Congratulations, Lijuan!

One of our teammates, Lijuan McQuillan, had her bead embroidery necklace, 'Blue Duchess', featured in the American magazine Bead and Button.

Well done, Lijuan! Hope it leads to many wonderful sales.

To see Lijuan's stunning work, check out her shop Lijuanbeadjewellery

Enjoy and share!

Irish cottage ornaments from PuffinPatchwork

There is a great article on Irish Central about the Etsy Ireland team, thanks to Claire Kamber:


http://www.irishcentral.com/business/The-best-Irish-handmade-products-on-Etsy-PHOTOS.html


So take a look, give a delighted squeal, and share it with all your friends on Social Media and offline!

It's good. And very good for us, too!

Promoting your Business

Promoting Your Jewellery Business

The Basics

(2) Business Cards

It is absolutely essential to have a business card. You have just gone to all that trouble to make something, someone likes it, buys it, you sell it to them and then... let them go? Of course not! You want then to come back and to come back they have to remember who you are. When you have sold something a business card should always be popped into the bag with the item.

A business card is an item that is always picked up at shows, even by those people who don't buy from you on that day. They may be people who might tell someone else about your lovely stuff, even if they don't buy themselves. You don't want them to forget who you are.

Very often business cards are slung on a pile with others, or left on the side. If you're lucky, your business card might be pinned on a notice board. The point is that you have to make your business card stand out from the others.

You could design one yourself or pay a graphic artist to do their magic for you. It should, of course, represent you and your business, and the more professional it looks, the better.

I personally use Vistaprint, who even print basic cards for free (you have to pay the postage of course). They do really nice colour cards, and have lots of designs to choose from. If you want something more special they print glossy cards too, and they have about the best prices I know of. The downside is that they always want to add you to their mailing list and you will receive lots of offers for free items, but what you don't want you can simply delete. I have had business cards, postcards and note pads printed through them. Their prices are great.

If you prefer face to face dealings then your local print shop are usually a good starting point and can design cards up for you from scratch.

PEOPLE PROMOTE PEOPLE THEY KNOW

Thanks
Sue (www.etsy.com/shop/amazingbeads)

Promoting Your Business - The Basics - (1) Word of Mouth

I am going to write a series of essays about promoting your business. This first is about promoting by Word of Mouth. Let me know if there are any subjects you would like me to cover.
You will see that I am writing about jewellery and beads in these essays, because that's what my business is, but you an use it for any artisan craft that you make.

PROMOTING YOUR BUSINESS
THE BASICS
(1) WORD OF MOUTH

I'm sure you have heard lots of people saying that 'Word of Mouth' is the best publicity you can get, and they are absolutely correct of course. For one thing it's free, and there is no better way of spreading the word about your wonderful jewellery, than by a  happy customer telling their friends about you.
However, Word of Mouth promotion doesn't necessarily come only from happy customers who have purchased from you. It can also come from people who have seen your product, liked the way you treated them, maybe didn't buy anything on that particular occasion, but still tell their friends, family and acquaintances about you.
To achieve this, you need to set up a stall, create a website, or make pieces that will resonate with consumers. If something strikes a chord with one person, they will potentially share it with others. It is also extremely wise practice to be interested in the customer and show that you are interested. Nothing should be too much trouble, within reason of course!

Let me tell you straight away that one of the best ways to get potential customers to buy anything is to let them handle the goods. Who cares if you have to re-arrange the items regularly, who cares if you have to polish things a bit more often, as long as people can touch, they are more likely to buy, and while they are holding that necklace, you can be showing that bit of interest in them, having a friendly conversation with them, asking them if they would like to try the piece on, treating them like a person and showing an interest in them.  Don't just tell them what you do, find out what they like too!
I know it can be easy to get frustrated with customers who finger the items on sale, messing them up, maybe leaving fingerprints on them and so on, but please don't show that frustration. I once knew someone who did a lot of tut-tutting, and even tied the doors of the display cabinets together with elastic bands to prevent clients from opening doors and handling the items on display. Can you imagine a bigger turn off than that?
To prove my point, some research was carried out with undergrad students in America. Half were shown two items to look at and decide whether they would be prepared to buy them or not, and the other half where shown the same two items, but were allowed to handle them. The second group not only said that they would buy, but were prepared to pay more for the items.
So always remember, that to be thought of in a good light and so recieve that famous, 'Word of Mouth' publicity, you need more than just nice items. You see, part of the overall product is you and the way you treat your customers.
PEOPLE PROMOTE PEOPLE THEY LIKE
2/1/13 Sue Graham www.amazingbeads.net