Have you been kind of disappearing on your customers? Do you blog or spend time on social media only once in a blue moon? These habits can hurt customer loyalty. Plus for any given post, update or mailing, only a portion of your readers and followers will see it let alone click through on it. If you look at your Facebook updates, you can see at the bottom how many people actually SAW it. It’s only a portion of all your fans, right?
So how do you market in spite of these bumps in the road to sales? If you are serious about this business and you want it to be more than a hobby that pays for your own scrapping supplies, I think it’s vitally important to have regular updates and valuable content for your readers and fans. With as many designers and stores as there are out there, I believe you need to do more than simply advertise new releases a couple times a month. Getting yourself out there on a regular basis without trying to generate sales will build loyalty and awareness of your brand (YOU!) and later translates into the sales that everyone is looking for. Be patient, though – it can take a while to build up a following. It does take work and mental stamina. For me, I spend at least as much time marketing as I do creating products. It used to be the other way around. I made the mistake of focusing too much energy on the part of this business that I enjoy (designing) and not enough on the part that is hard for me (marketing). But I found that my frustration level got pretty high with not selling very much. For me, that is a creative energy drain!
I’m going to guess that there are parts of your regular job that you don’t like but you do it anyway. Designing and running CUDigitals is my only source of income but I’m responsible for running my household as well. I dislike laundry but I do like wearing clean clothes so I do the thing I don’t like in order to get the thing I want. I encourage you today to think about those parts of marketing that you don’t like or that scare you a little bit and try to make a plan to tackle them. It might be the thing you’re willing to do that another designer isn’t so it will put you ahead in the game.
Do you need more in-depth help with getting serious about your design business? I’m excited to tell you that there will be a special session of Biz Camp over at Create More Media this fall. It’s specifically for digital scrapbook designers. Jennifer will be covering things like mailing lists, social media, marketing and blogging. This is an incredible online resource for digital scrapbook design professionals that would be MORE than worth your time and money to check out. I have participated in biz camp twice and have learned some invaluable information! I have quadrupled my mailing list, more than doubled my sales and developed a new, dynamic (and effective) online presence after implementing just SOME of the ideas from Biz camp. Attending biz camp became a big turning point in my design business. It was worth every penny invested to attend.
Do you want to be able to increase your readership and sales? You can leave Biz Camp with a personalized action plan that can help you get to the next level in design income. That’s how it worked for me! Click the graphic below to get more information.
Good luck~
Christine Smith (http://christinesmith.net)
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