The three things I’m spending all my time on now
This is not a regular Hungry newsletter. This one is special; you’re seeing it because you’re a loyal reader. I like that about you, and that’s while next week is the official return of The Hungry after my short sabbatical (I’m feeling much better, thanks); this message is to let you in on some changes and updates before I share them with everyone else.
This will be our little secret for the next few days—pinky swear.
The Hungry’s anniversary is coming up quickly. August marks the 2-year mark when I rebranded my newsletter to The Hungry, and over those two years, I’ve learned some things about the creative market and the people in it. These concepts won’t apply to everyone universally, but they are common enough to be considered stereotypical.
Creative people understand marketing is important to running a business but do not enjoy it. Marketing is boring because it requires endless repetitive attention, and that’s counterintuitive to their creative nature.
They will spend time and money improving their craft and substantially less on improving their business knowledge and performance.
They embrace visual social media platforms because they complement their work regardless of how it performs for their business. Equally, they shy away from less sexy marketing and promotion methods like blogging, email marketing, and advertising.
They’re not building relationships and don’t ask for the sale.
Way harsh, I know, but also true for a lot, maybe even you (gasp).
Previously, The Hungry would share stories about side hustles, print-on-demand, digital marketplaces, e-commerce platforms, and what is happening in the social media world that might affect your business.
That stuff is cool and all, but none of it is as vital as learning how to entice your audience away from rented attention platforms (social media) and over to your owned attention platforms (email list).
That skill is the essential skill any creative person can learn (along with knowing who we want as our ideal customer, how to talk to them, and how to be a good steward of that relationship, but I’ll get to all of that in a moment). Now, The Hungry will reflect that philosophy.
Re-arranging the Furniture
When you see the return edition next week, it will look the same aesthetically. The vibe will be the same, sharing the hands-in-the-dirt approach to experimenting with what works and what doesn’t. I’ll still share essential news items that align with or are in support of the new philosophy, and it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t try a little under-the-cover humor to make people wonder if I’m serious or not.
I gotta keep you on your toes to make sure you’re paying attention (or maybe it’s just that I laugh at my jokes whether you do or not).
Some segments will be removed or replaced by re-imagined areas, with everything focusing on these content pillars:
Strategy
Communication
Customer Relationships
Here’s the thing, though. I won’t make a big deal out of the redirected content.
I assume that people subscribe to The Hungry because they trust me to deliver good information that helps them grow their business. That will remain the same, just with a tighter focus on the most important topics for that growth.
Serving the Right Audience
Not everyone reading this will want to be part of the change, but I encourage you to stick around until you see what’s coming next week and make that determination for yourself.
Another aspect that I will be leaning into hard between now and the end of the year is building up a community of like-minded individuals who want to interact with each other, share success stories, trade knowledge, and grow together.
That’s an unofficial announcement of the next major Hungry project. I’ll share more about the alpha stage of that project next Friday, and I’ll be opening up applications to a select few.
Help Me Help You
Speaking of opening up applications, because I’ve been getting many more people sliding into my DMs to ask me questions about what they should do with their business, I’ll be offering one-on-one strategy sessions for people serious about making a significant change in how they operate.
I don’t know if I can call strategy a talent, but I always could look at what someone is doing and…
Find new product ideas to add to their collection.
See new trends that might be beneficial to some.
Find the holes in their business and offer up new perspectives.
[Dave] has been a great resource for considering new, innovative ways to promote my artwork, lots of wonderful links to explore. There is always a thought-provoking idea to investigate & lots of pertinent marketing info.”
If you’re tired of banging your head against a wall with social media, looking for new ways to talk to your customers, and wanting to turn window shoppers into buyers and one-time buyers into repeat collectors, we should talk.
Channeling David Ogilvy
One thing I will lean into is finding advertisers and affiliate partners that are more aligned with the new philosophy. As part of that, I will also open up low-cost advertising slots exclusively for subscribers to help them get more attention for their work.
If you want to be the first one to participate, check this link here.
Not all ads will be accepted; they have to make sense for the newsletter, but I want to help you get some extra attention for a nominal cost.
If you’re a creative pro tired of running the rat race of social media but getting no customers, clients, or sales, Join the Hungry, where we discuss marketing strategy, content, and customer relationships that last.
