Audience by Design
Workshop · 2021–2022
The marketing workshop for artists and creatives.
A six-week workshop guiding you through developing a connection with the people who care about you and your work, and building a system to communicate with them in a meaningful way.
The workshop focused on the tools of email marketing, creating a strategy for building an audience you could grow and leverage over time. A trusting, engaged relationship with your audience helps you build career resilience — an asset that sustains you creatively, emotionally, and financially.
You'd have a "hotline" to share your projects directly with the people who want to know about them. But more than just creating a selling machine, this was about creating space for a community interested in your work.
Six weeks, week by week
Connection
You're doing work that deserves attention.
- How a deeper connection with your audience supports a career that sustains you financially, emotionally, and creatively
- Kevin Kelly's 1000 True Fans, and real-life examples
- Why the email list should be your Communication HQ
- Embracing systems and building assets
Insight
Uncover your story and discover your audience.
- Tell a signature story your audience can understand, relate to, and share
- Practise writing and telling it, with actionable feedback
Welcome
A system to introduce new people to your creative universe.
- Possibly the single most important moment of your communication strategy
- Build momentum. Drive connection. Establish expectations.
The Invitation
Making new friends and asking if they'd like to hang out sometime.
- Curating the audience and community you want
- Communicating the benefits of being in your audience
- Extending generous invitations to new members
Cabinet of Wonder
An ever-expanding source of inspiration.
- Creating content categories and generating ideas
- Brainstorming an abundant list of creative themes and questions
- Collaborating with classmates rather than thrashing ideas alone — overcoming Resistance and pushing through 'The Dip'
Ordinary and Extraordinary
A consistent practice leads to extraordinary results.
- Find the schedule that makes sense for you and your audience
- Plan, draft and schedule your posts
- Build out your runway and develop a long-range vision
What participants walked away with
- Clarity on who they wanted to reach with their art, what to say, why, and how
- Landing pages and sign-up forms that make people want to hand over their email address
- An automated welcome sequence that:
- tells new subscribers who you are and what you do
- helps you get to know them
- sets expectations for what they can expect from you
- A voice, and more confidence speaking to their audience
- A content calendar — a plan for what to share, executed with confidence
- Designed opportunities for interaction and conversation
- An understanding of how email integrates with and informs the wider marketing strategy — social media, podcast guest spots, digital and traditional media
Most importantly, the workshop let people share the journey with fellow creatives rather than navigating it alone — a constant flow of ideas, encouragement, feedback and accountability. Projects were set each week, worked on individually and with peers.
What people said
For a long time, I assumed that I should market myself by telling people about the things I do. Audience by Design offered me an interactive way to zero in on what makes my story unique. Now I see that marketing is as much about 'who I am' as 'what I do'. I can be in service of my audience simply by sharing my story.
Shereen Ahmed
The responses to this email series have been better than any I've sent before. I was on the verge of tears reading how these words — which I honestly almost scrapped and didn't send — touch and inspire. Thank you for helping me to unlock this gift that I have been sitting on.
Byron St. Cyr
I started with a fear of creating a newsletter because I felt like I would be annoying and no one would want to receive emails from me. I completed Audience by Design with my own definition of what a "newsletter" can be. I found myself letting down walls and creating work that was more authentic and vulnerable.
Christina Peña
I feel so much more confident regarding my communication and social media strategy now. What was laborious and complicated is now simple, creative, and fun. And early indications are that it is connecting. Reaching your audience can be as creative as any other aspect of your work.
Kieran Quinn
Marketing myself in a place other than the Instagram grid TERRIFIED me, but this workshop helped me see that building an email list is a much better way to connect with my audience. Audience by Design helped me see that I have something to share with the world — and that people want to see it!
Jackie Ostick
How it ran
Delivered over Zoom so artists could take part from anywhere, with sessions listed in both US and Australian times.
| US EST | AU EST | |
|---|---|---|
| Class with Matthew | Mondays 7.00–8.30pm | Tuesdays 10.00–11.30am |
| Cohort group work | Thursdays 7.00–8.30pm | Fridays 10.00–11.30am |
| Weekly projects due | Saturdays 7.00pm | Sundays 10.00am |
The final session ran Jan 10 – Feb 21, 2022. Places were strictly limited.
The money-back guarantee
This is a workshop, and so it requires your participation. My extensive experience with this cohort-based learning approach is that the more you contribute to the experience, the more you will get out of it. However if, after participating in at least 75% of the sessions and completing the relevant projects, the workshop has not met your expectations, simply email me and your fee will be refunded in full.
The background
Art — and artists — need an audience. Your art won't put itself in front of people who want to engage with it by accident. For your work to have more significant impact in the world, part of your creative practice needs to include building an Audience by Design.
Hi. I'm Matthew Carey.
I've spent a lifetime helping creative colleagues make art they can be proud of. I want to take that a step further and help them make careers they can be proud of.
I learned a repeatable method to create an Audience by Design, and I'm still on a mission to share it. This workshop was for artists and creatives who had spent forever perfecting 'the show' and were ready to get serious about the business. My vision was, and still is, a community of artists with careers that sustain them creatively, emotionally, and financially.