Branding Your Creative Biz 101

Branding is essential to a successful brand and many times, is the client's/shopper's first impression of your creative, small business!

Determining if you want to hire a creative firm to develop your branding with you or do it on your own is your first step. It can be a big, but very much worthwhile, investment to hire a creative marketing firm or individual to create your brand with you. But you can also do it on your own. 

The first step is to determine:

WHAT DO I DO?

WHY DO I DO IT?

WHAT MAKES ME UNIQUE?

Once you have answered those questions, you can dive into the fun stuff, like making a mood board!

WHO IS YOUR CUSTOMER?

Who is your dream customer? Imagine them and what they enjoy. This is your target audience. You need to know who they are so they will connect to your brand. Once you have determined who your dream customer is, you can get started on your Mission Statement.

MISSION STATEMENT

Why do you do what you do? Your Mission Statement is the entire reason your...

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How to Make Sales on Instagram

Instagram is a great, FREE way to sell your handmade products online. If you're a beginner or an expert at Instagram, we have some tips for making sales via your profile. With more than 800 MILLION users, Instagram is the third most-used social media platform in the world. So take advantage of it!

A STRONG IMAGE

The very first step is to make sure you have a strong image. After all, Instagram IS all about photos. Read about how to take stellar product photos with your smart phone here. The photo of your product is what is going to draw your buyers and future clients in, so make sure they are good ones. Bright, minimal images with lots of background space and a single color background are shown to capture more likes.

DIRECT LINK IN BIO

Instagram only allows users to have one link on their profile, so make sure you use it wisely. Make things easy for buyers with a direct link to your website, Etsy site, Shopify site, whatever you use for e-commerce. Alternately, you can get a...

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How to Take Product Photos with an iPhone or Handheld Device

As a maker, your revenue is dependent on selling your handmade goods. Your booth at shows, your website, your Etsy site, your instagram site: they are all working toward that one goal. But, there is one thing many makers don't take seriously: their product photos! Photos of your products are one of the most important parts of marketing.

You don't need a fancy, thousand dollar camera to take excellent product photos. You have the tool in the palm of your hand: literally! Your iPhone or other smart device can take some excellent product photos with a little help from natural or artificial lighting, white paper or a solid background and your products!

 

 What you will need:

BACKDROP

Use a light or dark grey backdrop. It will give your photos a tidy and consistent look without a lot of noise in the background.

You can make your own backdrop by using a jumbo roll of white paper

LIGHT

Using natural light is the most affordable (it's FREE!) and easiest source to use when...

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Top 3 Craft Show Booth Mistakes

Uncategorized Feb 29, 2020

Booth set-up can involve a little psychology: all humans want to avoid pain and seek pleasure and remembering this can actually help you in your craft show booth set-up! We are going to address some common mistakes we have seen in booths which do not make high sales at shows so that you can avoid making these same mistakes. Remember, we inherently want to seek pleasure, even when making purchases, so take these tips to heart:

NOT WELCOMING GUESTS INTO YOUR BOOTH

Hiding in your booth is a surefire way to lose business. People attend craft fairs because they want to meet the maker and if you are acting distracted or staring down at your phone, looking too busy to help a customer, you will probably lose that customer. We know not everyone is a social flower and some would rather be a wall flower but this is your time to shine! It's your time to tell the world I MADE THIS and meet new clients who will become part of your handmade community. 

NOT HAVING BUSINESS CARDS, A MAILING...

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How to Find Local Craft Shows

It's a new year and with a new year comes a whole new schedule of craft shows you can sign up for! Finding local craft shows is essential for making a living via your creative biz. Selling at shows puts you in front of buyers who want to support you and fellow makers whose community you can join.

But where do you start? How do you find out about craft shows in your town and near you? How do you determine if you want to travel to out-of-state shows? How do you even FIND out of state shows? Here are a few ways:

TALK TO OTHER CRAFTERS

Ask other crafters what events they participate in and which ones they do NOT participate in. Word of mouth is a great way to find new fairs and glean details about existing ones.

GOOGLE

Google is a great way to find fairs in your city, state and in other states. Here is an image from a quick google we did and look at all that popped-up in Kansas City:

And here is a google from Missouri which came up with lots of fairs in the state:

 

FREE ONLINE...

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Choosing the Right Craft Shows

We're sure you know, craft shows can be hit or miss. They can be a great way to get your products in front of new customers, get feedback on what is popular and of course start generating income for your business.

Even slower shows can have their benefits (meeting future fans, growing your following, meeting other makers, learning about great shows in the area, getting crucial customer feedback, etc.), but picking the right shows can help you grow your business faster and save you lots of time.

We have a few tips for choosing the perfect craft fairs for selling your amazing maker goods!

ATTEND:  Visit potential shows to see if your items would be a good fit.

COST:  Determine how much booth fees are for each show.

SHOPPERS:  Consider the audience demographics.

VENDOR ATTENDANCE:  Find out what vendors have participated in the past.

CUSTOMER ATTENDANCE:  Ask the curator or past vendors how many shoppers attend.

ONLY HANDMADE?:  Find out if...

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Have a More Creative 2020

It is so easy to let creativity fall to the bottom of our list of priorities. But it is oh so important to nurture your creativity! Even if you are a creative person, it can require a bit of effort and planning to make it happen. Here are some simple ways to add more creativity to your daily routine:

The Strawberry Swing's Holiday Swing

TAKE PHOTOS

It's much easier now that we constantly have a camera in our pocket! Photos can be a great way to look at things a bit differently and see the beauty around you. It's a simple way to observe beauty and will inspire your creative work in other ways, no matter what creative medium is your favorite. 

PLAN CREATIVE TIME

Creative entrepreneurs have so much on their plate. They often wear ALL of the hats in their small business, and creative play time gets pushed aside.

If we wait to "feel inspired", your creative work just might not come to fruition. Instead, work on creative projects every day, even when you don't necessarily...

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Keep Going!

It's No-Show January. That month between the winter holidays and Valentine's Day and there are NO CRAFT SHOWS! If your business has slowed down this month, DON'T FRET! We have a few tips for how to use this down time to KEEP GOING:

BOOKKEEPING AND NUMBERS

Use January to get your books in order and review the year. Figure out which shows were profitable (see our nifty graphic in our last blog for help in determining your numbers) and which weren't. Get organized for 2020 by sorting your tax documents and creating a profit and loss spreadsheet if you haven't already.

RESEARCH AND PLAN SHOWS

Are you part of any FB groups like Craft Show Success that has other makers in it? Post a question to them or do some research by searching past posts about shows in your city. Look up craft shows and plan your 2020. Mark down when applications close for certain events in your calendar so you don't miss out on applying! Plan for booth fees. Sometimes multiple events will have fees due around the...

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How Much Product Should I Take To Shows?

It's the age-old question? How much product should I bring to a craft show? 

Ideally, you want to recoup 8 to 10 times the booth fee and bring double the amount of product to make that happen. You also want to make sure you're spreading your inventory across several price points.

A lot of variables exist that can effect the amount of stock makers bring to craft shows and art fairs, but there are some equations that you can use to help you determine how much product to bring.

First, you'll need to determine some very important numbers.  

Once you have determined the numbers from the graphic above, you can use them in this graphic to figure out how much product you should bring to shows to meet your profit goals!

 OF NOTE:

You don't want to bring ONLY the amount of products needed to meet your profit goals or else your booth will be completely bare by show's end! Make sure you bring DOUBLE that amount so you can restock and sell more. Shoppers love browsing full...

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Scheduling Holiday Sales

It's the BIGGEST shopping week of the year: Black Friday, followed by Small Business Saturday, and then Cyber Monday!

SALE IDEAS FOR CREATIVE BIZ OWNERS:

  • Offer a substantial discount (15% or more) on certain items both in person (at a Holiday Craft Show) AND in your online shop.
  • Give a gift certificate with a minimum purchase, which is a great way to get customers to return to your shop at a later date.
  • Advertise a free product with a purchase. For example: offer a free ornament with a purchase of $50 or more.

You can schedule your sales ahead of time and share on your social media. If you have an Etsy account, you can create a sale and change your banner to reflect your sale.  Here is a great example from Craft Show CEO co-founder Carly Rae of how she published her sales on her social media:

You can see she mixed in sales both at her in-person events and also online and she encouraged her followers to screenshot the graphic (it was posted to her Instagram stories). This...

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