Got The Marketing Freeze?

two hour ONLINE workshop: ‘got the marketing freeze?’ – tue 29 april 2025 – 10am – 12noon (UK time)

THIS PRACTICAL WORKSHOP TOOK PLACE ON TUE 29 APRIL – You can still join below to get access to the recording & presentation till 17 July.

Have you got the marketing freeze? You know that you should be doing more marketing in these tough times, but but but … you just haven’t got the energy, inspiration, or motivation to promote yourself and go ‘out there’. You are ‘frozen’ and have been hiding… or instead making loads of work, trying to ignore the real world, and not really committing to marketing yourself properly! Put simply, you are procrastinating about marketing.

You are not the only one! We know many creatives who are struggling right now – emotionally and financially. And are actually avoiding promoting themselves (the decline of Instagram isn’t helping, right?!) when in fact NOW is the time that you really do need to get creative and personal with your marketing if you want to get sales. So, it all becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy!

We (personally!) know how hard it is to get out of that conundrum … so have decided to offer this ABSOLUTE BARGAIN of a two-hour marketing-mindset-and-booster-workshop because we know that many creatives are struggling right now not only financially but also lack marketing inspiration, and really need a boost of energy and ideas.

Yes, that’s right: we are offering this 2-hour expert stop-procrastinating-start-marketing-workshop for only £12,-

This is a very useful, impactful, and practical online workshop on how to deal with your fight-flight-freeze syndrome (useful beyond marketing!), and how to find inspiration & energy again to promote yourself and get out of this slump!

We see too many creatives blaming themselves and suffering by themselves. In this workshop you will find out what’s going on in your brain and body that causes this procrastination and negativity spiral. How to stop this self-fulfilling prophecy and get back out there with our simple marketing activity suggestions and start sharing your beautiful creative work again!

This online workshop (part mindset, part practical easy-marketing-wins) is created and hosted by Patricia van den Akker, the Director of The Design Trust, and aimed at any creative who feels stuck right now, who has been hiding and struggling with marketing, and who wants to dig a little into the psychology of procrastination and overwhelm, but also get their marketing mojo back!

THIS IS A BARGAIN. Normally a workshop like this should be £35,-. But this is our way of giving back as we know how many creatives are struggling. We won’t be offering additional discounts for this marketing-booster-workshop.

the key facts

• 2-hour online workshop on Tuesday 29 April 2025 10am – 12noon (UK time)
• Outcome: Understand your procrastination better (no, it’s not just you!), what to do to get out of your marketing slump, with easy marketing ideas to get back
• Especially created for: Any creatives who has been hiding and struggling with marketing and want to get back out there
• Tutor: Patricia van den Akker – Director of The Design Trust, who has worked with creatives for over 25 years.
• Time commitment: just 2 hours. And then ease yourself back in.

Have you got ‘marketing freeze’? Are you procrastinating about marketng although you know it’s essential?

Have you been struggling to get online sales or sales at craft events? Are you getting fewer gallery orders or commissions? Are you not selling enough tickets for your creative workshops? Are business clients no longer looking for your freelance work? Especially in the last 6 – 12 months?

You know that you should be doing more & better marketing, but instead you are feeling low, are losing confidence, you procrastinate or are panicking. You make a lot of work, but you are not selling. You share some pics on social media half-heartedly, and have done some discount offers but still mostly crickets. You blame yourself and wonder what’s wrong with your marketing, and if you can continue your business.

Ouch!

We created this 2-hour online workshop ‘Got the Marketing Freeze’ for creative professionals, sole traders & freelancers like you!

what will we do & learn during this 2-hour ‘got the marketing freeze?’ workshop?

We know it’s hard out there right now, but we want to give you practical support to stop your ‘marketing freeze’, to show you that you are not the only one battling it out right now, and to give you really practical and easy marketing inspiration to ease you back in again! And we are offering this at a super bargain price so that it is really accessible to many creatives who need to get their marketing mojo back.

This 2-hour Got The Marketing Freeze? workshop is partly about understanding and managing your marketing & selling mindset, but also gives you inspiration, and easy marketing ideas to get you out of this marketing block. This workshop is developed and hosted by Patricia van den Akker, who has been a creative business adviser, trainer and coach for over 25 years in London, England, and who has worked with 100’s of creatives on this challenging topic!

• Patricia will start with explaining why your mind has got into the ‘automatic’ fight-flight-freeze response, which makes you more negative and reactive, rather than creative and optimistic. It’s not because you are lazy or disorganised, but your nervous system is playing up. You will do a reflective exercise to give you more insights into your stress response, which will help you get out of this negativity spiral. This is a very useful exercise not just for marketing freeze but for other areas of your life or business that you are procrastinating about.
• We’ll look at the 9 most common reasons (or are they excuses?!) why creatives procrastinate around marketing. Which ones do you recognise? Where or when do you resist or hide? How do you protect yourself against rejection, failure, constant change and the unknown? This is very powerful stuff and very useful for making changes in your marketing mindset and approach.
• We will finish this workshop with reframing marketing, with tips to get your marketing kickstarted again in a more creative way, with specific marketing ideas you can try. You might even start taking some marketing actions during this workshop!

Note that this is a WORKSHOP, you will be reflecting and working by yourself, and you can also join fellow creatives during break out sessions, and share in the chat. Working with others is entirely voluntary, but we know how impactful and supportive this part can be. Join us from a quiet space where you will not be interrupted.

can’t make it live? No problem!

We recommend that you try and join this marketing booster session live, and benefit from more accountability and support from Patricia and fellow creatives. But, if you can’t make it then no worries. This workshop will be posted on our private workshop hub, together with the presentation, and you can watch and listen to this recording whenever it suits you. You will have access to the recording and presentation until Friday 18 July.

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FAQ: Got any further questions?

click the arrow to get your answers

• I can’t make it live on the day of the workshop (Tuesday 29 April). Is that a problem?

  We recommend that you join this marketing freeze workshop live if at all possible, as we know it will inspire and encourage you to be there live with other creatives for extra support.

  However, if you have other commitments or you live in a different time zone, then remember that this session will be recorded and posted on our private workshop hub. You will get access to the recording + presentation + hub till Friday 18 July 2025.

• How much time will this workshop take?

  This online workshop is nice and easy and … just 3 hours! But we will pack a lot in in that time! The real work starts after the workshop finishes …for you to take action and implement your marketing projects and actions. How much time that will take depends on your experience in these areas and also how much time you WANT to spend on marketing to get the sales, orders and commissions you want and need. We recommend that you spend around 20-40% of your time on marketing to get the sales you need.

• I want to join with a friend. Can I share?

  When you sign up for a The Design Trust online workshop you purchase a single license, which means that YOU CANNOT share the recording or presentation with others who have not paid for it.

  However, if you work in partnership or in a small team then you can share the recording with people who work for you. If you are in any doubt then email us on info@thedesigntrust.co.uk with any of your questions.

  Like you, we are a small creative business, and this online workshop is full of my copyrighted material and expertise that I have developed over the last 25 years.

  If you share with others who haven’t paid then you basically are stealing. We know you wouldn’t like it either if others would do the same to you. So THANK YOU for not sharing with others.

  If we find out that you share illegally then we will have to remove you from the workshop hub immediately and might ban you from any future workshops and courses too.

   

• What if I need to cancel?

  As this workshop is such a bargain we will not be accepting any cancellations. Sorry!

  If you are no longer able to make the live workshop on Tuesday 29 April then you will be able to watch the recording whenever it suits you in the workshop hub till Friday 18 July. 

• I have another question …

  If you have any other questions then please get in touch with us on info@thedesigntrust.co.uk and we are happy to answer your questions!