Creative Inspiration and Professional Development
This is a module from, Six Weeks to a Creative Business, which is currently open for enrollment here. Enrollment closes on January 30th. If you enroll in ARTrepreneur, you automatically get access to this course for FREE.
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You have a product that you’re proud of and want to sell. You tell your friends and family members, and they all hope that you’re just going through a phase. In a condescending tone, your mother asks, “Do you really think you could make a living selling YOUR paintings?” Instead of throwing a tantrum like a two-year-old, you take a deep breath, plaster on a smile, and try to explain that people actually do make a living by selling their art.
You spend hours taking pictures. You realize your pictures suck–they’re too dark and blurry, and the polka-dot background completely distracts from your products. You read your camera manual and learn some tips on lighting and macro photography. You spend another few hours retaking pictures. They’re much better than the first batch, especially after you edit them.
You try your very best to write product descriptions that don’t sound too pushy and salesy. You attempt to write in your own voice to make them sound unique, because that’s what everyone says you should do, even though you don’t really know what that even means.
You bite your lip and start to sweat as you put a $15 price on a product that took you three hours to make, because you really want to sell something. {If this is you, raise your damn prices!}
You upload your products on Etsy…and you wait…and you wait. You check your shop every 3 minutes hoping that someone has favorited one of your items or actually purchased something.
Then, you think, “Maybe I’m not good at this. Maybe I’m crazy to think people would actually want to buy my stuff. Maybe I should give up.” That’s when you reach for the wine bottle and have a glass or two or three and hope that no one asks, “So how’s that little online art business of yours going?”
Even if you have a unique product, magazine-worthy product photos, and well-written product descriptions, you still have to bring people into your shop. You need a marketing plan. Now, watch the video below:
The first is a blatant way for me to sell one of my products. Buy my digital guide, Marketing for Creatives: How to Spread Your Message and Boost Your Sales, and learn how to market your stuff. {See how I’m marketing to you right now?}
The second is a basic way to start a marketing plan. Follow these steps:
1. List six places {blogs, websites, online magazines, print publications} where you would like to see your work featured or you would like to be featured.
2. Assign each of those places to one month over the next six months. Example: February: Design*Sponge, March: Oh My! Handmade Goodness, April: Real Simple, May: Decor8, June: Creature Comforts, July: Artful Blogging.
3. For each month, concentrate on getting your product featured on that site or in that publication. Learn what you need to do to submit your work and submit it.
Note: Your work may not get featured in that month. For instance, you might submit work to a print publication that doesn’t get featured until six months down the road. That’s okay. It’s just important to focus on getting these features.
Announcement: ARTreprenuer {the membership site that helps you turn your creative dreams into reality} will be open for signup January 16th-January 31st. I’ll be offering a special discount for email newsletter subscribers on January 16th. Want to be on the list? Sign up below:
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When I first started Blacksburg Belle, I couldn’t wait to get my products and services out into the world. I wanted to help as many creative entrepreneurs as possible—and make some money while doing it.
I started an email newsletter list, and new subscribers trickled in. I blogged regularly. I guest posted on lots of different sites which brought in even more subscribers. My list had grown to over 500 people in just a few months, so I thought I was ready to make an offer.
I sent out an offer to my email newsletter list. I thought it was a great offer, and I was extremely excited. I thought I’d get a rush of orders. You know what really happened? Nothing. No orders. No money. No people rushing to work with me.
I soon realized the big mistakes that I’d made with that offer.
I thought I’d get a lot of purchases, because the offer was inexpensive. I looked at my competitors and charged less than many of them, thinking that would help me. It backfired. People don’t take you seriously when you undervalue yourself. Think about this: do you ever say that the cheapest product or service is the best? Probably not. You might say it’s a good value or a good deal, but you don’t go around telling your friends and family that it’s the best.
Most of my subscribers had been on my list less than a month before I sent out an offer to work with me. This might not have been such a big deal if I was offering a low cost product, but I wasn’t offering a low cost product. I was offering a personalized service that requires some level of trust.
I sent out an email newsletter that told my subscribers about the offer, but I didn’t clearly ask for the sale at the end of the email. Of course, I included a link, but I didn’t give clear instructions.
After this failure, I regrouped. Moving forward, I built up relationships with subscribers on my list by providing them with high-quality information. I put together a 12-month blog program that brought in lots of sales. I worked with a bunch of creative entrepreneurs one-on-one. Then, I sold out a group coaching program. I built up my credibility by speaking at the Etsy Success Symposium and landing a guest post on Design*Sponge.
Then, I tried out the same offer again about six months later. It was the exact same offer that had failed before, but I made two changes. I increased the price to what I felt was the true value which was five times the price of the first offer. I also clearly asked for the sale at the end of the offer.
Giving things away by embracing generosity has opened the line of communication between countless readers and myself. People that probably would have never reached out, bought a product, or replied to a blog post found a reason to communicate with me just by thanking me for what I gave them, no matter what form it was in. As we all know, when we begin to communicate with our customers and readers, a friendship and community begins to form. They begin to turn to you with questions and refer you to their friends because they know that you care and are passionate about what you do.
I say you have to be intelligent about it. You can’t inundate your customers with free stuff or they won’t see what you are selling as having value. You also have to decide from the beginning how much time and money you are willing to put into what your giving away.
Give it Away Now is about embracing generosity intelligently and creating faithful customers. I cover:
Plan a holiday giveaway! Be sure to get organized on how you are going to promote it, giving at least 3-4 weeks to build the buzz up. Promote it on your blog, Twitter, and Facebook! And be sure to offer everyone who didn’t win a special deal on what you were giving away, they had some interest in it, right?! Then show them some love and offer a discount off of the item that they entered to win.
This guide is for you if you’re looking to create a buzz about your business online and either have a non-existent marketing budget or you just love promoting your business yourself.
This guide isn’t for you if you are not a go-getter! To put what I offer in the guide into action, you must get to work:)
I can’t reveal that secret (he he) they will have to find out in the guide.
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If so, one thing you need to add to your stop doing list this second is chasing trends.
A few weeks ago, I asked my followers on Facebook if they have any topics they want me to cover. Liberty Montano asked if I’d cover trend chasing, so here we are.
You should pay attention to trends if your ideal customer cares deeply about trends. You should know all about your ideal customer by now, so you should know if your ideal customer is constantly chasing trends and buys mostly trendy items. If this is your ideal customer, your products will need to reflect it. This is the only time that I believe it will truly benefit your business to incorporate new trends into it regularly.
You should pay attention to trends that you’ll be able to sell over and over. For instance, if a huge color for fall is plum and you make jewelry, make some jewelry that incorporates the color plum. Even after that fall is over, you’ll still have customers who want to buy plum-colored jewelry.
Your brand is a big freaking deal. Eventually, you want your customers to recognize your brand instantly when they see new products featured on another blog, when they receive a package in the mail, and when they see your logo somewhere other than your website.
The most important part of your branding is your message—your why. Every product that you make needs to be a product of your why. If it isn’t, building a loyal customer base is going to be extremely difficult—if not, impossible. If you chase trends, it’s easy to get away from your why. If the trend is a part of your why, then it’ll be easy for you to incorporate it into your business. If not, leave it alone.
If I know something is just a trend and won’t be around next season, I shop for it at Target. I’m going to find the least expensive version of that trend, because I know I’ll only be wearing it or using it a few times. I definitely won’t be searching Etsy to find a handmade version of it. And, I bet many of your customers feel the same way. When you buy a trendy item, do you buy an expensive version or an inexpensive version?
You don’t want to spend lots of time and money in materials making trendy products unless you think you’re going to sell them while they’re still trendy. If you can’t turn around these products fast, you’ll be stuck with stock that you can’t move and you’ll have to give all your family members last season’s trends for Christmas gifts.
If you chase trends, you’re like everybody else who chases trends. You’ll soon find that you’re making products like lots of other people, and if you don’t have any way to differentiate yourself, you’ll have to compete on price. You never want to compete on price.
I hope this helps you get clearer on whether you should be incorporating trends into your business.
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