Cat Davison, a jeweller, journalist and Communication Design student at Central Saint Martins, talks about how the skills you need to promote yourself. This event took place as part of Enterprise Week 2009 www.arts.ac.uk/enterpriseweek09

1. hello.
I’m Cat Davison.
Please ask me questions as I go along, and tell me to slow down if I go too fast!
Cat Davison >> Self Promotion & Selling Your Work >> 18/11/09 ©Copyright 2009 Cat Davison Design

2. SELF PROMOTION TECHNIQUES
BRAND YOURSELF and be CONSISTENT with this branding
1. logo
- typographic / image-based
2. business card
- make it relate to your work
- make it different
3. online portfolio (website)
- work
- cv
- awards
- interests
- Dreamweaver
- help from friends
4. or blog
- Blogger / Wordpress
- not MySpace (unprofessional)
5. pdf portfolio
- no more than 5MB
- beautifully designed
Cat Davison >> Self Promotion & Selling Your Work >> 18/11/09 ©Copyright 2009 Cat Davison Design

3. KNOWING YOUR MARKET & COMPETITION
Regardless of what discipline you are in, it always pays to know yourself
as well as your competition
1. know what you want to say creatively
- difficult, but once you figure it out it can save you time and keep you focused
- is there a way of making what you want to say different from the rest?
2. go to talks
see how others are expressing themselves verbally
and hand your business card out
- at college
- D&AD (online as well as lectures, www.dandad.org)
- at design festivals (London Design Festival)
3. go to artist markets, galleries and exhibitions
see how others are expressing themselves visually
and hand your business card out
4. look out for trends in your field... but re-work and re-define them, don’t follow them
Cat Davison >> Self Promotion & Selling Your Work >> 18/11/09 ©Copyright 2009 Cat Davison Design

4. GETTING PRESS & APPROACHING JOURNALISTS
Many journalists are LAZY and like getting FREE STUFF... be proactive! press re
lease
which is
t jewellery
ky statemen
inal and quir the wheel
in both
create orig g to re-invent
Jewellery stantly tryin can be
Cat Davison We're con ve jewellery
and playful. strongly belie
chunky, bold e it; and we
1. hunt them out... don’t rely on their websites
mak
and how we
wha t we make
decorative.
as well as l has gone
conceptual ison, the labe
r, Cat Dav -
ned designe materials
journalist-tur with different
in 2004 by experimented ching form
- buy magazines / newspapers & get information from them you cannot get online
Founded as Cat has ways of mat
to strength cts - to find new
from strength found obje
r, felt and
resin, silve
including l.
and materia found her
with function te literally)
- Borders / WHSmith
Cat has (qui ge
onto acrylic, recycled vinta
in printing llery out of
experiments arresting jewe retro origin,
as
Alongside yet visually jewellery’s
ting delicate reinforce the n-
groove - crea was created to tion to the abu
ction - a reac
- blogs... increasingly influential
ical collection
reco rds. A mus p’ und erwater colle today. Cat was
of the Dee ry jewellery of
as a ‘Dangers contempora of the skin
well around in reminded
her
sy’ animals re (which
dance of ‘cute rough yet
silky textu dark silhouett
e the
the record’s ed like the
- know your competition - go onto their websites and see the
inspired by ur, which look
as its colo an floor.
s) as well nd the oce
sea creature slithered arou
make as they be
animals wou
ld potential to
hing has the
brewing, anyt ter how sma
ll.
constantly
press who have written about them... and target them yourself
and ideas ning, no mat
concepts that has mea
With new rable art. One
wea
a piece of hics at
turned into MA in grap
year of her
in the final
don and is
works in Lon
Cat lives and
tins.
Cen tral Saint Mar
2. be memorable & nice
- always personalise your emails / thank them for their time ts had their
own colour,
- grab attention with a punchy image as part of your email and catchy subject headline
of the 77 gues ngs (each
one
mer. Each her own earri
ding this sum rn to create dress (des
igned
for her wed used the patte ing it into her wedding
this pattern
Cat created a pattern. Cat silk and mak
then made into it onto
which were as printing
hand) as well
- be nice but not grovelling - if they do write about you, thank them afterwards
her Saint Mart ins).
the size of ion tutor at
and a fash
by herself
on request.
es available
- send them something interesting in the post
s Quality imag
300DPI Pres
3. be persistent
- out of 100 emails you might only get 2 back... keep trying!
- don’t be scared to pick up the phone
4. make it easy!
- attach a PDF press release (sell yourself - talk about awards / exhibitions)
- attach a folder with low-res images of your work
- include a link to high-res 300DPI images of your work if they need them later (preferably on your website)(YouSendit)
5. spreadsheet
- once you’ve found them, organise how & when to approach them
Cat Davison >> Self Promotion & Selling Your Work >> 18/11/09 ©Copyright 2009 Cat Davison Design

5. SELL YOURSELF
... but don’t sell your artistic integrity (unless you want to, of course!).
FIGURATIVELY
1. awards
- enter as MANY competitions as you can (but make each application count otherwise you’ll just be wasting your time)
- get yourself noticed
2. online portfolio
- Jotta / Behance
- make your own website count
LITERALLY
3. exhibitions
- alternative spaces (bars / restaurants / your house)
4. markets
- Upmarket / Backyard / Spitalfields / Camden
5. online shop
- Cubecart (free) / BigCartel (easier but not free)
6. shops
- Beyond The Valley (ex-CSM and helping to promote young designers)
ALWAYS HAVE YOUR BUSINESS CARD HANDY!
Cat Davison >> Self Promotion & Selling Your Work >> 18/11/09 ©Copyright 2009 Cat Davison Design

6. GUERILLA PROMOTION TECHNIQUES
.... mix it up a bit
+ approach blogs instead of established newspapers / magazines for publicity... they are becoming
more powerful!
+ re-think things - does a business card have to look like a business card? how can you make it work for
your aesthetic?
+ curate an exhibition in a bar / a park / the street
+ throw a party
+ get stickers / t-shirts printed
+ sign up to newsfeeds like Design Week or Creative Review so you can keep on top of competitions and emerging
work / designers within the industry
+ challenge convention and you’ll get yourself noticed
Cat Davison >> Self Promotion & Selling Your Work >> 18/11/09 ©Copyright 2009 Cat Davison Design

7. SOCIAL MEDIA
...don’t spend all day on them - use them to your ADVANTAGE.
1. Facebook / Twitter / YouTube / AudioBoo
- let people know what you are up to
- make a group and send out monthly updates
HOWEVER
more and more people are also using the internet to promote their work so make sure
your USP (Unique Selling Point) sets you apart from the rest of the crowd
Cat Davison >> Self Promotion & Selling Your Work >> 18/11/09 ©Copyright 2009 Cat Davison Design

8. A FEW LITTLE EXTRAS TO BEAR IN MIND...
1. be nice / be decent - it’s about personality, no matter what field you are in
2. be persistent - talk to people after lectures / don’t be shy, you’ll regret it afterwards
3. be confident and believe in yourself
4. socialise! meet like-minded people by going to industry events
5. design EVERYTHING! never send a Word document to anyone... ever
6. have fun with what you do - don’t just do it for the sake of it, do it because you want to
7. .... and “keep buggering on” (Winston Churchill)
Thanks
Cat Davison >> Self Promotion & Selling Your Work >> 18/11/09 ©Copyright 2009 Cat Davison Design