Necklace from WoodJewellery
So true!
Right now on folksy there are a gazillion forum threads from sellers trying to work out how to improve their sales.
Clare of ClaresCreations
put me on the spot and asked me: "where else do you advertise?"
Clare's fishbowl
Here's an edited version of my answer:
Clare, I don’t often “advertise” in a direct way, but I do spread myself about!
I chat on twitter and facebook, I have a website (address is on my business cards) which is pretty much just an address book so people can find my various links and I blog several times a week. Oh and I hang around etsy and folksy forums.
Right now I’ve sent a couple of meerkats around the world visiting members of my etsy team, and each one is blogging about it and reporting back to their facebook page
baby meerkat from folksy
baby meerkat from etsy
This in turn has given me something to tell the local paper, so they featured me a couple of times and put a video interview on the paper website.
I've even been interviewed on the radio!
I go to local twitter network meetings (next lunch is on Friday!)
I’ve entered harry hill’s K factor knitting competition
So – you might not call much of that “advertising” but in my opinion it all works much much better than going on twitter and saying “I’ve made this, buy it!”
I'm currently working on a blog post about "real" advertising, in particular Project Wonderful (you may have noticed the two advertising slots that have appeared on the right >>>) but it seemed appropriate, in the light of today's threads, to address these other methods today. Please leave a comment with other forms of advertising you find useful.
11 comments:
Thanks for the mention in your blog and for the good advise about networking, Clare
You are a busy one! I am glad that is translating into sales.
Brilliant!
Marie x
Nice article! Can't wait to see your PW article!
lindenleafstudio.com
lindesigns.com
Great article. I love your meerkats!
Tracy
Great article!
It's definitely a good idea to chat in various places.
I've just started using Craft Juice and it seems a great way of getting a bit of free advertising.
I love your blog and have nominated it for a Sunshine Award :) The details are here: http://tataniarosa.blogspot.com/2010/02/sunshine-award.html
Heather x
Thanks for the award tatania :-)
All good advice, Nifty! I think it's important, as you say, to engage people rather than straight-out advertise.
Great post! In my experience people love to buy but hate being sold. I believe people feel threatened when they feel they are being pressured to buy something (I know that's how I feel), so I try and remove that pressure by supporting my fellow artists, talking about how I make my wee creatures, etc. People get curious then because they don't feel an obligation to do anything - and that's when they feel comfortable enough to buy. I must stress that this isn't a calculated ploy on my part - I genuinely love promoting and supporting all you wonderfully creative people out there, and I love talking about my wee creatures! The rest just seems to flow from that, and overall, it's a much happier way of doing things!
you are so good at marketing! thanks so much for sharing your secrets!
Thanks for this - really helpful! Love your meerkats, too.
http://vivienneriddochfeltdesigns.blogspot.com/
www.feltdesigns.co.uk
http://www.folksy.com/shops/vivienneriddoch
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