
The marketing workshop for artists and creatives.
This 6-week workshop guides you through developing a connection with the people who care about you and your work, building a system to communicate with them in a meaningful way.
Next session: Jan 10 → Feb 21, 2022
Focused on the tools of email marketing, you’ll create a strategy for building an audience that you can grow and leverage over time. A trusting, engaged relationship with your audience will help you build career resilience and is an asset that will help sustain you creatively, emotionally, and financially.
You will 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 is about creating space for a community that is interested in your work.
"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. This has opened my eyes to new possibilities in connecting with the people who follow my work."
- 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. This workshop filled me with confidence that people not only want to hear from me but really care about what I have to say.”
- 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. I feel so much more confident about myself and my work.
Audience by Design helped me see that I have something to share with the world...and that people want to see it!"
- Jackie Ostick
Week by Week
When we roll up our sleeves and get down to work, this is an overview of what happens.
Connection
You're Doing Work That Deserves Attention.
- What it means to develop a stronger, deeper connection with your audience and how that can help you have a career that sustains you financially, emotionally, and creatively.
- Kevin Kelly's 1000 True Fans concept 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.
- Learn how to tell a signature story that your audience can understand, relate to, and share with other people.
- Practice writing and telling this story and get actionable feedback.
Welcome
A System to Introduce New People to Your Creative Universe.
- This might be the single most important moment of your communication strategy. Make sure you don't waste it.
- 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.
Communicate and demonstrate the benefits of being in your audience.
Extending generous invitations to new potential audience members.
Cabinet of Wonder
An Ever Expanding Source of Inspiration.
- Creating content categories and generating ideas.
- Techniques for brainstorming an abundant list of creative themes and questions.
- Opportunities to collaborate and share ideas with your classmates, rather than thrashing ideas on your own. Overcome Resistance and push through 'The Dip'.
Ordinary and Extraordinary
Establishing a consistent communication practice as an ordinary part of your schedule can lead 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.
- Encouragement. Support. Accountability.
In Audience by Design you will:
Clarify who you want to reach with your art, what you want to say, why, and how
Create landing pages and sign up forms that make people want to give you their email address
Develop 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
Find your voice and increase your confidence in speaking to your audience
Construct a Content Calendar. Plan what you will share with your audience and execute it with confidence.
Design opportunities for interaction and conversation with your audience
Understand how your email marketing system integrates with and informs your overall marketing strategy (incl. social media, podcast guest spots, being featured in other digital and traditional media)
Most importantly the workshop allows you to share the journey with fellow creatives rather than navigating it on your own. Together we have access to a constant flow of ideas, encouragement, feedback, and accountability.
Projects are assigned each week, to be worked on individually and in collaboration with your peers.
Dates for the next session:
Jan 10 → Feb 21, 2022
Format and Schedule
Using Zoom we can bring artists together from all over to work together, which is why the following days are listed in US and Australian times.
US EST
Audience by Design Class
w/ MatthewMondays 7.00-8.30pm
Cohort Group Work
Thursday 7.00-8.30pm
Weekly Projects Due
Saturdays 7.00pm
Commencement Celebration
Monday Nov 15, 7.00-8.00pm
AU EST
Audience by Design Class
w/ MatthewTuesdays 10.00-11.30am
Cohort Group Work
Fridays 10.00-11.30am
Weekly Projects Due
Sundays 10.00am
Commencement Celebration
Tuesday Nov 16, 11am-12.30pm
Don't see a time that works for you?
Send me a note and let me know. There may be potential to add an second time that accommodates friends in other parts of the world.Keen to Secure a Place?
Places are strictly limited.
Applications close Friday, Jan 7.
An earlybird fee of $499USD (usually $599USD) is available to applications received by Dec 31.
* see details of Money Back Guarantee below
Not ready to apply? Sign up to learn more about Audience by Design.
Audience by Design offers a 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 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. Now 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 on a mission to share that with others. This workshop is for artists and creatives who have spent forever perfecting 'the show' and are now ready to get serious about the business.
My vision is to create a community of artists with careers that sustain them creatively, emotionally, and financially.
This workshop will help you build a loyal audience who wants to support and engage with the work that's meaningful to you. I believe it will fundamentally change your relationship with your fans and transform how you feel about your career.
[Read more of what I'm thinking about at The Infinite Creative.]
© 2021