February Month of Marketing

Welcome to your February Month of Marketing, filled with prompts to inspire, develop and promote your small business. Having a small business can be demanding with a never ending list of things to do - making things hard to prioritise. Make February your most productive yet by putting 10-30 minutes aside each day to work on each prompt. Owning your own small business can be lonely at times, so let's use this month to work together on the same jobs on the same days. We'll be having a meetup at the beginning and end of the month so we can all discuss how everything went. Most of these prompts shouldn't take long to do and often can be done from your phone, so you can do some of them on your commute, your lunchbreak, or whenever you have a spare 30 minutes. Do as many as you can and update us on your progress with tagging us @solocraftfair on Instagram and using the hashtag #solomonthofmarketing. Be sure to snap and video your activities for the final prompt!

Download the prompt calendar and information here.

1. Create a list of 5 goals for this year

2. Follow 5 accounts that inspire you

3. Spend time going through your analytics on your website or Etsy page for the past year - any trends you can see developing? Any products that don't appear to be getting many views? What can you do to amend this?

4. Create new photos for 5 of your products

5. Create a video of you making and post this on your socials

6. Make a list of 5 creative opportunities you'd like to apply for this year

7. Try something new on social media that you've never done before - maybe try a reel or go live?

8. Refresh your company blurb - who are you, why do you do what you do? what makes it different?

9. Make a social media post promoting other businesses that inspire you

10. Update the keywords/ tags on 2 of your products with the least traffic and/or sales

11. Create a timelapse of you making and post to social media

12. Take a seasonal photoshoot for your products

13. Update the description of two of your products online, be sure to include lots of keywords

14. Create a Meet the maker post - post something personal to social media to show the person behind the brand and help your customers get to know you - this could be a selfie, a picture of your workspace or even your pet!

15. Make an 'unboxing video'

16. Research how to make your business more sustainable and try and action one idea by the end of the month

17. Brainstorm ideas on how to update your packaging - make a pinterest board if you need inspiration

18. Rest Day - do you need to catchup on any of the previous prompts?

19. Market research time! Ask friends and family to give you feedback on your products and packaging - ask them what words they'd use to search an item online.

20. Set up your Google Merchants Centre (the place you list your products on the 'Shop' tab of Google). If you already have one - check all your product details are up to date and correct

21. Update the description of two of your products online

22. Apply for one of the creative opportunities from your list above

23. Make a diary (whether this be physical or digital) and fill it in with deadlines for the coming year

24. Read an article that interests you from the Etsy Seller Handbook; https://www.etsy.com/seller-handbook

25. Review finances; which products and opportunities have been most financially beneficial? what can you learn from this?

26. Brainstorm ideas and create an action plans for major shopping times through the year; Mother's Day, Easter, Fathers Day, Summer, Halloween, Christmas, Valentines Day.

27. Spend some time reflecting on why you started your business. What was your inspiration? How has your business developed?

28. Make a post or reel of this month, what prompts have you enjoyed? What was the most helpful? Which did you struggle with? Did you manage to complete every prompt?

10 Ways to Improve Sales as a Creative Small Business Owner

We started SoLo Craft Fair back in 2016 running craft markets for makers throughout Southeast London. As makers ourselves we already had experience selling at markets and online, and this experience grew as we started running our own craft fairs. In 2021 we opened our shop in Elephant Park London, and from this we’ve gained a wealth of knowledge about consumer behaviour and habits in a brick and mortar shop.

We’ve put together this post detailing some of the retail tips we’ve learned along the way including what sells best and what can put some customers off!

All shops are different, and have different customer bases with unique spending habits, so these aren’t hard and fast rules for retail, but they are useful if you’re planning on selling your products at our shop.

As a general rule, if you’re not seeing the level of sales you’d hoped for either online/at markets/in a shop, try not to be discouraged! –  Keep trying new things, thinking of creative solutions and experimenting until you get it right. We have seen some of our traders turn around their sales from being slow sellers to our highest performing traders, and they’ve done this by constantly evolving their business and trying new things.

1.       Use clear, easy to understand labels and packaging

We’ve noticed that lots of shoppers are put off looking at a product if it’s not glaringly obvious what it is at first glance. If you sell a product that needs an explanation (perhaps an embroidery kit that comes packaged in a box for example), make sure that the customer can understand the product easily with clear, concise written information and pictures. If the customer has to pick up the product, take off the lid and search for information to understand what it is and how it works, it’s most likely they won’t hang around to do so!

2.       Price everything

A lot of customers will not ask for prices so make sure your price is printed on your product.

3.       Always keep your stock topped up

We’ve noticed that sales can drop if traders do not replenish their stock. The more stock you have in the shop, the more there is for customers to see and buy.

4.       If something sells, restock with the same product

It’s great trying out new products, but if you’ve hit on a best seller, keep restocking that product.

5.      Have multiple product types

Generally speaking, traders with multiple product types tend to sell more. For example, a trader who has 15 unique T shirts in the shop is more likely to have more sales than a trader with 15 of the same T shirt design.

6.       Help your customers understand how to use your product

If you sell a dress that can be worn 5 different ways – show the customer the different ways it can be worn as it might not be obvious to them. You could include pictures on your label to make it clear.

7.       Don’t use plastic packaging

Our customers are very eco conscious and are put off products wrapped in plastic. If you have to use plastic (for art prints for example) make sure it is biodegradable. This is a trend that is probably going to increase as people become more environmentally aware, so why not start now?

8.      Have a varied price range

We find that traders with lots of different items at different prices, tend to make the most sales, as their items appeal to lots of different customers with different budgets.

9.       Know your customer

It’s always a good idea to think about the type of people who will be shopping where you sell your items. Our customers are mostly professionals or families with an age range of 25-50 years. Most of our customers are local so products featuring images of the local area are often popular.

10. Sell seasonal products

Selling scarves in the summer or sandals in the winter is not usually a great idea. People shop depending on the season, so make sure you have the right products ready in time for seasonal occasions like Christmas, Valentine’s, Easter etc.

We hope you’ve found these tips helpful! If you’ve not yet applied to trade with us at our Elephant & Castle pop-up shop please apply here – we look forward to hearing from you!

Where and how to sell your products

You’ve made your products, you’ve worked on your branding - now what? It’s time to start selling. This blog will talk you through the best ways to sell your products - starting from one off sales to how to get into wholesale (however, I strongly recommend starting with the former!).

Markets

Markets are a brilliant, relatively low cost way to get exposure for your products. The reason why I’ve put this first is because you get immediate feedback on which of your products people are drawn to - selling online doesn’t give you this insight.

Research the market before applying to one - think about the location in which the event is taking place and if this demographic is likely to be interested in your product - also have a look on the market organiser’s socials to see photos and videos of previous events to see what the event is like. Take a time to look at other maker’s market setups - some of these can be really impressive - use your creativity to think about the best way to showcase your products.

SoLo Craft Fair

Online

Online marketplaces are a great way to start selling your products. Etsy is probably the most popular platform to sell from as the initial listing fees are quite low and most people using the website are interested in handmade products.

However, don’t just think it is as easy as uploading your products and waiting for the orders to roll in. You will need to brief yourself on basic SEO (search engine optimisation) . If you’re unfamiliar with this, the simplest way I can explain it is this: imagine you sell a gold necklace with a ruby on it, which you name ‘Midnight Dreams’ - no one on the internet will know to search for Midnight Dreams but there will be thousands of people out there looking for ‘Gold Ruby Necklace’. So title and tag your products with something more descriptive. As well as tags, titles and descriptions, there are lots of other SEO tips and tricks to help make your products visible, and the internet is full of guidance and advice for those just starting out.

In addition to Etsy, you can sell on Amazon Marketplace, Depop, Folksy and Numonday.

Boutique Shops

Many Boutique Shops are interested in selling unique products from small businesses and this is a great chance to get your products stocked in a shop. Follow these shops on social media to see if your products would compliment their store and other stock. Most boutiques will reach out to makers they think will fit in their shop but try emailing the occasional shop - but remember not to spam! Note that most shop will expect to pay 50% of RRP.

Trade Shows

Now, Trade Shows are a big investment, so only do this once you’re very confident in your product and brand. To hire a stand at a trade show you’re looking at least £1000 with lots of additional costs. But if successful, a trade show could get you stocked in some of the biggest shops. But I really recommend doing your research prior to singing up. One of the most popular trade shows is Top Drawer.

To see what trading opportunities we have here at SoLo Craft Fair, please go here.