Promotions

Written by KreatedbyKarina

There are tons of ways to promote..and even MORE threads on "the right way" and "the wrong way". While finding the most possible places to hawk your wares may seem like a brilliant idea, the results you get aren't always going to be the same as the person who swore up and down that it worked for them. Why? It depends on the type of budget you have, what kind of items you sell, and the audience seeing your promotion. My best tip is to figure out your target audience and promote directly to them.

Promoting to a wide audience is fine, but in the end you'll save yourself a lot of time, money and energy focusing your advertising strategies on those people who are more likely to purchase your products.

Think about the ideal person who would shop in your store---how old are they? What sort of websites/blogs would they most likely visit? What kind of magazines do you think they are more likely to read? What areas of the city would they live in? You can expand to other brainstorming questions but those few should give you a good start in figuring out the type of people who frequent your shop (as well as the type of people you want to direct your items to). Once you've figured out your target audience, you can then take out ads on those same blogs/websites/magazines etc.

Another tip I have is to stop thinking like a seller when listing items/promoting and start thinking like a buyer.

For instance...when trying to figure out how to tag your items, think of how YOU search for items when shopping. Do you search by color, or by certain keywords you find yourself using over and over? If so, use them in your tags as well. A great way of figuring out how to describe/tag your item is to ask friends and family. Let them take a look at what your selling (or give them a sample!) and ask what single words they would use to describe it to others. Pick out the most relevant and common ones and use those as tags if they fit, or incorporate some of their suggestions into your item descriptions.

Lastly, think about what sort of promotional tactics work on YOU. Do you sign up for lots of newsletters? Maybe it's time you offered one of your own to your customers. Do you find yourself throwing away business cards, but keeping magnets and always reminding yourself "to check out that store" everytime you see it on the fridge? Invest in getting some promotional magnets made to give out with your orders or to people you meet.

Promoting is the bread and butter to being successful in any business---putting your best foot foward is important, yes, walking in the right direction is too. Best of luck with your shops!