This topic is a strategic business/marketing topic. Read the introduction in the business section here:
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We are fortunate to be able to utilize all the knowledge, assignments, and disciplines offered in Sellers' Bootcamp. iCraft's Sellers' Bootcamp supports this strategy in a powerful and very practical way - participate!
Some ideas to make this happen are:
1. Position your company to be above the clutter.Market, market, market your company. There are plenty of free or nearly free ways to market your business - be creative and use them ALL.
• Work the
Project Wonderful ads for $0.00 – you can be seen on a variety of blogs and web sites using this tactic. Even if you bid only $0.01, you are investing minimal monies and can be seen on sites with higher hits.
• Utilize
CraigsList and other free classified ad web sites.
• Make a 125x125 pixel ad for your business. Negotiate with other blog owners, whereby they post yours and you post theirs (with links to your site) for an agreed amount of time.
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Blog, blog, blog – this will seriously increase your SEO online so your business will come up in online searches..
o Announce all new posts on all forums you participate in.
o
Cut and paste your blog posts into all social networking sites you participate in (even though many RSS into your page, they are not shown on the front pages unless you do the internal blog option).
o
Join blog rings and web rings.[/list]
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Address your SEO (search engine optimization) needs.
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Join networking sites - there are many ning.com handmade social networks to join (
http://www.ning.com/search/networks?q=handmade), as well as plumdrop.com and more. Each has a slightly different audience.
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Utilize YouTube – make short videos or slide shows of you and/or your
products and post – do many as this helps with SEO.
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Write tutorials and articles to post on eHow.com and anywhere else you find online. There are many places to publish and it also helps with SEO efforts.
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Utilize multiple selling venues. If you have time to nurture these, set up the free shops - this is good for SEO enhancement and good for you to be seen by a variety of audiences. You will have a primary shop that you tend to consistently, but the others can have the free 5 and you have a presence
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Be seen in all forums you participate in – from forums on selling venues, independent artist forums to forums for street teams and guilds – keep your face there.
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Locally, you can:
o Donate a product to charity fundraisers for the advertising opportunities – be sure to place your bio, artist statement, postcards or brochures with your store address.
o Submit press releases about your business or about you.
o Band with other crafters and put on your own craft show –
advertise it well.
o Offer to be interviewed on radio to talk about how Indie Businesses may fare better in 2009.
2. Position your products to be needed -take them from an impulse buy to a need buy.
• Look at your products with a new eye. How are you positioning them in your marketing, advertising, and in the descriptions Rethink and retool.
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Change your product’s focus and talk now about how your products can be used in different or multiple ways, how they can bring delight to those special occasions, how they can be useful in various situations, etc… Be creative. Sit in front of your product and really think out the alternatives of use, emotion, pride in ownership, gifting occasions, etc…
• Watch TV shopping programming to hear how they sell a product similar to yours. To be sure, they have invested a lot of money in market research to come up with buzz words that will trigger the customer’s interest.
Make a list of phrases, uses, and descriptive terms as you watch. Then use them.
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Craft a new direction in your verbiage for your product discussions in your marketing and descriptions. Then update everything.
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Market and position your products to new niches. If you have a niche product, consider making duplicates to sell in niche venues.[/list]
o If you make jewelry, art, photography or other craft related to airplanes, air sports, WWII air planes, etc… seek out air shows, air museums, etc…
o If you make products with images of fish or animals, find organizations or venues, such as aquariums or zoos. You get the picture!
[/list]
3. Position you, as the CEO of a busy company, as helpful, flexible, understanding, and supportive of your customers and their needs.Be policy-friendly - put yourself in your customer’s shoes.
o Would free shipping make a difference?
o
Look at pricing - is rolling back prices temporarily (marketing blitz), although you would make less profit, better than no sales? Can you create quality products that are less expensive?
o Are there any restrictive policies that you are willing to loosen?[/list]• Position yourself as a helpful resource on forums and on your blog.
Be a resource – seek out questions on forums you can easily answer. Everyone loves a helpful expert.[/list]
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Organize classes to teach your expertise in your craft.
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Offer to be interviewed on local radio to talk about Indie businesses and how they support customers more than big-box retailers support customers. Make a case for Indie businesses.
• Offer the customer more than expected in all areas.
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Do an email campaign explaining these new practices and that you are there to help your customer.
• Before each holiday, start
promoting your personal shopping services to help select the best gift option for customers.[/list]This list can be downloaded in PDF form here:
http://bit.ly/WLgtd
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