This information in this article is predicated on 2 guesses: That you have one or more beading projects you would like to make beneficial, and that you've some level of inventory at the ready for when sales begin coming in. If that's you, then this article will outline severa avenues open to you for "passively marketing" your beading projects.
Note that passive marketing doesn't mean "no work required," or "you do not have to talk to anybody." Rather, it means that the bigger bulk of the work occurs on the "front end" and that when the work is concluded, your passive marketing efforts will continue more or less on their own, indefinitely, with only least added effort on your part.
This is crucial for you as a bead crafter as it frees up more of your time, which you can dedicate to your current beading projects, or, if you feel you're ready for it, develop wholly new beading projects to enlarge your line.
We will cover 2 examples of passive marketing. One, promoting your finished beading projects locally, and the other, advertising them worldwide.
One of the very best ways to market your beading projects locally is via consignment. Here, your goal is to show your line to people with a well-known business and ask if they will display and sell your products in exchange for a percentage of the profits. This works to your advantage on a number of levels. First, the reputable business already has regular clients you can make sales from. Furthermore, most will let you to display your business cards next to your wares, so if a patron likes your product, their next purchase may be made direct from you. Also, once you have a current relationship of this sort, it's normally easy to introduce new products to your display as you expand the number of beading projects in your line.
The key here is not to limit yourself to just one or two such relationships, but to seek to engage as many sources as you can keep supplied. Not just does this boost your publicity, but it also allows you to see how various shops handle your merchandise, and you can use this information to see where your products sell the best, then attempt to gain a similar in-store position at other stores carrying your line. If your beading projects are focused on necklaces/bracelets, you might naturally be drawn to locally owned jewelry shops in your town, but I encourage you to think outside the box here! Hospital gift shops, gift shops in retirement homes and old fashioned country shops are all great pleases to inquire, as are common gift stores and specialty shops like Hallmark, and any place that caters to local artists!
Thinking of the worldwide market, the extremely best thing you can do to advertise your projects is niche online marketing. There are dozens of books on this topic, and it's beyond the scope of this article to completely explore the process, but in broad strokes, what you need to do in order to market your beading projects in this manner are:
1) Identify keywords describing your beading projects that get some daily searches (10-30+ per day) and have minimum competition (under 50k).
2) Design a niche site around these keywords to drive visitors to your page
3) Describe what you're providing. These descriptions should be mixed in with original content on your site
4) Offer would be buyers a means of contacting you
5) Offer them a means to buy from you online
Again, the beauty of passive marketing is that once the primary work is done, your beading projects get publicity day in, and day out with very little effort on your part.
Note that passive marketing doesn't mean "no work required," or "you do not have to talk to anybody." Rather, it means that the bigger bulk of the work occurs on the "front end" and that when the work is concluded, your passive marketing efforts will continue more or less on their own, indefinitely, with only least added effort on your part.
This is crucial for you as a bead crafter as it frees up more of your time, which you can dedicate to your current beading projects, or, if you feel you're ready for it, develop wholly new beading projects to enlarge your line.
We will cover 2 examples of passive marketing. One, promoting your finished beading projects locally, and the other, advertising them worldwide.
One of the very best ways to market your beading projects locally is via consignment. Here, your goal is to show your line to people with a well-known business and ask if they will display and sell your products in exchange for a percentage of the profits. This works to your advantage on a number of levels. First, the reputable business already has regular clients you can make sales from. Furthermore, most will let you to display your business cards next to your wares, so if a patron likes your product, their next purchase may be made direct from you. Also, once you have a current relationship of this sort, it's normally easy to introduce new products to your display as you expand the number of beading projects in your line.
The key here is not to limit yourself to just one or two such relationships, but to seek to engage as many sources as you can keep supplied. Not just does this boost your publicity, but it also allows you to see how various shops handle your merchandise, and you can use this information to see where your products sell the best, then attempt to gain a similar in-store position at other stores carrying your line. If your beading projects are focused on necklaces/bracelets, you might naturally be drawn to locally owned jewelry shops in your town, but I encourage you to think outside the box here! Hospital gift shops, gift shops in retirement homes and old fashioned country shops are all great pleases to inquire, as are common gift stores and specialty shops like Hallmark, and any place that caters to local artists!
Thinking of the worldwide market, the extremely best thing you can do to advertise your projects is niche online marketing. There are dozens of books on this topic, and it's beyond the scope of this article to completely explore the process, but in broad strokes, what you need to do in order to market your beading projects in this manner are:
1) Identify keywords describing your beading projects that get some daily searches (10-30+ per day) and have minimum competition (under 50k).
2) Design a niche site around these keywords to drive visitors to your page
3) Describe what you're providing. These descriptions should be mixed in with original content on your site
4) Offer would be buyers a means of contacting you
5) Offer them a means to buy from you online
Again, the beauty of passive marketing is that once the primary work is done, your beading projects get publicity day in, and day out with very little effort on your part.
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