Technology & Marketing Resources
Need a Website?
There are plenty of options out there for DIY websites, and service providers who will gladly take your money to do it for you! I have used them all, and after years of spending a lot of money, and only getting some of what I needed, I finally found a website developer, and website designer that followed through, understood what I was trying to accomplish, and are responsive!
I tend to lean towards making sure artists have control, and ownership over as much of their content and branding as possible, so that’s why I recommend a WordPress site. As vetted providers for me, and the artists I serve, the MyAmanda team has been incredible to work with! You’ll find their information below. They offer special rates for my clients.
If you are considering a DIY site or different format, many artists are using Squarespace, or Wix.
Want To Build An Online School?
When considering creating an online school there are a number of things you want to think about, similar to the questions you would ask about any other marketing or technology program.
How much control do I want to have over it? How much time am I willing to spend on it, or pay someone to help me with it?
Sites like Kajabi, Teachable, Udemy are good choices for you if you want to be able to upload content, and let them take care of the rest. That’s the pros. The cons are there are typically a lot of fees, and you are competing with many other artists on the site.
As a strategist, I like to recommend a platform like Thinkific which charges users a one time fee each month, and allows for total control over your content. If you have some technology experience, you can likely set up your school yourself, if not, you will need assistance.
There are also new platforms that offer “all in one” management of your online school, email marketing, social media, etc. all in one place such as TekMatix. This platform is great for those creatives looking to have everything in one place but you will need assistance to set it all up.
Email Marketing
One of the things that I pride myself on while working with artists is having a tech. stack (a group of programs I use) that works well for me, and that I know is simple enough for other creatives to use.
There are many, many options out there for email marketing programs. Use the one that suits you best! I like Converkit for its ease of use, integration with WordPress, and Thinkific, and the reasonable cost. Some of my clients also use Mailchimp, or Flodesk.
Design and Social Media Management
When it comes to social media, time management is the most important aspect for getting your content out there, and making sure it doesn’t suck the life out of you! (Am I right all you late night scrollers?).
The two programs I love to use to manage social media, and links to automate as much of the process as possible are Planoly (for managing postings), and Linktree for adding multiple links in one place (especially helpful for Instagram). They are relatively inexpensive, and save hours of work!
Graphics And Branding
No creative should be without this program in my opinion! Canva does it all, and they are adding new features all the time.
I use this program to create social media graphics, downloadable documents, presentations, printed materials, the list goes on and on! You can create your branding board in Canva to maintain consistency with colors, fonts, headings, text, use a wide variety of templates for a complete branded packages, and organize it all with ease.
And one of my favorite features? It’s integrated with Planoly, so I can create graphics in Canva, save them directly to Planoly, and upload dozens of social media posts at a time. Need to edit a graphic? No problem. Planoly integrates back with Canva so with the click of a button, you can make quick changes.