Effective Advertising – Target Potential Buyers

Sarah Stahl, from the Etsy shop mrsdstahl, frequently shares advice to other Etsians in the Etsy.com forums.  Our HandmadeMarketing.org team came across a thread about Etsy shop advertising and were blown away by Sarah’s knowledge.  We were happy Sarah decided to tell us about how she turned from “typical advertising” to taking a risk with her adversiting dollars.

Sarah started by telling us about what she calls “Mis-Advertising”.  “A few months ago Timothy from TimothyAdamDesigns put out an offer to all his exclusive blog readers,” Sarah said.  “If you are unsure of who Timothy is, he is a “household” name around etsy with a reputation of being a great source for elaborate information on how to improve your etsy shop with practical techniques such as how to improve your photos and much more.”

“Knowing his blog has over 1,000 readers and is nearing 20,000 site visits I thought, “How could I pass up a free advertising opportunity.” So for the next week during the open contest time I worked so hard promoting…promoting…promoting!” Sarah told us.

In the end, Sarah’s hard work paid off.  She won second place which landed her Etsy shop a free month long add space on Timothy’s blog.   “On top of that and the start of HandmadeOlogy Timothy offered me a $40 one month add space on his new, highly anticipated website. He quoted me the numbers expected to visit his website and they were staggering,” Sarah said.

“Again, I thought $40 is hardly anything to pay for the amount of folks that will be seeing my ad and stop by my shop.  I paid the $40 and couldn’t wait to see what happened,” said Sarah.

Sarah’s $40 advertising spot didn’t return the results she was looking for.  “Was I surprised when I had about 2 extra sales during that month. Not really. In everything I have read about business and marketing I should not have received a sale but I tricked myself at the thought of all those people seeing me. Yes, my views did go way up. But views are not sales.”

After thinking about the website’s purpose, Sarah discovered she was reaching out to the wrong market.  “I learned firsthand they weren’t my customers,” Sarah said.  “Most of the folks that visit Timothy’s blog and website are other possible struggling business owners looking to make either a start for themselves or improve a bit of what they have or need to improve to bring sales in.”

Her experience with advertising on Etsy seller-centered blogs proved to be ineffective for increasing her Etsy sales.  Sarah said her market for her Etsy shop is mostly brides.   She now had a good understanding of who her potential buyers were, but still needed to know how do to draw them in and land the sales need to succeed!  Then, Sarah came across what she calls “Perfect Advertising.”

“I was invited to attend a bridal show on the 1st of the month. The fee for one table for four hours was $300,” Sarah said.  “Gasp! $300 is a hefty amount to come from my business funds never mind for only 4 hours.”

Sarah talked it over extensively with her husband.  Sarah decided she had to take the risk!  “Every bride to be I would encounter that day (150 pre-registered) could potentially be a customer,” Sarah told us.  “With my husband’s blessing, I gave it a shot. I dropped my master card on the $300 and didn’t think about it again. From that moment on my focus was on being as unique and “remember- able” as possible to earn as many sales as my little hands could handle.”

Did the Bridal Show help or hurt Sarah?  “The day turned out to be a bit less than desirable due to the weather, but I had to trust the tried and true “marketing” approach.  After many shivering conversations with brides, handing out many business cards, and 32 entries for a drawing I had for money of their order.  Three weeks later I had four orders that were more than pay for the vending expense.”

Sarah also shared another great “side-note” tip with EtsyMarketing.org.  Try buiness “post cards” instead of typical business cards.  “They are 4 x 8 and don’t get lost among other business cards,” Sarah said.  Great idea!

The Bridal Show continues to pay off for Sarah’s Etsy shop.  “With the leads list I received for participating in the show I now have contact information for over 150 brides. I have the opportunity to contact them as much as I want,” Sarah said.  “Hating “junk” mail myself I have been as practical and as conservative as possible about sending them information.

To make the most of the new-found contacts, Sarah started a monthly newsletter.  Sarah uses Vertical Response, which sends her reports with percentages of who opened and clicked.  She uses this information to narrow down the truly interested out of the 150 brides she emailed.

“Out of those 150 email addresses, there are about 30 brides who are seriously interested in having me complete their wedding invitations suites,” Sarah told us.  “Yesterday, I spent the afternoon designing post cards through vista print to mail out to these 30 gals a “special offer” to hopefully seal the deal in their mind by receiving a fantastic deal that my completion, hopefully, can’t compete with.”

Sarah thinks the targeted Etsy marketing approach has worked!  “Although I spend a great deal of time and energy in learning and testing the market in order to have a successful Etsy shop business,” Sarah said, “I spend just as much energy on leaving my customers more than satisfied! Literally I go above and beyond what any customer would ever expect.”

A big thank you to Sarah for sharing her experience with drawing in potential customers with us!  You can hear more of Sarah’s Etsy advice at he blog.  You can also take a look at her fabulous Etsy shop.