UPDATED: Thank you to everyone who entered this giveaway! We have finally selected the winner and want to congratulate Laura who told us her marketing advice in the comments below. She said “never doubt my abilities or my instincts.” and we think that’s great advice!
Congratulations Laura and thank you everyone once again!
Are you trying to grow your creative business? I bet we all are working hard to get our handmade businesses more exposure and, ultimately more customers. The best way to do this is with smart marketing and promotional tactics, but both of those terms can seem scary. How many of us really know how to market well to our customers, or even what marketing really means? The idea of marketing or promotion always sounds expensive too and when you’re trying to grow a small business, expensive is not something that fits in the budget. Honestly, I have to say that the idea of marketing my business or myself is definitely intimidating.
Marketing for small businesses or hobby businesses doesn’t have to be scary though and it doesn’t have to be expensive either! A lot of it is thanks to the Internet. Thanks to blogs and social media, with a little bit of time and energy we can make great promotional campaigns by ourselves!
Margot Potter of The Impatient Crafter has just published a new eBook on how to help small creative businesses do just that. This book is for you if you’re hunting for a complete 101 lesson in marketing your personal brand. It’s full of advice, creative prompts, new ideas, and awesome interviews with craft people in the industry. If you want a preview of some of the great tips in this book, check out Margot’s article on her 10 best marketing tips!
You can buy a copy of The Fine Art of Shameless Self Promotion on The Impatient Crafter website, but we’re giving away one copy to one lucky winner!
To be entered to win, simply answer the question below in the comments section of this blog!
What’s the best marketing advice you’ve ever received?
Contest Rules:
- Contest ends on April 18th at 11:59 pm Est
- Must be 18+ and a resident of the US or Canada to win.
- Only comments made on this post will be eligible.
- One comment per person.
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The most important advice I’ve come across is to JUST GO OUT AND DO IT. Winning this book would be a good fire under my butt to hurry up and get out there and sell some of my crafts!
Join forces with other active people and support their efforts and in turn they support yours!!!
The best advice: do a little marketing EVERY DAY!
The best marketing advice came when I was in my first five years of selling my crafts. Find an outlet first, such as a unique gift shop, then create items that “fit” well in that shop. I was doing the opposite, creating craft items and then I went looking for places to wholesale them to. When I fixed this…guess what, the shop I loved in San Lois Obispo placed a good sized order! So this is tried and true advise.
The best advice I have ever received was to find my own signature to make my creations stand out between others.
Know your audience. It seems really simple, but if you don’t know who you’re making products for or who you’re trying to sell to, you are going to be frustrated and flush with unsold merchandise!
I need all the help with promotion that I can get…especially from you Madge! You’re the
Queen when it comes to all things crafty and networking!
Never play down my abilities.
The best marketing advice I’ve received is to build a strong platform. People throw the word around a lot without really knowing what it means, but the best definition I’ve found is that a platform is a legacy. It’s what you leave behind when you’re gone. It’s the way you affect people, inspire them, change them. In short, it’s the difference you make in the world.
I love this definition because it goes way beyond setting up a Facebook page and a Twitter account. It’s much deeper than how many “likes” or followers you have. And it speaks to the idea that business doesn’t have to be all about money.
— Sarah of SaturdaySequins.com
What’s the best marketing advice you’ve ever received?
Have your friends and family promote for you, “Word of Mouth” is always the best way to advertise
My best advice I got was don’t sell yourself short on your prices, many people will pay for a good home made product because it was made with love.
The best advice I’ve gotten is to interact with other businesses online every day, be it through Facebook, pinterest, blogs, etc.
Friends and family keep telling me that I have talent to create, and to keep it up. At one bazaar this past year, the compliment from a stranger that told me my presentation deserves an A plus, was certainly a boost for me to continue sewing and crafting.
I learned from a seasoned professional in 1984 that “If you don’t tell’em, you can’t sell”em.” I have used this advice to establish a successful interior design business and now onto quilting. Market yourself to everyone, get the word out, use free advertising, walk the streets, promotoe!
The best marketing advice I ever received is to know your audience. Keep their needs and likes in mind as you promote your products and have faith in God and yourself.
Be YOURSELF, Believe in your ABILITIES, Treat your customers like you’d expect to be TREATED!
never doubt my abilities or my instincts.
Do your best, because if someone likes your work, they’ll sell it for you. Word of Mouth is the best marketing and advertising you can have.
The best advice for beginning a craft business I ever received was to start at home and work my way outward. This means to have family and friends promote you then to become involved in your community so the community can become involved in your business. Connect with other local brick and mortar businesses who might sell your items on consignment. Join the Chamber of Commerce, attend local events, donate items to a local cause, join local clubs that pertain to your art or craft, offer free craft demonstrations to senior citizens, children’s clubs, etc., contact the local town newspaper and have them introduce your business to the community in an article, and put up flyers and your business card on local bulletin boards. As my circle of influence grows, so does my business.
I have been thinking about starting my own business recently and I would really like to read this book for good advice.
The best advice I ever received was “find your niche.” The right items in the right market make all the difference! It’s finding them- that’s the difficult part. I need this book!!
Never forget ….This is ART
Support and encourage all the arts
Support and encourage your ART….it is a gift.
Talk to 2-3 people a day about what you ar promoting. The odds are your will find someone that is interested and dont be discouraged by the ones who say no.
My best advise was : Trust in yourself and know your self worth, people love to talk and they will tell others about your crafts. I’m still working on that, even though I have people to buy my handmade crafts I still wonder if it’s good enough and worth the prices I charge.
Love reading your stuff Madge, keep up the good work.
Have plenty of business cards and a website. You can get cheap business cards online at Vists Print. Hand out your card to EVERYONE you meet, leave them at offices you visit and virtually anywhere you go. I am currently making doilies, scarfs, earrings, and various other items to sell and hope to have enough inventory withing the next few months. This book would help me out a lot!….thank you
best advice i ever got,,’dont doubt yourself, you are a much better crafter than you give yourseft credit for,,so stay positive and keep doing what you love.”
The best marketing advice I’ve ever heard was from a photographer friend who said, “Just ask!” You never know if someone is willing to showcase your work unless you just ask. Ask at coffee shops, salons, boutiques, etc.
The most important marketing advice I can give is “Don’t let your work hide out in your studio.” Too many artists and crafts people don’t wear their work or put it out there where people will see it. No one will know how brilliant your art is if you keep it at home.
Put yourself in the shoes of your customer.
The best marketing advice I ever received was to involve yourself in networking with both similar and different businesses and always be open minded to learning new ways to sell your product. The best advice is always the newest advice because that challenges me to examine the way that I think and act and present myself and my product to the world.
The one I received was you just pick yourself up and try again. Life isn’t easy and you have to keep trying.
Never leave home without business cards and “A business card for every bathroom” Whenever I go out to eat or shop, I take business cards and put them on the sink or on the top of the toilet tank in the bathrooms. ..nothing like a captive audience…;)
Donate items to charity events (auctions, prizes )and make sure you name is on the item. Any events that will be display the items for the length of the event are a good bet for maximum exposure to the public.
The best advice I ever got was to keep a supply of business cards on hand at all times. Some small restaurants will allow you to put them out, and if someone notices your gorgeous handmade jewelry, you can tell them you have an online shop and hand them a business card!
I am just starting my business and I definitely need the advice.
Give away a few of your pieces to a cherity with your card attached or gifts to your co-workers word of mouth is a powerful tool.
Word of Mouth is the best marketing and advertising you can have, so do your best job.
I do donations all the time. This book might be very helpful.
When I asked a restaurant owner who had been in business forty years if he had any words of wisdom, he said “Build relationships with your customers because your friends will always be loyal to your business.” He also said to stay away from the Groupon type promotions because it was more important to cultivate relationships with customers who would be loyal, NOT getting people to stop by because they had a coupon. Those are NOT your customers and they will NOT give you repeat business, which is what really sustains a business.
I’ve never been given any marketing advice. I could use any I could get. I’ve only even been told there’s no money in it. I wanna prove “them” wrong.
You only get out of it what you put into it! 🙂
The best advice I’ve received is to (1) believe in yourself and (2) surround yourself with like-minded people.
The best advice I have been given is KNOW YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE.
Believe in what you’re doing. Be passionate about your work. Show that passion when you talk, write or otherwise communicate with people.
Learn how to take good pictures of your product.
Believe in yourself/your product 100%
Good photography, descriptive adjectives and wear my art.
My aunt and I were just talking the other day about how difficult it is for us to do something like a resume because you are basically selling yourself and your skills, and neither one of us are natural salespeople! This book would be a big help with that and be better at self-promotion, whether in selling crafts or helping someone craft a resume.
I am retiring soon and want to get into crafting as a second income. It is something I enjoy so much. Advice I have received is network with others, and talk with them about how they have achieved their goals. I am working on this now.
Social media word of mouth, if done right it can get around very fast.
It would have to take advantage of a service that our local paper provides, which would be putting free ads in at least once a week,advertising a product that you have for sale,(like a piece of furniture). More often than not, when people come in to the shop,whether but that specific product or not, they end up buying Something,or other products I offer in addition to the advertised item. Works like a charm!
Advertise, advertise, advertise!
I am a beginner, necver receicved advice except from your emails, I am attending my first sewing flea market, I do machine embroidery & some quilting, I need all the advice I cxan get, some of the women in my group, dont give advice on how to sell, I only hear people want to buy but a very low costs, they want it for almost free, they dont realize what the cost is to make homemade items, so I am concerned on how to set up my table and what things to sell. I hope I can win this book.
Tell and Sell
Develop a 30-second blurb that describes your business or product and practice your delivery until it is flawless and exciting.
The benefit of this exercise is to distill your reason(s) for being in business into a succinct message that can be delivered on demand.
Picture yourself at any gathering. You run into an old acquaintance who asks “What are you up to these days?”. If you’ve planned ahead, and have your 30-second spot prepared, you might answer by replying “I’ve created a fabulous line of rhinestone buggy whips that are flying out the door faster than I can make them! Individuals and corporations are ordering them by the dozen, from my online store at BuggyWhipBling.com, as unique gifts for friends and customers. Here are a few of my cards in case you know someone who might appreciate bling that is beyond the ordinary!”
Practice in front of a mirror. Practice with family and friends. Practice until you have the message thoroughly memorized. Practice till it rolls off your tongue with all the passion you feel about your creative work.
I have never received any marketing advice that I found to be useful. That’s why I could really use this book!
The best advice I received was from my husband, he said – Believe…
The best advice I think I ever got was to not sell my short. My talent and time is worth something and I should not be afraid to let people know that.
This book sounds truly wonderful
The best advice I ever have received is to never give up.
best advise… it doens’t always need to cost a lot of money, but you need to make yours stand out.
I sell at craft fairs. Best advice I received is to be friendly and have quality items.
I have been wanting to start a business with my crocheting and too afraid that things may not sell, make what isn’t in demand, and not knowing how to charge. I don’t want to dive in head first and fail . This is just what I need!
Tell everyone you know about your business.
Follow your passion…..
Never under estimate yourself…..you can never negotiate your prices up
The best advise I received was to start with Etsy to sell my finished crochet items. Don’t be afraid to price my products for what they are worth.
The best advice is to network. Meeting new people is the way to go..one person tells another and tells another….well worth it!!!!
packaging and presentation are very important
The best advice I’ve gotten is to always have business cards and to leave them everywhere. Thanks for the chance to win.
Even when I sell something on Ebay, I throw a little fun in with the description…for example when I was selling a photo frame, I said “hey, the frame is so attractive, it’ll improve the photo 🙂
It sold!
Create an “elevator pitch” a very short statement about your creations/business, be enthusiastic and tell everyone you see about it – I’ve even given away small samples to our plumber and car mechanic! I’ve gotten orders from sales cleerks, office staff at schools and even sold at retirement communities.
The best advice I ever received was from Labella Baskets. They gave me the information to start my own online business and led me to free or inexpensive marketing ideas. The way they have it set up it cost me nothing to be part of Labella Baskets. I left after a few months and came away with real knowledge to run a small business. After that I kept researching until I found the right product to produce and sell.
The best marketing advice I ever received was to make sure people
see me using, wearing or carrying around my products.
I love to make baby quilts, wall art and what ever strikes me. But I am hesitant to use social media to promote myself, I guess fearing I’ll bite off more than I can chew. Word of mouth hasn’t worked too well so far, however. I really need/want help!
Target, target, target!
just go do it
Word of mouth is the best seller, so do your very best and present a professional looking product and the word will get around. Help from family & friends certainly doesn’t hurt. Be honest in your dealings, but don’t sell yourself or your product short.
I was told by a very successful business woman that you can’t be fearful of a fall if you don’t take a step. She showed me how to put myself out there and get ahead. Therefore, to this day, I always remember to take the step. Thanks for a chance to win. Self improvement is always at the top of my agenda.
The best and hardest thing for me was to not be afraid to put a high price on my quilts. A lot of work and money goes into them and I need to price them properly.
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Stay out of your own way!!
This sounds like an interesting book. Word of mouth and even showing products has proven to not always be very effective … despite having unique items. I would love to hear what some of the tips are in this book!!
I would love to win this book so I can read it.
Give something to get something.
Be True to Yourself!
I have wanted to start my own business for a while but have been afraid to make the first step. I think this book would be very helpful.
Giving 100 percent of yourself, is the best marketing tool
The best advice we have received is to get your name out there and don’t sell yourself short. The getting the name out there is the problem. This book sounds like something that would be very useful in promoting our business. Setting up a blog scares me and I haven’t done it yet. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
Believe in yourself!
Stay determined..let everyone know what you are doing.
“Find your niche”. I haven’t yet so this book would be perfect.
To get my name out there in the public. To promote my own self.
I don’t know if you would call it advice, but I’m always told that I don’t realize the extent of my ability. I’ve been sewing for 40 years so I see what I do as “just something I do” even though I love doing it.
Be honest
The best advice I’ve received is just to keep trying.
The best advice is get out there show yourself and let word of mouth come back to you.
Listen to your customer/patron!
Don’t listen to the Nay sayers, go out and do it and just keep doing it.
I would really love to have this book so I coule really get my business up and going. I do not have one as
of yet, but I’m hoping I will soon.
if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again
I am working on it every day and I will be a sucess, but when is still in question
The best piece of marketing advice I’ve ever received was to “know your audience”. I’ve been creating since I was young and just recently started to create with a final “customer” in mind. It makes painting fun, everyone likes different styles so I’m learning new things as I go.
The best I’ve heard: Pictures are supposed to be an asset, so take good pictures, and take lots of good pictures.
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pricing
My best advise is Keep Up With Fashion Trends.
The best advise I have heard is…Promote yourself.