{CRAFT LAB} Marketing Basics

Tonight we held our very first Craft Lab and the chat was all about 'Marketing Basics', if you missed out, you can find the conversation on our Facebook page!

Thank you so much to everybody who popped in for a chat! 


So what did we learn?

Wear what you sell and always carry business cards with you!

We like to 'wing it' when it comes to our marketing plan! Although some of us would benefit from creating a Vision Map with our goals for our business. 

But marketing can have many faces, local newspapers, Facebook, online shopping networks, giveaways through creative websites/facebook pages, posters in public domains, displays, exhibits, craft markets, gift fairs, building your own website.... the list goes on! 

The majority of us use Facebook as a tool for marketing, but we are confused by how to make it work, with the changes that it is undertaking at the moment. One thing we all agreed upon is the need to have a 'target audience' in mind and present your posts as questions. Timing of these posts can be important. 

Try not to post too early in the morning and around school drop-off and pick-up times! It is definitely a topic we will cover more in the future! I want you all to be successful with your marketing tools!

Also, try to post at least three times a day, and different types of posts, questions, promotion, photos etc.

Some of us have taken the foray into blogging. The most important thing to know about blogging, is that the more active you are in the blogging community, the more successful your blog will be, and the more traffic you will get to your blog. Visit other blogs, join in their conversations and leave links back to your own. Bloggers love to support each other!

Things to learn about print media:
1. When advertising or contributing editorial target a print media publication that shares a piece of your pie (your target audience).
2. You could wait for them to come to you (but, this may never happen)... to get into editorial - write a press release (if you are not sure how to do the 'google' models to guide you or youtube or hire a writer) and email it onto the head of the editorial team (by name) or even better - the journalist that writes features in your neck of the woods - about small businesses/ entrepreneurs/ creatives/ events...

Phew... we learnt so much more! But you'll need to read the thread to find out all about it! 

The next {CRAFT LAB} will be April 16th at 8pm and cover the topic of 'Selling'

Love Your Small Business and Network NZ are just two of the sites that our chat unveiled as perfect sites for networking and learning more about your business! 


If you have any questions/topics you would like to see covered please let me know, if you are an industry professional (PR consultant, publicist, accountant, branding specialist, co-op store founder etc etc) and you would like to be involved please send me an email: hazellovesdesign@yahoo.com

Most importantly we are relying on YOU to make this happen! 
Spread the word, tell your friends and see you all April 16th

1 comment:

Sophie Slim said...

Great job Hazel! I did pop in and read the thread but found myself too busy to contribute!

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