Fresh Rx.8 with Kesha Bruce

Solutions to Your Creative Dilemmas


How do I cultivate a unique/notable/fresh brand
at the beginning of my mid-career?

Branding is a catch-phrase that has trickled down from corporate culture. In a very basic way, branding is really about your reputation and how you actively present yourself to the world. But unlike a corporation, as an artist, you are your brand. With that in mind, when it comes to cultivating your personal brand it’s important to start from the inside. This is true for artists at every stage of their careers.

To build your personal brand you’ll need more than a logo and a slickly designed website. You need to be clear about who you are and what you have to offer. I’m not just talking about displaying the type of artwork you have available for sale. I’m talking about how you present yourself and your personality.

What three or four adjectives best describe you and what you have to offer? What words would you use to define your personality? What are you passionate about? What emotions do you want to generate when people come into contact with you and your work? Are these values being expressed on your website, blog, your social media outlets, and every other piece of content or information you put out into the world?

Click over to your website and have a quick look at your “About” page. Are you communicating enough information about what you stand for that a new-to-you person could easily and quickly figure out whether or not they want to hang around long enough to get to know you even better? People who visit your website, blog, or even your twitter bio are going to judge you, in a matter of seconds, based on what they see. These people can’t feel attached to your brand if they don’t know what you stand for. So step up and tell them who you are.

Just like building your artistic skill, personal brand building takes a bit of hard work and practice, but the rewards are well worth the effort.By taking the time to define who you are and choosing the best way to communicate those ideas, you can better position yourself to make connections with potential art buyers who would be most interested in exactly the type of artwork you have to offer.

More on Personal Branding: How To Make It: Building Your Personal Brand

Send me your questions: freshartinternational@gmail.com. I'm here to help!

Kesha Bruce

Fresh Rx.1 with Kesha Bruce

Solutions to Your Creative Dilemmas

When do I need a web presence, 
and how should it look?

Unknown poet, Prince Edward Island

If you have a body of work to promote and you’re ready to begin the process of getting it in front of people, then this is the perfect time to start thinking about building a website. But the when isn’t nearly as important as the how. Above all, your web presence—whether it be a full website or a blog—absolutely needs to be professional and well designed. Too many Creatives make the mistake of spending time, energy and money on sites that not only display their work poorly, but also aren’t designed to promote and market their work.

The basics:

About or Bio page—This is not the time to hide behind your work. Introduce yourself in a way that gives website visitors the chance to get to know the person behind the work. Your well-crafted bio and professional portrait go a long way towards building a connection to on-line visitors.

Contact Information—If, after viewing your work, a website visitor wants to contact you, but can’t easily find your e-mail address, or phone number, they’ll likely leave and never come back. Make it easy for people to get in contact with you. If you get this part wrong, all of your other hard work will have been in vain.

Portfolio—This is the place to show a small selection of your best and most current work. You don’t need to include everything you’ve ever created here. You only need to show enough work to give a viewer an entryway into your work.

Sign-Up Form—What do you want a website visitor to actually do once they’ve finished viewing your site? How do you intend to get back in touch with them once they click away? A sign-up form of some sort is a simple and easy means to collecting visitors' contact information so that you can invite them back to your website or to an actual event long after they’ve wandered off to another part of the cyber world.

No matter what your field or medium, a website can and should be more than an on-line portfolio. The entire purpose of the website is to introduce yourself, present your work in the best way possible, and most importantly, to begin building relationships with the people that visit your site.

On-line Resources:

Easy and Affordable websites: OtherPeoplesPixels

Sign-up form and mailing list software: Mailchimp

Send me your questions. I'm here to help! Kesha Bruce: freshartinternational@gmail.com