Local Motion – Connect with Local Etsians

Our HandmadeMarketing.org team couldn’t get enough of Christina Oguchi’s tips for Etsy success through local networking!  Using Etsy.com site features and investing a bit of her time, she was able to join forces with local Etsy artists.  Make sure to have a look at her fabulous jewelry and Japanese crafts at her Etsy shop “AKane” (found here.)

“Join forces with local Etsy artists,” Christina says.  “Start a shopping thread or networking thread in the Etsy forums, join your local Etsy teams, and support one another by featuring one another in treasuries and blogs.”

“I recently started a shopping thread in the Etsy promotion forum that connected me to many talented local artists. The list has since grown to more than 45 artists, so fresh continuing threads will likely be created to accommodate the dramatically changing list.”

“Starting fresh threads may seem time consuming,” continues Christina, “but it’s doable and keeps everyone’s shop on the first post in the thread. I believe in equal opportunity. Keep in mind to title your thread with your specific group in mind otherwise other posters will post on your thread to benefit from your efforts.“  Check out that thread here!

Christina has had success connecting to other Etsy sellers who are local.  “I created the list of sellers by using Ety’s “Shop Local” feature,” explains Christina.  “I then contacted each Etsy seller using convos.  Again, time consuming, but I really wanted to dive into marketing my shop by teaming with others. Soon enough, other locals found us through the shopping thread and our team thread in the “Teams and Events” forum found here.  A few key team members have kept these threads alive continuously, so it’s definitely a team effort,” says Christina.

“Due to the overwhelming positive feedback on the threads, I decided to start my own blog at www.akanedesigns.blogspot.com,” Christina tells us.  “It’s still very new, but I hope it will provide local Vancouver and Canadian Etsy sellers a place to get tips specifically geared towards running a business in BC/Canada. This will be a great way for me to catalogue what I’ve learned so far as a seller and help me use this as a reference library of sorts. In addition, this is another way of promoting my shop. My dream of course would be to be an Etsy artist full time and eventually own my own storefront shop!”

Christina has great news from her networking efforts!  “As a result of these efforts, a local show is in the works featuring local Etsy artists, our team has been featured in 4 treasuries in which sales were achieved, and we have made so many friends! On a personal note, my shop hearts and sales have increased.”  Congratulations Christina!

Although time consuming, networking with local artists on Etsy.com could reap big benefits.  In the time it takes one seller to succeed on their own, several other sellers could succeed with you.  Our HandmadeMarketing.org team thinks joining forces with other sellers is an awesome idea – whether it be sellers who are local to sellers in the same category.  Utilize Etsy.com site features to help you network!