3 Crafty Tips for Home Industry Entrepreneurs
Knitting, sewing, and embroidery are highly marketable crafts these days, and if you’ve decided to turn your hobby into a business, you’ll need a little business savvy to make the profits you deserve.
Fortunately, consumers have a fresh understanding of the value and quality of handmade crafts, and they’re less likely to try cost comparisons between lovingly handcrafted items and their cheaper, mass-produced equivalents. Nonetheless, selling directly to your customers does allow you to command a higher price and better profits, so we’ll be looking at a few tips to help you make the most of your opportunities. Let’s get started!
1. Work Those Craft Markets
Craft markets allow you to showcase your goods where they can be seen, touched and tried. It’s an easier sell than going online, especially when you’re offering clothing that people would like to try on before reaching for their wallets. Craft fair insurance is essential. Most craft fairs will expect you to have public liability cover, and you’ll be transporting your goods from place to place which presents a risk.
Presentation is everything since you’ll be vying with other crafters, so try a few stall mockups at home before making your debut. It’ll help you to perfect the way your stall looks, and you’ll get some practice in setting up as well as an idea of how long it will take.
2. Use the Big Online Platforms to Your Advantage
Most crafters will know about Etsy as a platform for selling their handicrafts, but do look into Handmade at Amazon, ArtFire and even eBay when checking out possible online outlets. However, just being there won’t max your sales potential, so be prepared to do a little marketing yourself. Social media offers fertile ground for this. You also want to use the right words in your product descriptions. If people are searching for items like the ones you make, they need to be able to find you!
3. Start your Own eCommerce Website
Cutting out the middleman means more profits for you and, once people are shopping on your website, no distractions from competing products. Getting visibility among all the tens of thousands of websites out there might be easier than you think, especially if you use the power of social media to take your business to the next level.
You may need to boost things with a little paid social media advertising, but as advertising goes, it can be quite cost-effective. Precise demographic targeting that includes age, location, gender, and interests not only helps to ensure that the right people see your posts, but also reduces the advertising cost.
Use your blog for social media post fodder and to send the right signals to search engines. Free information and how-tos position you as an expert, attract readership, and boost sales. After all, busy people reading a little tutorial may well decide that though they’d love to try it and enjoy the finished product, they simply don’t have the time!
Last But Not Least: Choose your Product Lines Well
Some of your products will sell better than others. Craft markets will help you to test how well things sell and what people like most. That might not be quite what you expected, so go in with variety and then slim down your range to the most profitable top sellers. At the same time, don’t get too formulaic. Some of your showiest items might attract clients who then opt for something a little cheaper and simpler. Keep it fresh and give the people what they want!
Written by: John Moran
* Contributed Content and may contain affiliate links.
