Raise the profile of your handmade craft business by focusing on these key areas
Getting seen increases the chances of attracting opportunities and selling your handmade crafts. This requires mastering the art of raising your profile to get your handmade craft business in front of more of your right customers.
You can raise the profile of your handmade craft business by focusing on these key areas:
Market your business
Raising your profile requires putting yourself out there and telling people what you do. Marketing is an essential part of running your business. Marketing goes hand in hand with finances because the better you are at marketing what you do the more impact it can have on the level of money coming into your business. Marketing is all about creating awareness. It helps you build trust and credibility amongst your audience and customers. Marketing involves many activities ranging from having a website to running ads, from blogging to interviews and so much more. You must choose the right marketing strategies to achieve your business goals and raise your profile.
Implement an SEO strategy
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is the process of driving traffic to websites, specific web pages or social pages using search engines. Stats show that 53% of website traffic comes from organic search (BrightEdge), that is people using search engines like Google and Bing to type in what they’re looking for and click on the links that pop up. There are also about 83.5 million searches carried out on Google every day (Statista), equating to a lot of people using the search engine to find what they need. This makes SEO a powerful tool for you to use in your marketing strategy to increase the visibility of your handmade craft business and get people onto your website. If you don’t have a website yet consider getting one to showcase and share the stories of your work and help boost your SEO. Also, with the increasing use of AI, the way we use SEO is changing, so keep that in mind when creating your strategy.
Brand your business
To brand your craft business is to package and present it in a way that helps your work stand out from the crowd. A brand creates awareness by reflecting on what your work is about and making your business recognisable to your audience. A brand includes the logo, colours, style of images and the type of stories you create. The best brands are thoughtfully considered, so take the time to design a brand that does your creations justice. Keep in mind a brand does not have to be fancy and expensive. Clean and simple works best. We have resources to help you craft your unique brand, including our signature course, The Makers Guide to Building a High-End Handmade Craft Brand.
Create and share compelling stories
One of the best ways to raise your profile is through storytelling. The stories you create and share to tell people about your craft business will do the heavy lifting of raising your profile. Meaningful, authentic stories serve to create emotional connections. Stories that connect get people talking about your creations and recommending them to their family, friends, colleagues and others. People love a good story and the humanness at the centre of the stories you create is what makes them special. In the age of AI-generated content, you have the opportunity to stand out by sharing your unique story of how your handmade craft business and creations came to be. If learning to create real brand stories is something you want to do, we’d love to help you, have a look at our signature course, The Makers Guide to Authentic Brand Storytelling. Or get in touch to learn more about our exclusive Storytelling Service for Makers and what we can do for you.
Promote your craft creations in person
Promoting your craft business digitally has huge benefits to connecting with audiences near and far, however, don’t discount the importance of real-life connections. Take your handmade craft business marketing offline by showcasing your creations at in-person events such as craft fairs, markets and tradeshows. If positioning your creations in the high-end craft and design sector is your goal participating in [prestigious] events is an important part of your strategy. In-person events enable buyers and collectors to see your work for themselves. especially when high price tags are involved. The ability to view objects in person can give them the confidence to spend their money with you. Real-life events also provide you with the opportunity to network with your peers, industry leaders and journalists.
Unleash the power of PR
One of the most effective ways to raise your profile is through PR (Public Relations). PR is the process of getting press coverage for your business and crafts through features in reputable magazines, newspapers and digital platforms. Press coverage can get your name and work in front of your desired audience quicker than solely relying on tools such as social media. With the right strategy, PR can lend your handmade craft business and creations an air of credibility, which in turn can attract more PR opportunities to keep raising your profile. A PR strategy is something you can do yourself, with a bit of planning. Our signature 2-hour course, The Makers Guide to Doing Your Own PR, gives you all the information you need to put your PR strategy together.
There are many ways makers can raise awareness of their creations. The ones outlined in this post are just some of the essential areas to focus on to raise the profile of your handmade craft business. We hope you’ve found them useful.
– The Wonderfully Well Made Team
[Image credits: The images shown belong to Plann via Pexels. If downloaded and used elsewhere please credit accordingly.]
