COLE THOMPSON DESIGN & PHOTOGRAPHY
Multirole Growth Hacking Digital Artist.
What is growth hacking?
Growth hacking (also known as 'growth marketing') is the use of resource-light and cost-effective digital marketing tactics to help grow and retain an active user base, sell products and gain exposure. Think ‘hacking’ in terms of life hacks – those little shortcuts that make your life easier – rather than nasty bits of code that can ruin your computer and your life.
Growth hacking is most commonly associated with start-ups and small businesses, i.e., those organizations that don’t have a huge amount of cash to spare but need results quickly. However, it’s a scalable concept applicable to any online business looking to maintain the growth and retention of an active user base. I use CRM software and anaclitic websites to determine events based on real data including Google Analytics 4.
Why a multi role growth hacking artist? Apart from the obvious benefits an artist with a professional portfolio in Photography, Graphic Design, Animation, 3D designs, and fine art would bring to a company who uses a combination of these roles (if not all of them) hiring separate professionals for each job the same can be said for my approach to marketing using resource light ways with the assets available using analytics and other back end tools to create targeted or viral marketing ideas.
marketing is highly intertwined in the space between those roles and the intention of the graphical work, what best works for each situation and being an expert in multiple artforms not only saves money but promotes a better understanding of the most effective use of each artform in marketing a product or service along with a desire to understand the client better. I don’t wish to tell a client what they need but ask a client what they want.
If all art at its core is communication, then marketing is the apex of the relationship between the artist and the viewer, or the manufacturer and the client and Art Marketing is the process of creating awareness and interest for an artist or artwork that leads to a desire to engage the artist, gallery, or company to own its products, use its services, or all the above. Businesses, large and small, use marketing to communicate their offerings, promote their brands, identify new prospects, and strengthen bonds with existing customers and I integrate this into every job I am hired to undertake because otherwise if like I said before that all art is communication then marketing is integral to an artist as it is to a business even if an artist realizes this or not.
This in an integral part of approaching freelance work or being part of a company and is demonstrated in the various jobs and situations below.
The White Bear (Hidden Bear)
The White Bear Pub in Barnsley recently re-opened after a lengthy refurbishment period but due to the COVID-19 period of lockdowns most pubs were facing an uphill battle due to the massive loss in revenue across the entertainment industry.
The manager approached me with a plan to increase the turnover of the pub by extending the license of the pub but giving it a new identity at midnight. The manager used to run a bar in Ibiza and wanted something based off the early 2000’s club scene in Ibiza but the logo design and identity had to not only become something visibly new but also remain the age-old white bear.
Being a multirole creator and professional photographer, I then did a promotional photoshoot on the premises decked out in its alter ego.
I wanted to further Implement a viral marketing scheme and enhance the image of the secret club using Augmented Reality QR codes which would be overlaid and hidden within Barnsley’s various designated graffiti park areas which would register the user on the guest list and give them drinks promotions. This area is a high traffic hub for nightlife foot traffic and by using a single evening rep promoting the club asking people to find the hidden symbols without the need for flyers or disposable information which would litter the high street the next morning.
The expensive refurbishment geared towards live (music as the venue was famous for it) presented yet another challenge, changing the décor relatively simply but without damaging the expensive refurbishment.
My idea was to use UV lighting keeping within the aesthetic of the neon club scene where non-destructive highlighting could be done to the bar and posters that reacted under UV light could also be framed. This method would literally change the entire mood of the pub with minimal staff effort.
Due to the devastating effect Covid-19 had on the entertainment industry this plan could not be fully implemented and was halted after the logo design and photo shoot after all financial support was withdrawn.
Cole Thompson Design & Photography Covid-19 adaption.
Due to the changing landscape of digital art and design and the close relationship it has with marketing I decided to start up my own brand of clothing and T-shirt design during Covid-19 lockdowns that were suffocating a lot of industries. At the time I decided to use this unique period in history to adapt my current skills to the unfolding restrictions and by capitalizing on buzzwords, trending topics and creating artwork around those memes that have become a cultural fixed point in order to utilize the trending narrative as source of SEO experimentation allowing me to test different techniques without taking risks with a client’s business and trust.
This experimental endeavor wasn’t focused on driving sales for T-shirts but developing a way of keeping my portfolio elevated in google rankings without producing photography, this did yield important research into the path people were taking based on the SEO tweaking of keywords inserted and repeated into different shop pages not to make that particular design relevant but also elevate my core website and the overall interactions with my small shop became a blueprint on what customers were looking for. This also provided me with training and insight into drop shipping and e-commerce practices and led me to my current research into the relationship between cultural iconography and digital sales. It isn’t so much about the digital art or selling people things that they don’t need but that digital shop as basic as it was providing buoyancy to my portfolio within google rankings during Covid-19 just for existing and providing a constant money-making outlet for the designs I was producing on a regular basis at the time to train in graphic design.
The second iteration of this research came in the form of creating an animated series based around trending topics and selling designs of the animated series based on what people were requesting from the video turning the order from me using buzzwords and trending topics to create designs that people might want into the customer choosing parts of my animated series and creating artwork that sold before designing the merchandise. This technique can then be applied to any form of digital marketing and product relationship changing the animated series for a video or motion graphic series focused on a particular group or industry.
Funny Gals Cabaret Nightclub
I was approached to provide my brand of photography to this cabaret venue where I originally took professional photos of guests and entertainment acts, I was added to the social media admin team where I monitored the demographics and organic interaction with the social media websites of the venue through analytics.
By determination of the demographics provided by the Meta business section I was able to determine the customers which my photography most impacted and by providing a basic level of glamour and professional editing to each photo it acted as a template to customers who are weary of nightclub photography and the potentially damaging image of them.
I created a basic ruleset of the photography provided. That I would not publish any photo that I would not personally be happy with if the subject was me and regardless of how much I thought it was an amazing photo of someone the customers word was final and I prioritised any requests to remove photos instantly.
By speaking to each customer regarding their experience over the course of a year I was able to build trust with self-conscious customers giving me their trust that every iteration of them published would be as if it was of myself which boosted traffic to the weekly photo albums I published by 3000% resulting in regular customers asking to use my photo as their profile pictures for social media.
My photography boasts the highest interaction with the majority of posts on Funny Gals social media pages but by also building off this customer interest I was able to promote photography competitions and a planned annual photobook of all the different events through the year like Gay Pride and the famous Barnsley Live festival that happens yearly.
