The Business Chat - your signature line

No matter how small your crafty business is, you are marketing already even if you don’t know it. I’ll bet you have email and that you use it, even if it’s only to your friends and family. Each of those emails is a potential marketing tool and you have the power to turn them into gold. Or sales. Or Facebook fans. Or whatever you ask your customer to do.

Each of those emails has a signature line. Your signature line has the power to make you money.  Your signature line of course contains the following:

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Your name

Your company name

Your contact information: email address, website address, telephone number

And then…. Drum roll…. Your CALL TO ACTION. Give your readers something else to do.

Your call to action is this: decide what action you want readers to take. Ask them to take that action. Ask them clearly, succinctly and unmistakably.

Here are a few ideas for you to use in your signature:

• Check out my holiday calendar of events
• Want holiday deals? Join my email list
• You are invited to my Holiday Open House on Friday, November 11
• Follow me on facebook

 Your signature line can do three (of many things):

It can make people buy something. (Click here to see the store.)

It can make people get on your list. (Click here to get this [benefit] by getting on this list.)

It can make people like you more. (Click here to connect with me on [social media place].)

There's more you can do with your signature line, but these are the most important three.

Get buyers, get subscribers, and build trust.

If you're not using your signature line to do any of these, today's a good day to change that.

Not everyone is comfortable with using their signature line, some people feel it’s pushy and sales-y. Get over it and fast. Your readers are very very busy people and while it may be obvious to you what you want them to do from the contents of your email, they may have skimmed it and missed the obvious. Tell them what to do and give them a link.

You can start with using your social media contact information, that’s non-offensive. When you get more comfortable (or more set up) then ask them to subscribe to your list. Or view your store, or buy your latest pattern or e-book. So long as you’re not spammy (“click here to lose 28” of belly fat by next week!”) no one will be offended. And if they do well they probably weren’t ever going to like anything anyway.
Have some sort of offer in your signature line. Something.

Your customers like you, they really do. Give them something to do or look at. They’ll do it, they’ll look and they will like you even more. They may even buy something.

The Business Chat - Call to Action

A call to action is a marketing term that boils down to this:

Decide what action you want readers to take. Ask them to take that action. Ask them clearly, succinctly and unmistakably.

The "call to action" is one of the most important concepts in marketing and promotion.  Simply put, in every communication you have with your audience you should know what you want them to do. You tell them what you have to offer, you tell them why you are the best one to offer this, and then you ask them to take the next step.

You've seen millions of calls to action, and may not have realized what they were. Here are some examples:

• Call Now!
• Call our 800 number to find out more
• Click here!
• Add to cart
• Bring this coupon in for a free soft drink

Keep it Simple

Calls to action work best when they're not too complicated. And don't give multiple options. Don't ask people to "check out our new Web site or call to order a catalog." Figure out which single thing you want prospects to do.

Make it specific. Having a good call to action in your communications is not sleazy or sales-y, it’s just good business. Your reader is busy and distracted by a thousand other things competing for their attention. Even though they may be very interested in you, while reading your copy they are only paying attention with part of their brain. If you are subtle and quiet you will lose them.

5 tips on using Calls to Action

1. Use call to action buttons in text – Call to action buttons are a great deviation from an email comprised of all text. Think of a Buy Now button. Not only do they let the reader know what to do, visually they really stand out.
2. Use text call to action phrases – to change the pace from always using buttons, and to not abruptly change the flow of an article, inline text call to action phrases should be used. Vary the color of the text, use bold or italicizing it will help the call to action stick out next to standard type.
3.  Social media integration – Not all call to action prompts have to involve selling products. A call to action persuading users to “Follow us on Twitter” or “Get updates on Facebook” helps further your relationship with the reader. A closer relationship may lead to sales; it could also lead to the individual sharing your content with more people, thus building your audience.
4. Location, location, location. The most obvious place to put a call to action is at the end of your copy. But readers jump around a lot so if your copy is longer than a screen then repeat your (single) call to action in several places.
5. Try using coupons as a call to action. “Bring this coupon to my next show for a 20% discount”.

Go and look at what you’ve been sending out to customers. Do you make it clear what you want them to do?

The Business Chat - Marketing Materials

My car is sitting outside, packed to the roof with my booth stuff, I’m off on the road again for another show. It’s the Signatures Christmas show. Yes I said that word, Christmas. It’s October. Yikes!!! As I pulled my booth together over the last few weeks I referred constantly to my handy checklist of booth materials. (I’ll be discussing this next week). On my checklist are all my promotional materials and packaging (which I count as promo stuff).

Promotional materials and packaging are incredibly important for keeping my business alive. They promote my brand, reinforce my message, and keep my business name alive in a customers mind. They communicate my story and my product to my customers, which is what marketing is all about.

Over the past few weeks (or has it been months?) I’ve written posts designed to kick start your marketing campaign so now you’ve got a good start on defining your product. You’re starting to think about your elevator speech and your tag line. You’re working on selling you as much as your work. Now you need to convey all this to the public. This is where marketing materials come into play.

The most important thing about marketing materials is that they are consistent, they must reflect you, your product and your marketing message. If your work is small, delicate and neutral in colouring then don’t use primary colours and a splashy font. Your promotional materials must not only reflect your business, they should reflect you. YOU are the product along with your jewellery. Make sure your materials reflect your creative energy and sincerity.

Marketing dollars are limited and so is your time. It’s important to think long and hard about each piece of collateral that you produce in order not only not to waste time and money, but to avoid sending the wrong message out to the public.

You may decide to design your own materials. You may hire a graphic designer. Or you could take a middle road and commission a basic “design template” that you can apply to each piece as needed. Whatever you decide ask yourself the following questions.

• Does your audience know who you are? Tell the reader something about yourself that is expressed clearly through your work. Use graphics, type, paper or ink colours that reflect your lifestyle and artistic message.
• In what sequence would you like your reader to see your message? A good design leads the eye across a page in the exact sequence you intended. Special folds, flaps and splashes of colour can help. Position the information so that they read what you want in the order you want. For online/social media materials, where do you want a customer to land and experience your site? How do you want them to navigate around?
• What do you want to emphasize. Some things are more important than others. Make sure you know what you want to hit them over the head with and give it more weight. Use colours, large type to convey the key information to the reader.
• Who is your audience? Designing a slick, sophisticated brochure may be appropriate to a high-end gallery but if you’re sending this to your customers in farming country you may lose some by looking too expensive or too sophisticated.
• What is the purpose of the material? Know what you are trying to achieve. Is this piece for informational purposes only? Are you trying to get them to call you, visit your booth, or place an order? SAY what you want them to do.
• Are all your promotional materials consistent in style? Stay with your graphic signature.
• What is your budget? Promotional materials can get pricey. Know your limit and stay within it. Also know the quantities that you need. It may be a really great bargain for those 5,000 postcards, but if you only have 200 people on your mailing list, those people are going to see the same card 20 times before you run out.

Examples of traditional promotional materials are:

• Business cards
• Brochures
• Post cards
• Hang-tags
• Gift cards
• Story/bio cards

Examples of new/social media promotional materials are:

• Web sites
• Blogs
• Facebook pages
• Twitter

Sometimes you have to decide whether it’s worth it to print a piece of marketing materials. What is your R.O.I. (return on investment) for each piece that you produce? How many people are going to see this? With online materials and social media, your cost may not be in actual dollars but in time. Remember time is money. If you spend 40 hours setting up a web site that is 40 hours that you aren’t making jewelry or making money working for someone else. Prioritize your list.

And most importantly, once you have your marketing message, and your spiffy new marketing materials, USE THEM! In a micro business like ours, with a staff of one, if you don’t promote yourself who will?

Oh, and a bit of a rant to end off with. Everything you produce should include your name, the name of your company, and your contact information. Whether you include your business address is up to you. Contact information must include a business telephone number, and email. If they can’t find you they can’t give you money.
“mary smith designs” may be the name of your company, but it doesn’t tell what you do, are you designing earrings or landscaping? If your company name doesn’t tell what you do, include your tag line. If you haven’t worked that out yet, use a brief description of your work – for example “precious gems”, “bridal jewellery”. While not exactly titillating, at least it informs. Think of someone who’s never heard of you finding your business card or looking at your website. Do they know what you do? While it is obvious to you the number of websites I see where I have no clue what they do is astounding. Spell it out.

The Business Chat - Solve a problem, sell a product

Recently when I was reading a marketing book I came across an idea that stopped me dead. One little sentence so mind blowing and yet so obvious that I forgot to finish my cookie. (And if something comes between me and cookies you know it’s a big something). Here it is.

People don’t buy products, they buy solutions.

DOH!!!

They have a problem, they buy something that solves the problem. This means that our job as salespeople is to listen to the customer, work out what their problem is and present our work as the solution.

I hear you muttering away, just as I did at first. “There’s no problem, they just want earrings.” I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, if a customer just wanted earrings they’d go to a mall. The customer has sought out (through a craft show or online) HANDMADE earrings.

Time after time in my booth I hear, “wow, there’s so much talent here, I wish I could do something like this.” Are you listening? The customer’s problem is that they think they can’t create, that they aren’t artistic. And they think you are. The customer is looking for a creative story.

You need to sell you as a story. Give them a fully formed real live 3D artist. If you’re selling online presenting you the artist lends your work authenticity and depth. For those at a craft show I can guarantee at least 10 times a day you’ll be asked something along the lines of “how long have you been doing this?” or “where did you learn?”.

It’s hard when you’re starting out and haven’t yet fully claimed the word artist as you. Some people never really know what to say and just hum and fidget. But you, the savvy craftista, will be ready to continue the conversation and communicate your story. For communication is marketing and marketing leads to sales.

To get you started pick up your notebook and spend some time answering these questions on paper. Write several paragraphs on each question. If you feel too self-conscious at first write about yourself in the third person until you get the details down. Learn to spin your story.

1. How did you become an artist?
2. How did you learn your skill?
3. What training have you had? Have you studied with any big names? Taken a course at a well-known school?
4. How long have you been making your current work?
5. What did you make before this?
6. What was your creative path?
7. What is it about your current work/technique that lights your fire? Why do you do it?
8. What new techniques do you want to learn? What’s in your artistic future?
9. What do you love most about being an artist?

The Business Chat - August slow season

There's a slow and lazy feeling about the last half of August. Humidity is high, cicadas are buzzing and kids are dragging their feet knowing this is the end of their freedom. No matter how long we've been out of school we all feel the laziness now. Add to this the traditionally slow sales of August and we're all tempted to let the business slide for the moment.
Wrong.
Now is the time to really put some muscle into your business. Yes sales are slow at this time of year. No we don't feel like working. Suck it up and do the work (remember last weeks post?). When September rolls around and things pick up again you'll be busy working IN the business, take this slow time of year to work ON the business.

Here's 5 thing to work on during a business slow season:

1. Vision time. Grab your notebook, your favourite pen, pencil or crayon and doodle and ponder. In an ideal world where do you want your business to be in 6 months? 12 months? What's your idea of a perfect work day? How much would you like to make? How can you make that money? What's the most awesome thing you'd like to happen in your business? Dream big and silly and write it down.
2. Work on your marketing message. Marketing is communicating what you do to your customers. Before you can tell them, you have to know yourself. What do you do? Now is the time to work on your elevator speech. Think about new marketing materials, do you have postcards yet? A new business card? A logo? Redesign your blog or plan on starting one. Create a Facebook business page.
3. If you haven't booked any Christmas craft shows now is the time to do so. Larger craft shows book 6 - 12 months in advance. If you haven't booked a show yet look for smaller shows. Why not decide to do a larger show next year and start researching them now?
4. Improve your photography skills. If you are sellling online, or plan on selling online soon you'll already be aware that the most important thing you need is brilliant photography. Online shoppers can't touch your work so your photos are what sells an item. If you create one product that is reproduced 100's of times then you can afford to hire a professional to take amazing photos. Most of the time it si not financially viable to pay someone to shoot images so you will need to do them yourself. Photography is a skill, that means practise, practise, practise. There are great tips and tutorials online to help you (check the Etsy forums). Go for it.
5. Build up your online community. A lot of creative people work at home, especially if you are doing this part time, and it's hard sometimes to remember that we're not alone. Your community is important not just for the moral support but for information. Your community will tell you how fabulous you and your work are, they'll let you know about craft shows, deal on supplies, important blogs to read and advertise on and which online venues are good for selling on. Your community can be the key to success. Take some time now to find your online community. Make friends on Facebook, read blogs (and leave comments!!!), when you find a blog you like check out who they read. Cruise around Etsy, Artfire and DaWanda. Where ever you visit online send emails to people who's work you like and make connections. The world is a big place.

Dreaming, scheming, reading and pondering are just as imporant to your success as making a fabulous necklace or knitting a gorgeous sweater. This is one of those times when spending a few hours cruising the internet isn't time wasting, it's research.

The Business Chat - Sell Your Story

A few weeks ago we started a discussion on defining your product. If you don't know what you sell, you can't communicate this to a customer and communication is the basis of marketing. "Jewelry" is too broad a term and I challenged you to distill your work into a nice short description. Well guess what, today I'm here to tell you that you don't sell jewelry. Well, yes you do, however jewelry (or knitting or art) is only a small part of what you sell. If someone wanted to buy a pair of earrings they could go to a mall. Why have they come to you?

Because they want a piece of art, they want magic.

YOU are the product.

People shop at craft shows because they want to understand where their items come from. From an outsiders' perspective the life of an artist is a bit of a fantasy, it sounds glamorous and romantic. We play, we create, we bring visions to life, we give them something different than driving the kids to soccer and grocery shopping. Whatever your skill is, it is something the customer can't do. It's magic. It's a little piece of your soul and they are willing to pay for it.

Sell Your Story.

Tell them why you create what you do, where your inspiration comes from. Don't just sell an item, sell an idea. If you use a special technique explain this to them. Explain the terms you use, just because you know what wire-wrapping is doesn't mean that they do.
Take for example this pair of earrings.

Sunshine Earrings - Sailorgirl Jewelry

Lampwork beads, on a headpin, with earring hooks. 100% handmade. Ho hum. Cute as they are, plain old earrings are boring, other designers sell earrings, I sell stories. First I'd start with explaining that I make the beads, then I can explain what lampwork is backed up with photos of me making beads of course. Next I'd talk about how these beads remind me of bright sunshine, maybe what's it's like to walk on the sun, or even Mars. I spend a lot of my life staring at the sun from the deck of my sailboat, ah yes, the sailboat, that's why I'm called Sailorgirl. Now the customer has a story in her ears, a story is very different from a plain old pair of earrings. I've given her a glimpse of what's behind the beads. It's something unique, different from my competitors (always an advantage), and it's what a customer expects from an artist at an art show.

So tell me a story. Who are you? What inspires you? Why do you make what you do?

Now tell your customers this story.

The Business Chat - Your Tagline

How many of you rode an elevator this week and thought about your elevator speech? For those just tuning in last Saturday we discussed the beginning of creating your own brand by creating an elevator speech. Today I'll continue with the second marketing tool that every company (and you, you are a company) should create.

Along with your elevator speech I recommend that everyone create their own tagline. A tagline tells customers what to think about you. Here are 2 excellent taglines:

• Just do it.


• You deserve a break today.

I don't have to say the company name, you know who they are. You also have a strong mental image, know what they make and have certain expectations about their products.
The keys to an effective tagline are:

• It's short and easy to remember.


• You use it repeatedly and prominently.


• It conveys something you want potential customers to remember or feel.

When a tagline conveys a feeling, it helps increase the bond between you and your customers.

Many businesses never develop a tagline, and you don't need one in order to succeed. However, an effective tagline helps you clarify what makes your business special in just a few words. It helps customers remember you and to think about why they should buy your jewellery.

A tagline should be no more than 3 - 7 words, the phrase about you and your product that you want to linger in your target customers mind. When 2 women are in a coffee shop discussing a prospective gift, you want your tagline to pop up in their conversation.

Great taglines appear effortlessly created because they seem to flow. In fact, creating one takes time, just like designing a great logo or writing an elevator speech. Great taglines stick in your memory. Your tagline isn't something that you can just whip up. It will evolve along with your jewellery. Work on your style, let the tagline percolate, and one day it will appear.

I advocate the same method for beginning your tagline as for creating your elevator speech. Every time you sit down and make work, jot down on a notepad the following:

• 5 adjectives that describe your work


• 5 words that jewellery makes you feel

After several months you'll notice that the same words begin to appear over and over. Keep going, you'll get there.

Once you have developed a great tagline, use it everywhere! Business cards, booth posters, web sites, your email signature, splatter your tagline anywhere that your customer will see your name. Now that's good marketing.

The Business Chat - Your Elevator Speech

Last week we discussed the most common problem every small business has, especially new businesses, they can’t define what they sell. How do you market something that you haven’t yet defined?

There are 2 marketing tools that every business should create in order to define their product and convey that information to the customers. The first is your “elevator speech”. All corporate refugees should recognize the elevator speech.
Imagine you get into an elevator in an office building with a bicycle courier and he asks “what do you do?” By the time he gets off, he should know who you are, what your company is and what your company does. Telling him, “I make jewellery” isn’t good enough. Jewellery can be anything. Do you make high-end diamond and gold jewellery, nose rings or hemp bracelets? Telling him, “I really like to make earrings and some necklaces too” isn’t good enough. Think earrings. What mental image do you have? Probably it’s a different image from that of the bicycle courier. I’ll repeat again, if you don’t have an image fixed in a customers mind of your product, you won’t pop up on their mental radar screen when they are thinking of buying more jewellery.

Your "elevator pitch" must be clear and concise. It's not easy to develop an "elevator pitch." It takes quite a bit of thinking and practicing to decide which aspects of your business to mention. Even more frustrating, because an elevator pitch MUST be short, you have to decide what parts to leave out.

For a jeweller, saying “I make earrings” doesn’t give the listener much of a mental image. A better elevator speech could be, “I make jewellery inspired by nature, using silver and semi-precious stones.” Notice you haven’t defined every piece you make, however the listener has a feeling about your work.

An elevator speech isn’t something you can sit down and just whip up. As you develop your jewellery style, come back to this over and over. It will evolve along with your work. Here’s how to start working on your elevator speech. Every time you sit down and make work, jot down on a notepad the following:

• 5 adjectives that describe your work
• 5 words that your jewelry makes you feel

Like everything I recommend in running your business, remember to KISS: keep it simple, smart.

Again, let me ask you this, what do you sell?

Next week we’ll talk about the other important marketing tool you shall create – your tag line.

The Business Chat - let's go marketing!

Merci beaucoup to all who completed last weeks survey. As I pointed out, marketing in this day and age is a 2-way conversation and that survey allowed you to have a voice in the content of my posts here. 87% of you want marketing advice, 73% want online sales tips and craft show advice and general business tips were asked for by 53% of you.

So let’s talk marketing. First we’ll define it. From Wikipedia: Marketing is the process by which a company creates customer interest in its products or services. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business development. It is an integrated process through which companies build strong customer relationships and create value for their customers and for themselves. Marketing is used to identify the customer, to keep the customer, and to satisfy the customer.

I find that most small business crafters, those who sell occasionally to friends or family don’t think they do any marketing at all. They do, everyone has a business card and a business card is the simplest form of marketing. It informs a customer of who you are and what your product is. That in a nutshell is marketing.

Sales are when you knock on a customer’s door.

Marketing is what you do to get a customer to knock on your door.

Advertising is the method you use to publicly acquaint your customers with your product in order to get them to buy what your business is offering.

Why is marketing the most important thing in your business? Because marketing is concerned with attracting customers. Ever try to run a business without customers? The name of the game in marketing is attracting and retaining a growing base of satisfied customers. How does this apply to you? Who doesn’t want to sell more at each show they do or in your online store? In order for your business to be successful, you need to make money. For your business to make money, you need sales. To make or increase sales, you need to market your product effectively. Bottom line: You can increase your sales with some marketing.

When I go to the One of a Kind Show in Toronto (juried show of 850 artists), just by being there I will sell some jewellery. These are what I call random sales. People randomly walk by my booth, stop in and buy. Each customer who walks into the door of a craft show has a limited amount of money to spend. I can passively wait for them to randomly walk by to receive a portion of their cash. Or I can plant my company name in their mind so that when they walk into that show, they look for me first and spend their dollars on my jewellery before they randomly walk into someone else’s booth. Now I have 2 types of sales, those who look for me, and the random sales.

So what can you do to get the customer to look for you first? You need to plant your company name firmly in their brain. We talked about how marketing is to inform a customer who you are and what your product is. Let’s tackle the biggest problem most small crafters have, defining what you sell.

At the start of my seminars, I ask each person to tell me their name and what kind of jewellery they make – essentially to market themselves to me. The answers are always one of two:

1. the simple – “I make jewellery”; or
2. the long-winded – “I’ve always really liked working with wire, when I was 4 I started playing….” And on and on….

Although each of these answers are true, as a consumer in neither instance do I have any idea of what the product is. Jewellery is so vast a creation. Do you make lip rings? Toe rings? Custom Celtic wedding bands? Diamond tennis bracelets? If you can’t define your product, your customer doesn’t know what you’re selling. The ability to define your product enables you to convey a strong image to your customer. A strong image will stay in the customers mind.

I’m going to leave you with a question this week and I’d like you to think about this and send me answers.

What do you sell?

Next week we’re going to start branding your company.