Why Marketing Feels Wrong
And How Tattoo Artists Should Actually Approach It
Most creatives don’t struggle with marketing because they’re incapable. They struggle because they were never built like traditional businesses.
If you’re a tattoo artist trying to understand marketing, this will probably feel familiar.
You didn’t start with a business plan.
You started by doing something you love.
Then you got paid.
Then, somewhere along the way, you realised you were running a business. And now you’re expected to figure out marketing on top of everything else. That’s where things start to feel confusing, forced, or disconnected from who you are.
From my experience working in marketing, and then later working as a creative myself, I’ve come to believe something.
Most marketing people are missing a key factor when it comes to creative businesses.
It’s personal.
And I don’t mean “personal brand” in the LinkedIn sense.
I mean the business is us.
We build identities around:
- what we do
- how we do it
- what we make
- and how we want to be seen by the world
That’s why marketing feels uncomfortable for so many creatives.
Because talking about your work can feel like walking into a room naked and shouting: “Everybody look at me.”
Traditional marketing people are used to a level of separation between the owner and the business.
If market research says the best colour for a company is blue, they expect the owner to simply say: “Okay, make it blue.”
But creatives don’t work like that.
We’re the people saying: “Yeah… but I hate blue.”
Because every decision feels personal.
The imagery. The tone. The presentation. The way the work is perceived.
All of it becomes tied to identity and self-image.
And that’s what most marketing companies fundamentally fail to understand about creative businesses.
You’re not just selling a product.
You’re presenting a version of yourself to the world.
And most creatives are already deep into doing that before they ever stop to think about marketing properly.
Traditional businesses plan everything before they start. They define what they’re offering, who it’s for, where it sits, and what success looks like.
Creative businesses don’t work like that. We start in the middle.
Already working. Busy taking clients and building something, without ever stepping back to think about how it fits together. That’s why marketing for tattoo artists often feels like guesswork.
So this isn’t about turning you into a marketer.
It’s about helping you understand how marketing actually works, in a way that makes sense for tattooists and creatives. No jargon or corporate theory. No pretending you’re running a tech company. Just clear, practical thinking you can use in the real world.
I’m not teaching this from the outside.
I’m a tattooist. And before that, I worked in marketing and design with small, local businesses, helping them get real customers through the door. Not big campaigns. Not theory. Just work that had to function in the real world.
This is about understanding marketing for tattoo artists properly
So you can:
- make better decisions
- attract the right clients
- and build a career that still feels like yours