Any regular readers will know how much I go on about the importance of marketing for your craft business. It’s a shame to make all of your delicious craft items when no one out there knows where to buy them! But advertising can be on the pricey side (even I try not to pay much for ads). Well Wendy (the lovely boss lady of Sparkplugging) knows only too well how unhelpful marketing costs can be to a small business so she offering mini prices for ads that appear across the Sparkplugging network.
This is where the ads will appear and they will look like this.
Fancy winning a free spot? Do you like cakes and chocolate – like YEAH!
Wendy is letting me (and other Sparkplugging bloggers) give a spot away as a groovy prize and all you have to do is post a comment to enter:
- tell us what you things you do to market your business.
We’ll be picking winners TOMORROW afternoon. Good luck! 
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Kris is a fun and crafty mom of four. She expresses her creativity as the owner of Jesse Kate Designs, a sewing pattern and machine embroidery brand. Kris also stays busy as the site manager of 
Crissy is the founder of 
Lisa is a generally content (who said generally - don't get her started!) 30 something living in London, who amongst other things sells everything you might need to make unique and lovely handmade handbags at home from her online store 
I am involved in an online E-zine as well as my own blog. Right now I don’t do any official advertizing for either. Though I have advertisers on both. Mostly it is word of mouth through online groups and forums. I am curious to see what ‘real’ ads would do.
Denise’s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday: Bonus pic! Too cute not to share!
I’m trying to make known my small handmade business by only about 6 months. First of all, put the utmost care in my creations, utmost care in customer care and attention to my customers. The feedback so far has always been positive, but are not yet well known. So far, to the detriment of hours of sleep, I upgrade my blog and I recently started a small campaign adv, but the best thing would be to organise a party planetary and say to all: Hello World, I am here.
Wowza – I’m all over this! What things DON’T I do to market my business? I blog, I Twitter, I send out email newsletters (always brings customers back), I not only carry business cards with me, but I also carry promotional postcards with me. I like handing one of these over when someone compliments my bag, instead of a business card – it feels less threatening, plus it has a picture of my product on the front, and little bullets of my line on the back together with my website address.
Carrie S.’s last blog post..Back downtown.
I really need to do more marketing. I have a blog, post on Craftster and belong to a few etsy teams. But really it is not working. This would be a great thing for me and my business. TY
Dena’s last blog post..Two Little Visitors
Whoowho! I was thinking just last night that it was time for me to start looking into advertising. I have not yet tried it.
Things I have done include keeping a blog, posting to etsy forums, regular local craft shows (the bulk of my biz) word of mouth, email list when I have a show or event, Etsy street team (Etsyrain!) and a member of Indiepublic. I think that is all quite alot, but it still isn’t enough!
We are such rookies…we have an Etsy shop but we haven’t dove into the forums, we know that is what is needed to get exposure. I just started blogging…now I have to find out what Twittering is, and I don’t Flicker yet. At some point I have to make the actual product! We have our bags in local shops, attend local fairs and support our artisan friends…our local network. It would be nice to expand!
The most important thing you can do is get yourself out there as much as you can!! And then offer the best service to keep your customers happy and they will tell a friend!!
I also do giveaways at different blogs for advertising.
Thanks for reading!
I am a marketing novice, that’s for sure. I have my blog and am on an appropriate blogring. I comment on other blogs. I keep my blog and etsy store in my sig line for all e-list communications and most of my sales have come from people on non-crafting e-lists. I attend craft related events when I can. What I want to learn about is “Digg” and having a newsletter.
I am unsure about the value (relative to time spent) for me of joining craft forums. If the other members are crafters like me, they will be just as unlikely as I am to buy ready made crafts, preferring to make my own.
What I am interested in is getting word of my particular crafts out to the wider community of people who don’t craft themselves but still like unique things. One way I do that is to take projects with me wherever I go. People are sure to comment and often make an order. I suppose becoming physically visible is the next best step.
Robyn Coburn’s last blog post..Vintage fabrics
I am a polymer clay artist, although i am not new in clay i feel that my marketing skills are not that good, i need to do more to promote my sales but i am not sure how! i wish i had a strong sales person to help me with that and let me keep on the art work, that’s my dream…
I write a blog both in english and in hebrew, my site is well built (i am building sites for a living too), i have a store in Etsy and in Ebay, i belong to an Etsy group (PCAGOE) and i guess that’s about it. i will be happy to get any help available
thanks for the opportunity!
Iris.
I really should do more marketing…
I use the quality of my service as a marketing tool to existing customers and have two mailing lists (one within eBay, one external) that I send to every now and then, usually with an offer.
I also blog, but with that, basically use the type of products that I sell (vintage Japanese fabrics) and highlight ideas for their use. In the beginning, I tried just to “market”, but it felt false and so now I more so just writing about what I’m doing and what is happening in my life.
I plan on opening a store on Etsy soon, but to be honest, finding the time to devote to quality marketing is something that has been delaying my start on there.
Melanie’s last blog post..So excited!
I’ve only recently launched my website and I’m now putting my energies into marketing. I don’t advertise yet as funds are low but I’ve started a blog, I’m on Flickr, I post on craftsforum, theewingforum and have links on my website and blog. I’ve had leaflets printed which I’ve posted round my home town and I’ve joined Made in Yorkshire and will exhibit at the Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate in July – but I know I should do more – whew!
My website has only been up and running for 6 months but is doing well so far. I blog about both my business and my family life as the two are so closely entwined and I think this in itself is a marketing tool. I have compiled a newsletter email this week and am sending that out as we speak, and I also am waiting for some postcards I have on order for the same reason as above – they are less threatening and more personal to hand out xx
Pipany’s last blog post..A whole week!
I haven’t done much advertising. So far it’s been mainly word of mouth. I belong to a scrapbook kit site and the owner has been wonderful about letting me tell the girls what new stamps I have made and she has bought stamps for her kits for the past 3 months. I plan on starting a blog that will link to my website with a friend who does awesome work with paper and stamps. But this is still in the works. Advertising is out of my budget right now so this would be a great kick start for my clear stamp business!!!