Ep. 07 – The Easy Way to Attract Buyers to Your Craft Business

[00:00:00] Kam: If anything good was going to come out of 20 20, it’s the fact that more people have access to your crafts than ever before. You are not limited by location and time. Setting up at the local craft shows or traveling farther to carry all of your stuff, the setting up. You aren’t limited by word of mouth selling beltway to mom, grandma and hoping that aunt betsy knows somebody that would be interested in your stuff.

[00:00:32] Kam: Now, there are so many options, but you do have to navigate the internet. If you’re going to sell online. If you build it, they will come. Usually only works for Kevin Costner. And in the online craft world. When you build it, you need to tell people where it’s at.

[00:00:54] Kam: Welcome into episode seven of the maker space. I want to try to help you build it to so that when you do, people will come and they will love what you are doing. First, this is one of my favorite words and it’s kind of a trigger word, I guess you could say, in the market world. Some people say niche, some people say niche. It also depends on where you’re from in the world. I like to say niche.

[00:01:23] Kam: I know I’m in the Midwest. And most of the people around me probably say niche, but I like how it’s pronounced as niche. So we’re going to go with You can call it however you want to. I actually have a friend who says, even though she is from the south and she lives here in the Midwest, she, she says, schedule which I know is correct for all of my UK and Australian friends.

[00:01:54] Kam: However, here in the Midwest ice, I still say schedule. It’s not the same as niche. So. Anyway. Just one of those little tidbits of information that you didn’t know.

[00:02:07] Kam: Anyway, when it comes to finding your niche, this is actually kind of an important thing when Doing crafts. And I kind of want you to take into consideration the craft shows that you have done in the past and what that looks like. How did you set How did you set up all of your products? Where you scattered and had a whole lot of stuff and eclectic like me?

[00:02:34] Kam: I was notorious for doing this. I did not realize how important it was to really hone in on just a couple of products and really kind of master that craft. And so when you’re looking for a niche, You are going to. Want to figure out what it is that you enjoy doing that you’re good at, or that you want to be. I would say, even a master at kind of that expert in.

[00:03:06] Kam: Who are you selling it to? This is what’s called your avatar and no. Again, movie reference. Which you will hear a lot of on this episode because I am a huge movie person. However an avatar is not a tall blue thing in space. But is actually your ideal client, your ideal customer. The people that come to your booth and buy your stuff, or really like your stuff or you that you think would like

[00:03:42] Kam: So, what you need to do is figure out who that is. What is their name? What do they do for a living, or how do they dress? Where do they live? What kind of car do they drive? Take some time and write all of this out. So you have a clear understanding of who that customer is, so that you are going to create your crafts for that person.

[00:04:05] Kam: Mine have four apples and aprons, which is my online shop. Which if you go there is currently under construction because I need to niche And because of having six kids and getting the virtual street market I have not spent any time in apples and aprons. And so. I, my store is pretty eclectic. I do like a lot of things, but I’m not a master of anything except for sewing.

[00:04:37] Kam: Which I know that you can do a lot of, but that’s still a niche. And that is still something that maybe for myself from my shop, I will be planning on niching down in aprons because that’s just something that I love. So if I’m going to make a lot of them or make them to order, I want to do something that I enjoy making or having.

[00:05:01] Kam: And so that will be something that I niche down to. But my ideal client is actually my sister and I chose her because she and I have two totally different DNA when it comes to crafts. I started sewing I sewed my first doll dress when I while she was outside, uh, banging up her knees and getting her care cut by the neighbor kit. but she appreciates the things that she’s see is she likes pretty things. She likes to buy pretty things. So she’s actually my avatar. And I’ve have her name down as my avatar name. And that’s just something that I have on file for my business stuff for apples and aprons.

[00:05:51] Kam: Because I know that she is somebody that she has the talent and the ability, but she doesn’t want to. And that’s fine. That’s who I am now selling to is her. And. It’s kind of funny. I would say don’t make the avatar. You, this was another mistake that I made. It’s not you. I guarantee it, especially as creatives.

[00:06:19] Kam: I know I have mentioned in previous, in a previous episode. That I’m not very good at going to craft shows and really buying anything because I usually think, Hey, I can make that. Or I know somebody who can. And so I am not my ideal client or customer. So I would say that you are probably similar. You probably could make

[00:06:47] Kam: You appreciate the price that they have But you also know that you’re not going to pay that because again, you could walk into a hobby lobby, buy the stuff and make it yourself. And so you are not your ideal client. You are not your ideal customer. And I would even say maybe it is your mom, but it’s probably not.

[00:07:10] Kam: You have to look and see who have you sold to before, who has bought your stuff before. And if you haven’t gotten Maybe test the waters, ask some friends. See, who’s interested in it. What would they change about And then go from there and that’s a good way to find your ideal client.

[00:07:29] Kam: Another thing that after you find that niche of what exactly it is that you want to make. And going back to why I would choose aprons I know that I can. So however I design them. And I can come up with my own patterns I can come up with my own ideas. And when I’m looking at my brand, which is what you then need to consider after you discover your niche or figure out what that is.

[00:08:00] Kam: You want to Pick out the colors you want to kind of pick out your theme. You want to pick out something that is cohesive and ties everything together. And again, going back to that craft show that we’ve been at, uh, whether we’ve gone to shop or we have been vendors.

[00:08:20] Kam: I think everybody can relate to that one vendor who is probably sitting in her chair. And she’s knitting something or she’s crocheting or embroidery, or she’s creating something, which is fine. I absolutely think that at the very least that’s something you can do while you’re at a craft And I think it’s great that people can see your process.

[00:08:46] Kam: But if she Making or crocheting or knitting the thousand uh, Hot pad along with everything else that she has an it’s not a cohesive table. I One comes into mind particular of a craft show that I was in one time. I honestly, I never did go to her table because it was so scattered of stuff. And I know she had some cute stuff.

[00:09:17] Kam: But I would say also that it was cheaper. I think it was the easy to make quick, get it all together. The more I take, the more I can sell. Which I do think in some instances that may work, but when you’re online, have a lot of the cheaper end of the spectrum in your shop. That is not going to bring in and you’re going to be exhausted because you’re going to have to make a lot of those. To instead of having higher priced items. So let’s say you’re making jewelry and you make beautiful jewelry.

[00:09:56] Kam: I would honestly suggest kind of taking some time and making some higher end. Not so much, you know, spending more time doing it, but using higher end quality pieces. So that you aren’t always making those low end pieces. And so many of them, because you’re going to have to make more of those. And I have been guilty doing this too, when you know, you’re wanting to take as much stuff as you can.

[00:10:27] Kam: but honestly, if you stop to think about it where are the markets or I’m sorry, where are the booths that people spend the most time or kind of venture to, or would miss them when they’re gone? Let’s think about those. I was at a craft show recently that there was one vendor and she just did tide. I that’s all she did.

[00:10:53] Kam: And you can tell that was in her branding. It was in her booth. It was in her awning. It was in her table cover it’s on her business cards. In fact, I believe it’s in the name. It’s a star shine, tidy, and I’ll have a link for it here at the end so you can see. We just had a lot of fun talking about the process. She explained, you know, the differences between TIDA. I didn’t know there was a difference between different ties.

[00:11:20] Kam: There’s some that use ice. that was really interesting, but she is, she has mastered that. She did not have. Crocheted hot pads and she did not have flea market items and she did not have jewelry. She focuses on tie, dye, clothes. And even specific to that she only focuses on tie dyed tops. If I remember correctly so

[00:11:50] Kam: another one that I had a lot of fun going to was the steam yard, steam punk barnyard. And that would just spoke to me because I like steam punk stuff. But she makes steam punk themed mostly jewelry, but other pieces kind of art pieces. And I knew exactly what her brand was when I walked in. It was very industrial.

[00:12:14] Kam: She had the displays were uh, authentic to the time period that she was creating for. And so she had found her, her niche and her brand. So when you are planning your brand and your site or your boutique online. You want to come up with the colors, that kind of mirror your crafts, your creativeness. And I wouldn’t go kind of think of it like a craft show, like we are setting up your booth. How do you want the booth to present? How do you want people to, when they first get to your website? How do you want them to see it?

[00:12:56] Kam: Does it kind of scream help. I pulled everything out of my kitchen for display, or does it say, does it yell. I spent a lot of time doing this, which means I spent a lot of time on the crafts that I have created, which means you can trust that what you buy is quality. I kind of get a kick out of the picking up all of the business cards when I’m at a craft show or as many as I can and going through them later, which I will admit I have one in particular. Greenies trinkets. I honestly can’t tell you what was at this table. Why I picked up this business card. And on her card, there is no website. There’s no shop. There’s nothing for me to track her down. There is simply a phone number and an email address.

[00:13:44] Kam: And I’m sorry, I’m not gonna email just to figure out what it was. You were selling. And then she has face painting on the business card. which maybe that’s her side gig.

[00:13:58] Kam: But I don’t know anything else about grayness trinkets other than granny knows how to face paint. another one that is kind of funny from, uh, one of my clients that I work with and he has shared this on previous, on his own podcast. So I know I could share this, but. Uh, Josh hall. Who has a web designer and now a coach he actually had when he first became a web designer, he had drum lessons on his business card.

[00:14:29] Kam: Which if you’re looking for a web design, you’re probably not looking for drum lessons also. And so he quickly discovered that that might not be his niche, his niche, even though look, I’m like slurring them together, his niche. Um, his Nish. So. He quickly redid his business cards and took that off.

[00:14:54] Kam: But like I said, apples and aprons for sure has had the same issue. And it really wasn’t until I kind of started diving into the marketing and hanging out with all of these guys that I discovered how all over the place my website is and that my shop was. Aye. Probably. I could show some pictures. Maybe I will in the website of how how terrible my booth was, yeah. Yikes.

[00:15:28] Kam: once you have figured out your niche and your brand, and you’ve got the colors and the style that you want to go with, the next thing to do is get it into a website or a shop or boutique and something that is yours. And I know I have talked about this before doing something that is not a rented space, like social media.

[00:15:49] Kam: Have something that is safe from being shut down suddenly. Don’t pour all of your time and energy into something that can just be kind of swept away really quick. Or revamped. Or is subject to algorithms because that’s not fun either. You want people to find your site, find your shop and stay there.

[00:16:14] Kam: Having a website and your own site is, or shop or boutique, uh, whether it’s Spotify or a website. It gets the attention of Google. And I know I have talked about Google and its algorithms before. Ultimately that’s in your hands. to get Google’s attention will be entirely up to you. So having the right keywords, having the right kind of movements in your site and the more people that come, the more attraction that will get, so that comes naturally and it comes, you can do it organically. And that is the best way to do

[00:16:53] Kam: your boutique and your online shop should just be the kind of culmination and extension of your brand and your craft. And that’s what we’re trying to show everybody.

[00:17:04] Kam: So when you take it to a social media outlet, which would be the next tip that I have for you. When you market your brand on social media, Instagram and Facebook, Pinterest, all ofyour posts and everything can be cohesive to your brand and your shop. I know Jasmine star has seen success on Instagram with hers. She’s a professional photographer who took her brand to Instagram and all of it is cohesive. It all looks like her. So that’s a great example.

[00:17:45] Kam: You want to be on some platform for social media. I do suggest that you not be on all of them. Beyond one, master that one beyond too, if you want. That’s okay. Just don’t get out ahead of yourself. Master the ones that you’re on. I know Tik TOK has probably one that everybody’s heard of, not everybody’s going to want to do that

[00:18:12] Kam: However, the selling point to Tik TOK right now is that it has more followers than Facebook. They’re not going away anytime soon. So you might as well utilize it. Tell people, this is, this is how you’re going to tell people where your shop is, where your boutique is and to get attention.

[00:18:33] Kam: There is also another one called Twitch. And this one is good for some crafters that I follow on Twitch. I not on there a whole lot, and I don’t know a lot about the platform. But it is a place where you can go and kind of show your process. Whether it’s just, you doing the crochet, doing the jewelry, doing the sewing, doing the painting, whatever it is.

[00:19:00] Kam: You can show how you’re doing it live. And everybody who is on your mailing list will know that your live. Those people who follow, you have to put in their email. And so they will know when you’re there and when you’re on. And there’s a lot of people that use it for gaming, but a lot of crafters use it to show how their processes.

[00:19:24] Kam: Which brings me to my next point of developing an email list. When you’re trying to build an online business, this is actually a very important key component to that law, to that business. When you start getting people attracted to your You want Keep them. Focused keep I keep you top of mind to them.

[00:19:50] Kam: I would even start out by asking 10 people. This is an exercise that I have learned, done myself. Now I’m passing on. Ask 10 people. And just ask them, Hey, I’m starting an online shop boutique. Promotion for my shop, whatever you want to say. Just say, would you be interested in being on my email list to find out if I have new product, I’m just trying to grow my, my stuff online. Some will say no, and that’s fine. Just be ready You’ll have some surprises as far as when you ask, they may say yes. And then they may unsubscribe right away. I recently had that happen and was kind of taken aback by it. But again, you kind of have to have somewhat of a thick skin when it comes to this.

[00:20:47] Kam: Because some people just can’t say no. Which was probably the case in this particular situation. So I put her in a situation that she really didn’t feel comfortable telling me. No. And so the safest thing for her to do was to get on the list and then get right off. So I’m not. I’m not really holding it against her, but that is something that you have to be prepared for. Is that you will hear now, but it’s those ones that come back and say, heck yeah, that sounds like fun. Those are the ones that you’re like, okay, I can do this. I can ask more.

[00:21:25] Kam: Once you kind of start getting out there and not so concerned about what people are going to say. If they’re going to judge you, if they’re going to judge your business. Just get out You will be surprised how easy it does become. Start with 10 at least go That once you have 10 or at least 10 or putting them into, you can put them in a spreadsheet or you can put them into an email provider, like convert kit.

[00:21:56] Kam: Which is something that I’m actually, I have an affiliate link for, and I will list it in the show notes. If you’re interested in convert kit and using convert kit, if you go through that but it helps me out a little bit. So I will link that in the show notes, but cover kit is kind of fun because these guys they’ll keep all of your email addresses together. And they’ll even set up a templates that you can use for future emails, you can automate things it’s just nice to have, and it, it will even tell you who opens their emails when they opened it.

[00:22:35] Kam: How often they’re opening. If they’re opening, you know, every time you send them something. Everything. And that’s how it, you also can see when they unsubscribe. But it just gives you so much information that you can use for future email. And these are things that you don’t even have to do them. You don’t even have to do them once a week. Honestly, if you’re a situation where you just send out an email once a month and pay, these are new products that I have in my shop, or, Hey, I’m doing a sale this month for mother’s day.

[00:23:09] Kam: Or even, Hey, we’re taken vacation. So if you need anything before or after this state, I know a lot of people will send out don’t forget to order before this state, if you want it by this state for, you know, holidays, Christmas. Mother’s day father’s day, that kind of thing. So that’s a good, good reason to have the email.

[00:23:32] Kam: Plus if these are people that are interested in your product. At some point, you’re probably going to get sales out of them. So that’s a good thing to know too on that that’s also a good driving force for getting those email addresses. It does kind of snowball from there,

[00:23:52] Kam: I used to some Avon. This has been a long time ago, but the gal that I was kind of under, I would help her at these craft shows she would set up and she would have a drawing. Or she would have. Something that she was giving away or some sort of prize. And she would do it in exchange for people’s phone numbers. And if they were interested in having a party or if they were interested in selling Avon, And I think that’s such a brilliant marketing tactic that we can use now.

[00:24:25] Kam: When people go to your shop, your boutique, your website, whatever, have something there that says, Hey, would you be interested in receiving future emails? If, so leave me your email address, easy peasy. You can even make it into a contest if you want. I know one gal that she kind of built her Facebook group by offering a $10 Amazon card, which actually I won one. So stuff like that is kind of fun to get people involved and kind Get that email in exchange for the prize, or even if it’s a like a questionnaire set up.

[00:25:12] Kam: Wondering, you know, what kind of product are you looking for? Are you looking for personalization? Ask him a question. All they have to do is answer that one or two questions. Give them, give you their email address. Bam. You put it into convert kit, you have a list. So that is one of the key players of building your online business.

[00:25:36] Kam: The next thing I would say is once you have made a sale, After that sale, you still have a customer that’s still, that is now somebody who has given you money for your product, that they like yourself so much. That you need to, first of all, make sure you get your, get their email when they make their purchase so that you can follow up with them.

[00:26:01] Kam: And first you want to be appreciative. You want to send out that the thank you. Either put the note in the package when you send it. Or send them an email. I would even suggest doing a video email. If you can even like a personalized quick little doesn’t have to be fancy. Just say, Hey, so-and-so. I appreciate so much and you can even send it later when they’ve had it. Maybe after a couple of weeks.

[00:26:31] Kam: And say, I really appreciate you, you know, purchasing it. Let me know if there’s anything else that I can help you with. And. Go from there. But that will make a huge impact. Like who does that? Like, does target ever get ahold of you when you buy something now? They don’t. So when you’re making handmade items, one of a kind items you want to kind of give them that personal touch, because they’re going to remember that and they’re going to come back and they’re going to tell other people.

[00:27:04] Kam: My last tip to kind of get out there and get your products known and seen is virtual craft shows. This is the very purpose that I created virtual street market. At the time of this release, we will be planning a Christmas show for the first part of December. So, if you want to get notified of that event, Go to the virtual street market.com and enter your email address. See what I did there.

[00:27:34] Kam: If you would like to participate or shop it or, you know, anybody who would. Just fill out the form and let me know or tell them where to go. And they can get that information for the future. It will be different than any other virtual craft show that I have seen so far. I’ve done a lot of research with this. I don’t really care for how the previous spiritual craft shows have gone. I think it needs to be. It needs to be more of an experience than it’s been.

[00:28:08] Kam: Less of a I don’t know how to put it like a Facebook post or like a live YouTube. I’ve seen a lot of people kind Showing showing product and then taking orders or taking. You know, the first, first person to comment type I don’t think that’s terribly efficient. It does seem like it’s a lot of fun, but not terribly efficient for the sellers. And really, it’s hard to kind of include more people that way. So.

[00:28:43] Kam: What. I have come up with is going to kind of blow that out of the water. So I’m really looking forward to this. I hope you stick around and just kind of keep an eye out for that.

[00:28:56] Kam: Those are all the tips for getting your product seem. Coming up in the future in for future episodes, I have some amazing guests that I’m going to be interviewing in the next few weeks. I’m pretty excited. One is a certified Canva and S uh, experts and I’ve talked about doing Canva, the platform Canva before. I don’t know if you’ve heard of Adobe, which that one is pretty.

[00:29:27] Kam: Oh my gosh. It’s pretty amazing, but it’s pretty beefy. You pretty much have to know what you’re doing. And an Adobe canvas is more user-friendly and I like doing that one. I’ve done so much stuff in Canva. I really enjoy it. You can do a lot of your branding, a lot of the posts and stuff that you want to tie in with your shop or your boutique can be done in Canva and then just posted into your platforms.

[00:29:51] Kam: So that’s going to be exciting. We have a time organizer to come on because I am not in control of my time. I would need somebody to come along and help me organize So she’s going to be fun to talk to. I Uh, so many others that I’m, I’m just so excited to share with you guys.

[00:30:14] Kam: If you’re interested in becoming a guest on the maker-space or, you know, somebody who is or should be on here. Leave me a message. Tell me who these people are or who you are, what you have to offer the maker-space and we’ll chat. You guys know, I like to chat, so. I appreciate you so much for listening. I hope you guys have a great week and we will see you next time.