How To Start a Newsletter for your Handmade Business
Your small handmade business NEEDS email marketing in its life. It’s 4x more effective than social media is and it’s a guaranteed way to stay in touch with your followers. Facebook, Instagram or Twitter can change their algorithm at any time to limit how many people you reach, or even shut down your account without warning. …
5 Ways You’re Using Craft Shows Wrong
Here’s how I used to treat craft shows. I’d go into crazy-woman sewing mode in the weeks leading up to a craft show. All other marketing and updating of sales channels would stop so I could give my full attention to production. I’d stay up late the last couple of nights before the…
Why Too Many Products will Harm your Craft Business’s Sales
When I started my handmade business, I thought more was more. The more options of handbags I offered, the more sales I could make because I’d be appealing to a wider variety of customers. I had: No clear customer I was targeting. No clear style I was known for. No product…
3 Tips to Avoid Awkward Shopper Silence at a Craft Show
The very first craft show I sold at was in a small community league hall with less than 20 vendors. Craft fairs were fairly new and indie at that time. Although people showed up, it wasn’t exactly a buzzing scene. So it made my lack of conversation/selling skills even more apparent and awkward….
The Best Kept Craft Fair Secret for More Sales
I have a confession… I love reading YELP and GOOGLE reviews. Especially the bad ones. I’m not really sure why. I’ll spend several minutes scrolling through strangers’ opinions of a business, even if I never plan on being a customer of theirs. At the risk of sounding like an online lurker, let’s say it’s…
How to Attract Wholesale Orders at Craft Shows (or on Etsy)
Selling your products wholesale to retailers can be a great revenue stream…if you’ve priced your products properly. Selling wholesale often means bigger orders with less effort. Instead of having to sell 50 items to 50 different customers, you can sell 50 items to a retailer in one transaction. Of course, profit margins are…
3 Steps to Boost Sales for the Holidays
November and December are two of the busiest shopping months of the year, thanks to all the gift-giving opportunities. Many businesses earn the majority of their revenue in the last quarter of the year. Are you ready to make the most of holiday sales? By the end of October, there’s not a lot of time…
How to Implement the Bathing Suit Sales Technique
If you haven’t noticed by now, I love translating my riveting life experiences (buying an outhouse and eating blizzards for dessert) into business lessons. This article is yet another lesson taken from the exciting pages of my life, this time when I was bathing suit shopping. Who wants to try on bathing suits,…
How to Ask for the Sale at a Craft Show (without being pushy)
Asking for the sale is not as awkward as it sounds. The sales technique isn’t about coming right out and saying “will you please buy?”, but rather, asking questions that help a shopper make a decision to buy. If they’re not interested in buying, they’ll simply let you know. But if they’re on a…
5 Common Mistakes of Ideal Customer Profiles
It kind of amazes me how many handmade businesses start before they know who they’re starting for. No shame. I didn’t know who my ideal customer was when I started my first handmade business. However, that was over a decade ago and the Internet is much different today; rich with bloggers sharing free advice….
Want to Stand Out at a Craft Show? Try these Display Tricks
Relating your craft show booth or table to a store window is a good way to look at your space from a different perspective and ensure you have elements that will catch the eye. Although you may only have a few feet, you also want to think of your table or booth like the inside…
How To Use the Trojan Horse Strategy to Sell your Handmade Products
It’s funny, the day I started this article, I was browsing the Internet in the evening, killing time, and came across a *GQ interview with Steve-O. In the interview he mentions a stunt he was getting ready to pull. His plan was to sit in a lawn chair, on the roof of a wooden outhouse,…
3 Big Mistakes your Business is Making on Social Media
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you. Please read the full disclosure here. Your customers are most certainly on one of the major social media platforms; Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter, so your business should be too. If your competitors,…
How to Develop a Signature Style for your Handmade Business
When several businesses are selling similar products, consumers feel no urgency or desire to choose one business over the other. It often comes down to price. As a handmade business, you do not want to attract customers who are after the lowest price. It’s a hard game to keep up with and doesn’t create…
What to Wear to a Craft Fair to Boost Sales
Asking what one should wear to a craft fair is sort of like asking “what should I wear to work?” The answer would depend greatly on the type of work, the environment and who you interact with in a day. There isn’t a straightforward answer to “what do people wear to craft fairs?” because it…
How to Turn a Failing Handmade Business Around in 5 Steps
A little over a year ago, I felt completely hopeless about my business. I started each day with a pit in my stomach and went to sleep each night with sweaty palms. Made Urban was a failing business and I didn’t know what to do. I had one big light bulb moment that turned…
5 Greatest Lessons Learned from a Failed Business
I honestly love reading stories like this one because they help me realize that every business goes through struggles and none are an overnight success. So I hope this story will inspire you too and show there are many failed business attempts, mistakes and years behind successful businesses. If you’re looking for advice on…
Make This Difficult for Shoppers & You’ll Boost Sales
In most cases, you should be making your customers’ lives easier. But in one aspect, you should be making it more difficult. To explain, I’m going to tell a story about a septic tank and an outhouse. Not very glamorous, I know. But it’s a true story that taught me an important sales…
How to Sell More at Craft Fairs
My handmade business started when I sold at my first craft fair. I used them as a staple to grow my business and was always on a quest to sell more at craft fairs, so I went to work on several aspects of my business. I chose a name I liked, had logos, business cards,…
How to Sell More Handmade Products (Online or at Craft Shows)
Who doesn’t want to sell more handmade products? Of course, that’s what every handmade business owner is after. But there’s a common misconception when it comes to sales. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard from business owners when wondering why they don’t sell more handmade products: People love my work, but they’re…