Chris Campbell on sat 14 oct 00
Karen -
Marketing is the hard part. It is the place where you have to face the
possibility of rejection. When you are an artist there is no place to hide,
no supplier to blame.
It sounds as though you have followed the same route that a lot of us
have. My personal demon at a Craftshow was a neighboring booth outselling me
ten to one with "Santa Stop Here" posts for lawns.
Local spots such as Farmers Markets seem to bring out the bargain
hunting genes in customers. It is very hard to market your work on the
internet through a personal site unless you already have a customer base to
refer to the site. I can understand why you are discouraged.
I have turned my business around by joining a group site on the
internet. This year 85% of my sales came from galleries and shops that found
me online. I was sold out of my entire year's production by late July.
The site I use is called wholesalecrafts.com. You pay a fee to be on the
site and they do not take any other commissions. You are in direct contact
with your customers for each sale. You have total control over your success,
while being aided by the power of group advertising.
Take a tour of the site and see if it looks like a possibility for you.
It still takes a lot of work to use this site to your best advantage, but the
customers are there if you do your part.
Chris Campbell
| |
|
