What Pottery Class Taught Me about Marketing a Business

Introduction

This is an excerpt from Delightful Sites — a weekly email series helping therapists, coaches, and entrepreneurs build sustainable, values-aligned businesses, through the power of website marketing. 💐

I joined a ceramics class this year – as a way to expand my creativity & build community – and it taught me so much about not only ceramics, but also life.

We spent the first few weeks of class learning how to center a piece of clay on the wheel. Just that one skill: centering.

As with most things, it’s way harder than it looks. I can’t tell you how many times I thought I had centered a piece, and then it started to collapse & fall apart as I moved into later phases of the project.

🏺 Because when the clay is off center, the whole piece is off. If you mess up step #1, everything step that follows is that much harder.

This same principle applies to marketing your practice. In this case, instead of centering clay on a pottery wheel, step #1 is to clarify your message. If your message is off, then the whole process of marketing will feel off as well.

🤔 What do I mean by “message,” exactly? 

Messaging is the way you talk about your work; the way you articulate why your services are a uniquely great fit for the people you’re most excited to work with. 

A basic message might sound like: I help adults overcome anxiety. 

^ This is fine, but a stronger message might sound like: 

✏️ I help millennials who feel overwhelmed by the state of the world to find meaning & hope, without bypassing their emotions or pretending that everything is love & light. 

Or:

✏️ I help adults who’ve struggled with social anxiety their entire life, to begin to believe in themselves & build genuine relationships.

The clearer the message, the easier the rest of the marketing will be — because you’ll know exactly who you’re speaking to, and you can cater every piece of your marketing plan to this exact audience.

After all, the way you’d market to overwhelmed millennials is different than how you’d market to socially-anxious adults. Your message impacts the copywriting on your website, the blurb in your business Instagram bio, & what you share at networking calls when someone asks, “So, what types of clients do you work with? Who should I send your way?”
​

Just like every pottery piece needs a stable center, every practice needs a clear message. Everything else builds on top of that.

Cheers to your practice,

Liz 

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