Fully Booked: Smart Marketing For Creative Teachers – 2025

‘smart marketing for creative teachers’ – 4 hour indepth online workshop to get more bookings for workshops

*** THIS IN-DEPTH AND VERY USEFUL MARKETING WORKSHOP TOOK PLACE ON Thursday 12 June. You can purchase with immediate access to the recording & presentation now by booking below. You will have access to the presentation & recording till 30 November 2025.

Do you deliver creative workshops or courses, either in person or online, and want to sell more tickets? Have you been looking for specialist advice or training to promote your creative workshops but can’t find it? Have you been struggling to stand out or to get enough bookings for your creative training? We created this brand new online workshop ‘Fully Booked: Smart Marketing For Creative Teachers’ for you!

Teaching creative workshops, courses & experiences has become super popular recently, but that often means that it is becoming harder to get enough bookings! This is a really practical, thought-provoking and action-orientated 3-hour online workshop, created and hosted by Patricia van den Akker, the Director of The Design Trust and author of the new book Teaching Creative Workshops in Person & Online.

Starting with the basics of WHAT you want to teach and WHO your ideal students or participants are, you will get clearer on what your teaching niche is and how to make ALL aspects of your training even better for them. Your website needs to be at the heart of your teaching business, with easy navigation and attractive branding. Learn fundamental SEO (= keywords) to get found online and how to write better-converting workshop pages, before driving the right traffic to your website through attractive and useful email marketing and social media. Patricia will share plenty of creative examples and her own marketing secrets (based on 25 years teaching & marketing experience!) to help you get fully booked too!

Have you noticed how different it is to market and sell a services like a workshop, to promoting your creative products? But you want to stay ‘on brand’, right? That’s what we will focus on together in this workshop. And even if you have years of experience selling your creative products successfully, you need specialist marketing advice to promote your training.

This is not a boring talk on Zoom, but a really practical and hands-on workshop where you will work on your own training offer, your marketing, branding, email, social media and other promotional ideas for your creative training. With practical exercises, specific examples, and loads of inspiration that you can use for many months and years to promote your own creative training. And we all need a big dose of inspiration right now to keep promoting what we do!

*** You can still UPGRADE to get a signed copy of Patricia’s book for the discounted price of £25,- (RRP £30,- incl. p&p in UK – only available for UK orders). We highly recommend that you have a copy of her book to make the most of this workshop and to get many extra marketing tips!

the key facts

• 3-hour online workshop on Thursday 12 June 10am – 1pm (UK time)
• Outcome: Get clear on your teaching niche. Improve your website + drive better traffic. Find out exactly what to do to get more ticket sales for your creative training.
• Especially created for: Creative professionals who teach workshops, courses, mentor and want to stand out and sell more tickets.
• Tutor: Patricia van den Akker – Director of The Design Trust, author of the book ‘Teaching Creative Workshops’.
• Time commitment: 3 hours for this marketing workshop. After the workshop you will need to make time to improve your training offer, your website, and work on specific marketing activities to promote your creative training.

DO YOU WANT TO GET MORE BOOKINGS FOR YOUR CREATIVE TRAINING?

Teaching creative workshops and courses has become very popular in the last few years since Covid. Many creatives have told me that “it is easier these days to sell workshops than my craft products!” Indeed it’s a great additional or seasonal income stream for many creative professionals to compliment their practice, but teaching is also a great way to share your passion, skills and experience with people who are often really keen to spend time with you!

But, with this increased popularity a new problem emerges: it’s become harder to stand out in the competitive market, and to get enough bookings. Isn’t it awful when you have to cancel workshops, or run training below capacity which often means you are not making a profit?

Patricia has developed this new online marketing workshop for creative teachers who want to become more creative & confident with your marketing, understand your ideal students better, make your website & branding standout, and use email marketing and social media in smart & creative ways, so that you can turn interest into workshop bookings.

what will I do & learn during this 3 hour online ‘fully booked: smart marketing for creative teachers’ workshop?

This is a brand new 3-hour online workshop that Patricia has created for creatives who already teach in person or online, to help you become more confident, strategic & creative with your marketing & teaching. From exploring who your ideal students/participants really are and how to attract them and creatine an even better training experience for them, to how to get found online and make your website really attractive and useful, to what the best marketing techniques are to drive traffic and get fully booked! This strategic but very practical and action-orientated marketing workshop for creative teachers is based on Patricia’s book “Teaching Creative Workshops in Person & Online”.

WARNING: This is a really practical and thought-provoking online workshop where you will be working on your own marketing ideas, plans & actions to promote your creative training. This is NOT a boring Zoom session where you will listen for 3 hours to Patricia, but a very hands-on practical session where you will be thinking, planning, deciding, dreaming and prioritising about your marketing, website, and ideal clients! You will mostly be working by yourself, but there will be a few occasions where you will be invited to share in the chat or work with fellow creative teachers in the break out rooms. We highly recommend that you try to join this workshop live to benefit from the input from fellow creative teachers..

This 3-hour online workshop exists of 3 parts: Focus on what you do best; make your website do the hard work; and marketing that works to get fully booked:

PART ONE: WHAT’S YOUR NICHE? WHAT DO YOU TEACH & WHO ARE YOUR DREAM CLIENTS (45mins)

• We’ll start with: WHAT do you teach and WHO are your ideal participants / students? And how can you make your teaching experience even better for those students? Patricia will share some great thought-provoking questions to get to know your ideal clients and their needs & wants in more depth, and you will develop some (new) ideas to make your training format and activities work even better for them. You will write a handy niche statement to clarify what you especially want to be known for as a creative teacher, and to make you stand out!
• FAQ: Want to work with organisations as clients or partners? E.g. museums, galleries, events, corporates? Patricia will briefly explain how to find and approach business clients (as this is different from individuals!).

PART TWO: LET YOUR WEBSITE DO THE HARD WORK! (1hour)

• Is your website at the heart of your training business? Not just to attract your dream students, but also to make the admin and organisation of your creative training as easy as possible. We will talk about the importance of branding, images and navigation, and Patricia will show great creative examples of hard-working websites. You will start to create your own action list to improve your website.
• Patricia will show you how to write a brilliant, key-word rich workshop page, to make it easier to get found, but also to turn website visitors into students. She will give you a basic introduction to SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and how to identify and use key words, which will drive better traffic to your website, and is an especially important marketing technique if you deliver niche, specialist or local training. During the session you will do a quick exercise to write a short training page with a keyword-rich title and introduction. Have you included everything your clients want to know on your training page? With plenty of creative examples too.
• What’s stopping your potential students to book online? Patricia will explain the importance of her marketing mantra: “People only buy from people they know, like & trust’ and how you can implement credibility, your profile & personality, and trust across your website, with strategic blog post, lead magnet ideas, testimonials and branding. With more creative examples to inspire you. All the while you will add more specific, creative & unique marketing activities to your own action list!

PART THREE: MARKETING THAT WORKS TO GET FULLY BOOKED (1 hour)

• We will continue with the best ways to drive traffic to your website and turn interest into bookings by using smart & attractive email marketing & creative ideas for social media. Email marketing is Patricia’s favourite marketing techniques to get bookings for training, and she will show you how this is still the best way to sell creative workshops. We will also look at more ‘traditional’ ways to promote your workshops, especially local and event marketing. These are very effective and creative!
• Patricia will share additional marketing ideas and her secrets to get creative workshop bookings, and how to get repeat students and promote ‘evergreen’ training. And how online and in-person training can work beautifully together!
• We will finish this workshop by creating a launch plan for your new training ideas.

what will i get when i sign up for this short workshop?

When you sign up to this 3-hour online workshop you will get …

• An invitation to join this marketing for creative teachers workshop live on Thursday 12 June from 10am – 1pm UK. We recommend that you try to join us live, to make time and space to work on your marketing and create a personal marketing action plan to get workshop bookings. When you join us live then you can ask Patricia questions and work with other creatives who teach. The live workshop is great for accountability, inspiration and to get feedback! (Joining the breakout rooms or speaking up is of course entirely voluntary … but highly recommended!)
• Get access and a license for one person to the recording and the presentation of this workshop in our private workshop hub for 6 months, till 12 December 2025. In the private hub you can post & answer questions at any time. You can watch the recording again, or if you are unable to join us live you can watch it when it suits you.
• In the private workshop hub you will get downloadable templates for: A) A marketing action plan; B) A launch plan
• EARLY BIRD OFFER: Book your place on this Fully Booked marketing workshop by 31 May to get Patricia’s specially designed map to plan out and work more on the content, marketing & planning of your future training for free (RRP £15,-) This A2 map that you can see here below will be posted to you by mail. Sorry one per person in total, and for UK orders only. This printed map is only available if you join one or our teaching workshops in spring summer 2025. On one side you can brainstorm and go deeper into your teaching content, and on the other side you can plan your creative training throughout the year, and plan your finances and marketing. It’s super useful, and complimentary to Patricia’s book on Teaching Creative Workshops in Person & Online.

We highly recommend that you get Patricia’s book on Teaching Creative Workshops in Person & Online, or that you upgrade when you book your place to get a signed copy in the post before this workshop starts.

who is this ‘FULLY BOOKED: SMART mARKETING fOR cREATIVE tEACHERS’ workshop for?

Patricia created this short, practical workshop especially for:

• Creatives who teach workshops, courses, 121 mentoring, memberships and the like, to either beginners, hobbyists or your peers and specialists. You teach in person or online, maybe from your own home or studio, or in cultural centres or at events. You want to make time to improve your marketing for your creative training – what you offer, your website & branding, but you do need to get more ‘bumps on seats’ and want to avoid loss-making workshops. You know that you need to work on your email marketing, and can’t rely on social media any longer. You want to stand out as a creative teacher, in this increasingly competitive market of teaching creative skills. You need inspiration, but especially marketing ideas that work to get you bookings!
• You have been teaching creative skills for at least two years, and possibly a lot longer! You want some new marketing inspiration, and maybe have an exploration too at what and how you teach, and how to promote yourself. Maybe you want to increase your prices or offer new training? You are feeling a little bored maybe and want to spruce it all up a bit. You want to stay relevant and get more and better participants. You know that your website needs work, and that it would be better to segment your email list too, but you never have the time for any of this. You need to get workshop bookings as this is your biggest income right now! And maybe it’s a combination of all these reasons.
• You are a busy creative (especially with your teaching business & product business and maybe part-time work too?) so you want a quick workshop with quick marketing solutions and ideas that you can implement by yourself at no, or very low costs, and that will work. You want some quick wins, but also know that you need to dig a little deeper on what stops your clients from booking, and are committed to doing some deeper work on your training offer and your website afterwards. You want to create a strategic marketing plan that you can implement over the next few months to get more, and more consistent workshop sales.
• We at The Design Trust work especially with designers, crafts people (e.g. jewellers, textiles, ceramics, …), visual artists, photographers, illustrators, printmakers etc. This online marketing training is especially created for creative teachers in those fields. However, if you teach performing arts, music, dance, creative writing or wellbeing (e.g yoga, mindfulness) then this marketing training is still suitable for you, but you might need to be a bit creative with the examples! If you are unsure if this workshop is relevant to you then please get in touch by email on info@thedesigntrust.co.uk and we are happy & honest to tell you if this workshop is right for you.

If you are a very new teacher, we recommend our Start to Teach Creative Workshops training instead, which also includes some marketing training. This workshop is especially aimed at creatives who have been teaching for at least 2 years or much longer.

how to make the most of this 3-hour online workshop?

We highly recommend that you try to join this online workshop live on Thursday 12 June 10am – 1pm UK, so that you will make time in your busy diary, and work on your marketing for your creative training. Joining live means that you can also discuss your training & marketing ideas and plans with fellow creative teachers in the breakout rooms or on the chat. We know that people who join us live get a lot more inspiration, accountability, support & ideas from other creatives, and are much more likely to succeed.

We recommend that you purchase Patricia’s book Teaching Creative Workshops in Person & Online in advance of this workshop. You can upgrade when you book this workshop, and get the book with a discount and signed!

Can’t make the live workshop? No problem! The workshop will be recorded and you will have access to the recording + presentation for 6 months until 12 December 2025.

PATRICIA’S BOOK ‘TEACHING CREATIVE WORKSHOPS IN PERSON & ONLINE’

In 2022 Patricia was commissioned by Bloomsbury Publishing / Herbert Press to write ‘the handbook for creatives who teach’. After 3 years of research, interviewing many creative teachers in a wide range of disciplines, loads of writing and rewriting, editing and designing … after 3 years of really hard work her first book Teaching Creative Workshops In Person & Online was published in February 2025.

But … she has done it!

This is a really practical, visual & action orientated book for creative who want to teach workshops, courses, memberships or 121 – either in person or online – and who want to create and deliver more creative and unique training, get organised and stand out from the crowd, and price and promote their creative training professionally. It’s full with her practical expert advice, with reflective and action-taking activities and expert tips to move your teaching forward. With a lot of detailed info on what makes teaching online different & challenging, but creative too! With 16 case studies of creatives who teach, including textile artists Ekta Kaul and Hanny Newton; gold leaf painter David A. Smith (he is truly amazing!); illustrator agent Lilla Rogers from Make Art That Sells, and many more!

You can buy Patricia’s book Teaching Creative Workshops in Person & Online from Amazon, Waterstones and other online retailers, as well as from your local independent book shop.

Or you can purchase a signed copy of the book for only £25,- (incl. p&p) directly from Patricia if you upgrade when you join this online workshop. Sorry UK only.

We highly recommend that you purchase Patricia’s book in advance to accompany this marketing workshop as it is full of additional marketing strategies and activities.

FAQ: Got any further questions?

click the arrow to get your answers

• I can’t make it live on the day of the workshop (Thu 12 June). Is that a problem?

  We recommend that you join the workshop live if at all possible, so that you can work in real time on your creative marketing plans & ideas, work with fellow creative teachers, and ask questions during the session.

  However, if you have other commitments or you live in a different time zone, then remember that this marketing workshop for creative teachers will be recorded and posted on our private workshop hub. You will have access to the recording + presentation + hub for 6 months till 12 December 2025.

  PLEASE NOTE: It’s unlikely that we will run this workshop again in 2025, so if you are not entirely ready yet then book it now and you can watch it later in the year when you are ready.

• I teach performing arts, yoga, creative writing. … Is this workshop for me?

  We would love you to join us!

  Although our expertise is working with creative visual artists and designers, in crafts, visual art, photography, illustration etc, we think there is a lot of similarity in marketing, your website and creating creative training offers.

  We think this workshop is very suitable for you, and that you will get a lot from this marketing workshop for your training too.

  However, you might need to be a little more creative and think ‘out-of-the-box’ with some of the examples that we share.

  If you have any questions if this training is suitable for you then email us on info@thedesigntrust.co.uk with what you teach, who your ideal students are, and what your marketing questions or challenges are, and we can give you a more specific answer.

• How much time will this workshop take?

  We know you are busy, so this online workshop is easy & short … just 3 hours! But we will pack a lot in that time!

  But obviously, to make the most of this workshop you will need to spend more time afterwards on your marketing, training offer, website, branding, email marketing … 

  How much time that will take depends partly on how much time you want to spend, and also on your existing experience or resources.

  But it is by DOING the marketing afterwards that you will get more bookings, feel more confident and attract better students. 

• What if I am not very tech-savvy?

  We use Zoom for our online workshops – an online platform that’s very easy to access.

  A week before your workshop will start we will send you the details of how to sign up on Zoom for this workshop, and at the start of the session we will tell you briefly how to use Zoom, the breakout rooms and the chat. Getting involved is voluntary of course, but highly useful.

  Our private online platform (where we will post the presentation + recording afterwards) is really easy to use too. You’ll only need basic computer literacy in order to navigate it.

  However, to implement your marketing you might need some additional digital skills, although we love using ‘traditional marketing’ too. You might want to get some extra support to make changes to your website, incl. a designer, copywriter and a photographer.

  It’s really up to you what marketing activities you want to focus on, and get more creative with the skills you got already!

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

  When you buy a The Design Trust online workshop you purchase a single licence, which means that YOU CAN NOT share the recording or presentation with others who have not paid for it.

  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.

  However, if you work in a partnership or in a small team then you can share the recording with people who work for you.

• Till when can I book this workshop? And how long do I have access to this workshop?

  We highly recommend that you try to sign up for this workshop and join us live, which is Thursday 12 June from 10am – 1pm UK time.

  PLEASE SIGN UP AT LEAST 2 WORKING DAYS BEFORE so that we can make sure you have time to sign up and all the admin is in order.

  However you can still sign up for this workshop till Friday 18 July when we will close our shop. After that date this marketing workshop recording presentation will no longer be available to purchase for new students. All existing students will have access to the private hub with the workshop presentation + recording for 6 months till 12 December 2025.

• What if I need to cancel?

  The workshop will take place on Thursday 12 June from 10am – 1pm UK and we will record the session and give you access to the recording and the presentation for 6 months till 12 December 2025.

  So if you are unable to make it live, you still have access to the recording for 6 months.

  After this online marketing workshop for creative teachers has taken place we will NOT offer any refunds as you can still access it whenever you like.

  We recommend that you check that your broadband and wifi is sufficient to join the session live. We have not had any problems ever with anybody watching the recordings.

  If you need to cancel then please email us 48 hours before the workshop has started on info@thedesigntrust.co.uk and you can get a full refund. Unfortunately it takes 5 – 10 working days for the money to be in your bank account.

• 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 help you there!