Struggling to Promote Your Handmade Business? Maybe THIS is Why

If you are struggling to promote and grow your handmade business it could be because you're applying strategies that simply weren't made for you. As handmade sellers, our businesses are creative and so what works for us, often looks very different to the common advice we see online.

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[KimBliss]

EDIT: Since this video was published, Made In The Moment has since come out as non-binary and uses the pronouns, they/them. My apologies for misgendering. The name of their channel is currently the same. Everything else I said still stands, their channel is fab and well worth a watch and subscribe. Happy pride month you gorgeous lot and remember, be nice or get in the bin. 😁🌈

[danielajohnson]

Thank you so much for mentioning that there are people who love and appreciate the handmade for the time and skills it takes. I have met quite a few at craft shows and I can tell you that they are out there!! Everybody : don’t give up! 😊 And supporters: THANK YOU 🙏

[Absintheskiss]

I once used POD to design mugs as Christmas presents for my DnD chums. It had a dice design covered in swirly ribbons, each ribbon had the name of a character in our party. They loved it.

[michelleg]

As I’m sitting here, working at my kitchen table, looking around, “Can she see me?”

[falcieridesigns]

I've very recently had a eureka moment with my marketing. Historically nothing works for me. Social media is an endless oversubscribed doom scroll which I loathe, and my business channel is not for potential customers. But I've just had an uptick in my sales on my Shopify store and I've realised it's because I have been advertising and talking about it, inadvertently, on my personal YouTube channel which is a frugal lifestyle/day in the life channel. That is where community is for me and for many of my subscribers. And apparently this is where my customer base is too. Of course, it seems obvious, but my non marketing brain just hadn't worked it out until now. :) I think that the only people who say handmade is dead, are the people who don't buy handmade, or tried it and weren't an overnight success.

[christineseguin]

"Said with love, light, and sparkles" ❤

[starlanewton]

Right on! I wish there was a site like Etsy that would be strictly handmade only!

[mariarzyt_D]

I enjoyed listening to you, great video! I am currently trying out some stuff and learning about selling my art too, and it's a bit difficult since my art is entirely made by me, but it's all 3D Printed. I have the feeling that lots of people wouldn't like the label "handmade" put on 3D Prints for different reasons (either they believe the computer generates everything for you, which is not true at all, or because a machine is making the physical shapes out of plastic), but let's see

[piniki]

Literally working from my kitchen table as you say "some of us are working from our kitchen table" 😂

[ninetiesperson]

I'm a kitchen table queen. Design, making, photography and packing it all happens there. Your videos are always entertaining and informative. Slow is my speed, which is handy.

[Eowyn]

I agree totally with your POD stance. It has a place. The design can still be created by a person. But it should be a different category than handmade. I have purchased both-on purpose.

[KitnKatShop]

I think you are my new "best friend" - lol. My partner and I have a small, VERY niche handmade business - one that relies on the sense of community and shared hobby to succeed. So many things I kept yelling out YES! to. Thank you for this. I shared it with my friends who are also in the same small handmade niche as us.

[gillianmcmurray]

Funnily enough, I was thinking about something you said in this video just today - that the people who like handmade often have links to the handmade and crafting community. I agree! Looking back at the people who have bought my handmade stuff over the years, they were - and are - creative people. I started a Substack this week. I like to write so I'm hoping it might be more community-like than anything Facebook, Insta, etc can offer.

[JeannieGrayKnits]

Thank you! This was perfectly timed. My business has always been a hobby business although I've dreamed of it supporting me in a much more lavish lifestyle than I currently have. The problem with that dream is that I'm too lazy/not willing to put in the effort to earn lavish lifestyle amounts of money. I've recently retired from my "real" job and here in the US, upon retirement, you are only allowed to have a certain (pretty low) amount of additional income. I have spent the past couple of months being excited about the opportunity to spend so more time on my business while also feeling like a failure because my business will never be able to grow enough to earn thousands a week, all while trying to ignore/hide the fact that in all honesty, I have zero desire to work hard enough to earn thousands a week. This video made me realize why I've been feeling so frustrated/anxious/irritated/ almost since the day I started my business. Between this video and retirement, I've been given permission to chill out and ignore all the 'hustle' advice. I can't express the weight that has been lifted since watching this. Thank you!!

[bozthescrewup]

Designers and artists should be able to put their work out and pod is great for that! As someone who designs and 3D prints his products I 100% agree with the hand made category idea, even though I wouldn’t expect it to include me, even though I do produce my products entirely on my own.

[the.toxic.phoenix]

I have a FB group for my community, I talk about my experiences and share relevant articles, quotes, memes etc. It created friendships, and many repeat customers. I very rarely did videos, and I'm an introvert, but I enjoyed being there, which makes a difference. I've even had continuing repeat customers despite not doing anything with it now for over a year (life is crap right now).

[jf]

I'm learning how to do laser engraving for jewelry...among other things. Your discussion of a maker with a community perfectly describes an Etsy (!!) company called Monarch Pine. The owner sells materials for laser engraving and has an excellent Facebook page where she provides both info for how to engrave her products (very helpful for newbies like me) and, of course, the materials themselves. She's not just shilling, she is, as you say, both setting up a community and giving to it. Your insight here is spot on.

[SilverPunkPour]

8:32 100% on this, im in a discord server group which has over 350 people in who just love buying silver and talking about it!

[nicsmandalas]

What a great video! Your videos have really helped me on my newbie path to making content and hopefully one day, selling my new work I'll be 62 soon and am a lapsed professional artist but have become so isolated due to my husband's serious illness. I morphed into a caregiver and that has taken most of my time and energy (a labor of love!) and I don't really have a community any more. Trying to rebuild one at my age will be a challenge. Anyway, I really appreciate your videos.

[rebeccaledford]

Love light and sparkles needs to be a mug!
Also, many years ago
i read an article by Etsy about how to have a successful shop, and it highlighted a woman who had turned herself into her own factory worker making scores of the same thing all day every day. I thought, well, that's not what I want so maybe this Etsy thing isn't for me.
Thanks for giving me something to look forward to on Mondays!