by Chuck on March 14, 2008
Here’s the text of an email I just sent out to the entire Craft Business Blog community…
No… I’m not losing my mind!
A couple of days ago, I posted on the blog about completely redefining how I offer products on the CraftBusinessBlog.com site.
(if you missed it, you can see it here:
http://www.craftbusinessblog.com/missing-in-action/)
In the 3rd and 4th paragraphs of that post, I basically explain that I’m going to be offering much smaller – and more affordable – products that are more targeted to your needs. And, I’m going to be taking a lot of the bonuses that have only been available as part of the product packages and offering them at no charge to the Craft Business Blog community.
I’ve had more than a couple of crafters email me and ask:
“Did you hit your head or something?”
Well, it may seem like bad business to lower prices and give a lot of great material away for free, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about for quite a while now.
[click to continue…]
by Chuck on March 12, 2008
If you want to succeed in today’s over saturated business environment, you need to have a story for your craft business.
Why? Because people are completely overwhelmed by the amount of information they process on a day-to-day basis. With hundreds of television channels, regular and satellite radio, and not to mention the Internet, today’s buying public is exposed to hundreds – if not thousands – of marketing messages each and every day. It’s getting harder and harder to stand out in the crowd, and most businesses are becoming part of a generic landscape with very little distinguishing them from the next provider in their market. You can barely distinguish one pizza place from the next, one gas station from the next, one plumber from the next.
Which businesses stand out from the crowd? It’s the businesses that have an easily identifiable story that resonates with their market. A story that defines what the business is about, and what customers and potential customers can expect in every dealing they have with your business. And, a story that your customers will tell others, passing your story along and championing your cause.
[click to continue…]
by Chuck on March 12, 2008
I’m not going to bore you with the details, but I’ve been missing in action for the past couple of weeks thanks to the joys of technology. Who would have thought that routers and wireless Internet cards would be so complicated that you could take out your Internet access for a while.
But, now that I’ve got my technology troubles under control, I’m going to start providing the content I promised based on the opinion poll. The first new article will be in a separate blog post so it’s easier to find.
In other news, I’m also looking to completely redefine the products I offer here on the site. So instead of having a large product package with lots of bonuses, I’m going to be chunking the product down into smaller pieces at a much reduced price. That way, you’ll be able to get more targeted information based on your exact needs instead of a complete general business guide package.
[click to continue…]
by Chuck on February 29, 2008
I’m in the process of pulling together some ideas for my first big article around the new topic areas. I’m going to start with “how to sell your crafts” with a particular emphasis on why you need to create a story and price HIGHER. I know it sounds a little bit crazy, but if you want to succeed, you really need to work on the high end of the market (or at least the mid-high end).
Now, for some light housekeeping…
As I mentioned a couple days back, I am in the process of changing my email delivery methods. From now on, I’m going to be sending out an email when I post to the blog. This will make it easier to not only keep in touch with the Craft Business Blog community in a more organized fashion, but will also make sure all of the content is archived on the blog. But, since I’m switching the methods, you may receive duplicate emails from me if you signed up to the Craft Business email list over the past two months. I’ll eventually remove the 45 or so people from the older blog list, but I wanted to apologize up front for duplicate emails.
Finally, here is a great post from Seth Godin, a true marketing genius. This post is about frequency, and how you need to keep in touch with customers and potential customers on a regular basis:
Click here to visit Seth’s blog
Seth’s blog is a must-read for me, and mostly to open my mind up to new ideas about marketing and business in the Internet age.
So, watch for a much longer post this weekend about selling your crafts and creating a craft business that you will be able to sustain no matter what the economic climate.
Talk to you soon,
Chuck
by Chuck on February 26, 2008
WOW!!!!
All I can say is, “WOW!” As of today, there have been 418 respondents to my short poll, “What Are You Most Interested In Learning?” And for the most part, the results are very clear. Here are the top three responses based on your feedback:
- How to sell my crafts – 67%
- Marketing tips and tricks – 54%
- Selling my crafts online (eBay, etsy) – 49%
So, almost 50% of you wanted to focus on these three topics.
What does this mean? It means I’ll be putting a lot of my efforts into tailoring the content of the Craft Business Blog to your areas of interest. So, starting some time this week (most likely over the weekend), I’ll start pulling together some great content that covers these topics.
But first, I wanted to thank everyone who participated. I never expected such a large response, and I’m really glad to see that you really do pay attention to those funky little emails I send out.
And… one more thing. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to make sure everyone was updated when the blog is updated. I think I have it figured out, but I’m not a super-technical guy so I may do the wrong thing. So if you receive multiple emails over the next few days, I apologize in advance.
Thanks again!
Chuck
