you want readers and customers to feel on your site. What do you want your brand to say about you? What voice do you want to write in? What will you show people? What types of pictures will you use? What graphic elements or fonts will you use? Take all those notes and turn them into a brand style guide, so people will recognize your brand. All your brand elements should have a cohesive look everywhere – blog, website, email, signatures, business card, sales pages, social — all of it. ("HOW TO WRITE A BUSINESS PLAN FOR CREATIVES", n.d.) WHAT SHOULD YOU PUT IN THE BRAND SUMMARY? The name of your company. Make sure that you choose a good professional brand name. Make it unique and memorable to your future clients. Vision Statement. This is saying what do you want your business to be in the next years. This is also stating the direction of your business. When you construct your vision statement, visualize your business success. Make this passionate and emotional. Mission Statement. This is stating what your business does, why you are doing what you are doing, who you are doing it for and what value you provide. You have to say why your business exists. Make your brand summary, vision, and mission statement brief but straight to the avoid. Avoid lengthy statements. Otherwise, your future clients will not take the time to read it because it’s long. Example: This is the mission, vision, and values of Graphic Roots Design Mission To provide high quality, professional and complete creative services in all design & communication fields including: Graphic Design / Printing / Advertising / Branding / Packaging / Promotional Materials Design & Supply / Copywriting / Photography / Strategic Marketing / Multimedia / Web Design, Development & Hosting / Interiors Design Vision Example: Our focus on the future is to supply the business market in the region as well as in the world with our outstanding Mission, Visiondesign solutions & Values that would of Graphic Rootsgrow together the firm and our clients’ success. Design 08 Handout 1 *Property of STI Page 2 of 5  AS2002 Values Graphic Roots highly values "Creativity" in its services and products, "Cooperation" within the team and with its clients, "Commitment" to excellence, and "Customer Satisfaction". Source: http://www.graphicroots.net/en/about-us/our-mission-vision-a-values.html CLIENT SUMMARY The client summary is identifying “who is your target market”. Before you identify who your target market is, you have to first identify what the problem is, what people look for right now, what they want, and how your service can solve the problem. For example, the drone is popular with young adults these days because of cinematic or artistic shots. If you will open a photo and video company, your target audience is our young adults who have a high income to afford, and you will offer aerial shots using a drone as part of your service. MARKET VALIDATION Once you already have a target market, this is where market validation will come in. It is identifying if your product or service will fit your target market. In short, it is validating if consumers will buy your product or service. It is important to validate your idea early in the entrepreneurial process to ensure you do not waste time and resources, creating a product that is not a good fit. Securing market validation can also instill confidence among investors, crowd funders, and banks, considering funding your start-up. By going through the process of validating your business idea, you can gain a deeper understanding of how your product does or does not meet your target customers’ pain points. The insights you gain can help you create an offering that not only addresses your market segment’s needs but earns you your first paying customers. (Cote, 2020) HOW DO WE VALIDATE THE MARKET? Write Down Research Your Goals Search Volume Customer Interviews 08 Handout 1 *Property of STI Page 3 of 5  AS2002 Think of what you want to achieve for your Another way to check if your business. product/service would fit your target market is to research on the search Ask yourself: What is the value of my volume of potential clients. product/service? , What makes my product/service unique among others?. Nowadays, people uses social media than google to search for a service provider Answering these questions will help you than Google. So, if you might want to communicate the value and differentiating utilize social media to search how many factors of your product/service. people are looking for product or service that you are about to offer. For example, if you will put up a wedding photography business, you might as well Write Down Your Goals Research check how Search Volumesearch for a many people supplier for wedding photo shoots. So far, this is one effective way to check if your business will work on your potential target market or not. You ask people by sending online surveys or a conversation with someone. The feedback of others matters to check the potential of your creative business in the market. Customer Interviews Once you have already validated or assessed that your creative business fits your target market, you must give your conclusion/findings as to why your creative business fits your target market. 08 Handout 1 *Property of STI Page 4 of 5  AS2002 References HOW TO WRITE A BUSINESS PLAN FOR CREATIVES. Conversion Minded. Retrieved 2 October 2020, from https://conversionminded.com/how-to-write-a- business-plan-for-creatives/. Cote, C. (2020). 5 STEPS TO VALIDATE YOUR BUSINESS IDEA. Harvard Business School Online. Retrieved 5 October 2020, from https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/market-validation 08 Handout 1 *Property of STI Page 5 of 5  AS2002 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS Once you already find out that your creative business fits the market, the next thing that you would do is to check on your competitor. Reasons Why We Do Competitive Analysis To help the For example, you want to run a video production company. There are business build a so many video production company other than yours that your better marketing potential clients can choose from. It is a matter of what is your strategy marketing strategy and what will make your service unique as a creative business so that potential clients will choose you. Identify When you do competitor's check or competitive analysis, you will see opportunities in the what kind of product or service they are and are not offering to the market that is market. From there, you will be able to get an opportunity to create a underserved service/product that is unique and cannot easily be found in other businesses. How to Do a Competitor’s Check/Analysis Analyze the Social Media Presence Products or Services Competitor's Content Check what type of content Check how your competitor/s Check what kind of service or your competitor is creating. utilize social media in your product they are currently Whether it is a blogpost, industry. offering and if you will offer videos,podcast,images,print The result of your analysis on the same product or service, ads,press release, webinars this will help you improve see how you can make a etc. your own social media better version of it on your Analyzing the competitor's strategy. end. content will help you If you know what works with Check what are the products determine if the consumers your competitors and what or service that they don't are engaging with it or not. not, it will help you build a have. Then, create something Check the quality of their better social media presence unique. content and compare it to for your creative business. yours. Observe how often do Shape your social media they produce their content. presence according to your Ask yourself: "Are they doing brand and target market. anything that you don't?" then fill the gaps. "Are they publishing more content per week than you?" 08 Handout 2 *Property of STI Page 1 of 6  AS2002 Here are some questions to ask when you analyze or check the social media presence of your competitor. What social networks are they using and which are working best for them? Are you using the same? What are their engagement metrics? Retweets, shares, comments. This will determine how successful they are on each channel and whether their strategies are worth copying. How often do they post? If their engagement is high, are you posting at the same frequency? How many followers do they have and how fast are they getting more? How does this compare with your growth? Who are they following? Should you be following them too? Are they proactive in responding to customers’ support issues? Do they have a separate account dedicated to customer service? Are they helpful or aggressive? Do they personalize responses? You could gain points by offering this service, if your competitors are lacking. What are they doing well? Newsjacking, promotions, customer engagement, ads? Are you doing the same, achieving the same results? What are their weaknesses? Bad response rate, inactivity, spelling mistakes, irregular posting, lack of engagement, poor imagery? Look for opportunities where you can jump in, if there are unanswered questions being posted Source: How to conduct a competitor analysis. Talkwalker. (2020). Talkwalker Website 08 Handout 2 *Property of STI Page 2 of 6  AS2002 What Should You Be Comparing? Products Service Price Audience Audience Interests Demographics Products - What kind of products that your competitor is offering? How unique is their product compared to yours? Service - What did their clients say about them? Check their reviews. How do they deliver their service? What makes their service convenient to their clients? Price - Check how much is the prices of their products and compare them to yours. Analyze why it is theirs is more expensive or why it is cheaper. Audience Interests - Check what makes the audience interested in keeping them engaged, especially in social media. Audience Demographics - Check who your competitor’s customers are, see if they have the same demographics as yours, and check if you can also target their audience to introduce your products and services. For instance, your audience demographics for your multimedia production business are composed of young adults who own start-up businesses wherein your competitor’s customers are multinational companies. Can you target multination companies and introduce them to your products and service, knowing they have different requirements than start-up businesses? SWOT Analysis SWOT is often used in marketing strategy; however, you can also analyze your competitor. But look at this from a customer’s point of view. SWOT - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It is an audit that identifies the internal and external factors affecting a team’s future performance. Internal factors are strengths and weaknesses, while external factors are opportunities and threats. By looking at your competitors’ SWOT, you are analyzing their strengths and weaknesses from a customer’s point of view. It will help them understand their business better. Put yourself in a customer’s shoes and ask:  What made me choose that brand?  Is it just because they are different, better, cheaper, local, more choices? 08 Handout 2 *Property of STI Page 3 of 6  AS2002  Why would I choose them over another brand?  Would I be prepared to swap brands if changes were made? (“How to conduct a competitor analysis”, 2020) Image Source: https://www.talkwalker.com/blog/conduct-competitor-analysis#Best%20competitor%20analysis%20tools Using a Competitor Analysis Template To help you with the competitor analysis, you may use a competitor analysis template. Image Source: https://www.talkwalker.com/blog/conduct-competitor-analysis#Best%20competitor%20analysis%20tools See 08 Competitor Analysis Template. 08 Handout 2 *Property of STI Page 4 of 6  AS2002 BUSINESS GOALS Business goals are more than knowing what you want your business to achieve in the next few years and having financial goals/plans. Identify know how much you need to start your business and make it clear Before starting out your creative business, how much earning would like to make have an estimate amount of how much you in the coming months/years of your have to prepare to get it started. operation. Take note of the costs to start your You should list down all the materials, creative business (e.g. software, equipment, technology etc. that you will be equipment,, office supplies, marketing using and their amount to get you creative budget, payroll, web hosting fee, etc.). office get started. List down other materials that you need to Write down everything that you need maintain your creative business and how to maintain your business and its much will it cost you. (e.g. monthly/annual amount. software subscription, monthly rent, utilities, equipment maintenance etc.) For example, you want to reach 1 million Identify what specific task would help earnings in one (1) year. How do you think you can achieve that? Do you need to gain you achieve your business goals. at least ten (10) clients per month, or do you need tie-ups with other companies? PRODUCTS AND SERVICES In creating your business plan, you should indicate the products and services you are offering. You should also identify what the features/inclusions of it are. Your future clients will also base on your products or service when they make a decision if they want to do business with you or not because, in reality, the reason why they wanted to do business with you is because of what you are offering aside from how you treat them as your client. Make a list of your current The goal is for your and future potential clients to get to products/services offering. know you, like you, and trust you. 08 Handout 2 *Property of STI Page 5 of 6  AS2002 References HOW TO WRITE A BUSINESS PLAN FOR CREATIVES. Conversion Minded. Retrieved 2 October 2020, from https://conversionminded.com/how-to-write-a- business-plan-for-creatives/. Cote, C. (2020). 5 STEPS TO VALIDATE YOUR BUSINESS IDEA. Harvard Business School Online. Retrieved 5 October 2020, from https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/market-validation. How to conduct a competitor analysis. Talkwalker. (2020). Retrieved 6 October 2020, from https://www.talkwalker.com/blog/conduct-competitor- analysis#:~:text=A%20competitor%20analysis%20will%3A,team%20build%20better%20marketing%20strategies&text=Help%20you%20take%20advantage %20of,can%20create%20sustainable%20competitive%20advantages. Carmichael, E. (2018). Should You CARE About Your COMPETITION? | Jack Ma | #Entspresso [Image]. Retrieved 6 October 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vImLK-qDfu8. TED Archive. (2016). How to create a great brand name | Jonathan Bell [Image]. Retrieved 6 October 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzbXht7MJVM. TED. (2015). The single biggest reason why start-ups succeed | Bill Gross [Image]. Retrieved 6 October 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNpx7gpSqbY&t=163s. Lee Stone, T. Running a Design Business: Pricing and Estimating. Lecture, LinkedIn Learning. Chapman, L. (2020). Five Critical Steps to Developing a Marketing Plan. Trew Marketing. Retrieved 9 October 2020, from https://www.trewmarketing.com/smartmarketingblog/best-practices/five-critical-steps-to-developing-a-marketing-plan. Tarun, J. (2020). Marketing that Generates Income. Lecture, Husay Community. 08 Handout 2 *Property of STI Page 6 of 6  AS2002 PRICING Pricing is one of the most important ways to position your business in the market. There are so many ways to price your service, depending on the entrepreneur but in this case, you will be establishing your creative or design business that may require a different approach in pricing. In a creative business, designers/Multimedia artists provide service on a project that a client has commissioned. Clients may think that they are buying a logo, brochure, or website. But what they are buying is your time and expertise to develop a relationship that results in a logo, brochure, or website. They are paying for you to create this design. They are not paying for the design deliverable itself. Sometimes this is a hard concept to convey to a client. They are much more likely to think. I need a website for my new business because every company needs a website. They do not necessarily think I need to hire a design consultant and develop a relationship with them. The difference is key to pricing as well as communicating with clients about money. (Lee Stone, n.d.) FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN PRICING IN A CREATIVE BUSINESS EXPERTISE Consider the value of your craft. If you produce quality output then there's not way you should go lower. RESOURCES Check what resources would you need to do the project. If you would need to outsource for a supplier or an extra worker to complete the project then you need extra budget for that. SCHEDULING Check how much time it needs to complete a service service/project. Usually the longer it needs time especially if it's complex, it's expensive. Check the client's deadline and how many people on their end will approve your work or is there only one decision-maker. QUALITY Check the client's expectation and are they willing to pay for it. Check if you can produce quality output beyond client expectations. Check if what you have done something similar with what your clients needs. Because if that is something new and you know you can do it then they can pay extra for it. CASHFLOW Check how much money do you need for the clients' project. Check how much do have right now in the business. It is important to check the financial status of yur business regularly 08 Handout 3 *Property of STI Page 1 of 12  AS2002 WHAT ABOUT REVISIONS? It is advisable to limit your revision up to five (5) only. If the client wants more revisions than that, it should have additional charge. WHY? Because whenever clients ask you for revisions it will require you additional time to do it, to stop clients from abusing the designer, and to give dignity to the work of the designer by setting standards or terms reference. COMMON PRICING STRATEGIES IN THE CREATIVE BUSINESS Project- Value- based based Project-Based - This pricing strategy approach is based on what type of project and its deliverables. This is the most common pricing strategy in the creative business because clients would prefer to pay by the project or value than per hour, and if you package your prices, the better because clients would want to save their resources. Example: If you create a website, you have to price for the basic website like a static website for example and then you will also have a different price for an interactive or animated website that is more complex. 08 Handout 3 *Property of STI Page 2 of 12  AS2002 Project-based Pricing Variations Based on Package Deal Client or Business Size Page-rate Package Deal Clients will choose from your package, let us say, for example, Basic, Premium, VIP. Clients know exactly what they are going to get for the price. The reason why putting a price on a package deal is that: It gives clients clarity on what you offer. It is easier to upsell multiple packages. Clients have more choices. You appeal to prospects with different budgets. Based on Client or Business Size The price is based on who the client is. For example, the brand identity package has a different price for local businesses priced at a certain fee. Still, for a multinational business, it is priced at a higher rate. The difference is that multinational business has more money reach, so the logo and other brand identity package costs more. Page Rate This type of project-based pricing strategy is based on how many pages you made multiply by the price amount. This is usually used for brochures, magazines, even website pages. For example, you designed a magazine for a client, and you charge PHP 200 per page if that is 15 pages, so you multiply 200 x 15 pages = PHP 3,000. FAQ (Frequently Ask Question): Q: What if my client’s budget is not within the rates of my packages? A: You have to ask your client how much is their budget than; from there, you customize a package that will fit their budget. Q: What if the client keeps negotiating for a much lower rate even if I already fit my service package within their budget? A: How low is low? For example, if your client wants you to create a complex project with a much lower price 08 Handout 3 *Property of STI Page 3 of 12  AS2002 that’s lower than other design companies are pricing, then honestly tell your client the lowest rate that you can give them. Value-Based Pricing Value-based pricing is required to estimate the worth or usefulness of the project to your client. Make a judgment call based on what you perceive your value is. This idea of pricing based on value is very impacted by supply and demand. Meaning, are there lots of designers supplying this service, or are there very few? Are there many clients demanding this service or not? Great demand plus limited supply equals a higher price. Low demand plus abundant supply equals low prices. That is a basic business concept. You need to research the marketplace and know what people are paying for a project like this. How do you do that? Probably the most reliable information is feedback shared by other designers and other clients. (Lee Stone, n.d.) The pricing strategy you will use will depend on what you think will work for your creative business. COMMON PAYMENT STRATEGIES FOR CREATIVE BUSINESS Fixed Fee Progress Payments 50% down payment Clients pay upon before project begins completion of every and 50% upon phase of the project. completion of the Example: 50% payment project during pre-production then 30% on production and 20% after post-production. 08 Handout 3 *Property of STI Page 4 of 12  AS2002 MARKETING PLAN Marketing is your way of getting clients, communicating your message, and eventually make your creative business grow. As a creative entrepreneur, you must invest in marketing your brand/creative business. Each business has different marketing plans or approaches, depending on what type of business they have. How to Develop a Marketing Plan as a Creative Business? Develop Define Define Develop Develop a Marketing your your your SWOT Strategies Business Target Marketing analysis and Goals Audience Goals Activities Develop your Business Goals Before executing those marketing strategies and activities, the business goals should be clear in the next few years or months. Write your goals in a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound) format to ensure accountability. Examples of SMART Business Goals: Have at least five(5) clients per month in the next 6 months. Get corporate tie-ups in the next 12 months. Cover at least 60 events in the next 2 years. Develop SWOT Analysis Use a smart marketing approach such as the SWOT analysis to develop your marketing plan because it will help you assess what will work, where you should focus, and what needs to be improved in your marketing plan. The challenges you might be facing as a design business. It will also help you with your competitor’s check/analysis. 08 Handout 3 *Property of STI Page 5 of 12  AS2002 Example: STRENGHT WEAKNESS Our strength is not limited to Part of our weakness as a start – the robust professional training, up Photography Company is certification and experience we that we have fewer employees have acquired prior to setting and experts, and also we have up a photography business, but limited cash to execute all we also our rich network, passion intend executing before and ability to convert leads to launching the business. For loyal customers within a short example, we would have loved time – frame. to build our own customized CRM Software OPPORTUNITES THREAT The United States of America There are well established and New York City in particular photography businesses / is one of the cities in the world photographers in New York City that attract tons or diverse who may not need much stress classes of visitors, coupled with to convince new clients to the fact that some of the finest patronize them. There is also photography schools are located the threat of the huge cost of in New York. It is easier for a running businesses in New York start – up photography business City, as it is on the high side. to leverage on these factors to Hence, we need to be on the build to their businesses and top of our game if we must that is exactly what we intend grow our photography business doing. to profitability. Source: https://www.profitableventure.com/photography-business-plan-swot-analysis/ Define your Target Audience You must be clear on who your target market is. Because when you create your marketing plan and marketing strategies, you will develop it based on who your target market is and what will work for them. Develop your Marketing Goals Goal setting is critical to aligning your marketing organization, narrowing your focus, and setting your overall marketing strategy. Documenting your goals ensures your team is aligned around your top marketing priorities and what you expect to achieve through your marketing efforts. Develop at least three (3) and no more than five (5) SMART marketing goals. Example: Convert at least five (5) leads* (potential clients) into regular clients in the next 5 months. To gain at least 10 leads* inquiry per day. *Leads (creative/marketing term) means potential clients 08 Handout 3 *Property of STI Page 6 of 12  AS2002 Develop Marketing Strategies and Activities The most effective way to approach turning your marketing strategy into an execution plan is by using a campaign structure. Organize how you will market your brand/creative company. Think of campaigns as buckets of activities and focused on a common theme or goal. MARKETING THE GENERATES INCOME FOR CREATIVES Believe that You Can This is the first thing you should do. When you list or plan your marketing strategies and activities, believe that it in a way something can be done to market your creative business. If you are already doubting if this will work in the first part of your planning or if this will sell without executing or trying it yet, then it will not work. Why? Because you have not tried yet and you are already concluding. If you want to start something, then you start believing you can. Teach While You Learn Do not just talk about what you know; you are also to teach while you learn. Since you are a part of the creative community, you cannot master one thing overnight, and part of your creative process is learning. So, what you can do is show and teach your potential clients how you do your work. Tell them what happens behind the scenes. Maybe you can set-up a YouTube channel and put all the behind-the-scene or tutorials. You can also conduct workshops/classes in any multimedia skills you are using to run your creative business. Put Yourself Out There Invest in your portfolio. Your portfolio is your foundation. Show your work. If you have a social media account, if you are a member of an online creative community such as Behance or Dribbble, post your works. Join expos, contests, or even collaboration projects with other creatives, brands, or other people. Show what you do. It will help your future clients have a glimpse of your work; this is a good start to start impressing your future clients and, eventually, contact you for business. According to Tim Elmore, “Sociologists tell us the most introverted of people will influence 10,000 others in an average lifetime.” This study was created even before social media. Since we are in the social media age, and because of the advanced technology, imagine how much more people you can reach and influence through your works. Chris Do (The guy in the middle with a cap) is the founder of The Futur. He is an award-winning director and designer. He built this YouTube channel about branding and design from scratch, and now it has more than a hundred thousand subscribers. What did he do? He put himself out there. He utilized YouTube to share his craft and what he does. He was able to establish a good brand for himself; most probably, he gained more clients. 08 Handout 3 *Property of STI Page 7 of 12  AS2002 How to can we translate this influence into something that can potentially generate income as a creative? That leads to the next point. “The Best Way to Sell is Not to Sell” - Jav Tarun, Entrepreneur/Creative Director, Toycomm Advertising Imagine watching something on YouTube and want to skip it because you want to watch your favorite show. For example, someone sells his/her product to you, and you are not interested, you are not replying, right? So, instead of us being pushy or insisting on our service, yourself, or our brand to anyone, your goal is for them to find you, reach you, and contact you if they need service. How do we do this? Just focus on your marketing activities/strategies because this is within your control. If they like to do business with you or not, the response of your future clients is already outside of your control. Remember, always focus on what you can control. If you have a good portfolio, if your marketing activity attracts your potential clients, they will naturally reach out to you. Become Authentic Why? Because according to Chris Do, “People fall in love with Personalities”. Someday, you will work with clients, and potential clients will look at your work and look at how you will work with them. It is essential for you as creatives you need to find your voice. This means you know who you are and how you want people to perceive you as a creative person. For you to find your voice, you need to define your brand first. Create your story, embrace your imperfections, and take a stand. Create Your Story - People need someone they can relate to. A truthful personality that they can be inspired with and, in a way, attach their aspirations to it. Have a unique brand voice for your type of industry, may it be in Photography, Animation, Film, Multimedia Production, etc. Embrace Your Imperfections - Own your imperfections. Acknowledge that things in your brand or your creative business may not always be perfect but remember, you can always improve if you are willing. What is the use of client feedback if everything is already perfect, right? In this case study, Uling Roasters’ tag line is “Di raw masarap pero pwede na”. as you can see, this tagline might push customers away but not for them. This was their interesting part that draws their customers’ attention and curiosity. Image Source: https://josiahgo.com/qa-with-bounty-agro-president-ronald-mascarinas-on-turning-crisis-into-opportunity/ 08 Handout 3 *Property of STI Page 8 of 12  AS2002 Take a Stand - As a creative entrepreneur, and when you build your brand, you must take a stand as a brand, as a creative company. Your future clients need to know your stand as a brand when you work with them. What are your creative company’s values? What do you believe in? Attract Audiences and not just Customer Customers are just there to buy and ask what you are offering, but after that, it’s possible that they won’t come back. At the same time, audiences are your true fans. Build up your true fans because they will be the ones to support you no matter what. If you have true fans, for example, there 100 fans that are willing to pay your service for 100,000, so do the math that’s already six (6) figures or let’s say you have 10 fans and they are willing to pay 100,00 for your service then that’s already a million. That is why Creating your Own Story, Embracing your Imperfections, and Taking a Stand is important because that’s where you can filter your true audience and clients as a brand. Begin Right Now They say that only 1 out of 10 people who have ideas execute it. Find time to begin. If you want to start a Multimedia business, do not just keep on brainstorming ideas; execute it. Begin Your Content Strategy This is not only applicable in social media marketing but all areas of your marketing activities. Your content for your marketing should not be too far from your perceived brand. Meaning, your marketing activities or content should always represent and align with your brand or creative company. Behind-the-Scenes As discussed in the first few points, “Teach while you Learn”. This Behind-the-Scenes strategy can help you gain a true audience. In the example earlier, you can post tutorials or behind-the-scenes of your project on social media or YouTube. When your potential audience sees that, it will allow your business to earn because they will get your service. SOME MARKETING ACTIVITIES FOR STARTING CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURS Collaboration with other brands and other creatives. For example, you will partner with another brand for a project. You do their video, for example, or shoot photos for them. Social Media Marketing (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok) Joining Expos/bazaars for creatives. Joining online creative communities. Joining Behance, Dribbble, or even online creative groups in social media such as Graphic Artist of the Philippines and showing your work or how you create your work can get your potential clients’ attention. X-deals. For example, for a certain period, you can create a multimedia design for a certain person, organization, community, or company, then in exchange, you gain a portfolio. WORKFLOWS AND PROCESSES With so many things to juggle as a creative entrepreneur, setting up systems and workflows will help you automate those tasks that you do over and over. Automating tasks. Think about things you repeatedly do, like email marketing, outreach, billing, presentations, proposals, blog title images, editing photos, social media, and blog posts. Walkthrough your workflow for each of these. Can you create templates for your photos, proposals, and presentations? How can you schedule your posts 08 Handout 3 *Property of STI Page 9 of 12  AS2002 ahead of time? If you are emailing prospects, what software can you use to automate it so that you can reach more people quicker? Social media + blogging. Come up with a plan for blogging and posting on social media. How often will you post? What will you write about, and how frequently? Consistency here is what is going to make your readers trust you and help you build an audience. Your process. Branding your processes is a huge time saver in the long run and ensures consistency. Take some time to write down every step of your different processes. Examples of processes include how you onboard a new client and the exact steps you take with them from start to finish. Your schedule. Consistency and taking action are really important for growing your business! Try to schedule your day to do the same things each day, so you get into a routine. For instance, schedule time for client work, marketing, blogging, and time to develop future products. Try to stick to it as closely as possible. As part of having a workflow and process for your creative business, always ask for Terms of Reference from your client. In short, that is the list of their specifications for their project. This is important when you do client meetings. Do not get out of the meeting without finalizing all your clients’ requests for your video so that it would be easier for you to create the project if you gather all the details from them. Example of what should be on your Terms of Reference (This may vary depending on the type of project, and you can construct your own base on what you need from the client before starting the project). Project: Brand Identity Design Preferred Color Scheme Preferred Fonts (Choose from our font collection) What to include in the business card Preferred business card size (vertical, horizontal, or die-cut) What to include in the social media graphics Your preferred pegs for Reference Your other specifications for your brand identity Project: Motion Graphics Animation Explainer Video Preferred Color Scheme Preferred Fonts (Choose from our font collection) Preferred number of minutes of the video Your pegs for Reference Your other specifications for your project 08 Handout 3 *Property of STI Page 10 of 12  AS2002 Sample Creative Office Workflow Workflow for Client Projects Ask for Client Contract Client Meeting for Terms of Signing with Brainstorming Reference Client Client Project Client Client Presentation Execution Approval Presentation Revisions (if Finalization of Project Get Client any) or Project Delivery Payment Approval 08 Handout 3 *Property of STI Page 11 of 12  AS2002 References HOW TO WRITE A BUSINESS PLAN FOR CREATIVES. Conversion Minded. Retrieved 2 October 2020, from https://conversionminded.com/how-to-write-a- business-plan-for-creatives/. Cote, C. (2020). 5 STEPS TO VALIDATE YOUR BUSINESS IDEA. Harvard Business School Online. Retrieved 5 October 2020, from https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/market-validation. How to conduct a competitor analysis. Talkwalker. (2020). Retrieved 6 October 2020, from https://www.talkwalker.com/blog/conduct-competitor- analysis#:~:text=A%20competitor%20analysis%20will%3A,team%20build%20better%20marketing%20strategies&text=Help%20you%20take%20advantage %20of,can%20create%20sustainable%20competitive%20advantages. Carmichael, E. (2018). Should You CARE About Your COMPETITION? | Jack Ma | #Entspresso [Image]. Retrieved 6 October 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vImLK-qDfu8. TED Archive. (2016). How to create a great brand name | Jonathan Bell [Image]. Retrieved 6 October 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzbXht7MJVM. TED. (2015). The single biggest reason why start-ups succeed | Bill Gross [Image]. Retrieved 6 October 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNpx7gpSqbY&t=163s. Lee Stone, T. Running a Design Business: Pricing and Estimating. Lecture, LinkedIn Learning. Chapman, L. (2020). Five Critical Steps to Developing a Marketing Plan. Trew Marketing. Retrieved 9 October 2020, from https://www.trewmarketing.com/smartmarketingblog/best-practices/five-critical-steps-to-developing-a-marketing-plan. Tarun, J. (2020). Marketing that Generates Income. Lecture, Husay Community. 08 Handout 3 *Property of STI Page 12 of 12