Etsy broke into the e-commerce world in 2005 as a safe space for people to find authentic and unique handmade and vintage items, ranging from crocheted blankets to paintings and woodworks, and for small-scale artisans to find customers. It registered an almost immediate success, hitting the million-dollar mark and seeing its millionth sale just two short years after it was established, and it’s just been up from there. The site’s continuous success added to the fact that by October 2013, it allowed large-scale manufacturers sell on it, making it almost impossible for small craft makers to draw attention to themselves.
In this article, I will look at seven tested and trusted marketing strategies that are sure to put your business out there and give you more leads and more money.
1. Branding
It’s 2019, and branding has never been more important. One way to get more attention is to build a brand around your products.
Keep your brand in the minds of your buyers by incorporating it into your shop’s page on Etsy using the available banner and square image spaces. Watermark photos of your products, so customers know they’re looking at your product wherever they see it. Also, for products like clothing, using a label or more visible tag is good for your branding and marketing goals.
2. Categorize Your Products
The best way to increase sales is to make your products easier to find. When listing your items, be very descriptive but straight to the point. Use specific words and describe the item by what it is and not what it is made of or used for. This usually requires just one word; so, for instance, if your product is a vintage festive wool blanket, when putting it in a category, what matters is that it’s a blanket, and that should be its category. This way, it’s sure to come up in searches for blankets and other related items. Use the Shop Sections to organize your categories and help customers browse through your shop easily.
3. Build a Social Media Presence
After building your brand, take it to social media. One way to draw more attention to your Etsy shop is to be in conversations surrounding your product constantly. So, take advantage of your social media accounts and become a voice people listen to when it comes to products in your niche. When they trust your opinions, they’re more likely to buy from you.
4. Post Tutorials and Guides
Content Marketing has become one of the most effective ways to attract consumers to makers. A cheap and easy way to delve into this is to create how-to posts and buying guides. The how-to posts can show potential customers how to create simple crafts at home or even break down more complicated ones into a few easy steps. This is guaranteed to get you more leads.
Pro tip: Offer to send the content you create to their emails; this way, you get to build your email marketing list.
5. Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is what makes you more visible to the Google and Etsy search bots. A quick and easy way to gain this visibility is to incorporate keywords into your profile, product name, and product description. Keywords are words people associate with your product or, more accurately, what people search for when looking for a product. Think of words and phrases your customer is most likely to use when looking for the product or service you offer and incorporate them into your Etsy profile, product name, and product description. You can find keywords using the Google Ads Keyword Planner. This gives accurate keywords plus demographics showing how often they’re used so you can make informed choices.
6. Facebook and Instagram Ads
With over three billion users between both apps, if you’re looking for customers, they’re probably on one or both of them. Although the cost of advertising on both platforms depends on some factors, you can advertise for as low as $0.27 CPC (Cost Per Click) on Facebook and $0.20 on Instagram.
Whether or not your ads will be effective will depend on whether you put in the right factors when choosing your advertising options, so here are a few pro tips:
- Choose a time for the ads based on when your audience is online
- Pick an age range closest to your target audience or your regular customers (you don’t want to advertise to teenagers when your target audience is their parents)
- When choosing interests for your target audience, pick something as closely related to your product as possible
- If only people in a certain area or who speak a particular language would be interested in your product, make sure to streamline your target to them
- Pay attention to the estimated audience reach
7. Host or Sponsor Contests and Giveaways
People like getting free stuff. Exploit this basic human nature by hosting or sponsoring contests and giveaways.
One way to host a contest is to have people post a picture of your products on their pages, repost their posts, and have them get their friends and followers to like the reposts and follow you for a chance to win the products. This gets you traffic, post interactions, and more buyers in the long run.
You can also sponsor giveaways on popular social media accounts. This gets you free advertising and drives traffic to your social media page or Etsy shop. Take advantage of holidays and give away some products in exchange for advertising.
Conclusion
Sure, Etsy has become a small business owner’s nightmare, but as with everything else on the internet, all you need is to put yourself in people’s faces 24/7. So, try a different approach to getting your business out there, and you’re sure to increase sales. Always keep in mind that people can’t buy from you if they don’t know you’re selling, so you have to make them see you.Opinions expressed here by Contributors are their own.
Published January 21, 2019