Teaching Crafters How to Market Their Art

It’s time for me to pull out my crystal ball and take a peek at what lies ahead for the craft market in 2009.

Prediction one - The economy will recover but slowly in 2009
The down economy is going to make it harder on crafters in two ways:

1. People are going to think a lot harder before they pull their wallets out especially on non-essentials like craft items.
2. People are going to be looking for extra ways to make money and anybody that’s ever been in a craft store is going to think to themselves “I could make that and sell it.” The crowded craft market is going to get a lot more crowded in 2009

Prediction two - This will be a crucial year for Etsy
2008 was the year that Etsy really gained traction with consumers. Traffic went through the roof so those that were in on Etsy early really prospered but all the attention brought a lot more shops which meant more competition. Etsy filled the gap as crafters abandoned eBay because of competition from foreign mass-produced merchandise. Rapid growth has caused growing pains as Etsy tries to keep up with increasing demands from consumers and shop owners. Etsy found the shoppers now they need to focus their attention on shop owners. Etsy needs to uphold the guides they created which made their site so attractive to crafters to begin with. They need to hold shop owners accountable for breaking the rules. There seems to be little penalty for breaking the rules even when pointed out and as competition increases more shop owners will break the rules to keep afloat. If Etsy can’t deliver on this they will lose increasing numbers of top shop owners.

Prediction three - Artfire will gain substantial traction in 2009
Artfire has only been open for about 3 months but they have grabbed the attention of the crafting community. Artfire is hungry - they want a piece of the pie Etsy stole from eBay. The question in 2009 is will they be able to catch up. Etsy has a good three year head-start and Artfire has the proverbial chicken and egg problem - how can they attract crafters if there is little traffic and how can they attract traffic if there are few crafters. They are listening to what crafters want and are spending heavily on advertising so if they can survive the start-up they will be a serious contender in the craft market.

Prediction four - The CPSIA will have little affect on the hand-made market
I’ve already shared my thoughts on the  CPSIA and I hold true to those beliefs in 2009. One of two things is going to happen in 2009 with regards to the  CPSIA:

1. The law will be changed and small manufactures like crafters will be exempt.
2. The law will go into effect but it won’t be enforced on one-man shops. As I stated in my previous article the government has a lot bigger things to do than to bust Aunt Martha for selling onesies at the church craft show.

By the same token Etsy can’t keep up to blatant violations on it’s site so I can’t imagine them investigating whether or not it’s shop owners are in full compliance with this super vague law.

So that’s it, the year will tell whether I’m right or wrong. So what can you do to prepare for 2009:

1. Provide massive value
   People are going to be more cautious with their money so offer awesome products and take the risk away from buying by offering generous guarantees.
2. Invest in your education
   Competition is only going to increase in 2009 so you need to have every advantage you can. It’s not just what you sell, it’s also how you sell it. The $9 investment in my Prosper on Etsy Guide might be the best bargain in 2009.
3. Teach or offer a supply in 2009
   As more people are looking to make some extra money the real winners will be those that sell training, patterns or supplies. During a gold rush the people that make money are the mining supply vendors and not the miners.
4. Check out Artfire
   Here’s my blatant Artfire affiliate  link which if I get 10 people to sign up gives me free listing privileges there. Here’s their direct link if you don’t want to use my affiliate link. Either way check them out.
5. Diversify
   All the fuss over the  CPSIA should point out how important it is not to put all your eggs in one basket. Regardless of what type craft products you make, hedge your bet by diversifying.

Here’s to happy and prosperous 2009

Norm Lanier - The Crafty Coach

Post your craft predictions here

I’ve been been getting a lot of questions regarding the CPSIA. If you haven’t heard of the CPSIA stands for the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. It’s a knee-jerk reaction piece of legislation in response to the issues with toys - mainly from China - that were contaminated with lead and other hazards. Here is what the general discussion in the Etsy Forums boils down to:

The new rule - which is extremely vague by anyone’s definition - would require lab testing of any products marketed to children under the age of 12. It’s no big deal for Mattel but for small business the cost could make it prohibitive to sell these items. This act will shut down most crafters selling anything for children on Etsy.

OK here’s where my opinion starts. This is my opinion and I’m sure I will tick-off some whom read this. I’m OK with that. I don’t have a blog to make everybody happy, it’s my blog, it’s my opinion and if you disagree with me then that’s fine.

First of all I see a huge number of people on Etsy worked up into a froth and putting a huge amount of time into complaining to each other about how unfair this is, how Esty should be doing something, on and on it goes.

So my first thought is you are getting worked up based on what facts? Most of what I see is ” I heard” “Someone said” ” I don’t know but we need to do something” etc. If you feel you need to do something then contact your Representative where there’s at least a snowballs chance in Hell of your opinion doing any good instead of preaching to the choir on Etsy.

Second, let’s for the sake of argument say that this law plays out just as the people above think it will. Anyone heard of YouTube? How much of what is on YouTube is a copyright violation? Yet you don’t see anyone going to jail for it. Do you think government agents are going to police Aunt Martha selling hair bows on Etsy or craft fairs? Do you think Etsy is going to monitor it? They don’t seem to do a great job when you complain every day about the same vendor. Even if they did what would they do - send you a form letter asking you to remove it? I don’t think for a second Etsy or the Government will bother.

Third, lets say that the law plays out just as predicted in the doomsday scenario embraced by those vocal Etsyians. Let me tell you a true story. When I started www.HauntedPortraits.com there was me and only two other people that made anything similar. I was raking it in, it was unusual, the demand was huge to a niche crowd and all of us were charging a premium for the product.

Then another competitor took the idea and made a really crappy knockoff that they had mass-produced in China. I thought well people will see the difference and it won’t make much of a difference and at first it didn’t. The next Halloween I was in Krogers and saw an even cheaper knockoff of the the knockoffs - IN Krogers.

I’m not stupid, I knew that was the beginning of the end. My competitors slashed prices to compete. My sales dropped in half the following year. I said screw it, if the rules are changing then I need to find another game to play - and that’s exactly what i did. I raised prices so I spent less time making the portraits and I started another Internet company that now generates triple what Haunted Portraits did even at it’s peak.

If you believe in your heart that the CPSIA will put you out of business then get off your ass and find something else to make and stop wasting time complaining to others in Etsy about how unfair it is. It’s called business.

Your oppinions are welcome here

(You poor people will have to suffer through all my typos and grammatical errors till my editor (wife) returns from her girl’s weekend trip but I wanted to get this out)

I’ll admit it… I Love Twitter. I can easily communicate with all the people that follow me and I can do it all in 140 characters or less. Twitter is one of the web 2.0 sites that people on Etsy really recommend for promotion. The problem is most are doing it wrong - REALLY WRONG.

There’s a really interesting site http://twist.flaptor.com that allows you to compare how often people use a word on Twitter.

In this example people are talking as much about Etsy as the are about sex. The funny thing to me is that they seems to trend in the opposite directions. I don’t have a clue what that means. Maybe there’s another story for my blog in their but that’s beside the point. The real problem is that most of those people aren’t talking about Etsy, they’re pimping Etsy.

Do a search for the word Etsy on twitter and most of what you will see is something like “Holiday Stocking Stuffers– buy two get one free” or “Cute snowmen Christmas card” with links to their latest offering. If you open that persons Twitter page you will often see nothing but pitches for whatever they just added to their shop, or the sale they are having, etc. The way I view Twitter is that it’s like TV… you have to entertain and relate with people most of the time. If you do then they won’t mind the occasional commercial.

Let’s put this in real world perspective. Say you’re at the coffee shop and someone notices a t-shirt you’re wearing that says Disney World. They say “Oh I love Disney too. BTW I have an Etsy shop and today I’m having a sale on Mickey Mouse Coffee cozzies.” Then everyday when you go into the coffee shop they’ve left messages for you that tell you about the peace coffee cozzie they just posted on their Etsy store etc. Sucks huh?

Let’s turn that conversation around. “Oh I love Disney too. Did you know there are hidden Mickeys all over the Magic Kingdom. If you go to this site they have a list of all of them.” A week later you see that same person in the coffee shop and they say “That was an awesome site, you know we’re going next summer and we will look for all the hidden Mickeys we can find.” You say ” I wish I could go but the summer is a busy time for me since I’m a travel agent. Here’s my card, if you need some restaurant recommendations or anything just let me know.” Kind of night and day huh?

You see that’s why if you follow me on Twitter I’ll ask you how I can help you with your craft marketing. If you do ask then I’ll try and give you something helpful you can use. i post useful information on Twitter and I ask people questions. If you look at my Twitter profile it links to my blog where I give more useful information… and oh, BTW there’s a link to my Etsy shop on the blog. Every day I post parts of what’s going on in my life on Twitter. People feel like they know me and when I decide to occasionally have a Twitter only special for my Etsy Guide (<- super subtle plug for my guide) people don’t mind a bit There’s an old saying “People buy from people they like”

Help people first… communicate with them not at them… and when they need something you make guess who they are going to buy from?

P.S. If you think others on Etsy should see this post leave a  comment Here on Etsy so it stays near the top of the Etsy Bussiness Forum.