What are the essential elements of profitable collaborations when creative businesses work together? Some ideas about effective business collaborations in the creative industries are in these articles I’ve written: Creative Collaborations and other essential C-words published by Creative Choices (2009) Creating ‘Interprises’ published on the T-Shirts and Suits blog (2007) I’m interested in your experience …
Tag: creative business guide
New Business Models
Customers are more powerful than ever. Because of changes in technology, particularly the interactive internet (Web 2.0), there has been a fundamental and irreversible shift of power in favour of consumers. Creative business that embrace this change will thrive, by using new business models such as crowd-sourcing, viral marketing, crowd-financing, buzz marketing and plogging. The …
Don’t discount prices!
Thanks to Natalie Bolton from Lion Eyes Television for telling me about this amusing video. It’s fun to watch – and it raises some important issues about pricing and customers for creative businesses and cultural enterprises. If customers believe you will discount prices, it’s because they think they can go elsewhere and get the same …
Art is not what you see…
“Art is not what you see, it’s what you make others see” – Edgar Degas, French artist (1834-1917) I agree with this statement, which switches things around nicely, so that instead of thinking only about our own point of view as the creator, we also look at things from the point of view of the …
Raising finance the AEV way in the cultural sector
Steve Messam is a talented artist – and a shrewd creative entrepreneur. Steve was approached by Cumbria Tourism in the UK to create an art installation to help publicise the launch of their campaign for cultural tourism. The budget offered was modest, so Steve put together a business case for a bigger budget. He knew …
The Business of Culture
For many people, the words ‘business’ and ‘culture’ don’t sit comfortably side by side. Some people assume that culture has to be non-commercial to be valid, and therefore to apply commercial thinking to cultural endeavour is to pervert it. But even charities and ‘non-for-profit’ organisations in the arts and cultural sector need to be business-like, …
Three Top Business Tips for Creatives
I was asked to give “three top business tips” to creative entrepreneurs in an interview about how to successfully blend creativity and business. Ellie Stevenson interviewed me, along with Nick Williams of ‘Inspired Entrepreneur’, for an article published on ArtsHub UK. Here’s an extract: Can you give us three top tips for running your own …
Creative Business Guide
A useful and readable ‘Creative, Cultural and Digital Industries Guide’ has been published by Business Link West Midlands It is available in hardcopy from Business Link West Midlands and downloadable as a free eBook in PDF format below. This creative business guide was written by David Parrish, author of the book ‘T-Shirts and Suits: A …
Are You Busy?
“Are you busy?” is often a conversation opener between creative people in business. The implication is that you should be busy; if you’re not busy, then something is wrong. So it seems that the ‘correct’ answer is “Yes, very busy!” But wait a minute ! Busy doing what ? It’s easy to be busy, busy, …
Winning in Hard Times
How will creative businesses cope in the economic downturn? That’s a question that I have been asked many times recently, both in the UK and overseas. In response, I make the following points: Though the general economic situation is difficult, the recession will not affect all businesses equally. It is not inevitable that all businesses …