Sustainable Marketing for Writers, Changemakers, and other Magical TLArtists // with Tracie Nichols

I’ll bet your work and art is quietly (or not so quietly) life-changing. 

I’ll also bet not enough people know about it—or you—right? 

Sustainable Marketing for Writers, Changemakers, and other Magical TLArtists will help you (re)define marketing and promotion (as well as terms and concepts like business growth, strategy, and community building) as practices that can be both sustainable and successful while also being aligned with your values, creative and business goals, and available expendable energy. (In other words, how many spoons can you devote to this?)

At the end of our four weeks together, you will: 

• know what you want your marketing to do for you/your business.
• have the foundation of a sustainable marketing strategy grounded in:
• • language and methods of communication meaningful to both you and your community.
  • knowing the best pace for your available time and energy.
  • researching the best places/platforms for the ways you most effectively and genuinely communicate.
• be part of a network of other creatives working to build sustainable marketing practices.
• be supported by a collection of resources and tools specific to you, your working rhythms, and your goals for your business.

In short—this is a professional development course designed to make strategies for growing your community and business sane and sustainable. 

Week By Week 

Week 1: Evicting your inner late-night infomercial huckster, (or how your assumptions about marketing are probably not helping you grow your business) 

This week we will:

• look at the ways ubiquitous, relentless, mainstream marketing consciously and unconsciously shapes what we think marketing is, the language we use to define it and ourselves, and what it must look or sound like. 
• redefine and/or reclaim “marketing” and “promotion” as actions you take to help your community understand what you do and how it helps them so they can make a conscious, informed choice to work with you, (buy from you, join your thing).

Week 2: You & your community—intersecting ecosystems. Creating a sustainable marketing strategy starts with knowing yourself and your community.

Our activities this week will:

• delve into who you are as a TLArtist; your values, your native communication style, the personality and neurologic traits that underpin how you think, create, and take action. 
• explore who are the people in your community, how can you connect with them, what are the ways they will be looking for help?
• clarify/define the kind of conversation and/or reciprocal relationship you and your community want to be having.

Week 3: Keeping it (sane) and sustainable.

This week we will:

• do some noticing and writing around personal rhythms—what kinds of activities consume more energy and what replenishes?
• spend some time noticing your responses to platforms and places where marketing happens.
• explore (potentially) new places, both in-person and online, where you might market with the goal of finding a few that feel sustainable.

Week 4: Market like a tree: be rooted; offer oxygen. Crafting your sustainable marketing strategies.

This week we will plant the seeds of a marketing strategy:

• aligned with how you communicate, your goals, your working rhythm and expendable energy.
• that feels genuine and inviting to your community.
• that is both a short and a long-term strategy—meaning actions you can take right away and actions you can build up to over time.

Who Should Take This Class

You should come if you're a writer, changemaker, or Transformative Language Artist interested in building your community and/or your practice without burning out, becoming overwhelmed, or feeling inauthentic. This applies to both solo practitioners and people who are responsible for community building for an organization.

NOTE: While this approach to marketing is especially helpful for introverts, ambiverts, Highly Sensitive People (HSP) and/or people with ADHD and/or AuDHD, anyone who feels alienated by traditional marketing methods will find inspiration here.

*Who are TLArts practitioners? Teachers, counselors, writers, storytellers, performers, songwriters, poets, community leaders, activists, and other artists using language for individual or community transformation.

We offer scholarships based on income as well as some partial scholarships for people living with serious illness and/or disability or people of color. Please fill out this scholarship application form so that we can find the best way to make the class accessible to you.

What people are saying about working with Tracie:

“ 'Sustainable' -- that was the magic word for me. I’m comfortable marketing my writing coaching services, but the only thing consistent about my marketing has been its inconsistency. Too many things to do! Tracie’s expertise, empathy, and compassion not only refreshed my approach to strategy; it helped me better align ideas and tasks with how I work and think. She was great at identifying specific approaches and messaging that surfaced from assignments and suggesting ways to use those effectively. And yes, sustainably!"—Judy Fort Brenneman, Greenfire Creative, LLC

"Thank you for an incredible class! I look forward to diving deeper into the resources shared and continuing my reflections on how to bring in the people who resonate with my work." —Sustainable Marketing Strategies student; spring 2025

"Tracie gave excellent, insightful comments and feedback, and there was some lovely interactive discussion and sharing between students as well."—Sustainable Marketing Strategies student; spring 2025

"Solid introduction to marketing that aligns with individual values and abilities -- not cookie-cutter, etc. SO important!"—Sustainable Marketing Strategies student; spring 2025

Where and When Does this Online Course Meet?

Course materials will be delivered through a hybrid of weekly Zoom sessions and online, asynchronous discussion and resources in a Google Classroom space.

The majority of the work will happen in the weekly 90 minute Zoom meetings, held on four consecutive Sundays from 3-4:30 PM ET (2-3:30 PM CT | 1-2:30 PM MT | 12-1:30 PM PT | 7-8:30 PM UTC): June 7, 14, 21 and 28, 2026. Sessions will be recorded and made available to students only. 

This class utilizes personal reflection, group discussion, and writing exercises to explore and redefine marketing so it becomes a useful and sustainable business strategy for creatives like TLArtists. You should plan to spend about three hours per week on course work between the Zoom meetings and outside writing exercises and research. 

About the Facilitator

Tracie Nichols is a poet, facilitator, and the current Managing Director of The Transformative Language Arts Network. Over the past 20 years, inspired by her graduate work in Transformative Learning and Change, she has designed and facilitated hundreds of virtual and in-person learning experiences for people seeking personal transformation and growth. You can connect with her through her website https://tracienichols.com/ and she loves new subscribers to her Substack https://tracienichols.substack.com/.