How to identify your ideal creative business customer & why success is elusive without it

Nobody can sell to everybody. It's just not possible. People are different. How could they all possibly like the same thing?



Do you know who your potential customers really are? 

The trick is to find those who love what you do. And you can only love someone if you try to understand them. Find out what's important to them. What do they desire? How do they want to feel? What do they feel they're lacking? What do they do, think, dream about? How do they behave, live, buy, play? Where do they go, what do they see, where do they connect? What worries them? What keeps them awake at night? What fears aren't they facing? What purposes aren't they fulfiling? What do they want out of life?

Then talk to them in a meaningful way. Find out what interests them, what lights up their lives. Tell them how you fill their gaps. Tell them how you understand. Talk to them about what's important to them. Show them how you add value to their lives. 

Why bother? If it seems like a lot of effort to go to, then maybe you're not disposed to be persuing a professional and serious craft, creative or handmade business as this is the essence of future success. 

Without that clarity with your potential customers, you're marketing to nobody. 

Is that what you want?

16 mistakes your creative website, blog or Facebook page could be making to turn customers away

You only have one chance to make a first impression. 

Make that one chance count. 

It takes just seconds for a potential customer to look at your website, blog, Facebook page or other social media platform and make their mind up whether they wish to do business with you. 

So what could be turning them away?



1. Lack of clarity - is it obvious at first glance what you actually offer?

2. No consistency - mixed messages, sporadic posting, jumble of unrelated posts

3. No interaction - people take time to comment but there's no evidence of acknowledgement or engagement

4. Cluttered looking - too many different icons, graphics, messages confusing readers where to look first

5. Unprofessional looking design - enhance your capability image & reputation by presenting yourself in a polished and professional manner

6. Difficult to read - too small or too many fonts & lack of content natural looking flow

7. Takes too long to load pages 

8. No call to action - readers are left unsure of what to do next

9. No capacity to signup for newsletters, more information, updates (see here why this is crucial!)

10. Lack of fresh, regularly updated content

11. No testimonials or case studies from previous customers

12. Sloppy attention to spelling, grammar & punctuation 

13. No about page - people do business with people & they want to know all about you!

14. No social network connectivity

15. Difficult to find information - see how using a search bar helps!

16. No valuable, interesting, engaging, useful, informative or entertaining content to inspire return visit

Reviewing the above, how well does your site inspire custom? 






A beginners guide to getting started with Google+ to promote your creativity

According to Wikipedia Google+ 'is a social networking and identity service that is owned and operated by Google Inc. Google has described Google+ as a "social layer" that enhances many of its online properties, and that it is not simply a social networking website, but also an authorship tool that associates web-content directly with its owner/author. 

 It is the second-largest social networking site in the world after Facebook. 540 million monthly active users are part of the Identity service site, by interacting socially with Google+'s enhanced properties, like Gmail, +1 button, and YouTube comments. In October 2013, Google counted 540 million active users who used at least one Google+ service, of which 300 million users are active in "the stream".'

So in short, yes it's worth your craft, creative & handmade business being on Google +. 

 Here's a brief guide to getting started ...

 HOW TO SET-UP YOUR GOOGLE+ PAGE 

 1. Go to Google Plus at http://plus.google.com and login or create an account if you don’t 
have one already (if not, why not!!)
2. If you’re new to Google you’ll need to select a profile photo to use – TIP: try and be 
consistent with other social media photos you may already have
 
3. You’ll get a welcome to Google notification and then click to proceed to Google+
4. Next, search for people you know on Google through the search bar or via submitting your 
email contacts. This will start to build your ‘circle’ of who you are ‘following’ on G+. You can 
have lots of different circles – those you are just following, friends, acquaintances, family 
etc to keep your contacts separate depending on how well you know them and the level you 
wish to connect with them at. Once you’ve searched for your contacts and identified those 
you’d like to follow (ie receive their updates in your newsfeed) simply click continue. 

 5. TIP: Once you ‘follow’ someone, you will receive their status update/posts in your G+ news 
feed. You can then decide to share their posts with your followers by clicking the +1 button 
at the bottom of their post. You can comment as well. Ideally, anyone you follow will, in 
time, follow you back and then they will receive/see the posts you’ve make in their news 
feed too. They can then choose to share or comment on your posts. Sharing is the key. 
The more shares +1, the more widespread the content goes. This is the secret sauce of G+. Tip: It’s tempting to follow as many people as you can in the beginning. However, 
bear in mind that all their status updates/news will be in your newsfeed to filter. TIP: I only 
follow those who I believe will have highly relevant content for me. As I know what makes 
my followers tick I am highly selective about what I share with them so as not to overwhelm 
them, disinterest them or dilute the focus of my own brand.
6. Select your interests so Google can also share (ie fill your newsfeed) with what it deems to 
be relevant content to you then continue. Your interests can be fine-tuned at a later date if 
you become overwhelmed.
7. Enter your work information, schooling & location then click finish
8. You’ll then see your Google+ profile page. 

HOW TO USE YOUR GOOGLE + PAGE
9. To share your news with those you selected in #4 above, simply type your content into the 
‘Share what’s new’ box. You can add video, photos, URL links etc to your post for more 
exposure & connectivity – certainly advised! TIP: I always use an image to attract attention, 
video works even better! I also always set my content posts to ‘public’ visibility but you have 
the capability to select posts to just be seen by your circles or just named contacts.
10. Google will kindly interpret your interests entered in #6 above and show ‘What’s hot and 
recommended’ topics you can choose to follow if you wish to receive postings – What’s hot 
& recommened is on the bottom left hand side. You will also see contact suggestions in 
‘who else you may know’ to the right hand side. You can also join Google+ communities 
you could join based upon your interests – or even set one of your own up! TIP: My 
suggestion is not to overwhelm yourself to begin with by joining/following anyone and 
everyone as you will be having an awful lot of news to sift through in your feeds each day! 
Build your circles over time.
11. You’ll also see ‘what’s trending on google at present’ which can be a great source of hot 
topics to blog/tweet/pin/post about on other social media platforms to gain visibility.
12. On the left hand side is a sidebar of other options available to you – Home, profile, people, 
communities, settings etc. Simply click on each one and enter your information as required 
to maximise the potential reach of your G+ account. 

 13. You’ll see Google Hangouts to the right hand side – that’s another guidance topic but 
basically Google Hangouts are a great way to connect and chat in real time or via videocam 
to those you are connected to. TIP: Try it with a few friends first! 

 14. Google also has it’s own user visibility metrics installed – Google Ripples. More on how to use Google Ripples to come!

15 E-ideas for creating exciting blog content your creative business customers will love to read

Ok so you've decided you want to start a blog and chosen your blogging platform. 

 So what do you blog about?

 Remember these 15 content creating rules and you will hit the jackpot every time ... 



Educate * Empower & enlighten * Entertain * Engage * Envelop * Emulate * 
Enchant * Expectation * Ebooks & emails * Effort * Ease * Eye pleasing * 
Enthusiasm & Energy * Empathise * Experts

 1. Educate ... with such little time available to readers they'll need to have a reason to keep visiting your blog. It's not enough to post your creations and expect them to buy. You need to educate them, teach them, enable them to learn from you. Short on educational ideas?  Think tips, tutorials, techniques, tactics, teaching. If you know your audience like you should you'll find inspiration everywhere to deliver to them. 

 2. Empower & enlighten ... give them their feel good fix. Think inspiration, motivation, self esteem, encouragement, cheerleading, support, confidence boosting. Show you understand, care, empathise and are on their side

 3. Entertain ... cute cats, funny feel goods, sassy sayings, questions & quotes, happy humour anything that will bring a little lightheartedness to their day. Consider tours, reviews, recipes, interviews, inspiration. Laughter & humour is contagious and bonding 

 4. Engage ....  comments, questions, take an interest, get to know them, find things for them, think about them

 5. Envelop ..... let them into your world, peeks behind the scenes, open up & be vulnerable, speak from the heart. Share your passion for your subject. 

 6. Emulate .... look at the online sites, blogs or resources you follow, read, devour. How do they keep hoking you back in? What are they doing to keep you coming back for more? Learn from the masters that capture your attention

 7. Enchant ... use images & photos to evoke senses and speak to your readers, overlay your messages, allow pictures to speak for you - remember 'a picture paints a thousand words'.

 8. Expectation .. be consistent updating your content, craft a content calendar and plan out what you'll feature and when. Become reliable & trustworthy in turning up for your readers; being erractic and unexpected will turn people away. Keep a list of topics that your audience might be interested in as a base for inspiring your content.

 9. E-books & emails ... as collecting contact information from your readers is one of the keys to success, creating a free e-book as a thank you gift for readers lending you their email address for further contact is always popular

 10. Effort ... although at first you may not be blessed with multitudes of readers, be patient, take your time and lower your expectations. Slow growth is better than no growth. It can take years for your blog to be popular and well subscribed so make sure what you're blogging about is a long term passion for you. Blogging is hard work but it's still one of the most effective methods of sharing your stuff. 

 11. Ease - make your content simple and easy to understand. Focus on writing for your customers and not to impress your peers. Think about what your readers want to read about and how they like to receive their information and focus on providing it to the best of your ability.

 12. Eye-pleasing - colours, fonts, designs and layouts can all make or break a readers pleasurable experience of your blog. If in doubt, get some professional design help. Your blog is a representation of your image as a business & you only get one chance to make a first impression - make sure you're giving off the right vibes!

 13. Enthusiasm & Energy - if you're not enthusiastic in your content, tone and ideas - how could you expect your readers to be about you?

 14. Experts - follow industry experts, learn from them, quote them, reference them, link to them, share their material  - you could even ask to guest post for them. Aim to become the expert in your niche. 

 15. Empathise - understand their struggles and show how you can help solve their problems

 Here's a handy reminder graphic for you - feel free to share it! 



Think about your favourite sites, blogs or online resources - what keeps you going back for more? 



My top 10 recommended reads for boosting your creative success

With the summer holidays fast approaching I thought you may be interested in my top ten inspiring creative, craft & handmade business books that I've personally found to be extremely useful reading in my entrepreneurial journey.



I'm currently reading The Fortune Cookie Principle by Bernadette Jiwa - I'll let you know how I got on with it and give you a review when I've finished !

 Here are my all time favourite creative entrepreneurial reads to date (I've linked them to Amazon for further information but they're also available via other bookstores) .. 
Happy holiday reading!

Do you know how colour choice psychology affects your craft, creative & handmade business success?

Colour preference is an emotive response resulting from physical & measurable body reactions when certain colours are encountered. 

 As with all senses, particular colours stimulate the brain’s hypothalamus and pituitary glands in different manners which then trigger thyroid glands into producing hormones which can affect our mood, emotions and behaviour. 

 Consider your own purchases – how much does the colour of a product or service affect your choice as to whether to purchase or not? Is the colour (in your opinion) trustworthy, reliable or effective or does the colour convey quality, luxury, action, thought? 





With this in mind, it makes sense to use colours that are in alignment with your desired brand 
image and which will enable your products and services to be perceived in the way in which you wish them to be. 

 Apparently, from initial encounter it takes just 90 seconds* to form an opinion regarding a product or service and the choice of colour forms a part of the ‘to purchase or not to purchase’ equation. 

 According to this Kissmetrics report by Jeremy Smith** which has some great graphic branding examples ‘women don’t like gray, orange, and brown. They like blue, purple, and green. 

 In a survey on color and gender, 35% of women said blue was their favorite color, followed by purple (23%) and green (14%). 33% of women confessed that orange was their 
least favorite color, followed by brown (33%) and gray (17%)’ 

 ‘Men don’t like purple, orange, and brown. Men like blue, green and black. If you’re marketing to men, these are the colors to stay away from: purple, orange, and brown. Instead, use blue, green, and black’ 

 Psychological colour associations***: 

  • Blue - trustworthiness, serenity, tranquillity, calm, security, loyalty, intelligence 
  • Yellow – warning, bright, energy, creativity, happiness 
  • Green - eco-friendly, nature, environment, growth, fertility, fresh 
  • Orange – fun, impulse, courage, confidence, success 
  • Black – luxury, value, dramatic, classy, formal 
  • White - freedom, space, innocence, purity, fresh, clean 
  • Red – love, energy, power, strength, passion 
  • Brown – earthy, conservative, outdoorsy 
  • Pink – playful, happy, feminine, friendly 
  • Purple – royalty, luxury, ambition, success, spiritual 
  • Grey – security, reliability, solid 
  • Silver – glamorous, sleek, hi tech, grace 
  • Gold – wealth, prosperity, tradition, money 

What does your colour choice say about you and your business?
References 
* Satyendra Singh 
** Jeremy Smith - http://blog.kissmetrics.com/psychology-of-color-and-conversions/ 
*** One Lily creative agency/ColorMatters.com - http://gb.pinterest.com/pin/323837029428203318

Are you being true to yourself in business & life purpose?




11 benefits of blogging to boost your craft, creative or handmade business marketing success

It's estimated there are around 300 million blogs now online including abandoned blogs that serve as reference materials and highly interactive blogs with hundreds of thousands of visitors.

Blogging started in the late 1990's and gave rise to a new era of social interaction which is now firmly embedded as a social media platform enabling millions of individuals to flex their creative writing muscles and publish content that is informative, inspiring, educational & entertaining to appeal to a select audience. In return, readers engage with the content and the blog authors enabling insight into the minds and hearts of many readers and potential customers a business would not previously had such direct access to.

So, how can blogging benefit your creative, craft or handmade business?


1. Blogs are the most popular online method of enabling you to raise awareness that your business exists and to provide a regular showcase of your work, talent, creativity and knowledge to build, inspire and educate an audience of appreciative readers and potential customers. They can also help your audience understand both yourself & your products and services better. 

 2. Using your blog you can communicate en masse your expertise, inspiration, knowledge, passion and skills through teaching, demonstrating, provoking thought & supporting your readers on their own creative journey. 

 3. A blog assists in establishing you as a voice, a leader, an expert or as the 'go to' resource in your industry which assists in enhancing your reputation, appeal and popularity in your chosen niche. Your personality will shine through to inspire others. 

 4. Authentic blog content which is clearly aligned with and resonates with your readers interests & purpose will help you to build interactive relationships which over time can assist in turning them from engaged readers to appreciative buyers.

 5. Having a blog that is full of useful, informative & interesting information can help attract media opportunities such as guest posting,personal appearences, featured work, media coverage and contributing to your 'social proof' as others will be effectively endorsing your views to distribute to their audiences

 6. Blogs help contribute to your search engine optimization (SEO) which is one measure of how much search engines and the internet view you as a useful resource. As your blog content should naturally be full of relevant keywords associated with your business and for which you wish to be recognised online for then your search engine ranking will improve and you will become more visible in searches performed by your readers. Regularly updating your blog is a necessity as it provides search engines with continual fresh content for them to take a look at and reference.

 7. If your business objectives are to make sales, become profitable, build an audience, keep existing customers loyal then a blog can help you achieve these objectives by exposing your business to a worldwide audience of potential readers and customers that you would have found it harder to access. As an added bonus, as blogs are like small children who need to be nurtured, loved and developed, they are a great tool for showing you are reliable, committed and interested enough in your readers to show up regularly and ask for nothing in return. 

 8. Perhaps you are an aspiring writer, teacher or leader in your field? A blog offers you an outlet to showcase your work and ideas. Readers who continually see your work, enjoy it and gain value from it will learn both yourself and your advice and views are trustworthy and likeable without ever having to meet you. Blogs have the added bonus of enabling you to hone your writing and communication skills to ensure your points are accurately & succinctly communicated!   

 9.  Blogs are often free to set up if you start off with Blogger or Wordpress and can provide a base for structuring your social media updates. If you regularly post new content to your blog then this same content can inform your social media messages.

 10. Blogs are excellent interaction and research tools as they offer the opportunity for your customers to comment and start conversations with you as steps towards building relationships which are critical for business success.

 11. Useful, adding value, informative & interesting blog content can set you apart from your competition and position you as an online industry friend with benefits! 

 Next week I'll be writing about the do's and don'ts for successful blogs but in the meantime, with all the above benefits in mind will you start blogging to boost your business success?






How to hand make a layered paper bow using paper scraps

Here's a quick, simple & cute way to adorn a gift, card or decoration - a hand made paper bow

Easy to make, you simply take 2 scraps of different size rectangular shaped paper and then fold each one over until the opposite ends meet and secure with glue. 

Layer several on top of each other for a more decadent effect! 

how to hand make a paper bow by Lisa Barton Vintage Celebrations

Do you have any bow tips & techniques you'd like to share?
Lisa

Easy 8 point checklist to ensure your new craft product creations will actually sell!

When we craft we pour our hearts, souls, aspirations, hopes & dreams into our creations. They are a small part of us sent out into the world with love to be adopted and cared for by appreciative customers. 

 Sometimes, it seems as though what we're making isn't what others are desiring. 


Here's a handy checklist you can bear in mind to ensure there'll be an loving home for your creations to go to...

 1. Is your creation on trend, in vogue, up with fashion? Fashion trends change all the time and are heavily influenced by the media, celebrities, television and culture. To stand the best chance of creating products that sell pay heed to predicted hot colours, trends, styles, ethics & beliefs that are resonating with potential customers.

 2. Can you market and promote it effectively? Clear, professional photographs, simple & clear descriptions outlining how the product benefits buyers, clear pricing strategies and innovative & timely methods of communicating the products existence are all imperative to get right to attract the right attention. Confused buyers simply do not buy!

 3. Is it an original idea or a copy of someone else's work? If original, your creation provides uniqueness and a sense of fulfilling core feelings and desires within your customers. Your creation has an inbuilt passion that only handmade with love can create. If it looks like every other creation in the marketplace, think why would a customer wish to buy it and ensure this is translated in your sales message. Be realistic on your sales projection numbers - you an't be all things to all people all of the time.

 4. Does it fit with your existing brand and image? Potential & existing customers view you as a maker ass representing a certain look, image or style. Does your new product fit in their expectations of you and your brand? Think about your audience and what they want from you first. 

 5. Are you willing to put the time & effort into marketing your new product? Long gone are the days when you could put it on your website, shop front, online store and it would just sell itself. You need to actively, consistently & patiently build your audience for your product, sell it based on how it benefits buyers, tell potential customers how it will solve their problems or address their fears, reassure them how they're likely to feel once they've purchased it and how you're going to reward their loyalty after purchase.

 6. Is your creation actually what people want? Knowing your buyers is fundamental to achieving sales. Do you know what they like, where they buy, how they buy,  what they buy, what are their interests, what budgets they operate to, their tastes, styles, preferred colours, how they dress, what do they want to achieve when buying? Build the answers to these questions into your creation process and you'll have more chance of a winning product.

 7. Can you leverage social proof into persuading others to buy? Any great testimonials from customers who've already purchased the product or similar products from you? Use them! Recommendations are still the #1 method people rely on when selecting who to buy from. If you're unsure of how to get great testimonials read my article on

 8. Where are your potential customers in the sales process? Although they may not buy this time, this product, you may be slowly and surely working your magic on them to purchase at a later date. Don't be disheartened if sales are slower than you want them to be, it may just be a case of building your like, know, trust factor more before they're ready to make the purchase. 





How to make a hand made rolled paper flower wreath home decoration or gift

I'm in the mood for decorating this week!

I found some old half circle solid polystyrene wreaths in the garage and thought they could do with cheering up with my favourite rolled paper flowers and some old ribbon and voila some new decorations!

To make the wreaths, simply wind your favourite ribbon around the polystyrene base covering it and secure at the back with some hot glue or strong adhesive

Then cut different size squares of paper for your flowers. Taking each square in turn cut a spiral into it - some with straight edges and some with wavy edges for variety.

Then starting at the end of the spiral start to roll the paper over and over until you get to the centre of the spiral which you can tuck underneath and glue to make a base. 

Gently let the spiral unfurl to make your flowers! 

Here they are in situ  ...








Have you re-purposed any garage finds lately?
Lisa

How to use Facebook for selling your craft, creative or handmade business products

With more than 1.26 billion registered users, 350 million daily uploaded photos, 20 billion minutes of usage per day & 4.75 billion average daily shared items Facebook is a social media opportunity crafters, creatives and handmakers HAVE to be seen on.

Set up as a predominately social media platform, in recent years craft sellers have taken to it in droves to promote their craft, creative & handmade businesses. 

However, with the recent algorithm changes meaning much reduced organic reach for content & updates, this has meant many users have seen less visibility for their businesses. However we also seem to have forgotten that to be successful on Facebook we need to pay homage to the original social aspect of the platform.

Long gone are the days where you could post your creations, name your price and how to order. Combine this with modern marketing theory focused on relationship building as opposed to sales message driven and here's 10 tops tips on how to successfully sell on Facebook now.


1. Buying fans and followers does not guarantee you'll get sales & facebook likes don't equal sales or profit. Concentrate on growing your business & shop with likers that really like, that will comment, engage and share your updates. This will ensure these 'true' likers will continue to see your updates and also enables you to benefit from 'social proof' ie your likers recommending you to others through their interaction with your content. Agreed your page likes may be fewer but what's the point of 1000 likers who like and run and aren't interested enough to want to hear from you and potentially buy? Encourage your likers to like, follow and get notifcations from you so they always see your latest news. 

2. Facebook wants to ensure it's users have a quality experience whilst on the site. It doesn't want users to be continually spammed with untargeted, irrelevant, opportunistic sales messages - buy me, look at me. Concentrate on crafting your posts full of content that is useful, informative, interesting or entertaining to your ideal customer. Position yourself as an authority base for everything to do your chosen craft. Out of every 10 status updates you make, 8 of them should be education or entertainment based and just 2 of them should be sales oriented. Remember, people need to know like and trust you before they will purchase - you cannot build this by solely posting sales content messages continually. Do you buy from anyone you haven't felt a resonance with or done some background research on or have a feel for?

3. Always drive your Facebook traffic back to your website, blog or online shop. If Facebook went down the pan tomorrow or changed it's thinking on how it disseminates information you could lose all your potential customers or business if you rely solely on it. With every status update provide a hyperlink back to your main sales site (you do have one, don't you?) where the reader can gain more information, read about you and learn more about your products and services and what's in it for them to buy from you. 

4. Ensure you have a subscriber opt in offer to your mailing list on your Facebook page - this enables you to collect email addresses from those that truly wish to express and interest in and hear more from you. In conjunction with #3 above, collecting email addresses ensures you have control over when, how and what you communicate with your potential customers. Even better, have an opt in offer (discount, tutorial, exclusive content) to tempt potential customers to give their email in exchange for their email address that will benefit them. 

5. Ensure your status updates have clear, in focus, professional looking, emotive and engaging photographs that will make potential customers stop, look, like, share, comment and read more. There are lots of online free photo editing tools such as Picmonkey and Canva where you can edit your photos, watermark, overlay text and give them a professional look and feel.

6. Invite questions with your Facebook status updates - always finish your update with a clear call to action for the potential customer to respond to. And make sure you take the time to respond to their comments too! This is how two way relationships are built.

7. Post at least once a day on your Facebook page, preferably two or three times. Remember to post educational/informative content more than sales messages to maximise the opportunity for relationship building. You could try tips, tutorials, behind the scenes info, customer focus, facts & figures or a funny story. If your content isn't being seen by your prospective customers, it may mean Facebook has deemed it irrelevant and not interesting or quality enough to raise it's hand above all the other content vying for your customers attention. 

8. Be patient. Building relationships takes time. It is estimated it takes between 5 - 27 times of potential customers seeing you and your products before they may even consider buying. Your time and efforts will take time to be rewarded as there's no such thing as overnight success. Building trust and credibility are the all important factors to concentrate on in using social media. 

9. Remember people buy based on how products make them feel - not necessarily because they need or want them. We all desire to make purchases to make us 'feel' a certain way - do you clearly communicate how your products can make someone feel as opposed to the physical attributes or the benefits of the product? 

10. Check your Facebook insights regularly. They are a mine of information regarding who's seeing your content, how well it's performing, what types of posts are favoured more by your audience (to enable you to concentrate more on this type of post). You can tell when the best time to post updates, the demographics of your fan base, the days of the week favoured and where else your page traffic is coming from. Use them to inform your future actions. 



My crafty creative handmade story & free Facebook craft clubs!

Good morning & welcome to July!

You're going to see some changes around here as by my personal & ethical choice I've decided to no longer continue to be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator - but I'm still committed to bringing you pretty paper craft ideas, inspiration, projects, tips & techniques so I hope you'll stick with me!


I thought it's about time you found out a little more about me & what I get up to behind this blog so here goes ...

Creativity is a HUGE part of my life and I'm always on the look-out for the latest on-trend craft idea to inspire me with my own handmade cards, gifts, tags, home decorations & accessories, bags & boxes creations.



However despite loving my crafting hobby of over 10 years it had never occurred to me to turn it into my job until 2012! 

Hence the Vintage Celebrations blog was born with the aim of bringing you easy, quick & fun craft projects, tips, ideas & inspiration, often using up whatever you have in your craft stash or ordinary household objects :)

As a mother of 4 young girls & wife running my own business from home has meant I can choose my hours of work to fit around my home life and I can decide how much time I spend on my business to achieve a healthy & fulfilling work/life balance. 


Sharing my love of crafting with you brings me much joy & fulfilment and I am so grateful that my work has brought me many new crafting friends just by doing something I love and that inspires me every day. 

To enable me to keep in touch with my fellow crafters, creatives and handmakers I have a Facebook group called Craft, create & chat which is free to join by clicking the link below! I look forward to 'meeting' you there!


Free marketing & sales tips to boost creative,craft & handmade business success. FREE ebook!

As my career of 25 years has been in marketing & sales, I also offer free marketing & sales tips and advice to fellow crafters, creatives and handmakers through my site at http://www.creativecraftmarketing.blogspot.co.uk and on my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Creativecraftmarketing - feel free to pop by and say hi!




Looking forward to meeting you!


Lisa


How solving your customers problems is key to boosting your craft, creative & handmade business marketing & sales success

Think about it. What compels YOU to buy in a certain store, visit a certain place, eat a certain food, follow a certain cause, read certain materials? 

 Answer: because the store/place/materials/food/cause gives you something you need back in exchange for your time and effort. It solves a problem for you. You may get a feeling of fulfilment, joy, acceptance, comfort, understanding, empathy, value or to just feel plain old good about yourself - problem solved.


So you return again and again to get your fix.

 Now turn to your craft, creative or handmade business and apply the same concept - what problems do solve for those who visit your craft business website, blog, social media page, online shop or who you meet in person? What could attract them to you in the first place? What do you offer them that they haven't seen before or can get elsewhere? How do you solve their problems?

 For example, this site offers simple, easy & free marketing & sales tips specifically to help crafters, creatives & handmakers boost their business success from an experienced and long standing craft marketing specialist. It solves the problem of easily accessible, simple, reputable, trustworthy & free information to help crafters, creatives & handmakers sort their marketing out. 

 I also give away a free e-book with 50 quick, simple & easy marketing & sales tips that can kickstart a business that's flagging as a thank you for taking the time and trouble to visit my site, ask for updates and give me the opportunity to share my knowledge and experience with you.

 Although not unique, it's unusual to solve problems or give away so much for free and not expect anything in return.

 So what could you give to keep your visitors coming back to your site or store for more? A free tutorial? A promotional offer? A chance to win? A book of tips? A free product? What would they like best? 

 Solve these problems and you've made appreciative customers for life.







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