Promoting your craft business is critical to increasing your profits. It can be a challenge to get started and know how much advertising will cost. Some may be more costly than others, while some may require little cost to get started. Fortunately, many options don’t require a huge financial commitment. You can start slow, analyze your results and see how it works for your business.
Start Blogging
Having a website or blog is necessary in most cases if you want to build an audience of new and repeat buyers. A quick breakdown of the things you will need to create a blog/website include:
- Website builder
- Web Hosting
- Website Theme
- Email platform
- Stock photos and/or graphics
The costs to build a blog may vary. For example, you can purchase a theme of your choice or use a free theme provided by your website builder.
Create an Ecommerce Website
Shopify
Shopify is an E-commerce platform where you can create an online store with no technical expertise needed. Some of the benefits include easy setup, professional store templates and easy payment methods for your buyers, just to name a few.
Squarespace
Squarespace is also a great website builder for an E-commerce store. They also have website builders for portfolio sites and blogs, with over 100+ templates you can use.
If you are looking for other online options where you can market your products, check out our post on 48 Websites Where You Can Sell Your Crafts Online.
Social Networks
It is free to create your profile page on social networks such as Facebook, Pinterest & Instagram. You can post anything from your latest project, to promotions and new products you are rolling out.
YouTube
If you create video content, you should definitely create a YouTube channel. Many people like visual aides when it comes to tutorials and craft techniques. YouTube also offers a paid option, using a CPC (cost per click) or CPM (cost per a thousand impressions) bidding option.
Google Ads
Google Ads is a large advertising platform that functions on a CPC model and has a massive audience. There are a wide range of targeting options, and you can reach an audience of people that are already searching for your products or services.
Running a Google Ads campaign does take some familiarity with how the program works, and you will have to spend some tweaking the campaign over time to perform efficiently and costs can add up very quickly if you are not well-versed in their bidding strategies.
Affiliate programs
Affiliate marketing is a business partnership between an affiliate and the business looking to increase sales of their products. If the affiliate produces a sale for the business, they are compensated by percentage of a sale or flat fee.
You can promote a businesses’ products in a number of ways, such as writing a blog post on one of their products with a link to purchase the product. If a customer purchases one of their products from your website, you get paid. Affiliate marketing can be quite a lucrative business venture if you have a large following on your website.
Some popular affiliate programs are:
- Shareasale
- Commission Junction
- Amazon
- Rakuten
Build an Email List
Building an email list will give you the opportunity to stay in communication with your audience through newsletters and other types of email communication.
Your newsletters can help you to stay in ongoing communication with your audience and provide new content, information on your products and help then stay informed on any other updates that you think will be of value to them.
Optimize for SEO
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the practice of getting your website to rank well in search results and get more traffic.
The reason why it is so important to improve your SEO efforts is because millions of people are using search engines such as Google and Bing to search for your products or services, which means they are already looking for what you have to offer.
If you want to learn more about how to optimize your website for SEO check out the Complete Guide to SEO For Craft Sellers & Artists. This guide also includes SEO best practices for Etsy, Pinterest & Shopify.
Etsy Promoted Listings
Etsy Promoted Listings can help you get the exposure you need as well as compete with other sellers. Your results will be displayed on top of search results on Etsy.com and the Etsy app.
Pinterest Promoted Pins
Promoting your pins can provide the opportunity to increase your brand’s visibility. You can reach a specific audience by demographics and interest groups. Pinterest’s advertising platform runs on a CPC model, so you only pay when someone clicks on one of your promoted pins.
Local Marketing Events (Craft shows, street fairs, festivals)
Local events can be a great opportunity to market your craft business and generate more sales. If you participate in a show or festival, be sure to spend some time to create an appealing display of your products and be sure to provide brochures and/or business cards to customers so they can check out your work on your website, or in case they may want to purchase your products at a later date.
Magazines
You may be able to purchase some ad space or have a chance to get your work featured in one of several craft magazines.
Some magazines for crafters include:
- Crafts Beautiful
- Papercrafter
- Knit Now
- Better Homes & Gardens
- Wood Magazine
- American Patchwork & Quilting
- American Craft
Flyers & Business Cards
Business cards are always good to have on hand. They can be helpful when you are networking with other crafters or customers. Flyers can be used to post on your communities’ bulletin board or submit to your local magazine.
Reach Out to Influencers & Bloggers
Make an effort to connect with bloggers and influencers in your industry. You may have some expertise or skill that they may find relevant to their audience. Making connections like these can turn into guest blogging spots, sponsored posts or even a business partnership. This can expose you to a much larger audience and new business opportunities.
Some of the promotion options listed in this blog can take patience and quite a bit of work, but you can start with one or two options at a time and see which works best for you. If you have questions or comments, please let us know below!
Leave a Reply