Advertising to your Niche. (on Facebook)

I love my nail polish rings, but primarily because I love nail polish.  I am the niche I am looking for.  Women who love nail polish, who know which brands are limited edition and the names of their favorite polishes.  Who read blogs and look at swatches online before they decide what to get.  Who read reviews of the latest collections and who worry about formula and ease of application.  A little group - but we know what we like!

With that little niche in mind...

I made an ad! 

I'm trying something new for the next five days.  I'm running an ad on Facebook with a very specific target market.  My ad is running for a targeted group of 35,020 people.  I made decisions about age, location and interests.  Four countries, 23 year age range, one interest.

Also for the first time ever I've decided to go the cost per impression (CPM) route rather than cost per click (CPC).  I'm hoping that my chosen business name is unique enough to be remembered with a glance instead of necessitating clicking an ad.  With that in mind I've repeated "Unrepeatables.com" twice in the ad, once in the headline, once in the body.

I don't want to go crazy with my spending just now so I've set a low per-day maximum. ($10.00)  

Here's a screenshot of my progress last night, roughly 3 hours into the experiment.

With my main goal being exposure then three hours to get 5,073 impressions/views is pretty good, I think! 

In those same 3 hours I got 3 new "likes" on my facebook page and 10 direct visitors to my etsy store.  I'm a little sheepish about being excited about, and even noticing, 10 additional visitors, but that's where I am right now, counting my numbers by the tens.  And that's why I'm doing this.  Because we've got to start somewhere! 

(I'll post a recap of how things went at the end of the run.)

Oh No! I'm a visual schizophrenic!

Watch this amazing video from Mayi Carles. It's brilliant, enthusiastic, a little scary and a lot enlightening! I've got a lot of work to do!

Help Your Market Interpret Your Brand from Mayi Carles on Vimeo.

Setting Goals- how not to fail. (with Awesome Resources!!)

Ok- here we are in May.  5 months into the year and my goals are falling apart.  I read three excellent, and reasonable blog posts recently about that very thing!  It's never too late to adjust your game plan!

First from Handmadeology (which is an awesome site that you should definitely subscribe to if you don't already!)  An article called "How to Properly Set Your Goals"

A goal should be achievable. Some people say you should set your goals high so that you achieve greater success. Instead you should set your goals realistically so that that you can achieve them. It builds confidence to meet a goal or surpass it. If it was easy, set the next one harder. If it was too hard or you missed it, set the next one easier to attain.

and Next from MeShe Designs Blog - she's doing a One Month Challenge and May 3rd's blog entry was all about using Google Calendar to set, and keep track of business goals!

Finally, also on May 3rd, Create Hype  sent out an email entitled "3 Crafty Income Streams To Add Right Now."  This morning I took one stream idea to heart and launched my own Nail Polish Ring of the Month Club! 

there's no place for fear!

I read this quote again yesterday:

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do” 

             ~Eleanor Roosevelt

Could chasing down Rachael Ray and giving her this ring be considered guerilla marketing?

I'm trying, this year, and hopefully forever after, to confront head on the things that scare me.  I've always used generalities "Artists create, we don't like to put ourselves out there"  which may be true of some, but at Shop Crafty a week ago I learned it's not true of all.  My neighbors were social masters!  (and they sold accordingly!)  

So, yesterday Mrs. Eleanor reminded me that I must do the thing I think I cannot do.  Which in this case is introduce myself to shops.  I actually felt a little bit nauseous just thinking about it, still do, but also yesterday I got an email from one of the crafty business momma sites I follow The Mogul Mom, offering a two day e-course on Pitch Marketing from Justine Smith.   I'm not suggesting you take the course too, I'm just marveling at the direction the universe takes.  For $47.00 though, I'll take it, even if it tells me things I already know it's going to be like a shot of information courage, which is really what I need right now.

Also, I love Etsy and I plan to have a presence there forever, but I'm not going to make it as a not-getting-a-real-job Crafty Mastermind without wholesale contracts.  

Pantone Spring 2011 Color Forecast. Not an ugly color in the bunch!

Seriously, some years... you know, it's all burnt sienna and meconium, not this year!

This year, love every color!   And while we're two months from summer you've got plenty of time to work these colors into your spring and summer designs, unless you're way more organized than I am and you have your stock made months in advance.

I don't know about you but I'm going nail polish shopping!

My Probable Shop Crafty Display, in My Living Room.

I've got 6 x 8 feet of display space and the 6 foot length is the opening of my booth.  I'm nervous because I know people don't love having to walk into a booth but there's no way I'm setting up a 6 foot table and calling it a day while ignoring the glorious depth, so 7 feet of narrow table down one side with a slatted door at the end leave 4 feet of open walking in and out space.

I've got hundreds of pieces of beaded jewelry to chose from so I'm only bringing things in candy colors and where that red thing is leaning against my shelf will actually be a piece of sheet metal screwed in for magnets! 

I think it will play!  I'll let you know tomorrow!

Everybody wants more Facebook fans!

107 awesome suggestions to increase your fan base and Facebook exposure.

The Entreprenette is an awesome source of info and help,  I definitely suggest signing up for her emails!
http://theentreprenettegazette.com/

Shop Crafty 2011 Saturday! Saturday! Saturday!

Unrepeatables and 61 other Artists will be hawking our wares and sharing crafty joy with you this Saturday at The Marchesa where The Lone Star Ladies present Shop Crafty.   Hopefully all of my obsessive booth picture searching pays off and it becomes another step towards crafty fame (fortune) and mastermindery.  Or really- a dishwasher.  I could use a new dishwasher.

Squaring Up!

There's nothing worse than losing a sale because you can't take credit.  Gone are the days of everyone writing checks.  Looking for a merchant account, card reading equipment and the rest would send me into a credit score panic.  Those days are gone too!  I got a Square!  Ok, I got the square ages ago but next month at Shop Crafty it will get its first real big road test.  

The Square works with your iPhone, iPad or Android phone, plugs into the headphone jack and turns your  device into a smart little cash register.  The tiny bit of card reading hardware and the account are free.  The account set up was easy and the transaction fees are a fair 2.75% of each transaction, compared to PayPal Virtual Terminal which has a $30.00 per month charge and a 3.1% + .30 charge per transaction.  At the end of each selling day I receive an email with my totals and the next day they are deposited into my bank account.  It's love.  Easy, card swipey, never turning away a sale again, love.

What I've learned so far. (Day 3 of my Flickr Show Me Your Booth Obsession)

This photo is amazing, inspiring and just generally delicious. It's from Holland Fabric House and they have an equally delicious website.

I'm learning, after thousands of photos, that color is good.  I'm going to make friends with color.

But more importantly I'm learning that styrofoam heads and, really heads of any kind, are bad.  Think long and hard before you place a disarticulated head in your display.  I'm not going to post cautionary pictures unless they're of my own mistakes because everyone is trying really hard to put together their best presentation- I'm just going to tell you what I'm learning.  No heads.  No heads with faces.  There are a few vintage style heads that you mayyyyy be able to get away with if you're a milliner but even then, it's a close call.

Styrofoam heads though, bad news.  No.  Just- no.

A New Experiment

Trying something new.  The glass tiles I've been using for my nail polish rings + the ArtChix Images I've been using for my wooden tile pendants + sparkly nail polish  = Love!  But are they rings, pendants or magnets?  I don't know yet! 

Craft Show Display Distress

When I first started selling my jewelry I was lucky enough to have access to a gorgeous artist's loft in Boston.  Surrounded by other artists, having a sale was as easy as opening the doors and hoping I had enough inventory to last me through the weekend.  The first year I found a roll of tar paper 4 feet wide, I hung it horizontally, drew swirlies on it with a silver sharpie an hung my jewelry right on the wall.  Everyone responded to it, all of the men had to touch it to see what it was made out of, and the women noticed how sparkly the jewelry was against a matte black background. (tract studio lighting everywhere didn't hurt either!)  Over the course of the three day Fort Point Open Studio event I. sold. everything.

Crazy happy sales continued three times a year, four years in a row.  I started doing other Boston shows, and they rocked. (except for the one in July, in a parking lot, with my friend who had yet to find out she was pregnant and was WAY cranky, that one sucked.)  And then I moved to Austin, Texas.  It's a crafty mecca.  I love it, but I've been here for 5 years and I'm still out of my element.  Especially when it comes to designing a successful and eye catching craft show display.  I have no idea what I'm doing, and in 3 weeks I've got my first show of 2011.  (2011 being *THE* year, so this has to be *THE* display, no pressure.)

My mom bought me three bifold doors with slats from the Habitat ReStore, I feel like I can do something with that.  I've got a ton of vintage serving pieces from my Boston shows, I know I can do something with those... and yet I'm afraid that when I put them together my display space will look like a little girl who put on every article of her favorite clothing and none of them match.

So- last night I started looking at every picture in the Flickr "Show Me Your Booths" photo pool.   It's an awesome resource and I highly recommend that you take a look- there are definitely some "what not to do" photos but there are tons of brilliant and beautiful booths out there!

I do feel inspired but I wear black for a reason, it matches with... black.  And blue jeans.  And white, if I'm feeling fancy.

I'm going to be turning my kitchen into my pretend craft fair space this weekend.  Here's hoping I don't mix too many stripes with polka dots (though if I were a felty crafter I could do that and add some owls and bric a brac and it would look adorable.)

I'll take pictures of my attempts!

Getting Social Media Love On The Go

Getting Social Media Love On The Go

from smallerbox.net

Get Fans and Followers to your Twitter and Facebook, even at craft shows!

This is a fantastic article, complete with a link to make a poster to hang at your shows, turn into a decal for your car... you name it.

It really is this bright!  Cover Girl City Lights (sweet holographic glitter) over Color Club's Psychedelic Scene.

Currently listed on Etsy.

The Nail Polish Ring.  aah!  This piece is Color Club in Ms. Socialite, Zoya Vegas Freeze and Orly Shine on Crazy Diamond.  

New Year's Resolutions. So far.

It's March! I feel as if I've already wasted two months but I know I haven't.  Last year, after some less than stellar craft shows and one super fun but economically disastrous solo exhibition, I decided to try my hand at some new things.  Pieces with a lower price point than I've ever made before.  I love beading, I've done it for 11 years and while my style and ability have changed and improved the economy has done the opposite.

So, what's a girl to do?  For a while I read all of the articles about how there's still a market for me, not to give up, bah.  I'm not giving up- I read this quote by H.G, Wells "Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative."

That's my motto for 2011.

January saw much experimentation, lots of resin, meh.  It's fun, but it's not my thing.  I'm going to keep working at it but I'm leaving the awesome resin jewelry to the awesome resin jewelry makers.  For now.

January also saw one of the best creative epiphanies I've had to date.  I'm a little bit of a nail polish fiend.  To the tune of almost 200 bottles and the shelving units you find at salons.  So I bought lots of different things onto which I could paint nail polish.  Trial and error, trial and error, fumes, sticky fingers for weeks, trial and error.  Et voila!  The Unrepeatables nail polish ring was born!  Now I can't stop making them for long enough to actually commit time to selling them.  Which brings us to March.

I'm a firm believer in lists, I think something written down is more likely to get done.  So I've been writing down my goals.  The ultimate goal- January 2012- is not having to get a job.  Lots of my craft groups and Etsy Teams have goals such as "quit your day job" mine is "not having to get a day job".

January's Goals:

• learn to make wooden and scrabble tile pendants. Done. So fun!  More on that another day.  
• have a clean work room.  Once I got it clean it's been easy to keep it that way.  Organization, however, is something I'm constantly working on.  I will have a photos of The Bead Room post in the next month or so.
• figure out how to integrate nail polish into jewelry.  Done and done! I haven't loved what I've made as much as I do now in years!

February's Goals:  not as clearly defined, I got distracted making things.

• plan a strategy for placement of my items in shops.  Luckily I have an awesome friend who studied marketing and a sister why really likes my work.  The process has begun.
• list every day on Etsy.  Hasn't happened, I'm averaging twice a week, I don't feel like a failure, I just need to work harder on it.  

Goals for March:

• three shops.
• list every day.
• prepare for a big Craft Event I'm participating in in Mid April.
• start a blog.  done! yay! 

I'm really working towards a successful year, I'm joining groups, reading a lot and generally taking charge of my crafty future.  I want to be a Crafty Mastermind and I hope you'll join me!!