‘smart marketing for creative teachers’ – A practical 3-part online course to help you stand out, improve your website and get more workshop bookings

Are you a creative professional who teaches workshops, courses, retreats or creative experiences, but finding it harder than it used to be to get bookings? Are you using the same marketing for your training as you do for your products & art?

Perhaps your workshops are excellent, your students love learning from you, and you know teaching could become an even bigger and more rewarding part of your business. But your marketing feels inconsistent, your website needs attention, or you’re struggling to explain what makes your teaching different from everyone else’s.

The teaching market has changed dramatically over the last few years. More creatives are teaching than ever before, audiences have more choice, and simply posting occasionally on social media is rarely enough to fill workshops consistently.

This practical brand new short online course will help you create a clearer, more distinctive and more professional teaching offer, improve your website, and develop a marketing strategy that genuinely helps the right people find you, trust you and book.

Most importantly, this is not just another marketing course full of ideas that never get implemented. This short, live online course combines practical training, reflection, accountability and implementation so that you make real marketing progress while the course is running.

If you have wanted to make marketing improvements but don’t know where to start or what works in 2026, need a little bit more support & accountability, or never have the time then this is the ideal marketing course for creative teachers for you!

By the end of this practical, short 3-part course (7.5hours) you will have:

• A clear training niche & positioning
• A much stronger understanding of who your ideal participants or students are
• An improved workshop niche statement and positioning that you can use to stand out in your market
• Greater confidence around pricing and what you’re worth (and how to get higher end sales)
• A more strategic website with better sales pages that attract and convert your ideal participants
• Know how you can use key words, timely email marketing and better social media to attract new clients and stay in touch with existing clients
• Create your own 90-day marketing & launch plan for your next training, incl. to attract new and repeat clients
• Clear next steps to get more bookings

BONUS: Patricia has created a range of very useful downloadable tools and planners for you to use as part of this course. PLUS you’ll get our specially designed A2 planning map for your teaching practice (worth £15,-)

This brand new short online course is created and hosted by creative business adviser & trainer Patricia van den Akker, who has been teaching for over 25 years, and is the author of the book ‘Teaching Creative Workshops in Person and Online’, which was published by Bloomsbury in 2025. 

Money a little tight? You can pay in 3 monthly instalments by selecting the PayPal Later option at the checkout.

the key facts

• 3 x 2.5hour short online course on Tue 23 + 30 June + 14 July from 10am – 12.30pm (UK time)
• Upgrade to get a 60mins 121 strategy session with Patricia van den Akker
• 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: We recommend 3-4 hours after each workshop to make the most of this short course and to get more sales

Does this sound familiar?

• You love teaching creative workshops (in person or online), but getting bookings often feels stressful, inconsistent or last minute?
• You’re not really sure how to promote your creative workshops. You use the same techniques as promoting your work, but you know something is not entirely right.
• You know your workshops are valuable, but your website doesn’t really communicate that value. Your workshop pages explain the practical details, but don’t capture the atmosphere or experience people will have, or make you stand out in a saturated creative workshop market.
• Perhaps you rely mostly on Instagram and word of mouth, but feel frustrated by how little engagement your social media posts are getting these days.
• You know that you probably should seperate your mailing list for your teaching from the mailing list for your creative work, as not everybody is interested in both, but you are not sure how to do that.
• Maybe you’ve noticed that there are now many more creative teachers competing for attention. Workshops that used to fill easily now take much longer to promote.
• Or perhaps you know your teaching has real depth and value, but you struggle to explain why somebody should specifically learn from you.

You’re not alone.

Many creative teachers are working incredibly hard to create wonderful creative learning experiences, but are relying on marketing approaches that no longer work as well as they once did. And the market has become a lot more competitive!

Why creative teaching needs a different approach to marketing

Marketing creative workshops is very different from marketing creative products or art.

Why?

When somebody buys a ceramic bowl, a print or a scarf, they can see exactly what they’re getting.

When somebody books a workshop, they’re buying something much less tangible.

They’re buying into something much more intangible – your expertise, teaching style, personality, atmosphere, encouragement and the overall experience you create.

They also want much more than ‘just a nice day out’ or ‘learning a new skill’. They also are buying confidence, creativity, connections, community, inspiration or simply a much-needed day away from everyday pressures.

That means creative teachers need marketing that builds trust, communicates value and helps potential students understand why YOUR teaching is right for THEM.

This Smart Marketing for Creative Teachers short course is designed specifically for creative professionals who teach and want a more strategic, practical and sustainable approach to marketing.

This is not another marketing course you’ll never implement

Most creative teachers don’t need more marketing ideas.

What you really need is … more time, structure and accountability to actually put those marketing ideas into practice!

That’s why this short online course has in-build accountability, and is full of practical exercises, reflective journaling exercises & group discussions DURING the 3 workshops. Patricia has created some very handy downloadable worksheets to make it even easier to implement during and after the course. And we have included practical & creative homework exercises after each session to help you MAKE IT HAPPEN!

We recommend that you spend 3-4 hours after each session to make improvements to your niche, branding, website, sales pages, email marketing and other marketing activities. 

We’ll also start workshops 2 and 3 by reviewing what you’ve actually done, what worked, what felt challenging and what you’ve learned along the way. This is a great opportunity to share any questions or challenges you might have too while you are doing the course!

My goal is NOT simply to teach you marketing skills and give you useful inspiration to promote your creative workshops.

My goal is that by the end of this short course you have tangible improvements already made to your website, workshop pages, positioning and marketing for your creative training.

Perfect timing to get ready to launch your creative training this autumn!

I strongly recommend you join us live

The live discussions, creative exercises, and breakout rooms are a major part of the value of this short course.

While recordings, presentations and resources will be made available for 6 months (till 31 December 2026), the biggest breakthroughs often happen through the conversations, reflection and accountability during the live sessions. From our experience it’s also a lot more likely that you will do the homework and stay on track.

What we’ll cover in this short course …

Session 1: Position Your Teaching to Stand Out

Tue 23 June | 10am – 12.30pm UK

In this first workshop we’ll look at what makes your teaching distinctive and why people really book creative workshops. You’ll explore your creative teaching niche, ideal students, pricing & positioning and what you want to become known for as a teacher. 

We’ll look at the common reasons creative teachers undercharge and how to create a more sustainable range of offers. You’ll begin to map out your teaching ‘ecosystem’ – from lower-entry offers through to premium experiences, to create a ‘learning journey’, to encourage repeat business and make your training business more sustainable.  

At the end of the workshop we’ll look at working with organisational clients & teaching venues, like museums and craft fairs, to host talks, workshops or demonstrations.

BONUS: You’ll get useful downloadable resources created by Patricia in the private course hub, incl. Niche/Ideal student worksheet, pricing reflection worksheet, planner for your teaching ecosystem, website audit checklist.  

Outcome:

• A clearer niche, stronger positioning and greater confidence in how you describe your teaching 
• Understand who your ideal student is in more detail
• Better structure to your teaching, with offers at different price points and increase of repeat students 
• Review and update your pricing 

your marketing Homework:

• Refine your niche statement
• Complete your ideal student personas
• Review your pricing
• Map your teaching ‘ladder’ to offer training at different price points
• Audit your website. Identify your weakest sales page.
• Identify, research & approach potential organisations or venues for teaching opportunities.

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Session 2: Let Your Website Do the Hard Work

Tue 30 June | 10am – 12.30pm UK

Your website should be at the heart of your teaching business, not just for marketing but also for taking bookings, easier admin and getting paid!

It’s your most powerful & creative marketing tool to get bookings for your creative teaching. 

In this 2nd workshop we’ll review common website mistakes creative teachers make and explore how to create stronger workshop pages that build trust and turn visitors into actual bookings.

You’ll learn how to improve various parts of your teaching website, including your workshop descriptions, About Page, workshop titles, imagery and overall website structure. During this workshop you’ll start to rewrite one of your training sales pages. We’ll also cover some practical SEO for creative teachers so that more of the right people can find you online (we will come back to this important topic in the final session).

BONUS: You’ll get useful downloadable resources in the private course hub, incl. A website review checklist, sales page structure guide, and an SEO workbook.

Outcome:

• A clearer website strategy, stronger sales pages for your creative training, and other creative improvements you can implement immediately at no cost
• Unique content ideas for your emails and social media
• Patricia will teach you how to identify and use SEO keywords to get found easier by people looking for your creative training

your marketing Homework:

• Improve your website training category
• Rewrite one sales page with better title, keywords, description, testimonials.
• Improve your ‘about me’ page.
• Create a keyword library
• Develop more content ideas for your emails and social media
• Write one marketing email

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Session 3: Smart Marketing That Actually Gets Bookings

Tue 14 July | 10am – 12.30pm UK

The final workshop (2 weeks after session 2) focuses on creating a realistic & practical marketing strategy and 90-day marketing plan that works for creative teachers to get more workshop bookings.

The focus is not on ‘doing everything’, but on understanding what actually gets bookings, what creates repeat business, and what kind of marketing is realistic and sustainable for you. 

We’ll deep dive into the number one marketing tool for creative teachers: email marketing! Why email marketing is so important, and how creative and effective email marketing can be for creative teachers – to get bookings, to onboard new students, and to keep in touch.

We’ll return to repeat business and student journeys. How to create interesting content, and how to create and launch your autumn training. You’ll finish the course by creating a practical 90-day marketing and launch plan.

BONUS: You’ll get useful downloadable resources in the private course hub crated by Patricia, incl. An email marketing planner, seasonal content calendar (with ideas), and 90-day marketing launch plan. 

Outcome:

• A clearer overal marketing strategy, stronger visibility and a practical 90-day marketing action & launch plan to help you get more bookings – this autumn and beyond.
• Learn practical marketing skills that work and can use immediately in your training business and use for life!

Homework:

• Create an email marketing plan to get more signups and with creative content ideas for your training
• Create a plan to get more repeat clients
• Finish the content planner for your social media and emails
• Finish the 90-day marketing launch plan for your autumn training

can’t make it live? no problem! All 3 sessions are recorded

We highly recommend that you get Patricia’s book on Teaching Creative Workshops in Person & Online,

What’s included in this short course?

When you sign up for our Smart Marketing for Creative Teachers course you will get:

• The 3 live online workshops (7.5 hours in total) – You will get access to our private course hub, with the 3 recordings & presentations for 6 months (till 31 December 2026). The live sessions are hosted by Patricia van den Akker and will take place on Tuesdays 23 June, 30 June and 14 July from 10am – 12.30pm UK time. Can’t make the sessions live? Although we highly recommend you join us live, you will have access to the recordings & presentations for 6 months (till 31 December 2026), so you can learn at your own pace, or watch sessions again.
• This is not just training to teach you essential marketing skills and give you inspiration to use in your own teaching business, but this programme also has built-in group support and accountability. We highly recommend that you join us live, and that you reserve 3-4 hours after each session for implementation to make the most of this short course. This course is highly action-orientated to make improvement in all aspects of marketing your creative workshops.
• You’ll receive a range of practical resources and downloadable worksheets to help you implement what you learn. For details see above. You can download, print and keep these for as long as you like. 
• We’ll post the specially created A2 planning map in the post (UK only) if you sign up by 21 June. Patricia created this handy planning tool (image below worth: £15,-) to accompany her book on Teaching Creative Workshops in Person and Online

Want even more support?

We highly recommend that you purchase Patricia’s book, Teaching Creative Workshops In Person & Online, to explore many of these marketing topics in more depth.

You can upgrade to have a 60min, online 121 strategy session with Patricia, either when you sign up, or if you want to book this after this short course has finished. This session needs to be booked by 30 September to give you time to implement. This is a unique opportunity to get 121 advice about your training and marketing from an expert. This 121 option is ONLY available when you book this short course, and is at a discounted rate.

Who is this course for?

This short, online course Smart Marketing for Creative Teachers is for creative professionals who teach workshops, courses, demonstrations regularly, and who want to improve their marketing knowledge & confidence AND get more consistent bookings. Or maybe you offer mentoring or 121 training? You work freelance, and either teach in person or online, or both.

It’s especially suitable for:

• Professional creatives: Artists, designer makers, illustrators, photographers, textile artists, jewellers and ceramicists
• Creative facilitators and workshop leaders

It’s particularly valuable if you know your teaching has real value but struggle to communicate, position or market it effectively.

This online course would also be useful for teachers working in well-being, performing arts, creative writing, yoga etc. If you have any questions if this course is right for you then email us on [email protected]

It is not that suitable if you are not yet teaching regularly.

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.

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 the 3 sessions live? Is that a problem?

  We recommend that you join the 3 workshops live if at all possible to benefit from the group discussions, accountability and practical exercises in real time. You can also ask Patricia questions.

  However, if you have other commitments or you live in a different time zone, then remember that this short marketing course for creative teachers will be recorded and posted on our private workshop hub. You will have access to the recordings + presentations + resources in our private course  hub for 6 months till 31 December 2026.

  PLEASE NOTE: We will not run this course again in 2026, 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 course 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 short course is very suitable for you too, and that you will get a lot from this course to promote  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 [email protected] 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 & personalised answer. We are always very honest in our recommendations.

• How much time will this short course take?

  We know you are busy, so this online course is 3 x 2.5hours (spread over 4 weeks).

  A big part of this course is the build-in accountability and to get you into action to improve your marketing for your creative training.  

  To make the most of this workshop and implement your learning into your business we recommend that you reserve 3-4 hours after each workshop – to work on your marketing, training offer, website, branding, email marketing …

  How much time it 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 marketing-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 online course will start we will send you the details of how to sign up on Zoom for this short course, and at the start of the 1st 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. (Note that we are changing from a WordPress site to a Squarespace website over the summer so you will use two different sites, but we will explain all this to you!)

  However, to implement your marketing you might need some additional digital & email marketing 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  this The Design Trust online short course 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 course 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 (paid).

  If you would like us to run this short course for you in an organisation, either in person or online, then do get in touch on [email protected]

   

• Till when can I book this online course? And how long do I have access to it?

  We highly recommend that you sign up for this course and join us live, which is Tuesday 23 June from 10am – 12.30pm 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.

  If you book early you will get the early bird discount!

  We will keep this course available to purchase over the summer, and you can watch the recordings then and do the course at your own pace. (You will not get a discount and neither the A2 map, so book earlier!)

  All students will have access to the private hub with the presentations + recordings till 31 December 2026.

• Do I need a website?

  Ideally yes, although it doesn’t need to be perfect.

  Many participants join because they want to improve their current website and workshop pages.

  Having a website is very much part of being a professional creative and teacher.

• What if I need to cancel the course or 121 session?

  If you have to cancel then you can do so in writing by email before Friday 19 June at 5pm UK time. Email us on [email protected] and ask us to confirm that we have received your cancellation. You will get a full refund with 2 working days, however it takes often 5-7 working days before the payment processors refund you.

  Please make sure that your wifi and computer is able to access zoom.

  This course will take place on Tuesdays 23 + 30 June + 14 July from 10am – 12.30pm UK and we will record the sessions and give you access to the recordings and the presentations till 31 December 2026.

  If you are unable to make it live, you still have access to the recordings till then.

  Once this online marketing course for creative teachers has started we will NOT offer any refund as you can still access it whenever you like.

  If you book the 121 strategy session with Patricia then you will need to book this by 30 September 2026, and the final day to have your 121 is 30 November 2026. It is your responsibility to book and be ready for this session. Once this is booked and the course has started we will not give a refund. 

• Do you offer any discounts or payment plans?

  Yes we do!

  We offer an early bird discount till 12 June 2026. 

  Also our Business Club & Dream Plan Do members get a special discount.

  You can pay in 3 monthly instalments by selecting the ‘PayPal Later’ option at the check out. Alternatively use Klarna (try to avoid this as the cost to us for using Klarna are much higher, thank you!).

• I have another question …

  If you have any other questions then please get in touch with us on [email protected] and we are happy to help you there!