MORE MARKETING MADDNESS

Hi Guys... In case you missed it... SSC made it to the front page of Etsy. It was a grand moment for me, like my official craft badge... It was amazingly validating especially since the item that was chosen was something that I personally LOVED. Those items are the most fun to make for me.
So on to our post topic... The little front page thing kinda made me kick it in gear in terms of marketing MADNESS. As in how can I kick this up a notch...
So I'm doing Twitter.... and Facebook.... (I pretty much live on facebook personally so this is not so difficult for me.) I use Tweetdeck to manage my personal/business stuff cause its easy...
Then one day I got bored got on facebook and started looking up companies...
I started with Victorias Secret... Cause I had heard on several blogs that their fan page was BadASS.
So I checked it out...
http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=victorias+secret&init=quick#/vspink?ref=search&sid=1304828206.1150368635..1

I was like thats cool and unboring... I hate the boringness of the Facebook fanpage...
and I was like I'm all graphic designerish... This can't be that hard to figure out...
Well it kinda was... but i think the result is WELL worth the trouble.
Check this out. The new improved ShesSoCrafty Fanpage for Sunflower Express: http://www.facebook.com/shessocraftyartanddesign

And how praytell did I accomplish this???
Well it all goes back to this wonderful application called Static FBML...
Search for it in applications and when it comes up click the text that says add to page...
This wonderful little app lets you use HTML on your fanpage for anything...
That's how I got the etsy shop badge on the side of my fanpage and how I was able to link out the images...
So I was wondering... If I could build a whole page, in like photoshop or illustrator and then using images and slice it up save it as html upload the images to my web server and then drop the html in the page and TADA. Custom linked out facebook fanpage. It makes it a little more interesting and WAY COOLER TO LOOK at... I will be hoping to add a full fledged tutorial for this shortly...
If anybody sees this and has any questions FEEL FREE to contact me and I will be glad to help you out... See Branding is your vision and I think its way cooler and funner to have that vision be interesting and make someone want to stay and hang out...
I'm currently running a facebook add (re you should add the visa business app to your page to get the hundred dollar add credit I'm hoping by the time all is said and done I will have like a hundred fans.) I plan to seriously use facebook to market my business and now I think this new format reflects and consolidizes my info in a more cohesive manner. Which is TRES AWESOME. Ok I'm gonna go eat some tacos now.

OOOOO new stuff...

I find that sometimes when I have the craft blues I need to challenge myself... Push myself a little bit further and a little bit out of the comfort zone... after all that is where you stagnate and become dull and nobody wants to be a boring crafter (think Great Aunt Tina and her crazy socks).
So ShesSoCrafty is taking a test drive in the floral facinator market... granted this is a hot market on etsy but I'm trying to add my own little spin on it and make it just a little bit Lisa. So just thought I'd share some pics of what I am working on!

Remember nothing beats Craft Ennui better than a challenge... self initiated or otherwise.

31 Things I've learned in 31 years

That's right folks ShesSoCrafty is turning 31! Does this freak me out? Not so much. I think I've finally gotten to the place where I am comfortable in my own skin. I have finally embraced being a generally more healthful person.
So I'm totally owning 31. After reflecting for some time I have realized that I have gained alot of knowledge about living in my humble years.
So here it is Lisa's 31 things I've learned in 31 years:

1) Say No. If the idea of doing something or being something that you don't want to be, just put your lips together and say NO.

2) Remember that not everyone's family is created equally. Sometimes the family you make is better, more nourishing and welcoming than the one you were born into. Being born is kinda like a crap shoot.

3) Come to terms with the fact that I will never know EVERYTHING.

4) There is no cure for the blues than a good tube of lip gloss and a hot dress and some cute shoes.

5) You will turn into your mother in some ways... If this idea petrifies you modify the things you can and deal with the crap you can't.

6) If you are a parent the only thing you can do is cross your fingers and jump off the bridge and pray you won't screw up your kid in the same ways your parents screwed you up...

7) & Accept the fact that you will screw them up somehow but hopefully it will be a good screw vs. a bad screw

8) Find Something you love passionately and find a way to make that your career or at least incorporate it into your life on a major level.

9) Stand up for yourself. If you don't no one else will.

10) Doormats are household accessories, and not something I will ever be.

11) Realized that Perfect is the most boring adjective EVER.

12) To love the quirky parts of myself, like the mole on my baby toe, the scar on my hand from climbing a fence when I was 12, my addiction to hotpink nail polish, my aversion to creamy salad dressings and mayonnaise all help to make me me.

13) To realize that my attractiveness in no way corresponds to my dress size...

14) Creativity is and always will be an integral part of my life. Without it I am bound to wither on the vine.

15) Men come and go but your girlfriends will be there to hold your hand when you cry, and hold your hair back when you puke.

16) That the ability to speak your mind with force AND tact is a very valuable skill.

17) Kenny Rogers said it best "You gotta know when to hold em, Know when to fold em, Know when to walk away, Know when to run."

18) That everyone needs to take time to take care of themselves, myself included.

19) Bubble Baths are the answer to world peace.

20) That I will never be normal... or want what everyone else wants, this is the beauty of being me.

21) That Love is only as strong as the risks you take to make it and the easier you make it to recieve it.

22) When it comes to work my self worth is worth MORE to me than any dollar amount anyone can ever give me.

23) A path untaken is a regret waiting to happen. So make sure to consider all of the options carefully.

24) All men are not created equal. If he makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up sometimes it might not be for a good reason.

26) LOVE MY BODY! From which a 9lbs 14 oz son was pulled, has climbed mountains, walked hundreds of thousands of miles, lifted the heaviest of objects and can open the tightest of jars all by myself.

27) Fear is stupid.

28) Change is exhiliarating.

29) Trust my insticts. If something gives me pause there is usually a reason for it.

30) The man that loves you for your mind is usually the one who will love you even more for your body.

31) That speaking your mind is the equivalent to a loaded weapon, when you aim, aim carefully and aim precisely...

So what have you learned?

Crafty Marketing: or My Weekend of Marketing Madness

Ok so most Etsy Sellers have heard that the secrets to success are off Etsy marketing. Well this is a daunting task... I know for me I would personally rather stick a knife in my eye than spend a whole lot of time marketing my Shop, when I could be spending that time creating.
So I have taken a few steps into the Marketing Wilderness. I will chronicle some of that journey for you now!

Step one... I'm one of those troublesome etsy shops now where the username doesn't match the shop name DOH! I've kinda started to establish my shop. I kinda like where it's going and the awesome feedback. So I want to keep it at least temporarily. So I worked out a way to standardize all of my marketing materials. I developed my SSC logo last year and use it extensively for my Graphic businness... A strong imagery is important to branding. So I wanted to use the cool logo (see below as to how I created that), and use it as the distinguishing and recognizable brand piece. I love the idea of textures and I didn't want to just throw the logo on a background, so I put it in a frame threw up a very nice textured linen background and used a classy but modern font called advent (found for free on the internets) and Voila. Branding Material. Next I figured lets carry this imagery onto a business card. Opened up photoshop designed a custom business card using all of the afore mentioned elements, went on over to Vista Print and ordered up some cards.
Next I needed to address the website. I wanted a site that was fun, decorative and me, and yet with a simple interface. So I WIPED my old SSC site that was graphic related all flashy and illustratored out and started redesigning the site. I still need to add my graphic business to the site which will come in a few weeks when I have some down time. BUT the site presents all of the information on the Craft business and how it works and is handled. I hope to be adding more content and more detailed information on the individual products as well, BUT for now it serves it's purpose well. I highly recommend Office Live... It has GREAT features once you get familiar with how the system works... I've tried both ways and I HIGHLY recommend not using the third party design tools... I know right??? A graphic designer says to use the crappy templates... Ha Ha I took a basic element and with a bit of java and html turned it into something sweet in the SSC style! It worked out well... You just need to figure out how to trick out the Office Live templates and pretty much anything is possible... feel free to email me and I will tell you how I did everything including hooking the site up to analytics!!!
Next step was hey lets do some marketing... So I had this facebook fan page just kinda hanging out... my first step was to locate a facebook ad promo code (yes they have them and you should search for them right now) I found a code for 50 dollars in free advertising... Awesome I got my page some fans and a nice base to start with.
Next I figured generating some hits on my webpage might be kinda awesome as well, so remember earlier when I told you that I ordered business cards from Vista Print??? They have a promotion when you order you can chose to recieve a promo code for Google Ad words... which was for 50 dollars as well. I signed up all my info and ran an ad... The Ad words credit got eaten up in about 5 hours you must watch this one to make sure it doesn't go over. But I got some traffic to the site AND the Etsy Shop... Because the shop tab on my website redirects directly to my Etsy shop. Eventually I plan on having a shopping cart on my site, but for now I'm redirecting anyone interested in seeing products directly to the shop from my website. Now I can market the crap out of the website which is a url I own and I can manage traffic, tweak things as I see fit and I can control my SEO. In the Etsy forum someone once said I have my own URL that I market with a redirect to my site and I don't have to worry about what Etsy is doing cause I don't market my shop I market my website. This sounded like good advice and it makes sense! So, so far so good. Feel free to take any of these tips and run like a crazy person with them!

Hello Again!

Ok so it's been a hot minute... so I apologize for that... But I had lots of stuff going on! So lets update from where we left off... Sunflower Express the Show seems to be headed towards hiatus-ville for the indefinite future and I have decided that instead of letting all that hardwork go to waste, I would keep the shop open and EVENTUALLY (as in when it seems appropriate) merge Sunflower Express with ShesSoCrafty on Etsy. For now the shops are seperate and doing well.

I have just completed the first straight etsy wholesale order and it went very well!

I will say this much... Think about your pricing hard core before you dive into wholesaling make sure the money is worth the time and effort, and remember unless you are a seller who has gobs of stuff hanging out all the time to just choose from, you will be making stuff and that takes away from time you could be making other stuff like for your shop or for shows. Pricing is key and it keeps you motivated if you know that you are getting paid decently for your products.

I posted in the forums on Etsy as to how to handle an on Etsy Wholesale order as they were foreign to me. I got lots of helpful information but I think the decision on how you handle things is completely up to you. For this first order I chose to go thru E. If this ends up being a return order I will definitely then consider going off Etsy and conducting this my self thru invoicing. Some people are very leary of being scammed, I on the other hand like to be a little bit flexible in determining my terms depending on the order and the customer. All in all this was a delightfully pleasant experience. I hope it leads to loads more!

Back to the blog front.... I will be trying to get myself back into a normal grove with this.... I will also be trying to migrate my SE handmade content over here as well so I don't loose those posts either! So regardless if you are a reader thanks for stopping by and I look forward to lots of crafty bits in the future!

Cheers

L

NEWY McNEW NEW...

So what have I been up to for the last month???? Making stuff. Of course :). I have been experimenting with colors and different techniques. I'm approaching this like play time (which it is). Felt really truly is one of my favorite mediums to play with. I am preparing for the Philadelphia Buyers Market which will hopefully help me rake in some wholesale accounts and hopefully some CASH. Hopefully Etsy sales will start trickling in again...
Sunflower Express has also begun two other shops. We have one on ArtFire called The Felted Underground, and another on 1000markets called that as well. I am still adjusting to the managing the multiple venues deal. Tricky, Tricky.
I have been doing alot of reading lately about trends.
I mean seriously is anything really new? Is there really an original idea to be had? When it comes to colors, and shapes and styles isn't the designers job now just to regurgitate all of those things into something that doesn't resemble day old bread? I spend alot of time looking at pictures for inspiration of not just felt stuff but clothing and "real" jewelry (don't forget shoes, they are my favorite peice of architectural accessories). I fully realize my style vacillates between kitch and uptown girl but I'm doing that with felt so that (at least in my mind) still makes it cool. I think of it as a little hippie chick with a dash of gypsy and a pinch of bohemiana (I SWEAR TO GOD IF I START MY OWN LINE THAT IS What i'm calling it.)
Preparing the line for The wholesale show has gotten me really thinking about the details of it all the small things, the prepping, the making sure everything is just right and just so. It's nerve wracking and exhilarating at the same time... I'm like this all the time but for this I want it to be spectacular... I want it to be special. So I work my ass off lol... Here you can see some of the current work.

Things I'm learning Thru Our Etsy Shop

Ok so when I opened my first shop concentrating on my fine art and illustration it was tough... I didn't know how to market it, I was just kinda thowing coins in the air and seeing where they lay. It took me a year to get 6 sales on etsy. When we started the Sunflower Express shop Knowing what I have learned in Marketing the show and running that business on a completely different level, I think I started to approach the new etsy shop in a completely different way.
Marketing is key. I use all of my social skills to market sometimes it is completely overwhelming how much time I actually spend marketing. Of course this takes some of the fun out of the whole creating for a living thing but IT WORKS.
I love seeing what other people are working on and how they interpret life thru what they create... You can tell A lot about someone based on what they create. I'm drawn to the quirky stuff on etsy... I can spot a fellow quirkster a mile away.
Our intention was to create lots of stuff for kids but the whole CPSIA nonsense kinda killed that. I create stuff for adults mostly now... kids really love our cuff bracelets and button rings. Hopefully if the stupid law can get changed or repealed I can go back to doing that in the future. But the line is taking off.
We got some of our notecards in a boutique in Berlin Maryland called A Perfect Touch on Main Street. Its the cutie little town where they shot the movie Runaway Bride. Which is very cool if only for the fact that I love that movie.

I'm learning to branch out. To not be scared and to just get out there and mix it up. I know alot about alot of things just thru my experiences in graphic design and illustration thru SSC A&D. I don't mind sharing and I utilize etsy's forum to share my knowledge and also to draw from the knowledge of everyone else in that very diverse and knowledgeable community.
Most importantly I have learned that I've got good taste and if you work your ass off and are slightly anal retentive you can put out a whole lotta work! AND you can start to sell.
Our shop got off the ground for real in the beggining of May I now have 3 sales. Not bad in a month and a half especially with a line that is very different from most jewelry out there. I hope to continue to find out niche market and capitalize on the cool, unique factor of our stuff.

Sunflower Express will continue to get out there and do the whole craft circuit and I'm seriously persuing wholesaling now. I also would love to approach other blogs about doing a feature. I'm no media whore by any means... I'm waiting for the show to take off so we can hire a Ms. Crafty... (I'm joking, Maybe not joking lol...) But exposure is a plus!