For most creative people the prospect of promoting our work is just plain scary. We hate shouting "Look at what I made!" because it feels boastful and takes us way outside our comfort zone. But the truth is that
if you don't shout about what you do then no one will.
I know from experience that you
can get past the shyness and awkwardness that comes when you start marketing your product. There are literally hundreds of ways to tell the world about your creations and you can start with the ones that you feel most comfortable with and work up to the ones that scare you.
I certainly don't recommend that you try to do
all of these things for your store at once. Some of them are time consuming, especially to set up. Allot yourself a certain amount of time per day/week to spend on promotions and don't allow yourself to spend all day on your computer. Get yourself set up with
Google Analytics so that you can see what promotions are working for you and which aren't. then you can spend your promotions time much more efficiently by cutting out the sites that don't bring you views.
Your choices for promotions will depend on many different factors; time, money, confidence, target audience etc. I have tried to include a little run down on the pros and cons of each one so you can pick an choose what works best for you. I have also included links to posts on how to get the most out of each promotional tool where I have found them.
Twitter - Social Networking SiteHow to use Twitter as a marketing tool Pros - Free to use
- Fast and easy to set up
- Very popular right now
- Simple and easy to use
- Share links and chat
- Build a fan base quickly
Cons- Limited message size
- Only use links, no space for images
- Saturated by other sellers
- Addictive
MySpace - Social Networking SiteHow to use MySpace as a marketing toolPros- Free
-
MySpace groups enables you to find your target audience faster
- Share images, videos and other embedded HTML
- Post bulletins, blog, photo albums and chat
- Possible to get a large number of sales and hits from MySpace
- Your page is totally customizable making branding much easier
Cons- Time consuming to set up
- Posting comments regularly is also time consuming
- Need to learn some basic HTML to get the most out of it
Facebook - Social Networking Site How to use Facebook as a marketing toolPros- Free
- Relatively easy to set up
-
Facebook groups enables you to find your target audience faster
- Facebook applications make it possible to share images
- Chat and comment
- Improvements being made to the site all the time
Cons- Site is less geared towards promotion than MySpace
- Takes a while to figure out
- Addictive
Flickr - Image Sharing Site How to use Flickr as a promotional toolPros - Free
- Quick and easy to set up
-
Flickr groups makes it easy to find your target audience
- Share comments
- Easy to network
- uploading new photos is quick and easy
- Friendly artist community
Cons- Not allowed to overtly promote your store on this site. You can leave links in your profile but you will get removed from the site if you advertise in your photo descriptions.
- Addictive
DeviantArt - Artist Community and Gallery Pros- Basic package is free
- Easy to set up
- Have your own gallery and sub galleries
- Share comments and network with other artists
- Get critiques and advice from other artists
- Features include a blog/journal newsletters and forums
- Can post links to your store in photo descriptions
- Friendly artist community
- Sell prints of your work through this site
Cons- To get all the features you have to subscribe
- Print shop takes large commission on any sold prints
- Has some mature content (there is an option which allows you to block mature content)
- Addictive
Pros - Free
- Easy to find your target audience
- Share photos and comments
- Endless ways to take part in your community
- Reasonably easy to set up
- Make contacts and network
- build your own Ning network if you want (LOTS of work to do this)
Cons- Photo sharing is slow to upload
- Some Ning networks are better than others - takes time to find the good ones
- Addictive and easy to waste time here
Word of Mouth The easiest way to gain a reputation is my word of mouth. To make sure that they are the right words work on making your customer service and packaging the best it can be. Make sure that your buyers will want to tell their friends about your product!
Pros- Free
- Easy- Probably the best advertising there isCons
- To get it right you must have great customer service skills and beautiful packaging helps too!Blogging - Online DairyBlogging tips for beginners (Blogger)There are several different pieces of software for blogging but the best one for beginners is
Blogger. it is easy to use and does not require that you understand HTML coding to get a good looking page.
Pros- Share your experiences and new listings
- Helps your buyers get to know you
- Comment on other blogs to make connections
- Share photos, video, stories, anything you like
- Add advertisements and even make money from blogging
- If you love to write this blogging is a lot of fun
Cons - Time consuming
- Requires continued input to be successful
- If you don't like writing this isn't for you
- Customizing your blog takes time
- To get the most out of it you need to learn some basic HTML
Blog features - Getting FeaturedBeing featured by another blogger is one of the best ways to get sales, especially if their blog is a popular one. However getting that feature can be hard work. It requires time and effort to write to other bloggers and tell them about your work, most of the time you won't get a reply but occasionally you will get that feature. Personally I think the time spent on this is worth it. Sometimes bloggers want free samples for the feature, it is up to you to decide if that is worth it.
Business CardsIt is so simple and yet many Etsy sellers forget this wonderful marketing tool. You can get some great deals on business cards from
vistaprint and you can Google for some great
coupon codes for massive discount. Keep them with you all the time and hand them out to anyone who is interested in what you do.
Forums - On Etsy and OffPros - Free
- Make friends and network
- Share your knowledge and advice
- Gain a reputation
- Find forums for your target audience
- Connect with people of similar interests
Cons- Easy to waste time in forums
- Forums can get nasty, learn to walk away when the claws come out
Paid advertising(not a lot of pros and cons here because I don't have a lot of experience with this medium yet)Pros- Target your advertising to the right people
- Gain large numbers of buyers
- Prices to suit everyone
- Millions of places to advertise
Cons- Cost (be smart and find slots that fit your budget)
- May get more sales that you can deal with
Craft FairsPros- Meet people face to face
- Network with your local community
- Make a large number of sales in 1 or 2 days
- Have a fun day out
Cons- Organization to get set up
- Confidence to do your first one
- Fees to rent your stall (these vary wildly so do your research first)
Wholesale - Pitching your product face to face If you have enough stock then you are ready to sell wholesale. The best way to get interest here is to walk into your local stores and present yourself (I know, seriously scary stuff)
Pros- Make BIG sales
- Gain a reputation locally
- Make contacts with local store owners
Cons- Takes lots of confidence
- Need a lot of stock
- Set up contracts and legal agreements
General tips for marketing- Have great photos. Most of marketing is a visual experience, make sure your images are the best they can be. Take the time to
learn how to get them looking great.
- Choose a marketing style that you are comfortable with. You don't have to be like that pushy sales guy at the car dealership, you can be more subtle and advertise your work with great photos, humor and genuine interest in other people.
- Don't let marketing take over your life. Allot a certain amount of time per day/week to promotions and stick to it.
- Build friendships with those you meet on social networking sites, it is not about the quantity of friends you have but the
quality of those relationships that is important.
- Always keep your communications professional. Don't become whiny, rude or argumentative - this will quickly damage all the work you have put into it.
- Once you have built a reputation and people know about you, you don't need to spend so much time on marketing because Word of Mouth will do a lot of the work for you.
Other places to advertise (no pros and cons here because I have not tried them properly yet)
Project WonderfulSquidooMore advice on promotions
