At dothegap we view exchanges as a chance to continue learning, regardless of your specialty, age and without limiting ourselves to just learning a new language. That’s why, we like exploring the multitude of possibilities for interdisciplinary exchanges, giving you examples with infinite combinations.
Here, we’d like to focus on two trades, which at first seem worlds apart, but that at a closer distance, have a lot to provide one another: marketing or publicity and crafts. Interested in finding out what these students can learn from each other if their schools promote an interdisciplinary exchange of marketing and crafts? Read on!
The key to a successful interdisciplinary exchange
An exchange between a marketing or publicity school and a crafts workshop or school, can be truly beneficial! Both disciplines share certain values and qualities that will prove valuable when shared among both parties.
What are we referring to? First of all, both marketing and crafts are creative trades, even though the former are glued to a screen all day long and the latter depend, above all, on their manual skills. Nonetheless, a publicist or community manager and an artisan both need a creative spark in their day-to-day!
On the other hand, crafts and marketing are based largely on the ability to find solutions to problems and challenges presented to them. Some to launch the creation of a new piece and others to adapt to each new project.
One last thing these two have in common is that they aren’t auxiliary disciplines, but rather professions that require full-time dedication. In a way, an artisan and a publicist share a mutual passion for their work and are absorbed by it. This will help them understand each other and enjoy a successful interdisciplinary exchange.
5 lessons a craft student can receive from an interdisciplinary exchange in marketing
1) The importance of being able to sell and the various methods that can be used to achieve a sale. To start, they can learn to identify their target audience and learn how to reach them. Another key aspect of selling is knowing how to take good product photos.
2) A marketing guru doesn’t just know the digital realm, they dominate it! It is key that future artisans understand how to use platforms like Etsy, Instagram or how to start their own online shop. Tools like these should form part of their routine.
3) Teamwork is key for an agency, as well as for a professional artisan. The people who provide your raw material or distributors, they are your team and that’s how you should treat them!
4) You must break away from comfort and routine, while still remaining loyal to tradition. Risks must be taken sometimes: an artisan is still a freelancer that is betting on their future.
5) It’s important to know current trends and the latest developments, in all fields. That’s why, students should share this need to continue learning.
5 lessons a marketing student can receive from an interdisciplinary exchange in crafts
1) The existence of life away from the screen and the value of manual work. As William Morris believed, ideologist of the Arts and Crafts movement, each creation reflects the personality of the individual.
2) All work, or in this case, project, is unique and should aspire to perfection. In this way, publicists should learn to appreciate the beauty of each creation and respect the aesthetics.
3) There are techniques and traditional routines that can be applied, directly through marketing. In addition, it’s important to get to know this part of culture in a given country and be able to incorporate it in your own creativity.
4) Craftsmanship shows that work is a process that requires time. It’s necessary that you have patience and take on a different pace than that of a marketing agency, which requires speed.
5) In this way, marketing students should learn to value each creation and feel satisfied by a job well done. A good work of art must be contemplated and celebrated.
What do you think of these lessons that can be learned from an interdisciplinary exchange like this one? We bet you’ve even thought of more examples! If you have a marketing school or crafts centre, why not take the next step and offer your students an experience like this one?
Sources to continue learning:
- 10 Lessons I’ve Learn from Running a Digital Marketing Agency
- 10 Lessons Learned From a Decade in Digital Marketing
- 5 Ways to Apply the Principles of Craftsmanship to Your Daily Life in 2018
- Back To Craftsmanship: Lessons from the Arts and Crafts Movement
