Promoting Yourself

[Former_Member]

I have a question. If you were asked how to promote yourself as an artist, and even crazy ideas would be entertained, how would you promote yourself? Not just on Etsy, but in brick and mortar shops. I would like to know how you would promote your art.

[heyshopbonnie]

I'd love to hear people's tips on this too, especially for B&M stores! I'm very introverted and it's hard for me to "talk up" myself in person, even though I believe in my products and think they're great.

Lesley, for me it's a lot easier online through social media sites. "Check out our fabulous new necklace!" on twitter and stuff like that. I'm glad that there's the internet, social media, and Etsy for introverts like me who promote ourselves better in writing than in person :)

[Former_Member]

Getting involved in your community is a great idea. The more you are activily out & about, the more people will get to know you, even if it's as "the baker" "the artist" whatever. People in my community know I'm an antiques dealer, and they will help promote my home shows which is great for me, plus some have asked to display my stuff, too. I'm in town everyday waking m 7lb dog, so I see the same people constantly and at some point they ask your name and often where you work. That's really all you need to start building your reputation. I may be the dog lady with the most adorable dog, but they also know I sell antiques :-)

[Former_Member]

I can completely understand.....I must say we are all a little fragile when it comes to putting ourselves out there...it's a vunlerable situation. So the best way to do it is just buck up, be brave, and do it. I remember the first store I went to.... I was so nervous yes, but I just did it and to my wonderuos surprise they said yes!

Ask for the owner or for the person responsible for buying. Bring in a sample of your product(s) and have a smiple story ready to share about how you got started...basically like your profile page. Be simple, be yourself.

Then be unattached to the out come....know you"ll be okay no matter if they are interested or not. and have a business card to give.

If you have been in the store and know that your product will do well there based on the other merchandise then feel confident that if they don't say yes right away they may in the near future.

One bit of adivce from my past experince....stay clear of consignment shops unless you have extra inventory you are trying to unload. My opinion is that consignment shops are not very driven to sell your product because they know they can return it to you. I created a lot of product to fullfill an order from a consignment shops request...they sold maybe 12 t-shirts in 3 months and then I was left with a bunch of left over inventory.

Hope this helps

[heyshopbonnie]

Lefay, that helps SO much! Thank you!

[TOMgirlApparel]

I am the world's worst salesperson. Instead of trying to sell my stuff to people, I just be myself and talk about what I feel passionate about. I believe that my product is innovative and useful. If you truely believe it, people will be attracted to it and you don't have to sell yourself :)

[TheSilverWren]

I have used the photo books you can create online to create a portfolio of my some of my best selling pieces and included a little blurb about how or why I created the design. This has come in handy in the past when I sold in B& M shops. Since I have a hard time selling myself as an artist, the pictures of my designs really help give me some talking points. :0)

[ForgedMettleJewelry]

Even before I started selling jewelry I've always wanted to rent a billboard...

[Former_Member]

Amanda, normally I'd say,"GREAT advice ty!" But I have to talk up my stuff bc it's so odd and unusual and cute that people typically stare at me like I have five heads, or ignore me all together.

selling online is hard when people can't just try out my stuff in person... poo. I have to wait for that rare open minded person who likes a bit of intrigue to take me for a spin. So right now, it's all about promote, promote promote. sample this and try that.

[Former_Member]

Thank you all for the advice so far! You've had some good advice! Anyone else have some promotion advice?

[dancingstarbeads]

Hi. My husband has sold our candle line to B&M stores for 30 years. He does all the repping himself. He walks in cold to gift stores all the time with a tray of candles. He walks right up to whomever is working in the store and says, "I thought I would tempt you with some candles." On average, 1 out of 3 stores will buy them, wholesale.

There are 3 kinds of buyers. The kind that are doing absolutely nothing, but tell you to make an appointment, he writes off from the start. These are difficult people to deal with and not the kind of people that make a good account.

There are the kind who look at them and want to know the business details.Half the time these buyers will buy them if they think they can sell them to their clientele and get the markup they want.

The third kind is the buyers whole love them. They take each one out and look at it, ooo and ah over it and will buy them if they have the money. These are the best buyers because they will actively sell the candles to people.

I could never do what he does. It requires a certain talent. He says you need to talk to the buyers about things other than your product. Talk to them about their store, things in their store, business, anything. If they like you, they will most likely buy from you unless they are completely broke.

Make up a color flier of your stuff and give them to store owners if you are too shy to take your stuff in and lay it out there. If you have fliers with you all the time, you can do this. I might actually be able do this myself. Just walk up to whoever is working there and tell them you really like the store and could you leave a card and flier for the buyer? They aren't going to say no. Why would they?

I've always been really shy. When I was a teenager and people used to ask me what I wanted to do for a living, the only thing I could see myself doing was to make stuff at home and have people buy it from me. And that's what we have done for the past 35 years. But I had the great luck to marry a man (39 years ago today, btw) who could find people to buy it. ;-)

[Former_Member]

Michelle from TheSilverWren says

"I have used the photo books you can create online..."
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Can you share which applications you have used and liked best.

[Former_Member]

Kevan Aponte from dancingstarbeads says

"But I had the great luck to marry a man (39 years ago today, btw) who could find people to buy it. ;-) "
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Ah Amor! Congrats on you anniversary! and for finding a best friend for life! Isn't it wonderful.

[TwistedDesigns]

Happy Anniversary congrats!

I would make a cool sign and bring it to the plaza at the Today show, Good Morning America, etc. !

[Former_Member]

I'm not sure if you're referring to just having your items in a shop, or being the one standing there trying to sell it, but I have a story for you.

I once worked in a book store, and one day we had a new author come in who wanted to set up a table to sign and sell her very first book. As people walked by, she asked if they read murder mysteries; when they said no, she said that was a shame because that's all she wrote. They would get interested, as any person would, because they were talking to a real author here!! She snagged a ton of sales, more than when we got established authors to come to our store.

I image we could apply the same idea to our crafts. People feel privileged to meet the person behind the work. Some might find this to be a really cheap tactic, but I don't think it is, because you're getting personal with your customer.

I agree with Lefay - it's nerve wracking to promote yourself and potentially be rejected, but just keep in mind that you can't please everyone. There are always going to be people who say no, and that's perfectly fine because you tried.

[Former_Member]

Happy anniversary! Great ideas you guys keep them coming. I have been hunting stores around the south online and messaging them. I want to get my work out there. I would love to be able to support my jewelry making habit and build it up to the point I could make enough money to live comfortably with my regular job. (I teach kindergarten...teaching children to read is amazing!). So please keep up the ideas! I love the stories also! You are helping me immensely. It is hard for me to express myself without sounding like I am crazy in person.

[Former_Member]

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