SolveYourProblem
Article Series:
How To Start
A Craft Business
5
Places to Market Your Hand Made Crafts
by SolveYourProblem.com
You’ve decided to start your own craft business.
You’ve got a great product and lots of enthusiasm, but no clue
of how and where to sell your product. If you have no business
background, then it can be intimidating to start talking about
markets and sales pitches and your target customer. In reality,
marketing your hand made crafts is easier than you could ever
imagine. Here’s a quick overview of some of the best places
to market your craft products.
Family and Friends
It sounds too obvious, right? In fact, your family and friends
can be one of the most important tools in getting your new
craft business off the ground. Your family and friends will
probably be more than happy to buy your products, but also
help you sell them. You will talk to your family and friends
about your crafts and they in turn will tell their family and
friends and it will continue to grow from there. Word of mouth
is really important in the crafting industry.
Many businesses allow crafters to come in during the holiday
season. Maybe one of your friends or relatives works for a
company that does this. It is usually through personal connections
like this that crafters end up at the businesses.
If you don’t have enough money for a table at a local craft
show, you can host one at your own home. If you know other
crafters, you can include their items as well – for free or
for a small fee. You can invite family, friends and neighbors.
This is an excellent way to start selling your products with
minimal cost to you.
When you do decide to do a local craft show, ask for help
from your family and friends. While it is important that you
spend a lot of time at your booth so you have a chance to interact
with your customers, family and friends can offer a lot of
support by taking turns manning the booth and helping with
the set-up and tear-down of your display.
Local Craft Shows
Before you start traveling all around with your crafts, you
should try displaying your products in a few local shows. With
a crafting business, you should try to start small and gain
as much experience and exposure in your local community as
possible. These local shows also give you a can to work out
all of the kinks in your display and sales pitch before investing
all your money in traveling to out of area craft shows.
Crafters’ Marketplaces and Local Gift Stores
Many gift stores will accept crafts from local artisans on
consignment. This is a great way to get your craft products
out into the community. Often times these sorts of displays
will lead to greater exposure and custom orders. It is a good
way of reaching people who do not attend craft shows. Many
communities also have crafters’ marketplaces where you can
rent space on a monthly basis to display your crafts. The concept
is similar to a craft show – you just don’t have to be there
to sell the products. The store looks after all of the selling
for you. You do need to ensure that your stock remains high
enough and that you have an attractive display that will help
your crafts stand out from all of the others.
Magazines and other Publications
You can consider advertising your new business in a magazine
or a newsletter. Even better, you could try to have yourself
featured in an article in your local paper or a craft magazine.
This way your potential customers will learn more about you
and the back-story of your craft. With crafts, a lot of customers
like to know the process and story behind its creation, so
this is an excellent way to connect with them and generate
more interest in your new business venture.
Online
Just a few years ago, there were very few crafters online.
Now, you can have a website devoted to marketing and selling
your products. A website that displays your products and provides
some background on you and your craft can be a really effective
marketing tool. You can also sell your products directly online.
This will allow you to sell your products to people all over
the world with minimal advertising costs to you. Just think
of the exposure!
# # # # # SolveYourProblem.com : 2007
> Home > Start
a Craft Business:
Main Page
|
