advertise

6 *free* and simple ways to advertise your crafting business

| Sarah

Do you find yourself in a rut?  Been running circles around yourself trying to set your crafting business apart from the catrillion others out there?  If you have ever even *considered* purchasing a paid advertisement in any form, this blog is definitely for you!  There are several different ways that you can “advertise” your crafting that is free (or REALLY cheap).

1. Social Media.  Yes, go ahead and set up a facebook page that goes with your business.  Bring in the social media, start working on your following/fan base.  Let your *friends and family* know that you are selling something.  Set up a blog…write about what you are doing, participate in forums.  Create a pinterest board for your inspiration, of your blog, or even with some of your products on it.  Tweet when you have a new product up.  Do NOT underestimate these free platforms.

2. Word of mouth.  Tell people what you do.  I’m a bit timid about this one, because “what if they reject me?”  Or even “I’ll have to talk to them about what I do.”  And yes, they might not be too partial about your products, but the chances are even higher that they will LOVE what you do, and tell their own friends about you, and bring in sales.  Also, if you are exited about your work, because you need to be if you are going to be selling it, then you’ll talk to them anyways.  Here’s an easy phrase to commit to memory, “I sell ________, and here’s my website, you should check me out. I bet you’d like it!”  You don’t have to have a business card, maybe write your information down on index cards and have them handy.  If you tell people, they tell others, and pretty soon a lot of people know about what you make.  I’ve had people, whom I just met, tell me that so-and-so referred them to my website, and they simply adore what I make.  It will get you noticed.

3. List new items on a regular basis.  Either on facebook, your website, etsy, whatever outlet you are using, use it!  This lets people know that you are still around and aren’t some abandoned site that’s been neglected for days, weeks, or even months.  Listing new items also throws your site to the top of the list, so it is among the first to be noticed.

4. If it applies, wear your product.  As you get compliments, let people know, “yeah thanks, I totally made it.  I could make you one too!”  Give them your information.

5. Gift/donate your product.  This one will cut into your profits a bit, but it’s worked wonders for me.  Be passionate about your craft, gift it for christmas, birthday, just because.  This gets your product out there, and lets people know that you love it enough to give to others, as well as educates about the quality of your work.  Chances are pretty high, that these people will come to your shop to make purchases of their own.  BONUS: Post on your social media sites that you are donating for a charity (I donate a lot of stuff to Lions and an adoption assistant), customers eat that stuff up!  They love it, and they will want to support that.

6. Include tags/stickers on your product.  People forget things.  It can’t be helped.  Make things a bit easier on your consumers by including tags or stickers that have all of your information on it.  As it applies, include your brand, size, logo, website, contact information.

These are just the easy ways to advertise your craft and get your name out there.  A few of the paid methods would include, but are definitely not limited to: Google adwords, Facebook advertisement, Etsy search ads…
Let me know if there are any other ways to *freely* advertise your crafting products that maybe I forgot.  Also, would love to hear how those methods listed above have helped you!

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Call to action! 5 Things that you can do *right now* to increase your sales

| Sarah

Image representing Etsy as depicted in CrunchBase
Image via CrunchBase

Do you sell items on Etsy?

Have you had LOADS of viewers and a few favorites but no purchases?

Have things slowed down more than you would like?

These 5 steps may turn things around for you.

  1. Update.  That’s right, check out your pictures, your descriptions, your tags, your categorizing and change it up a bit.  The way things are right now, just isn’t working, so maybe something different will.
  2. Renew/List new products.  Recently listed products are going to show up *first* on searches.  How many pages do you think a potential customer is going to go through before deciding what he/she wants to buy?  Maybe 4.  Listing new items every couple of days (some people will argue that you need to do this every day), will increase the likelihood that someone will find your shop.  I have discovered that when I renew a sold order, I get more views on EVERYTHING, not just that one listing.  Also, having more products will give your potential customer more options to choose from.
  3. Etsy
    Etsy (Photo credit: Scott Beale)

    Be patient.  Depending on the time of year you started up, things might naturally slow down a bit.  I started my etsy shop in November…with Christmas right around the corner.  I got so many orders in December that I had to turn down a few of them (it probably didn’t help that I was also giving birth right around that time).

  4. Advertise.  There are lots of ways that you can advertise for free (Check out my other blog post: advertising your crafts).  If you have the resources, go ahead and buy some professional advertising.  There isn’t anything wrong with that.  However, if your reading this post, chances are you don’t have the resources, I’d suggest going to free route…at least for now.
  5. Tell people.  There are a TON of shops and stores on Etsy alone.  This isn’t even to consider all of the other online revenues, webpages, facebooks, and the numerous other outlets.  If you don’t tell people that you are there, how are they going to just find, or just stumble upon your store?

So, there you have it.  Five relatively easy ways to change things around.  You might get results within a few hours, or it might take a day, or maybe a week.  However, I can be 95% sure that if you do these five things you will see an improvement within a week.

Do you know of any way to get more viewers and therefore more sales?

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Advertising your crafts?

| Sarah

So, you’ve decided to sell your crafts.  Good for you!  It’s a big step, and you’ve set up your shop, got a few items listed, and now what?  You’ve gone through all the requirements to get started, but it’s been a day, a week, maybe even a month, and you’ve not had any sells.  Well, do people know that you exist?  There are several different ways that you can “advertise” your crafting that is free (or REALLY cheap).

1. Facebook page.  Yes, go ahead and set up a facebook page that goes with your business.  Bring in the social media, start working on your following/fan base.  Let your *friends and family* know that you are selling something.  I’m a bit timid about this one, because “what if they reject me?”  Or even “I’ll have to talk to them about what I do.”  And yes, they might not be too partial about your products, but the chances are higher that they will LOVE what you do, and tell their own friends about you, and bring in sells.  Also, if you are exited about your work, because you need to be if you are going to be selling it, then you’ll talk to them anyways.  Which takes me to number 2.

2. Word of mouth.  Tell people what you do.  Here’s an easy phrase to commit to memory, “I sell ________, and here’s my website, you should check me out. I bet you’d like it!”  You don’t have to have a business card, maybe write your information down on index cards and have them handy.  If you tell people, they tell others, and pretty soon a lot of people know about what you make.  I’ve had people, whom I just met, tell me that so-and-so referred them to my website, and they simply adore what I make.  It will get you noticed.

3. List new items on a regular basis.  Either on facebook, your website, etsy, whatever outlet you are using, use it!  This lets people know that you are still around and aren’t some abandoned site that’s been neglected for days, weeks, or even months.

4. If it applies, wear your product.  As you get compliments, let people know, “yeah thanks, I totally made it.  I could make you one too!”  Give them your information.

5. Gift/donate your product.  This one will cut into your profits a bit, but it’s worked wonders for me.  Be passionate about your craft, gift it for christmas, birthday, just because.  This gets your product out there, and lets people know that you love it enough to give to others, as well as educates about the quality of your work.  Chances are pretty high, that these people will come to your shop to make purchases of their own.

6. Include tags/stickers on your product.  People forget things.  It can’t be helped.  Make things a bit easier on your consumers by including tags or stickers that have all of your information on it.  As it applies, include your brand, size, logo, website, contact information.

These are just the easy ways to advertise your craft and get your name out there.  A few of the paid methods would include, but are definitely not limited to: Google adwords, Facebook advertisement, Etsy search ads…
Let me know if there are any other ways to *freely* advertise your crafting products that maybe I forgot.  Also, would love to hear how those methods listed above have helped you!