SolveYourProblem
Article Series:
How To Start
A Craft Business
Marketing
Your Crafts Thru Friends and Family
by SolveYourProblem.com
You’ve always had a knack for creating charming
homespun crafts, and now you’ve created something highly original
that always gets a good reaction when you show it off to friends,
family, and co-workers. In fact, your friends and family gush
about your work, and even encourage you to sell your crafts.
In short, you’ve got a passion for your craft, and it shows.
You want to start selling your crafts, but how do you start?
The easiest way to begin is often one of the most overlooked.
Start at home! Using your friends and family network as a stepping
stone, you can begin to make contacts that will allow you to
market your craft to potential buyers.
Put on a Home Show
If you’re starting from scratch, a good way to reach out to
potential buyers is by putting on a home show. Invite a few
close friends and family members, and ask them to bring along
another person who has expressed interest in your craft. Organize
the show as a very casual, no-pressure event, providing your
guests with light refreshments and games.
You might want to prepare a theme for the show. For instance,
if you specialize in creating ceramic pumpkin pots, a good
idea would be to organize a ‘Fall Festival’ theme show. You
should always try to schedule your home show around a holiday.
The most obvious choice is to put on a home show around the
Christmas holiday season, where the interesting and demand
for handmade crafts is always high. But don’t feel restricted
to market your craft during the winter months. Competition
is high around Christmas, so you might do even better by putting
on a home show at a less busy time of the year.
Compile a List of Contacts
Your friends, family members, and co-workers are an invaluable
source of information on potential clients. If your friend
simply adores your hand-crocheted scarves, does she know anyone
else with similar taste who might be interested in purchasing
one? Does your co-worker’s sister happen to collect animal
figurines? By all means, don’t be shy to ask your family and
friend network to help you in compiling a list of contacts.
Even if you don’t intend to contact the people on your list
right away, this is invaluable information to have in case
you ever expand your business and decide you need to market
more aggressively.
Sell Your Crafts at Local Events
Do you, or does someone in your family, attend a local church?
Are you, or maybe a friend, involved in local community festivals?
Church bazaars and other community-sponsored events are great
venues to begin marketing your crafts. Ask friends and family
members who belong to local organizations, clubs, or churches
to see if there might be any upcoming events where you could
sell your craft. You’ll probably be surprised at the number
of local events where your craft would fit right in.
Tap Into the Power of Your Own Personal Sales Force
If you’re lucky, your friends and family will be your ultimate
support network, your cheerleaders in life, if you will. If
they believe in the promise of your product, they will probably
be happy to act as your own personal sales force. Enlist friends
and family members to take samples of your crafts to work.
Make up high-quality flyers for them to take to work and put
up on the bulletin board in the worker’s lounge. Make sure
to include pricing information, and maybe you’ll want to include
a sales order form for ease of ordering. Remember, it’s especially
important to complete all transactions as smoothly as possible
since you’re dealing with your friend’s co-workers.
The last thing you want is to make any transaction difficult
or uncomfortable for your friend or family member.
Just Like Martha
The most important thing to remember when you’re just starting
to market your craft is that everyone started out small. When
Martha Stewart got started, remember, she worked out of her
basement. The best and easiest way to get your feet wet is
with the invaluable support and help of your family and friends
network. With a good product and a good support system, you
can begin to build the foundation for a successful crafts business. # # # # # by SolveYourProblem.com : 2007
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