Been Keenan’s How To Sell Your Work talk was infinitely helpful for problems I’ve encountered at work and at uni. The ability to sell what you’re doing is the most useful skill you can have.
Be prepared to start at the absolute bottom - be an apprentice who listens and asks questions; you’re not expected to know the answers yet, but you do need to be willing to learn and experiment. Genius is a myth: creativity is work. Don’t get frustrated when the rewards of professional creativity don’t match up to those of personal projects.
A point made that really resonated with me was that ideas are never yours: you recognise them rather than invent them. I felt like I was missing some deep well of one hundred percent original creative concepts inside me. It turns out that does not exist.
Clients aren’t just buying a finished product; they’re buying your process, your thinking. They are buying you to define and solve their problem. A problem well stated is a problem half solved: getting the question right is essential on any creative job.
A boring structure for your amazing creative work:
the brief/task/problem/opportunity
what does success look like/goals
what is the truth - show your reference to educate your client
the single-minded proposition
inspiration - normalise it
creative rationale - the problem, the truth, how this is going to solve it
this is the right idea because: hammer it home, summarise your insights, your inspiration
By explaining the work, you make sure they know it’s the right solution, and the perceived value comes apparent. The inability to sell my work convincingly even though I’m sure it’s the best idea has had be banging my head against the wall in frustration sometimes. Ben Keenan’s structure is definitely going to be what I refer to in future.
