Marketing your Craft Business for Success

Marketing your Craft Business for Success

Marketing your Craft Business

So you have looked at your Goals, your planning for what you want in regards to your business, you understand you pricing and your finances and you have sort of set out a simple but clear idea of who your ideal customer is and your focus.

So where are you going to Market your products and/or services?

So where do you start?  Craft events, direct selling, on line, website, blogs, Etsy, Folksy, local boutiques, studios, shops and so on and so on – its a huge list when you actually sit down and look at it all.

Thats why for me – its all about keeping it simple and straightforward.  The difficulty sometimes is that when you are starting out its easy to get caught up in the whole area of Craft Markets and Events – your local school and church are holding events and its great support for charity.  Stall fees are not too high and you can start to see if what you are selling is being received well by people.

But before you start there – take a step back and look again – Are you Marketing your Craft Business for Success???

Few simple questions to help you focus;
1. Do you have a name that is clear on what you are selling?  or who you are?

2. Have you looked at labels, bags, wrapping, How you show case your work and what pieces creating – ie are you creating a product that people actually want to buy?

3. Do you have a website or an e-commerce shop via other selling markets – online market places?

4. Do you have T&Cs sorted for any of the selling areas – do you have systems and processes in place?

5. Do you have business cards?

6. Do you ask for email addresses or building an email list – newsletter opportunities?

7. Have you mapped out what area you need to focus your time and attention on in regards to what products and / or services you are offering?

8. Do you make items that are OOAK – one of a kind – or can you up scale to items that are quicker to make  – ie how reproducible are your products?

9. Have you researched local shops and boutiques, or shops that `fit` with the direction or makes that you are creating?

10. Do you have a logo – a brand as such that you want to identify as your business – a logo is a great way to get people to remember you and your business – put it on business cards, packaging and also online, website, social media etc.

11. Have you looked at colour scheme – linking into logo, your brand as such and does it match what your target market and ideal customer is all about?  Colours, like smell, play a huge favour for customers and potential customers.

Choose wisely – too dark and might turn people off and not be related to your products, some colours are linked to feelings of sorrow, sadness, anger and so forth.  So think – who are your ideal clients, what is your market, who are you selling too, and what colours and images are associated with the products or services that you are looking to market.

12. Are you consistent in what you make? Are your products part of your brand, your image, do they all inter relate? If you are a Jack of all Trades – is this what it is you offer?  Do you specialise within a certain area, do you a specific design or style that shows clearly that it is your work.  Would people know when they say something that it was something you would make or have made. ie is your work, products or services recognisable – do they stand out from the crowd? Do you have a Trademark product or piece??

13. If you market or want to set up shop, website or e-commerce site – do you know how to take good photographs – do you put your branding, your logo into those photos – what are you trying to portray in those photos? Tthis is an area I am getting better at, but I mix and match with some very staged photos of products and others of what I am currently doing and so forth and it’s good to then see how they are received.

14. Have you done your market research on where your products would get best reception? I have started using Pinterest more now and want to expand there more – as images of my work is key for marketing purposes and branding of my work.

15. If you are not marketing online but looking at Craft events – have you done your market research? How do you know your business will do well?

• Do you check out feedback on the event and its organisers,
• Do you have the right insurance and product policies in place,
• Do you have the budget for equipment needed,
• Do you have something as simple as bags or packaging and is this all in your pricing structure.

How do you know you will do well or is it hit and miss and wishful thinking that will just make back the stall fee?

These 15 questions are not that random to be honest, but all part and parcel of what you should be looking at for Marketing your Craft Business for Success.  

Other wise how do you know ?  If you don`t have a plan of action, how do you know you are successful or not?

Marketing your Craft Business for Success – means you have to know what success looks like for you…

Look at the Range of HOW and WHERE you can Market your Craft Business – have a marketing mix – online and offline in direct selling – and then market your products or services consistently in those areas.

So a Business Coaching question I would ask is this – What does success or having a successful craft business for you look like?  How many products are you selling? What price range are you selling them at?  Where are you marketing your business?  How are you marketing your business?

What skills do you need to learn to do your marketing better?

Learn, Learn, Learn

In business, there is no such thing as DONE.

There is always more to do.

New things to try.

Mistakes to be made.

Unexpected journeys.

Things to learn.

When you’re in business, you need to be constantly learning, experimenting, and taking leaps into the unknown.

If you don’t try, sure, you can’t fail.

And if you do try, you will fail. Over and over again. But each time, you learn something more. You might take a step back, but you’ll take two steps forward.

“It’s a fascinating, thrilling, exhausting, invigorating, and life-changing journey. And if you set your mind on succeeding, are smart about what you do and how you do it, and get help when you need it, your chances are success are pretty darn high.” Jess @ Create & Thrive

If I can do this, you can do this – many have been on this journey already and many more will be coming behind – so if we can do it, so can you.

Check out my check list on my website to give you more ideas – plus the Pptf Craft & Creatives Biz Group FB Page on Facebook for a Business Plan you can use to get you really focusing down on your Marketing ideas and plans.