Hi there.
Speaker:It's Sue.
Speaker:And thanks for joining me for tips and talk day.
Speaker:These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions and
Speaker:things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small business.
Speaker:If you'd like to submit a topic,
Speaker:DME over on Instagram at gift biz unwrapped,
Speaker:just now I was planning out what I wanted to talk
Speaker:about today.
Speaker:And my husband came in to say goodbye.
Speaker:He's off to his morning Starbucks session and I'm working from
Speaker:home. I complimented him on his yellow ski jacket.
Speaker:One of my favorites,
Speaker:any joked around that,
Speaker:we have a whole eight degrees here right now.
Speaker:What he meant is that we should be happy because we're
Speaker:past this Arctic blast from last week,
Speaker:that led to me saying how much I'm looking forward to
Speaker:the spring and being able to take my workout on the
Speaker:porch. Instead of here in this spare sitting room that I've
Speaker:turned into the office,
Speaker:don't get me wrong.
Speaker:This room is nice and quaint.
Speaker:I can burn candles.
Speaker:I have a couch to lie on if I want to
Speaker:read and not be sitting at my desk here,
Speaker:but after a long winter,
Speaker:it's getting repetitive and I'm ready for some fresh air birds
Speaker:chirping and all the outside sense to accompany me while I
Speaker:work on my gift biz tasks.
Speaker:Actually that porch is one of my favorite happy places to
Speaker:go to.
Speaker:It's a ways off yet,
Speaker:but it will be so wonderful when it finally arrives.
Speaker:So I said to my husband,
Speaker:this is so much better though,
Speaker:than having the same weather all year round.
Speaker:We'll appreciate the warmth and sunshine so much more since it's
Speaker:not a regular thing to which my husband replied Suzy,
Speaker:that's so deep.
Speaker:Then he smiled and he went on his way.
Speaker:I reflected on our conversation a little longer and realized that
Speaker:I add a lot of variety to our lives.
Speaker:I have two sets of everyday dinner where to match the
Speaker:seasons it's Fiesta,
Speaker:where if you're familiar with that in the fall and the
Speaker:winter, I use red like a Alavi green color,
Speaker:burnt orange and yellow.
Speaker:And in the spring and summer,
Speaker:I pull out Navy blue,
Speaker:light blue,
Speaker:kind of like a light lime green.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:of course,
Speaker:yellow in October,
Speaker:I start making my chili and in the summer it's good
Speaker:Spotto. I'm sure you do the same type of thing to
Speaker:some degree.
Speaker:Maybe not as crazy as me as my mind went back
Speaker:to deciding on the podcast topic.
Speaker:I realized this was the perfect one,
Speaker:the value of a fleeting moment,
Speaker:or in this case season and how it's a way to
Speaker:create anticipation and desire.
Speaker:You can consciously this into your business to instead of having
Speaker:everything the same month after month,
Speaker:except of course for holiday designs,
Speaker:but that's obvious why not strategically create fleeting moments into your
Speaker:business. You can do this by creating limited collections,
Speaker:seasonal sense and colors.
Speaker:One of a kind designs products only available at craft shows.
Speaker:Current customer only offerings.
Speaker:You get the idea.
Speaker:Here's the benefit of this for you.
Speaker:It gives you something new to talk about in your marketing.
Speaker:It builds demand because the availability is limited to a certain
Speaker:quantity or timeframe.
Speaker:If a customer puts off buying,
Speaker:they may miss out.
Speaker:It adds interest to your product line.
Speaker:When people come to your website,
Speaker:they aren't then seeing the same thing over and over again.
Speaker:This helps with SEO too,
Speaker:by the way,
Speaker:it allows you to take advantage of limited elements that might
Speaker:be available,
Speaker:that you couldn't add to your standard line.
Speaker:Like maybe you find 20 really interestingly shaped vessels for your
Speaker:candles, but you can only buy them once.
Speaker:It also gives you a stage to test out new ideas,
Speaker:to see if they resonate.
Speaker:If not,
Speaker:no problem.
Speaker:You've tried it out and it's going away anyway.
Speaker:And you haven't invested a lot of time and money.
Speaker:If it's a hit,
Speaker:you can add it into another limited time promotion or add
Speaker:it into your standard line.
Speaker:So something new to talk about,
Speaker:building demand,
Speaker:adding interest,
Speaker:taking advantage of special things that you find that you could
Speaker:integrate into your product and giving you a stage to test
Speaker:that all sounds pretty good to me.
Speaker:This also solves a big problem.
Speaker:I hear often from you,
Speaker:how do I get customers to come back and buy from
Speaker:me again?
Speaker:If they already have several pairs of your earrings,
Speaker:and now you introduce matching bracelets,
Speaker:or if their candle stack is solid,
Speaker:but a new Mulberry tea scent is a one and done
Speaker:offer. That may be the motivation for a new sale from
Speaker:somebody who already loves your products,
Speaker:but wasn't in the market for more yet.
Speaker:There are definitely advantages to consistency in your business,
Speaker:having all your best sellers in stock and being reliable with
Speaker:timely shipping and such,
Speaker:but adding in fleeting moments could be just the thing you
Speaker:need to spice up your business and get those sales rolling
Speaker:in faster.
Speaker:That's a wrap.
Speaker:I'm a get to the point kind of girl.
Speaker:And this is what you can expect from these quick midweek
Speaker:sessions. Now it's your turn go out and fulfill that of
Speaker:yours. Share your handmade products with us.