Category Archives: Creative and Marketing Advice

Selling Handmade Soap at Markets

One of the best ways for selling handmade soap is at local public markets or fairs. This article gives a ton of great advice for new soap businesses to help them achieve a successful, stress free booth! If you’re still new to fairs or markets, set up your booth at home so that you can estimate how much time you’ll need to set up, and also so you’ll know how to do it.

Once you’re there, check out the competition, and also bring someone with you for when you need to take a break to do that, or when you have to go to the bathroom. Another piece of advice is to dress for success; look presentable, but also invest in branding like an apron with your logo on it. Consider how you’ll accept payment, do you have a Square reader, or are you cash only?

Don’t forget that customer service is key, and that you can make a sale just by creating a relationship with the customer. Sell to the customer’s needs by asking them open ended questions instead of bombarding them with facts. See the rest of the article for more tips!

Read the full story here :: Selling Success at Fairs and Public Markets

Turning Your Soap Hobby into a Business

Making the transition from soap being a hobby to soap being a business can seem a little bit intimidating, but these 5 tips can help you make it happen. You’ll first need to decide important questions like if you have time, where you’ll sell, how much business knowledge you have, will you need assistance, and do you have a vision for your brand?

Next, in order to turn your hobby into a business, you need a plan, passion, and a little patience, it won’t happen over night. To start planning, you’ll need to determine the cost of goods sold. That includes raw materials, labor, and overhead to actually produce the products. Next you’ll want to find your nice! That means determining what makes you stand out from the rest of the competition. Focus on one pinpoint, and develop it.

Then you’ll need to develop a strong brand identity that people can recognize. Use this for branding, packaging, marketing, etc. This will also be important to use when posting on social media. Social media is a crucial part of your soap business, and you should be posting on numbers platforms every day. Check out the tips in the tutorial to get you started!

Read the full story here :: 5 Tips to Take Soaping from Hobby to Business

Where To Sell Your Soap

So you’ve gotten your products ready to sell, now the question is where to sell your own soap? Some options include community markets, online shops like Etsy, or inside actual retail shops, although that may be a bit trickier. It’s important to research your target market first to make sure you are reaching out in the correct way.

One of the most popular ways to sell soap is online. You have a large customer base and you don’t need to invest in additional costs for displays. Two of the most popular sites are Etsy and Ebay, then you can use a Facebook page to help promote them. There are many tutorials on how to set up shops and promote them with social media or a blog as well.

Selling at a market or craft fair is a great way to sell to your local community, and often has it’s advantages since people can see, touch, and smell the soap products. You’ll also get the opportunity to make relationships with people so that they’ll come back for more.

Read the full story here :: Where to Sell Products: Online, Markets and Retail

Holiday Greetings This Year Makes More Craft Sales Next Year

After a good year of craft or soap sales, it is important to take a moment and reflect upon all that has happened in the past year. The holiday season is a time for appreciation and expressing that to those you care about. Why not show an additional appreciation to your craft customers?

As corny as it sounds, putting a personal touch helps customers remind themselves of you, reminds them of your products, and forges a connection. Writing a small note or an email thanking your customers for their business lets them know that there is a person behind the craft or soap they bought. Heck, if they subscribe to your newsletter, maybe add in a special coupon code for their next purchase as a thank you. It can only help create a bond and continued business into the New Year. For more on this topic, please click here:: The Importance of Customer Holiday Greetings

 

Use Your Craft Shop Negativity to Make Positive Results

While a positive mindset has always been touted as the root for success, it might not fit your personality. The stereotype is that negative thinkers are naysayers, are unlikeable curmudgeons, and won’t amount to anything because of their negativity. However, that’s not true. Sometimes negative thinking can lead to better decisions for your craft shop business.

By thinking negatively, you can see what possibilities that can go wrong and take steps to avoid them. It also allows you to think critically about certain decisions and which ones to choose based on the process of elimination. While being a grump isn’t pleasant, taking that negative part of yourself can help create a realistic balance against your dreams in order to achieve tangible success in your craft sales. For more on how being negative can be positive, click here:: The Positive Results of Being Negative

Tips to Attract Bloggers to Your Craft Product

Craft and soap bloggers are always looking for the newest item or product to feature. It gives the blogger content to write about and it also gives you a showcase to show off your work to prospective customers. So what can you do to attract bloggers to your wares?

First, make sure that your craft or soap is actually worth writing home about. A unique design, high value, originality, and personality always win out over normality. Also, be sure you have high quality photos of your craft products. This not only can help sales at your store, but also attracts the eyes of the bloggers and writers. There’s also no shame to approach a blogger that you enjoy, introduce yourself, ask if he or she would do a feature on you or your product, and send them a link with pictures. It can definitely help you promote your stuff. For a full article on this topic, click here:: 5 Things Bloggers Look for When Choosing Work To Feature

Number of Soap Sales Does Not Equal Success

Sadly, too many people believe that the number of sales you have made determines the success of your online soap or craft shop. It seems like the simple metric to follow, but many who don’t get giant sales numbers feel like failures when that is not the case. So what should a person do to accurately calculate their success in craft sales?

First, try not to let go of the personal accomplishment. Every sale you do make, no matter if it’s a giant number or not, validates you. Keep the thrill that someone enjoys your work. Secondly, it’s not the number of units sold, it’s the amount of revenue and profit the business is making. Someone with a larger sales number could be selling the product at a lower price. In fact, you could be actually making more money selling less goods than your competition due to the price difference. For more on this topic, click here:: Stop Focusing on the Number of Sales You’ve Made & Start Focusing on What Actually Matters

From Hobby to Career

One of the beautiful things about this craft hobby we have and love so much is the fact that if you love it to death, and are passionate about it, then it can definitely become more than just a hobby. It can become a career. That’s what has happened for many people I know, friends who have been passionate about their craft, who are really great at it, and have found some success about it.

Their passion has taken them from the local craft show to stores on etsy and portfolios on pinterest. This growing trend has been absolutely awesome and awe-inspiring to watch.

Maybe you have a desire to grow more in this area and are wondering how to start. Well, if you do find yourself thinking about such things, we have a little treat for you today. The Weapons of Mass Creation is a conference held every year focused on those who are building there own brand craft companies. It gives ideas, direction, and even stories from others who have gone before to inspire.

The nice thing about this conference is that they place many of their speakers presentations online, and you can take a look today at this wonderful conference and find a bit (or my guess is “a lot a bit”) of inspiration from these awesome crafties.

Watch and be inspired! Take a look here for one of the videos, and then take the jump for some more goodness:

Now take the jump…

Read the full article here: Weapons of Mass Creation