In this thread I thought we'd do some brainstorming with creative ways of promoting your shop. I won't get into details on how to do all these things, this is just a way of sharing my ideas out there for you to take inspiration from.
I'd love to see your own ideas too! So don't be shy, reply and brainstorm away!
Contact specific forums in your niche and post about your products, or use a banner for your shop in the signature and be a active part of the forum (just make sure it's allowed so you won't get into problems.)
Contact blogs you like and ask if they want a free products in exchange for a review.
Or contact blogs and just ask if they can feature your shop. The key is to give something of value to the bloggers, why should they want to post about your stuff? Will you do a interview? A DIY guide for the blog? Bloggers are always looking for great content, so give it to them!
Reach out and re-focus your shop/products to people that aren't usually on Etsy, find a untapped market. Maybe you sell knitted wrist-warmers, and who might need those? Maybe people sitting at their computer and playing games need some kind of protection for their wrist, either edit your product for the new market or just find ways of contacting your new target audience via forums/facebook pages or blogs.
Great a blog about a interest of yours, it can be as simple as showing of products on Etsy you like. This will create a great platform for you to promote your own products.
Create a video of your products and upload it to Youtube.
That's what I can come up with for now, share your own thoughts and I'll try to come up with more things soon :)