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Wanna get creative with your marketing budget?
On Wednesday, I published a post on how you might be wasting your marketing budget and why you should stop. You should check out the comments from that post, because some creative entrepreneurs talked about their experiences.
And, at the end of that post, I promised to cover some ways that you should be spending your marketing budget. So here we go.
Free Marketing Ideas
Who doesn’t like free? Some of these free marketing ideas will get you much further than if you spend money on a blog ad. Guaranteed. But, they take time. You’re trading time for money, but I think it’s worth it.
1. Guest posting.
Want to get in front of hundreds or thousands of people in your target market in a meaningful way? Pitch a guest post. Too many super smart creative entrepreneurs shy away from this marketing venture, because they’re either afraid of rejection or don’t think they have anything valuable to contribute.
You gotta get over that fear. Every creative entrepreneur has meaningful stuff to offer. I promise. What if you don’t enjoy writing? That’s cool. You can put together other ideas. For instance, if you sell prints made from original drawings, you could:
- Make a fun print that says, “Happy Father’s Day” and pitch it to a blogger to post and allow her readers to download and print for free the week before Father’s Day. Then, when her readers love your print, they hop on over to your shop or site to check out your stuff. And, you’d also be super smart and put your business name at the bottom of the print, so the people who print it off see your business name on a regular basis.
- Put together a video tutorial showing other artists how you make your prints including the equipment you use and pitch it to a blog that focuses on helping artists make more money. Many artists and makers buy handmade stuff, so don’t overlook that group.
- Compile a tutorial on how to draw something and pitch it to a blog that focuses on creativity.
The possibilities are endless if you really consider your strengths and go with what you already know how to do well.
2. Land an interview.
I’ve already covered this topic extensively in a post that I wrote for Etsy. You can check it out here.
3. Use social media.
Twitter and Facebook are free avenues to connect with your target market and promote your business. You need to use social media wisely. Too often I see creative entrepreneurs using social media ONLY to promote themselves or send out a link every time they upload a new item to Etsy. That’s not gonna work. It’s called social media for a reason. You’re supposed to be social. You can check out this article that I wrote on using Twitter to increase your creative biz success if you want more info.
Creative Marketing Ideas That Cost Some Money
You need to have a marketing budget. This is a must. It can be small. If you can only set aside $15 each month for marketing, that’s fine. If you can set aside $50 for marketing, that’s even better. You need to determine how much you can put towards marketing your business.
But, I wouldn’t spend that money on blog ads UNLESS—and this is a big unless—it’s a blog that you love and the blogger will also put together a sponsored post for you. Ask if they’ll interview you for that sponsored post, because interviews give their audience a way to connect with you. And, it’s less cheesy then the blogger putting up a picture of your product and saying, “this is the greatest product ever—buy this.”
So, here’s where I would put that marketing budget to work:
1. Targeted giveaways.
Giveaways have to be done correctly to benefit the maker. If you pick the wrong blog that has the wrong audience, it’s not gonna help you. If you pick a blogger that doesn’t know how to run giveaways so that they’re beneficial to both parties, it’s not gonna help you. Here’s how to approach it:
- Find a blog that has an engaged audience. The blog doesn’t need to have 10,000 readers for it to benefit you—but it does need to have an engaged audience who respond to calls to action. You can tell if this is the case by looking at other giveaways on the blog. How many people entered? How many comments were left? Also, look at the other posts. How many people leave thoughtful comments?
- Make sure the blog’s audience is right for your stuff. If you sell gothic jewelry, you don’t want to pitch your giveaway to a girly blog that has a girly audience that isn’t interested in gothic jewelry.
- Put together a thoughtful pitch. Too often creative entrepreneurs think that they’re doing the blogger a huge favor by offering to do a giveaway. The blogger still has to do the work of putting together, hosting, and conducting the giveaway. That’s work. So, you need to let the blogger know why this giveaway will benefit her audience.
- To enter the giveaway, you want the readers to have to visit your shop and leave a comment about what they like the most. This way they connect with your shop, browse, and pick something that they really like. This psychologically sets them up to buy from you in the future, because they’re identifying as a person who likes your stuff and they’re picking something specific they could see themselves buying.
- When the blogger announces the giveaway winner, give her a small discount code {like 10 or 20%} to offer to readers who didn’t win. The people who already identified as liking something specific in your shop might go buy it with their awesome discount. Also, have the blogger point her readers to your newsletter list, so they can sign up for future announcements and discounts. This way you build your list and increase your chances of future sales.
2. Give your current customers some lovin’.
Did you know it’s easier to get repeat customers than it is to get new customers? It’s true. You should be treating your repeat customers like gold. Invest some of that money in giving something special to these customers. For instance, if you sell original art and prints, you could make pocket-sized notebooks with your art on the cover and send one to all of your repeat customers as a thank you.
Or, you could get super creative and start paying attention to your customers. If someone has bought from you a couple times, you could look her up on Twitter. Maybe you notice that she loves Starbuck’s mint chocolate chip frappuccinos and that she’s struggling with her role as new mom {you know this because she talks about this on Twitter}, so you send her a $10 gift card to Starbucks with a note saying, “I know how rough the first few months of motherhood can be—I’ve got two young children. You need all the caffeine you can get! 
So, the next couple mint chocolate chip frappuccinos are my treat.” You sign the note and include your business card, so she knows who it’s coming from.
Could you imagine your response if a handmade business did something like this for you? I know I’d be a loyal customer for life and I’d also tell as many people as possible about the experience. That $10 would result in tons of word-of-mouth marketing.
3. Invest it in your current marketing.
Your business cards, your logo, your shop banner, your packaging, your product photos all fall into marketing. Instead of adding to what you’re already doing, figure out how to do the stuff you’re doing even better.
You could save your $40/month marketing budget for three months and then get your logo professionally designed. Or, you could hire a coach to help you with your branding. You could get your business cards professionally designed or have a graphic designer redo your shop banner. If you focus on making your business look professional and unique, your sales will increase.
4. Renew your products.
Okay, this one isn’t creative, but in my opinion, you need to do it. I’m a big fan of renewing your products on Etsy. Many of the successful entrepreneurs that I’ve interviewed for ARTrepreneur have said that they see an increase in sales when they renew and a decrease in sales when they don’t. If you sell on Etsy, you should set aside a small part of your budget for renewing and figure out how that breaks down on a regular basis. For instance, if you can put $10 towards renewing each month, you should be renewing 1-2 products per day.
When you renew your products, they move up to the front of the search results. If you don’t add new products or renew your products for a couple days, your products get buried in the search results and they’re less likely to be seen by people shopping on Etsy. This means fewer sales.
I could go on and on about different ways to promote your products, but I think I’ll stop here. My advice is to get creative. Try different things. When something works, do more of it. If something doesn’t work, stop doing it.
Quick Note: I updated my coaching packages and I’m offering a time-limited discount on two of them. You can check them out here.
This totally inspired me to work out a marketing budget…right now I just tell myself “I don’t have any money for stuff like that”, but in reality I think it’s a fear that I won’t get a return on my $$$. I’m going to set aside a small amount each month and try some of these ideas. Thanks so much!
That’s awesome Tess! I completely understand being fearful that you won’t get a return on your money. But, you can always start small–and stick with the stuff that works and don’t do anymore of the stuff that doesn’t work.
I’d love to hear how it goes, so please come back and share
It’s so funny, but I’ve never set a marketing budget. I’m not sure why. I guess I never thought about it. Anyway, I’m definitely going to do it & stick with it. I’ve been trying to get into re-listing my items on a daily basis, but I don’t think I’ve been doing it consistently or long enough to see a difference. I’m really hoping that it helps! BTW…I LOVE the idea about sending past customers a little something to say thank you. I think I’ll do that with my new line! Great idea!
Meagan recently posted..How To Create an Ideal Customer Profile
I don’t think you’re alone! Lots of creative entrepreneurs don’t have a specific marketing budget–or at least the ones that I consult with don’t usually have one
Let me know how relisting goes after you’ve been at for a while.
Tess got me thinking. Instead of going out for Starbucks everyday I can cut back and boom! My marketing budget has grown.
I love the tip about sending out things to your current customers. Two of my favorite sellers on etsy (BeadedTail and MemoriesforLifeSb) are incredible about sending things after a purchase or adding special touches to the order. I am hooked and buy repeatedly. BeadedTail has somewhat of a cult following–I mention her in a blog post and her customers somehow find out and comment on her packaging, brand, etc.
I have wondered about giveaways. Lisa Leonard seems to do well with all of her giveaways and this post gives me pause to consider them in the future.
Thanks for these last two posts, April–you are rocking it!
Erika recently posted..What Natalie Grant has to do with your Creative Business
Thanks for sharing Erika.
It does hook you in when an already incredibly awesome biz shows even more gratitude to their customers with a little something extra.
Giveaways can be hit or miss–you really have to do your research to make sure the effort it worth it
Looks like my next “top of the list task is to set me a marketing budget! This is why I decided to keep my full time job (for now!) so that I could have money to do what I need to do! Thanks for the reminder!
Michele K. recently posted..Copper Edged Glass Slides with Japanese Paper Pendant Necklace
No problem Michele. A full-time is a huge asset if you can use some of the money to fund your business.
Such great info! I’ve bookmarked this for future reference as well! I love all the free ideas and help in knowing where to spend money on the marketing areas that do cost.
Memories for Life Scrapbooks recently posted..Engraved Wood Magnets – Cute and Funky Owls – Set of 4
I’m so glad it was helpful!
Only recently have I really understood the power of renewing Etsy items. I used to renew items only after they’d sold or expired. I didn’t get why people would renew current items until I realized that renewing basically amounts to a very inexpensive ad! It was a real light bulb moment for me. Now I make it a point to renew one item per day on days I don’t have anything new to list. It gets my shop in front of many new eyeballs.
Stacy recently posted..ABACUS – Black multi-strand Czech glass necklace
I’ve had a similar experience to yours, Stacy. Renewing listings each day, especially when I can’t post (or have run out of time to post) new items, definitely brings more traffic to my shop, and I get more hearts and my items are put in more treasuries. I’m still not sure to what extent hearts actually help make sales, but I assume that they do translate to “many new eyeballs” seeing your item, which can only be a good thing.
Rachel recently posted..Bud Vase in Weathered Red and Black
Exactly Stacy! It’s just like an inexpensive ad. And, it’s definitely worth it to renew an item a day just to get more people in your shop.
Great ideas! I’ve been playing around with ideas on how I could guest post, this takes that thought process in a whole new direction! And you’re right, if you’re doing something doesn’t work, stop. As Albert Einstein said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”
Yay! I’m glad I could give extra ideas for guest posting.
Great ideas, April! #2 is fantastic. I know I get focused on reaching new audiences, but those loyal customers are priceless!
Kelsey recently posted..Comment on Photo shoot with Meggan Goff Photography by Kelsey
Yep, loyal customers are the best. If you can get 100 customers who looooove your stuff and spread the word for you, you don’t need to market your business–because they’ll be doing it for you
Stacy! You just taught me something very important that I did not know! “Renew” means “relist”! Until an hour ago, I did NOT KNOW that I could “renew” an item that is already for sale and has not expired. Wow. Maybe this will help me to get more than 3 sales in 1 year. Thank you thank you thank you! All because I decided to post a comment and get notified of other responses. Love it!!!
Michele K. recently posted..Copper Edged Glass Slides with Japanese Paper Pendant Necklace
Michele K., hurray! So glad I could help!
Stacy recently posted..ABACUS – Black multi-strand Czech glass necklace
Woohoo for comments! That makes me so excited for you, Michele
Really really helpful, April! I love and relate to this: “Your business cards, your logo, your shop banner, your packaging, your product photos all fall into marketing. Instead of adding to what you’re already doing, figure out how to do the stuff you’re doing even better.”
This appeals to my thrifty nature and seems a wise way to conserve resources, while spending time (which is money) in a way that directly educates you and builds you as a nitty-gritty, hardworking, capable entrepreneur. I’ve done almost no advertising and have seen the above working for my (fledgling) business. In the 6 months since I started, I’ve re-shot all my photos 3 or 4 times, improved my shop banner as many times, re-written and re-written my listings . . . in a way, this is time I could be spending making more pottery, but I think all this work is worth the education it’s giving me (and I’m definitely not done re-doing everything). Though I can’t quantify the monetary results of these efforts yet, they definitely have improved my “shop-esteem”–each time I make a change, I feel better and more confident in my business-savvy, my skill, my products, and myself. I think this is immediate payoff is worth it, and will pay off in more sales now and later.
Rachel recently posted..Bud Vase in Weathered Red and Black
You know what’s up Rachel! When you focus on making the basics the best they can be, you’ll definitely see an increase in success. That stuff needs to rock before the other marketing stuff will really help anyways.
Thank you for this great post! I didn’t think about the creative marketing ideas that cost some money that you listed and since they aren’t really expensive, they can ben really good for small businesses!
About guest posting: If you didn’t convince your readers yet about trying to submit some guest posts they should read what I have to say about it:
I’m French. My English isn’t perfect and I make mistakes all the time. And I wrote a guest post for a small blog (but still, bigger than mine!) and it was published! I didn’t think it would be published. I didn’t think my subject was good. I sent it anyway! I guess when we try something, there’s a chance it works! If we don’t try well it’s just too bad, nothing will happen!
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You’re welcome Marie. Thanks for sharing your experience with guest posting. You never know until you try, right?! Congrats on getting it published.
My guess is that most marketers might agree with you but they wouldn’t say it out loud.
Great post please post again.
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