I love the Craftypod podcast! Always thoughtful and informative interviews with entrepreneurs, artists, and crafters. I started listening a few years ago and then it got shuffled to the background post baby. Now that I am able to look up and look around a bit more, I have come back to Sister Diane's podcasts and love them even more than before.
This particular show was interesting to me because Sister Diane and her guest Megan Auman of Crafting an MBA talk about the difference between professional and amateur sellers on Etsy. One key topic they talk about is Etsy's business model and how important it is to Etsy that they have lots of amateur sellers who are interested in the community/social aspect of the site. Like a thunderbolt, this clarified some of the ideas that were half-formed in my head, like why should I bother to spend the time and money re-listing items or being very involved in the forums. I have been feeling vaguely guilty that I am not more interested in doing these and other things that would increase my popularity there, but am am absolved! My target market is not on Etsy, so it would be a waste of my time to devote marketing energy there. It makes more sense for me to use them as an online store, do my marketing elsewhere, and send my customers there to purchase.
Now the question is: where is elsewhere?
I have only had a chance to listen to about half of the show, and am now off the work at the Harry Ransom Center for the afternoon, but I am sure to have a lot more thoughts about selling, Etsy, and making money from what I love to do as I listen to more. Go check it out and leave a comment if you have any major brainstorms like I did!
2 comments:
Wow, thanks so much for the nice post, Katy! I'm so glad you're liking the podcast.
Here's one idea for figuring out where to do your marketing...
First, build a portrait of your ideal customer. And it helps to be very specific here: what gender is this customer? What age range? What kind of education? Is this customer a parent? What kinds of hobbies does he/she have? - And so on.
When you have that very-specific picture of the people who you'd like to see buying your work, then it's easier to figure out where to market. Just look around online and "in real life" for the places these people hang out, work, and shop. And from there, some good marketing outlets are sure to emerge.
I hope that's helpful. Your eggs are so beautiful! I wish you huge success with them!
Thanks for the ideas- I appreciate you taking the time. I think my best bet is to focus more on the gallery/art show side for gathering new eyes and to use the internet as a relationship builder. Wouldn't it be nice if I could do it all in my pj's? Ah well.
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