Keep It Local –Get Press in Your Community

Many Etsy.com sellers have a hard time connecting with buyers right away on Etsy. If you are looking at the number of sold items you have on Etsy and feeling a bit discouraged, take your shop to the streets – literally!

HandmadeMarketing.org received some great ideas for local promotion from Etsy seller Amy Cantini. Amy sells jewelry on Etsy.com – check out her shop here.

Amy has a few ideas for how you can take advantage of your local community while you wait for you Etsy shop to catch on:

• Stay At Home. Amy suggests offering a small home show for anyone doing makeover parties. Doing a home show with friends and acquaintances helps our your sales while promoting your craft. Don’t be discouraged if you do not succeed in selling our your shop in one home show attempt – sometimes just putting your shop’s name out there is enough to get sales in the future.
• Wear It. “Always wear something you made…if you can,” says Amy. If your craft is something that you can wear when you are out in your community, consider using yourself as a walking advertisement. You may be surprised how many people ask about your product.
• Business Foot Forward. Make sure you are ready to sell – at any moment. Amy suggests having business cards ready, should anyone be interested. HandmadeMarketing.org also suggests leaving behind business cards at appropriate public places. We’ve all walked by these types of boards – college campuses, announcement boards at local stores, or “What’s Happening In Our Community” bulletin boards. Utilize these as your form of local advertising.

Every Etsy.com seller should attempt to get press off of the Etsy site itself.   What are you currently doing in your local community to promote your craft?  If your list is a bit short – get promoting!

What’s a better place to start than your backyard!

How do you connect with your local community?  What do you think of Amy’s tips?  Do you have any advice for new sellers?

Share your ideas with HandmadeMarketing.org!  Tell us your thoughts under our “Join” tab and our editors may feature your tip in a future article!