Shownotes
Business Building Insights
- The beauty of wholesale accounts is that once you’ve established contacts you can reach out to them over and over again.
- Wholesale trade shows are an excellent place to start as you begin to develop relationships.
- There’s no one right way to run a business. You have to figure out what works best for you.
- Your product does not need to solve a problem in order for it to sell.
- Show off your product through experienced based marketing: what it tastes like, what it looks like, how it feels and the experience of using it.
- Add a human element to your photography. We are trained to read emotions through other humans; whether it’s the expression or a movement like reaching for something.
- Email is a powerful way to connect with customers.
- Put a call to action on your sites and social media to collect emails for your list.
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Thanks! Sue
Transcripts
Gift biz unwrapped episode 198 ball FOMO thing.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you know there's a reason people do it.
Speaker:It works.
Speaker:Attention gifters,
Speaker:bakers, crafters and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one
Speaker:now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is gift to biz on rapt helping you turn your
Speaker:skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources and the support you need to grow your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal,
Speaker:Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Well hello gifts Peeps.
Speaker:Thank you so much for joining into the podcast today.
Speaker:I think for some of you the topic might feel a
Speaker:little bit old school so often now when we're looking at
Speaker:making sure there's visibility for our business,
Speaker:we're going to all these social media platforms.
Speaker:Well, the true story is email still should hold a really
Speaker:valuable place in your overall marketing strategy and a lot of
Speaker:the things you hear right now about email are really for
Speaker:online service businesses,
Speaker:not necessarily product based businesses.
Speaker:I'm thrilled that Megan shares what's working for her business right
Speaker:now and the differences between online service based businesses and product
Speaker:based businesses when it comes to email and what role this
Speaker:can play for you as you continue to find new ways
Speaker:to grow.
Speaker:Before we get into that,
Speaker:I want to ask you a favor and that is if
Speaker:you're brand new to the show,
Speaker:if this is one of the first times that you're listening
Speaker:and you find you're getting value from the content that we're
Speaker:talking about here,
Speaker:it would mean the world to me.
Speaker:If you were jump over to iTunes,
Speaker:subscribe to the podcast because that way you'll always get the
Speaker:latest episode automatically downloaded to your phone and then also if
Speaker:you would do a rating and review.
Speaker:As you probably know,
Speaker:taking that action really helps get the podcast shown to more
Speaker:people so that they too can get value,
Speaker:that they need tips,
Speaker:tools, and strategies that can help them advance their businesses too.
Speaker:Thank you to those of you who have already done a
Speaker:rating and review.
Speaker:Those of you who are going to head on over there
Speaker:right after this episode.
Speaker:I really appreciate your doing that as well and now it's
Speaker:time to get into the show.
Speaker:Today my guest is Megan almond.
Speaker:Megan is a jewelry designer,
Speaker:metal Smith and educator with over a decade of experience in
Speaker:selling art through a variety of channels.
Speaker:She designs for women who want to be effortlessly bold.
Speaker:She says you need jewelry that makes a statement but is
Speaker:easy enough to wear every day.
Speaker:You need pieces that make you feel fantastic every time you
Speaker:put them on something that reflects your confidence and strength,
Speaker:a kind of armor that helps you tackle day every day.
Speaker:Currently, Megan is running her eponymous jewelry line and the online
Speaker:community artists and profit makers for fellow creatives who sell high
Speaker:end products.
Speaker:Megan has seen talented makers walk away from creating because they
Speaker:are given one size fits all marketing advice that just doesn't
Speaker:translate to the world of selling art.
Speaker:Today we're going to talk about selling advice that is specific
Speaker:to creatives.
Speaker:Megan is a bestselling,
Speaker:creative live instructor.
Speaker:Her designs have been featured in Elle decor,
Speaker:better homes and gardens,
Speaker:cooking light and on top rated blogs like design sponge.
Speaker:Welcome to the gift biz on podcast.
Speaker:Megan, Thank you for having me.
Speaker:I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker:I am thrilled and your topic could not be more apropos.
Speaker:I am really,
Speaker:really interested in hearing what you have to say.
Speaker:So we're going to dive right in.
Speaker:But before we do,
Speaker:I want to have our listeners get to know you in
Speaker:a way that's become a tradition on this show.
Speaker:That's by having you describe yourself through a motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you were to share with us a color and
Speaker:a quote that would create a candle that speaks you,
Speaker:what would your candle look like?
Speaker:Yeah, so my candle,
Speaker:first of all,
Speaker:it's definitely gray because anyone who knows me knows that gray
Speaker:is my favorite color.
Speaker:It's either gray,
Speaker:black, or white,
Speaker:but gray is usually the winner.
Speaker:Oh, I am so with you.
Speaker:Yeah, so it's usually great.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:it's funny cause I was trying to think about what my
Speaker:favorite motivational quote is and I decided that right now there
Speaker:wouldn't be a quote.
Speaker:It would just be like an awesome handmade textured candle because
Speaker:that is what I'm so into right now and it actually
Speaker:kind of doves into my teaching philosophy of working with artists
Speaker:and makers and that for so long we've been taught that
Speaker:marketing is very verbal,
Speaker:but right now we live in this wonderful world of opportunity
Speaker:for visual marketing on the web,
Speaker:which just plays so well to what we're doing.
Speaker:So I'm leaving a quote off my candle and we're going
Speaker:all tactile,
Speaker:texturey, handmade and celebrating all of that other stuff that we
Speaker:do. Beautiful.
Speaker:No one has ever answered this way.
Speaker:I love all the created different ways people take this and
Speaker:just make it their own,
Speaker:which is exactly what I wanted and I love it.
Speaker:Absolutely fabulous.
Speaker:So let's ground ourselves a little bit in understanding you and
Speaker:how you got into what you're doing today more right now
Speaker:from your jewelry line.
Speaker:And then we're absolutely going to get into all the advice
Speaker:that you have for us.
Speaker:But tell us how you got started.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:So I'm really fortunate that I grew up as a creative
Speaker:kid. I was in like drawing classes by the time I
Speaker:was six years old,
Speaker:my mom was a painter.
Speaker:I was just always really encouraged to do that.
Speaker:And so growing up I kind of thought I wanted to
Speaker:have a different kinds of jobs.
Speaker:And by the time I was in high school I thought,
Speaker:okay, I'm going to go to college for painting.
Speaker:And luckily my parents were super supportive of that.
Speaker:And then my senior year of high school,
Speaker:I took a workshop where we did lost wax cast rings
Speaker:and I was like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:you can go to college for this,
Speaker:sign me up.
Speaker:And so I immediately started looking for colleges that had metal
Speaker:smithing or jewelry programs.
Speaker:And I ended up going and getting my BFA in metal
Speaker:smithing. And then because I had no idea what to do
Speaker:with the BFA and metal smithing,
Speaker:I went and got my MFA in jewelry and metals because
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:well, I don't know what to do,
Speaker:so let's just go keep getting all the degrees until I
Speaker:can figure it out.
Speaker:You'll find it along the way.
Speaker:Right, right.
Speaker:And so that was a really smart call because I ended
Speaker:up going to an MFA program that was really actively supporting,
Speaker:thinking about making money,
Speaker:which I know sounds weird,
Speaker:but in art school it's so,
Speaker:so common to go into programs where making money is not
Speaker:just, you're not taught how to do it.
Speaker:Like it's actively discouraged because selling is selling out and that
Speaker:kind of thing.
Speaker:And I was really fortunate that I was in a grad
Speaker:program where it was encouraged.
Speaker:We had a jewelry student co-op,
Speaker:we would do sales every semester on campus.
Speaker:I helped run that.
Speaker:And so while I was in grad school and I was
Speaker:making all this kind of sculpture,
Speaker:art type stuff,
Speaker:I was also developing my jewelry production line.
Speaker:And so when I came out of school,
Speaker:I was really lucky in that I had a one year
Speaker:sabbatical replacement position where I was a university professor and I
Speaker:always liked to joke that what I learned in that year
Speaker:is that I didn't want to be a university professor.
Speaker:So luckily that gave me the time to transition into being
Speaker:able to launch my jewelry business then.
Speaker:And so I started,
Speaker:and this was actually in the fairly early days of Etsy,
Speaker:was when I was coming out of grad school.
Speaker:So I opened up an Etsy shop and I literally sold
Speaker:nothing for like six months.
Speaker:But luckily at the same time I was doing craft shows
Speaker:and then I discovered wholesale.
Speaker:And so I did my first wholesale show,
Speaker:which actually was the New York gift show.
Speaker:Now it's called New York now,
Speaker:but I just dove right off the deep end of the
Speaker:swimming pool.
Speaker:Like I had no idea what I was doing,
Speaker:but I just did it.
Speaker:And so really kind of focused,
Speaker:ended up growing my business through wholesale first.
Speaker:That was my primary goal there.
Speaker:And that was 12 years ago,
Speaker:11 years ago,
Speaker:12 years ago that I started doing craft shows.
Speaker:I think 11 years ago I did my first trade show,
Speaker:so still around,
Speaker:which I feel like is a good sign.
Speaker:Are you still doing trade shows today?
Speaker:So I do less than I used to.
Speaker:So there was a time where I was doing three a
Speaker:year. I'd stopped counting,
Speaker:but I've done somewhere well above 25 trade shows in the
Speaker:11 years that I've been doing them.
Speaker:And I've transitioned now to focusing more on just maintaining my
Speaker:existing wholesale relationships.
Speaker:And so I do usually one or two smaller trade shows
Speaker:a year.
Speaker:Something like the American craft counsel's wholesale show.
Speaker:Yeah. I don't do New York now anymore because I felt
Speaker:like I didn't need to.
Speaker:Now that I've established those contacts,
Speaker:that's the beauty of wholesale is that once you have contacts
Speaker:you can reach out to them for orders over and over
Speaker:again. And then I do occasional things like I show with
Speaker:a small group in New York city during New York.
Speaker:Now we do a little popup at a hotel.
Speaker:So that way buyers can come and meet with us and
Speaker:it's much more low key than doing the actual show.
Speaker:But I will say for anyone thinking about it,
Speaker:I would not have the business that I have if I
Speaker:hadn't done New York now and a couple other key trade
Speaker:shows when I was starting,
Speaker:so even though I'm doing less of them now,
Speaker:it's by far the foundation that I built my business on.
Speaker:Yeah. Well,
Speaker:New York now is such a huge show and I've heard
Speaker:you're not the only one I've heard who does a little
Speaker:bit of something on the side.
Speaker:Do you have a little showroom in your hotel?
Speaker:Yeah. That's becoming so much more common now,
Speaker:but I think at the same time,
Speaker:if you don't have the context when you're just starting out,
Speaker:it's helpful to do the show.
Speaker:You can't beat the foot traffic of the show.
Speaker:Well, yeah,
Speaker:in a big show like that for sure.
Speaker:Exactly. And craft shows pretty quickly fell by the wayside.
Speaker:Once you decided you were really going to focus on wholesale.
Speaker:Yeah. I had a string of shows one summer where every
Speaker:weekend it rained all summer long.
Speaker:And I just thought really quickly I was like,
Speaker:I do not want to spend my weekends standing in a
Speaker:tent in the rain.
Speaker:This is not the life that I want.
Speaker:And in the first year that I did wholesale,
Speaker:I think I brought in four times more revenue doing wholesale
Speaker:than doing retail craft shows.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:Oh this is way easier.
Speaker:I'm just going to do that instead.
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:I pretty much dropped the craft show thing.
Speaker:It's actually funny because this year I did three bigger indoor
Speaker:craft shows cause I thought,
Speaker:okay, like it's been a while.
Speaker:Let's just check this,
Speaker:see if I'm missing anything.
Speaker:And after this year I was like,
Speaker:Nope. Okay,
Speaker:we're good.
Speaker:I can focus on the other things then that for you,
Speaker:not for me.
Speaker:Although I have some people in give biz listeners,
Speaker:you've heard them speak on the show,
Speaker:people thrive with it.
Speaker:They love those smaller community based shows and are making a
Speaker:great living off of that too.
Speaker:So it's really whatever fits you.
Speaker:Exactly. And would you say Megan,
Speaker:your product too?
Speaker:Absolutely. So it's really a blend of what you like and
Speaker:also your product and you know,
Speaker:that's kind of one of the things is that my price
Speaker:point is a little bit more expensive.
Speaker:And so when I do a lot of those,
Speaker:like smaller local shows,
Speaker:I get a lot of pushback.
Speaker:Whereas in wholesale selling to stores,
Speaker:my price point actually feels really reasonable to stores.
Speaker:And so it just,
Speaker:the work sells better that way.
Speaker:Okay. So you have established your business and give us the
Speaker:look behind the scenes.
Speaker:In terms of production,
Speaker:were you working offsite in like a production studio or were
Speaker:you working out of your house or how was that working
Speaker:again back in the early years?
Speaker:Yeah, so when I first started I was working out of
Speaker:my house and so I started in our garage and we
Speaker:have a detached garage because we have an older home.
Speaker:And so I was working in the garage and it was
Speaker:very, very cold.
Speaker:And so I kind of strategically shifted to the basement of
Speaker:our house,
Speaker:which was great except that I do a lot of things
Speaker:with a torch.
Speaker:And so the torch still deliver in the garage and I
Speaker:was walking back and forth.
Speaker:But I did that for probably the first,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:six, seven,
Speaker:eight years of my business.
Speaker:It was awhile that I worked like that and I'm very
Speaker:fortunate now that I live near the house that I grew
Speaker:up in and I was actually able to create the house
Speaker:that I grew up in as a farmhouse.
Speaker:And I was able to create a really beautiful studio space
Speaker:now with like skylights and a lot of room and it's
Speaker:amazing. But for a long time I worked out of our
Speaker:basement. It did everything I needed it to do.
Speaker:It just didn't have any sun.
Speaker:Right? I mean,
Speaker:and that's something that you have to do as you develop,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you use what you have and you make things work and
Speaker:then you adjust as you're perfecting and also testing what's going
Speaker:to work for you.
Speaker:Just like you were talking about,
Speaker:you made the choice of going wholesale versus more local craft
Speaker:shows you saw that you didn't want to teach and you
Speaker:can't learn any of that unless you put your foot in
Speaker:and kind of get a feel for it.
Speaker:Exactly, And for someone else,
Speaker:it might've been absolutely the opposite choices than what you made.
Speaker:I totally agree with him.
Speaker:That's one of the things that I believe so much is
Speaker:that there's no one right way to run a business and
Speaker:so you're right,
Speaker:you have to try everything and figure out what works best
Speaker:for you.
Speaker:Let's dive right now into the meat of all of this
Speaker:and what I'm so excited to talk about because although there's
Speaker:all different ways to present your product,
Speaker:there's one thing that is consistent across everything and that is
Speaker:you have to have customers who are interested in purchasing what
Speaker:you're making or you really don't have a business and certainly
Speaker:not a business that could sustain you in your life.
Speaker:And so that equals selling.
Speaker:Although I'm really getting to the point where I wanted to
Speaker:like just rename that entire word cause it comes with such
Speaker:a negative connotation.
Speaker:When I was reading some of the information that you sent
Speaker:over before we started talking,
Speaker:Megan, I'm a little bit older than you and I come
Speaker:from an a corporate environment where we had to seed the
Speaker:problem with the customer.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:that whole thing.
Speaker:So you know,
Speaker:in the hard core,
Speaker:although it was very against my personality,
Speaker:that was what I was trained to do.
Speaker:So I so get when you talk about that,
Speaker:so let's start there.
Speaker:Yeah. So a couple of,
Speaker:I guess probably a couple of months ago now,
Speaker:maybe more,
Speaker:I wrote a couple of ranty blog posts about that your
Speaker:product doesn't need to solve a problem in order for you
Speaker:to sell it.
Speaker:And I think this is one of the biggest sticking points
Speaker:for makers and crafters and artists because this is the advice
Speaker:that comes from the marketing community,
Speaker:especially infomarketers people who are selling a service or a digital
Speaker:product or a course or something that the conventional wisdom is
Speaker:that you identify a problem and if there isn't a problem,
Speaker:you basically manufacture a problem and then you tell the customer
Speaker:why your product solves that problem.
Speaker:And of course there are 100% products that do this,
Speaker:right? People design products all the time because they see a
Speaker:problem in their life and they want to fix it and
Speaker:they create a problem.
Speaker:And so if that's you,
Speaker:that's awesome,
Speaker:but more what I find in the maker community is that
Speaker:we get excited about process or technique or an object.
Speaker:And so you make it an a doesn't solve a problem.
Speaker:And so trying to market your work by like forcing a
Speaker:problem on it feels really disingenuous.
Speaker:And this is why so many artists and makers and crafters
Speaker:hate selling because it really feels false and wrong because you're
Speaker:essentially, it seems like you're trying to trick your customer into
Speaker:something. But what I also think is that in doing that,
Speaker:we're selling our products short because if you are an artist,
Speaker:and when I say artists,
Speaker:I think of makers.
Speaker:I think of crafters,
Speaker:I think of people making food.
Speaker:I think of all of these things that your listeners are,
Speaker:because honestly,
Speaker:there's art in all of this.
Speaker:And when we reduce it to solving a problem,
Speaker:we're actually selling our work short because people don't buy things
Speaker:because it solves a problem.
Speaker:You don't buy a cupcake because it solves a problem,
Speaker:right? You buy a cupcake because it looks pretty and it's
Speaker:going to taste really damn good.
Speaker:And so by trying to create these problems,
Speaker:we're really selling our work short.
Speaker:And so what I want to do is I want to
Speaker:encourage artists and makers and crafters to really think about how
Speaker:to show off their work from the more experienced based marketing.
Speaker:So what it tastes like,
Speaker:what it looks like,
Speaker:what it feels like,
Speaker:the experience of using it.
Speaker:Just getting people excited about those real visceral things is a
Speaker:completely different way of marketing from what we're taught by traditional
Speaker:marketing standards.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:And you're right in line with where it feels like everyone's
Speaker:starting talk.
Speaker:Yeah. Not As much materialism necessarily,
Speaker:but what does it bring you and what does it add
Speaker:to your life?
Speaker:Even if it's just something that adds to your life within
Speaker:a single moment.
Speaker:Like eating a cupcake.
Speaker:Yeah. Or you're eating a cupcake and you're getting to be
Speaker:with your girlfriends,
Speaker:you know you're all together and you're enjoying that.
Speaker:Like what else?
Speaker:What's the extended linkage with that cupcake?
Speaker:Exactly. And our community can learn a lot,
Speaker:I think from the craft beer community because craft beer legally,
Speaker:like they can't tell you that their beer solves a problem.
Speaker:Right? Like that's totally against the law and the way that
Speaker:you're allowed to market beer.
Speaker:And I know some of this because my brother actually works
Speaker:in marketing for a craft beer company.
Speaker:So we talk about these kinds of things.
Speaker:So what they have to do is they have to play
Speaker:up the experience of it and that's why people buy craft
Speaker:beer. And it's the same reason that they might buy a
Speaker:piece of jewelry,
Speaker:not because they need something to wear tomorrow night.
Speaker:Because quite frankly,
Speaker:if you need something to wear tomorrow night,
Speaker:you're probably running to like target and buying something really quick
Speaker:or whatever.
Speaker:Like you're not taking the time to shop.
Speaker:But instead if you're thinking about,
Speaker:okay, like I love this work and I love the maker
Speaker:and like I really want to just own this piece because
Speaker:it's beautiful.
Speaker:That's how we should be selling our work more.
Speaker:Absolutely agree with you.
Speaker:How does that transition into attracting customers?
Speaker:How do we do it then?
Speaker:Yeah, so I think part of it is first of all
Speaker:to stop worrying about what you're saying about your work.
Speaker:So I see so many people who are like,
Speaker:Oh my God,
Speaker:I don't know how to describe my work.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:who cares at this point?
Speaker:Because we live in such a visual culture.
Speaker:So if you look at kind of,
Speaker:I think the common denominator between like the marketing paths that
Speaker:work, it's that people get to experience the work either firsthand
Speaker:or through photography,
Speaker:and that really makes it easier to connect with people.
Speaker:So if you're doing a retail craft show or a trade
Speaker:show, right?
Speaker:People are there and they're interacting with the work and they're
Speaker:touching the work.
Speaker:One of the things when I teach people how to sell
Speaker:in person,
Speaker:I'm always like,
Speaker:pick up your work and put it in somebody's hand because
Speaker:they're probably not going to do it themselves,
Speaker:but it's really important for the process.
Speaker:And so that kind of thing.
Speaker:And if you're not doing that,
Speaker:then I think the next best way to connect with customers
Speaker:is through whatever social media channels make sense for you.
Speaker:I'm not advocating that everyone use all of them because it's
Speaker:insane. But what the best ones have in common is that
Speaker:they let you visually communicate the experience and the tactile or
Speaker:the visceral qualities of your product.
Speaker:You can do that through your photography.
Speaker:That's why the people that you see succeed,
Speaker:whether it's on Etsy or Instagram or Pinterest,
Speaker:they're creating beautiful photography and that's what customers are responding to
Speaker:first On the photography.
Speaker:And how do you feel or do you have a preference
Speaker:with the two different types of photos?
Speaker:I think I'll describe that are out there.
Speaker:One is it's just the product sitting there by itself.
Speaker:Maybe it has some,
Speaker:a little bit of created background,
Speaker:like a staged background,
Speaker:like a flat layer or something.
Speaker:Then with a necklace laying over it or whatever it is,
Speaker:versus more of a lifestyle shot where someone is in an
Speaker:environment and then wearing the piece.
Speaker:So I actually think that both are important and I spend
Speaker:time doing both with my product.
Speaker:So with my jewelry,
Speaker:I definitely am doing the kind of photography.
Speaker:Like for me it's a lot of white background just because
Speaker:that's my aesthetic enough.
Speaker:It makes my work pop.
Speaker:So I'll do a lot of that white background,
Speaker:very kind of simple photography.
Speaker:But then I do a ton of model photography,
Speaker:which actually now all of my model photography is on me
Speaker:because I'm the most convenient model that I have.
Speaker:So the point where I even developed a class called market
Speaker:yourself to teach other people how to take pictures of themselves.
Speaker:And so I think that's really important because when you are
Speaker:trying to sell online,
Speaker:people want to see the product,
Speaker:but they need to see it in context.
Speaker:And one of the things that I've realized from being online
Speaker:for a long time and talking to people is that nobody
Speaker:reads, you can write dimensions in your product descriptions all day
Speaker:long, but no one is going to read them.
Speaker:And even if they read them,
Speaker:they probably can't visualize dimensions.
Speaker:If you're not a maker or an artist,
Speaker:you cannot visualize dimensions.
Speaker:It's so sad,
Speaker:but so true.
Speaker:And so the best way to communicate really,
Speaker:really simple information like size is to stick a human element
Speaker:in your photography.
Speaker:Whether that is the body,
Speaker:if it's jewelry,
Speaker:if it's being worn,
Speaker:but even if it's not,
Speaker:if you have a hand holding a cupcake or a hand
Speaker:reaching in or like it's someone's holding something and you can
Speaker:see it in relation to their torso,
Speaker:whatever that is,
Speaker:that immediately gives people information about size and scale that is
Speaker:so much more quickly and better communicated than if you wrote
Speaker:it in your product description And they also say photos.
Speaker:The mind just can accept and interpret photos so much faster
Speaker:too. Exactly.
Speaker:And photos give the feel that emotion.
Speaker:Exactly, and that's actually one of the reasons too that I'm
Speaker:such a strong proponent of adding a human element to your
Speaker:photography. Whether or not you make a wearable product because we
Speaker:are trained as humans to read emotion from other humans,
Speaker:even if it's just a hand.
Speaker:We read body language and you're right,
Speaker:it's such an important way to communicate emotion that even an
Speaker:amazing copywriter cannot hit that in the same way that a
Speaker:great photograph can.
Speaker:That's going to give me some thought because I always feel
Speaker:like, well if I don't know the person in the photo,
Speaker:unless they're a big brand,
Speaker:you know who have all the models,
Speaker:what does it matter?
Speaker:But my thinking head's a little bit changed and I'll go
Speaker:into this in a minute,
Speaker:but you're saying any person,
Speaker:so even if they don't relate,
Speaker:if they don't know cause it's not you,
Speaker:the maker you know,
Speaker:or the designer of the piece.
Speaker:But any person is more advantageous to a customer understanding and
Speaker:feeling good about a product than just the piece lane by
Speaker:itself? I think so.
Speaker:Again, I think more often than not it definitely helps.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:it's sometimes as simple as like sticking a hand in,
Speaker:which is so easy to do for just about anyone but
Speaker:it is there something about like we as humans relate to
Speaker:other humans and there's also a scientific concept called mirror neurons,
Speaker:which is this idea that like if you see someone doing
Speaker:something, your brain mimics as if you are doing it too.
Speaker:So if you see a hand reaching for a handmade ceramic
Speaker:mug, it makes you want to reach out and touch that
Speaker:handmade ceramic mug too.
Speaker:And so adding that human element literally tells our brain that
Speaker:we want to be mimicking that behavior,
Speaker:which of course is going to then make you want the
Speaker:thing more.
Speaker:That is so interesting to summarize where we are at this
Speaker:point. We've been diving into the whole experience based marketing and
Speaker:Megan's broken it down into two things,
Speaker:really photography and everything that we just talked about now in
Speaker:terms of what should be included in the photos.
Speaker:And that's mostly relating then to social media online,
Speaker:your website,
Speaker:et cetera,
Speaker:and then also in person.
Speaker:So if you're at a trade show or you're at a
Speaker:craft show or I'm always suggesting that you guys are out
Speaker:and making sure that you're interacting with your community in networking
Speaker:events or you know,
Speaker:local farmer's markets,
Speaker:whatever it is.
Speaker:And Megan,
Speaker:as we were talking about that in person experience,
Speaker:your saying let there be things that people can handle and
Speaker:try on maybe those types of things.
Speaker:Right? Yeah,
Speaker:absolutely. You know the best thing that you can do is
Speaker:encourage people to touch your product.
Speaker:Or those of you who are candle bath food smell is
Speaker:amazing too.
Speaker:Like anything you can get someone to smell something that is
Speaker:perfect. I do not make a product that smells,
Speaker:so I have to be all about the touch.
Speaker:But it's really important to kind of engage all of the
Speaker:senses because here's the other thing that I think we don't
Speaker:talk about enough with marketing and if we go back to
Speaker:that problem solving marketing issue,
Speaker:I'll call it.
Speaker:It makes us think that people make purchasing decisions only based
Speaker:on like rational things.
Speaker:Like I have this problem and I must solve it so
Speaker:I will buy this thing.
Speaker:But that's not how people buy.
Speaker:Yes, certain things it is,
Speaker:but we also buy things because we fall in love with
Speaker:the object or we just get really excited about it.
Speaker:We buy based on emotion and so the more emotion you
Speaker:can create,
Speaker:especially through sensory experience,
Speaker:the better you're going to be as a sales person.
Speaker:Totally agree and you hear it all the time.
Speaker:Even if it's a logical solution to a problem,
Speaker:people will buy a specific version or from a specific company
Speaker:through emotion for sure.
Speaker:Exactly. And the other thing that I want to add here,
Speaker:because I think this is so key,
Speaker:is that actually customers who buy based on emotion,
Speaker:who buy based on gut reaction are actually happier customers.
Speaker:And this is not just me saying this,
Speaker:there's actually research that tells us this,
Speaker:right? They're actually happier customers than people who need to analyze
Speaker:and do all the research and like make the decision based
Speaker:on the rational things.
Speaker:So those are the customers who are actually more likely to
Speaker:be unhappy with their product.
Speaker:Whereas people who buy with their gut feel way less buyer's
Speaker:remorse. So I would much rather encourage my customers to buy
Speaker:with their gut because they're going to be happier customers.
Speaker:Yeah, they probably also then aren't second guessing.
Speaker:People who are analyzing before the sale are probably going to
Speaker:be analyzing after the sale as well.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So in the social media realm,
Speaker:one of the things that's really popular and everyone is stressing
Speaker:right now is live streaming.
Speaker:I'm going to be interested in your opinion here that you
Speaker:being part of the brand and letting people see who you
Speaker:are as the artist is also really key.
Speaker:And many times people will fall in love with you and
Speaker:buy your products just because it's you.
Speaker:Yes. So I completely 100% agree with that,
Speaker:but I will also say that I don't think that live
Speaker:streaming is the only way to do it.
Speaker:I think that it's one way to do it and obviously
Speaker:if you're talking to people in your Instagram stories or you're
Speaker:doing Facebook live or whatever it is,
Speaker:that's one way.
Speaker:But again,
Speaker:I think just even bringing yourself into your photography,
Speaker:talking to your customers on social media,
Speaker:in your writing as if you're talking to a human.
Speaker:So I'm not the kind of person who I don't like
Speaker:to do live video,
Speaker:which is ironic because I taught a million classes on creative
Speaker:live, which were all live video personally in my day to
Speaker:day, I'm not a big fan of live video,
Speaker:but what I do like to do is photograph myself a
Speaker:lot, post those on social media and then whether or not
Speaker:I'm in the image.
Speaker:When I write captions on social media,
Speaker:I write like I'm talking to a human as opposed to
Speaker:writing marketing copy and so I totally agree with you.
Speaker:I think people buy because they love the maker,
Speaker:they want to feel connected to the maker,
Speaker:but there are so many ways to do that,
Speaker:especially if you're like a little video shy.
Speaker:There's totally other ways to do that.
Speaker:You have no idea how many people are smiling.
Speaker:You just said that for sure.
Speaker:I have guests,
Speaker:I have a guest.
Speaker:How many people are here?
Speaker:I think a lot of people.
Speaker:Yeah, pretty high percentage there and you bring up a good
Speaker:point too,
Speaker:which is engagement.
Speaker:When someone is responding to a photo or commenting to be
Speaker:there and be available and to talk back,
Speaker:not talk back,
Speaker:but you know what I mean.
Speaker:Communicate back with them and start developing a relationship.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:And I think that it's so funny because I always tell
Speaker:people I have like a love,
Speaker:hate, love relationship with Instagram.
Speaker:Most of the hate comes into things like the algorithm,
Speaker:but what I love about it is that if you're using
Speaker:it properly,
Speaker:you can have these meaningful conversations,
Speaker:whether it's in the comments,
Speaker:whether it's in your DMS.
Speaker:When I go on Instagram,
Speaker:I feel like I'm connecting to other humans and I love
Speaker:that. And so that's a great way to build that relationship
Speaker:with your customers without feeling like you have to be the
Speaker:talking head on video all the time.
Speaker:So how do you build that time into your day or
Speaker:week to do that?
Speaker:So I am very much a person where I like to
Speaker:push my marketing activities to either end of my day so
Speaker:that I can spend as much time as possible in the
Speaker:studio. Actually focusing on my studio work and focusing on making,
Speaker:because at the moment I'm a one woman show,
Speaker:so every product that comes out of my studio is made
Speaker:by my hands.
Speaker:And so what I do is I use a strategy that
Speaker:I call marketing mornings.
Speaker:So in the mornings I like to get up and do
Speaker:any of my major marketing stuff,
Speaker:blog posts,
Speaker:email, just checking into Instagram,
Speaker:that sort of thing.
Speaker:I used to do a lot more of that in the
Speaker:morning. I'm shifting a little bit more towards the end of
Speaker:my day now,
Speaker:so after my orders are shipped,
Speaker:you maybe after dinner I'm booking a little bit of time
Speaker:to do some of that now just because evenings tend to
Speaker:get better engagement because more people are again doing exactly what
Speaker:I'm doing.
Speaker:Right. They're on,
Speaker:they finished dinner,
Speaker:they're on their phone,
Speaker:they're hanging out while they're watching TV,
Speaker:browsing, Instagram or Pinterest or whatever.
Speaker:Some shifting a little bit more to that,
Speaker:but I really like to push those so that when I'm
Speaker:in the studio,
Speaker:I'm not messing around with that other stuff.
Speaker:I'm working the studio and in my marketing activities go to
Speaker:either end of my day.
Speaker:Okay. But the point is you have a plan because I
Speaker:know it took me a long time.
Speaker:I kept saying,
Speaker:I know I need to do this,
Speaker:I know I need to do this and I'm not as
Speaker:good yet as I could be.
Speaker:But you're specifically intentionally taking time in your day once or
Speaker:twice then morning and night or,
Speaker:or one or the other to make sure you're going back
Speaker:and engaging with people.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:And sometimes I'll check in a little bit at lunchtime.
Speaker:It's just kind of one of those easy things to do.
Speaker:Or like if I'll pop into Instagram and see what's going
Speaker:on, it's probably cause I'm an Instagram addict.
Speaker:Wait, you just said you had a love hate relationship.
Speaker:It's love.
Speaker:Hate, love.
Speaker:Okay. So yeah,
Speaker:it's a nice,
Speaker:I hate it,
Speaker:but like I can't quit it.
Speaker:I told you I'm an addict but so I will check
Speaker:in a little bit.
Speaker:But it is something where I try to make sure I'm
Speaker:going into the platforms that I'm using and I'm checking it
Speaker:on a regular basis.
Speaker:I'm not a huge fan of super scheduling out my time,
Speaker:but I am a big fan of loosely scheduling out my
Speaker:time. So I really like to have this flow in my
Speaker:day where it's like morning start with computer and social media
Speaker:and then it moves into studio time and then my orders
Speaker:get packed up in the late or mid to late afternoon
Speaker:because that's when my ups and my post office has to
Speaker:go. And then I might work a little more in the
Speaker:studio or I might wrap up and go work out and
Speaker:eat dinner.
Speaker:And then like I said,
Speaker:it's back to a little bit of computer at the end
Speaker:of the day,
Speaker:quite frankly,
Speaker:because I'm really bad at relaxing.
Speaker:And so I would rather,
Speaker:rather than just sitting around doing nothing,
Speaker:I would rather sit on my computer and edit photos or
Speaker:write a blog post or something like that.
Speaker:Cause that's just actually kind of highlight to spend my time.
Speaker:I'm such a nerd,
Speaker:but that's kind of what loosely almost all of my days
Speaker:look like.
Speaker:And I have found that that sort of matches the rhythm
Speaker:of my day the best.
Speaker:And so any day that I have to deviate from that,
Speaker:I get a little bit grumpy.
Speaker:But it's helpful to know like,
Speaker:okay, these are the things that are going to happen every
Speaker:day in the business and I'm with you on that.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:sometimes I say,
Speaker:well, why don't I just read like a fiction book or
Speaker:something that's not business or like actually watch the television show
Speaker:instead of having my phone also there and I just can't
Speaker:do it.
Speaker:I finally given up.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:this is what I like to do.
Speaker:I'm just going with it.
Speaker:It's okay.
Speaker:Yeah. I think it's totally fine as long as you're kind
Speaker:of acknowledging that you're doing it because you want to be
Speaker:in, not because you have to have to be.
Speaker:Exactly. You know,
Speaker:I grew up,
Speaker:my dad owns his own business and I grew up in
Speaker:a house where like that was very common and I remember
Speaker:one time my dad said to me when I was young,
Speaker:he was like,
Speaker:I'm really lucky in that my hobby is also my job.
Speaker:Like he's like,
Speaker:I love what I do.
Speaker:And I think that that's just who I am.
Speaker:And I think that's who a lot of,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:makers and creatives are.
Speaker:We love what we do.
Speaker:And so if you love it,
Speaker:you shouldn't feel guilty for working on it a lot because
Speaker:you love it.
Speaker:And that's totally fine.
Speaker:I'm right with you.
Speaker:Totally agree.
Speaker:Wasn't this a great behind the scenes look at how Megan
Speaker:works. Her day manages and engages in social media,
Speaker:but it's very intentional with her schedule.
Speaker:We're going to stop for a quick word from our sponsor
Speaker:and then get back to Megan as she starts to cover.
Speaker:What email looks in her business.
Speaker:This podcast is made possible thanks to the support of the
Speaker:ribbon print company.
Speaker:Create custom ribbons right in your store or craft studio in
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Speaker:print company.com
Speaker:for more information.
Speaker:So we've talked a lot about social media,
Speaker:but I know you're a real fan of emails.
Speaker:I am.
Speaker:So I just think if you're going to do one thing
Speaker:for your business,
Speaker:it should absolutely be setting up an email list right from
Speaker:the beginning because it is still the best way to connect
Speaker:with your customers.
Speaker:As we've learned over the last couple of years with Instagram,
Speaker:social media is very fickle.
Speaker:I like to joke that it's because engineers get bored.
Speaker:I used to work a lot with the Etsy seller education
Speaker:team and I remember someone telling me one time like they
Speaker:would come in and there would be changes to the Etsy
Speaker:system. And it was because like the engineers,
Speaker:there wasn't anything broken that day.
Speaker:So they were boards.
Speaker:They were like,
Speaker:let's try this instead.
Speaker:And so that's what I always picture.
Speaker:Anytime there's an algorithm change on any platform,
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:Oh, the engineers were bored today.
Speaker:But it's really stressful to build your business on the whims
Speaker:of board engineers.
Speaker:And so that's where I think email is still really important
Speaker:because it's such a powerful way to connect with your customers
Speaker:that while we're starting to get algorithmic inboxes,
Speaker:it's still a little bit safer in terms of actually being
Speaker:able to get to the customers you want to get to.
Speaker:And it's also the people that you know are most committed
Speaker:to your business,
Speaker:right? It's really easy to follow someone on social media,
Speaker:but if you're giving them your email address,
Speaker:you know that it's valuable and you know that they actually
Speaker:want to hear from you.
Speaker:And so it's really important to a collect email addresses and
Speaker:then B to actually send emails.
Speaker:So I always try to go no more than two weeks
Speaker:without emailing my list because otherwise they forget about you.
Speaker:And so that's the other really key point that I think
Speaker:people miss is they're like,
Speaker:Oh, well my email doesn't really do anything.
Speaker:And when I ask them,
Speaker:they're like,
Speaker:Oh, every couple of months I sent an email.
Speaker:Well that's not near frequently.
Speaker:They will totally forget about you in the interim.
Speaker:So, so important to actually email that list once you've built
Speaker:it. Okay.
Speaker:So let's break this down a little bit.
Speaker:It starts with list building.
Speaker:So how do you see are the best ways to attract
Speaker:people to want to give you their email?
Speaker:Yeah, so first of all,
Speaker:I'm not a huge fan of any kind of,
Speaker:this goes back to the info marketer thing.
Speaker:I'm not a huge fan of like a PDF freebie or
Speaker:something because people who are signing up to get a PDF
Speaker:freebie, they want information.
Speaker:They don't care about your product.
Speaker:So you might get a lot of people on your list
Speaker:that way,
Speaker:but they're probably not going to be great customers.
Speaker:So don't worry about that.
Speaker:You can let go of the stupid lead magnet advice that
Speaker:you've heard.
Speaker:Literally put a call to action everywhere you can on your
Speaker:site, on your social media.
Speaker:That's something to the effect of be the first to know
Speaker:about new products or special releases or occasional sales or whatever
Speaker:it is.
Speaker:That's the call to action that I really recommend because it
Speaker:means that the people who are signing up are your biggest
Speaker:fans. They're the ones who want to be the first to
Speaker:know, which makes them so much more valuable than someone who
Speaker:was like,
Speaker:Oh, I wanted this free thing on your list.
Speaker:So that's the first thing and then it's also important that
Speaker:you then promote the list.
Speaker:I found that I think a lot of people find this
Speaker:that especially on Instagram,
Speaker:it's so hard to sell directly from social media.
Speaker:So a lot of my calls to action on Instagram are
Speaker:not like,
Speaker:Hey go buy this thing.
Speaker:It's Hey,
Speaker:I'm getting ready to do a release and my list hears
Speaker:about it first.
Speaker:So go sign up for my email list.
Speaker:So I spent a lot of time on social media,
Speaker:actually pushing people to my email list instead of trying to
Speaker:sell them directly.
Speaker:And then the email list is where I make the hard
Speaker:sale. Okay.
Speaker:This is really interesting to me because we all know that
Speaker:there's so much,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:our inboxes are crazy fall and so there has to be
Speaker:something valuable in an email from somebody,
Speaker:you know who the sender is and for that people to
Speaker:actually open.
Speaker:So you're saying that what you do is you're providing additional
Speaker:value to your email list by kind of seeding the fact
Speaker:that there's going to be some goodies there.
Speaker:You're going to want to be the first to know.
Speaker:Do you also ever give specials exclusively and only to your
Speaker:email list?
Speaker:So what I do is if I'm running a sale,
Speaker:which I don't run a lot of sales,
Speaker:but every so often I do a sample sale,
Speaker:which is like I have a lot of excess merchandise but
Speaker:it's all kind of one offs or two offs.
Speaker:Um, or even when I do it snows will be like
Speaker:a birthday sale.
Speaker:What I do is my email list always gets the sale
Speaker:first, usually about an hour to two hours before I release
Speaker:it onto social media.
Speaker:And that is really key because like in my sample sale,
Speaker:when I do that,
Speaker:I'll sell through about 50% of it in the first hour.
Speaker:So if you're not on the email list,
Speaker:you're missing out on all of the good stuff.
Speaker:So that's really kind of where the value is to my
Speaker:email list.
Speaker:It's saying like,
Speaker:Hey, you guys get first dibs and sometimes stuff sells out.
Speaker:So it's really important,
Speaker:like if you really want the thing you want to be
Speaker:on the email list because that's the first dibs always.
Speaker:Well and network's beautiful for you because you are the designer,
Speaker:you're the sole designer.
Speaker:So understanding that there's scarcity.
Speaker:Yep. Because you may have one or two of something and
Speaker:the story all falls in line because yes,
Speaker:because you're the one making it so it's very limited.
Speaker:That wouldn't work for somebody.
Speaker:And I'm just mentioning this to you,
Speaker:you have to have a different angle if you're mass producing
Speaker:something because the idea of it not being available doesn't kind
Speaker:of go with what your brand is.
Speaker:If that's the case,
Speaker:then you have to think about other ways to communicate.
Speaker:And I think the most important thing is literally to show
Speaker:people how a product fits into their life.
Speaker:So if you're like mass producing scarves for instance,
Speaker:then your emails should be things like,
Speaker:here's a different way to tie this scarf or here's how
Speaker:to layer it with this outfit or something like that.
Speaker:So that you're still giving people a reason to open email.
Speaker:But I do think that any time you can create a
Speaker:little bit of scarcity,
Speaker:it definitely helps.
Speaker:Right? Perfect example with the scarves cause it has to be
Speaker:something that they're going to be interested in and that when
Speaker:they see it,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I don't know if you're like this,
Speaker:but I know when I go through my emails,
Speaker:there are certain people that the second I see an email
Speaker:from them,
Speaker:I'm opening it immediately.
Speaker:I almost don't even look at the subject line and it's
Speaker:because I know that what they've got in that email is
Speaker:something that I can always use.
Speaker:Exactly. And I think that's so Important.
Speaker:And I think the other thing is if you're not sure
Speaker:where to start with this,
Speaker:just think about the customer objections is what you would call
Speaker:them. But literally like what are the things that people say
Speaker:about your product?
Speaker:And this is why I'm actually a huge advocate.
Speaker:Even if you don't do it forever,
Speaker:I'm a huge advocate of doing like retail craft shows or
Speaker:in person events at least for a little bit of time
Speaker:because people will say the stupidest stuff to you,
Speaker:but in stupid stuff is like nuggets of information that you
Speaker:can use.
Speaker:So like I remember someone saying about one of my necklaces
Speaker:one time,
Speaker:well I would wear that every day if I was famous.
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:what? That's a weird comment.
Speaker:But then I was like,
Speaker:okay, like people like the big necklace,
Speaker:but they don't really understand how that fits into their everyday
Speaker:life. So my job is to show them how this big
Speaker:statement necklace actually works in their everyday life.
Speaker:So when you start to hear those things,
Speaker:I keep a notebook with me.
Speaker:It shows and I'll write down email ideas and blog posts
Speaker:ideas based on things that people say,
Speaker:so that now you've got like,
Speaker:okay, I don't know what to send for an email.
Speaker:Oh yeah,
Speaker:this woman told me that she really likes scarves,
Speaker:but she can never figure out how to wear them.
Speaker:Okay. It's time to do an email series on actually how
Speaker:to wear these scarves.
Speaker:And so you're say that at the very least every other
Speaker:week, so people don't forget you,
Speaker:right? Yep.
Speaker:Are every single one of those emails something that's promotional In
Speaker:my business?
Speaker:It is,
Speaker:yes. So I find that literally if you are busy,
Speaker:it's really hard to sit down and write those really content
Speaker:rich emails and it's okay if the email is something like,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:I really love these earrings for spring.
Speaker:Here's a picture,
Speaker:here's a paragraph,
Speaker:boom, here's like the where to buy it.
Speaker:And then you send the email.
Speaker:And I actually have people tell me that they like opening
Speaker:my emails because they know they're always going to see a
Speaker:pretty picture and they're not going to have to read a
Speaker:lot. And so they know it's like a really quick thing
Speaker:and so you can develop those expectations with your customers.
Speaker:That's just,
Speaker:Hey, I want to show you something this week.
Speaker:Because if you think about it,
Speaker:if you were to walk into a store,
Speaker:a store employee isn't going to be like,
Speaker:Hey, let me tell you a million things.
Speaker:They're gonna be like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:we have this thing that I think you'll really like.
Speaker:Let me show it to you.
Speaker:You had a regular walk into the store.
Speaker:You can do the same thing with your email list.
Speaker:Like what is one thing that you really want to show
Speaker:the regular customers this week?
Speaker:And that can be the whole email.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:That's a great explanation in terms of what your customer is
Speaker:anticipating seen from you.
Speaker:And then I'm thinking consistency then.
Speaker:Absolutely. So that they feel comfortable.
Speaker:So to revert this back then to our listeners,
Speaker:I think what you want to do is define your strategy,
Speaker:create a strategy,
Speaker:and run with it for a while and check your open
Speaker:rates, see who's actually reading and what results you're getting from
Speaker:your emails.
Speaker:And if it's not working,
Speaker:then maybe you tweak it and do something different,
Speaker:but have something consistent for a while.
Speaker:And I haven't heard many people talk about it this way,
Speaker:Megan. So I think this is a great example and something
Speaker:that a lot of us should try.
Speaker:Yeah, and I also think start with the simplest solution and
Speaker:build up.
Speaker:So don't feel like you have to start with the,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:every week I'm going to show you a different way to
Speaker:tie a scarf,
Speaker:because that's a lot of content that you have to produce.
Speaker:So maybe it's every week or every other week,
Speaker:you're just highlighting one really beautiful.
Speaker:Do that for a while and see what the results are.
Speaker:And if they're working,
Speaker:great, keep doing it.
Speaker:If it's not working,
Speaker:then you can say,
Speaker:okay, well maybe I need to make a content tweaker or
Speaker:ramp this up a little or give a little more useful
Speaker:information, but literally start with,
Speaker:this is an image I have.
Speaker:This is a product I want to promote.
Speaker:I'm going to send the email,
Speaker:do that for a while,
Speaker:and if it's working for you,
Speaker:then you don't have to make it any more complicated than
Speaker:that. Perfect.
Speaker:Okay. I think people have forgotten a little bit about emails
Speaker:and how valuable and how important they are and we've talked
Speaker:through the fact that social media and those platforms and followers
Speaker:that you have there could disappear if someone decides to change
Speaker:what that platform looks like.
Speaker:So it's the emails that you have on your own email
Speaker:list that are the gold for your business.
Speaker:Those are your customers that you can continue to communicate with.
Speaker:However, when we do emails,
Speaker:lots of times they don't get opened.
Speaker:They get thrown into the spam folder or the promotions folder
Speaker:in case of Gmail.
Speaker:And it's hard to know which emails actually even got a
Speaker:chance to be opened because they weren't ever seen in the
Speaker:first place.
Speaker:How do you overcome this?
Speaker:Yeah, so you know it's tricky because unfortunately like you can't
Speaker:control exactly where those emails are ending up with Gmail for
Speaker:sure. But one of the strategies that I like to use
Speaker:is that if I'm sending out a really an email that
Speaker:I really think is going to land well and I'm not
Speaker:happy with the open rates,
Speaker:especially like I use MailChimp,
Speaker:MailChimp gives you the option to actually replicate the email and
Speaker:send it to everyone who didn't open it.
Speaker:And so what I'll do is I'll replicate the email,
Speaker:but I'll change the subject line.
Speaker:So I'll be like,
Speaker:okay, maybe that subject line didn't land and I'll send it
Speaker:again to everyone who didn't open it.
Speaker:And that is a really good way to see if like
Speaker:it just needed a little bit of tweak if that kind
Speaker:of thing works.
Speaker:So that's one strategy.
Speaker:The other thing is it's also really important just to go
Speaker:through your list from time to time and remove people who
Speaker:aren't opening it because the more people who are opening your
Speaker:emails, the better chance that people are going to see it.
Speaker:So sometimes he is have to go in and get rid
Speaker:of that dead weight.
Speaker:Yeah, less cleaning.
Speaker:Yeah. So it's one of those really annoying tasks that you
Speaker:sometimes just have to suck it up and do like every
Speaker:six months.
Speaker:Make it like your spring and fall cleaning and just suck
Speaker:it up and do it.
Speaker:So have you seen that when you clean your list and
Speaker:so a higher percentage of people are opening and that's just
Speaker:a numbers play,
Speaker:right? But then you also seen other people,
Speaker:like that level is retained for awhile with even new people
Speaker:who are coming on the list.
Speaker:Yeah. It generally just tends to help kind of boost the
Speaker:overall engagement of the list for sure.
Speaker:I haven't looked at those stats in a while.
Speaker:It's actually been a little while since I've cleaned my list.
Speaker:As I'm saying this,
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:Oh, I have to go practice what I preach and actually
Speaker:cleaned my list.
Speaker:That's probably going to be one of those like right after
Speaker:the holiday marketing activities for sure,
Speaker:but it definitely seems to make a difference when you drop
Speaker:some of that dead weight.
Speaker:Perfect. Okay.
Speaker:Any other comments under the subject of emails?
Speaker:Just do it.
Speaker:Email your list.
Speaker:Even if there are only 10 people on it.
Speaker:One of the things that I hear people say is,
Speaker:Oh well I've been collecting emails.
Speaker:I only have 10 or 50 or 200 and so I'm
Speaker:waiting for my list to get bigger before I start emailing
Speaker:them. No,
Speaker:those 10 or 50 or 200 people are your most valuable
Speaker:people because they've put themselves on your list.
Speaker:So even if there are just 10 of them,
Speaker:talk to them and in fact,
Speaker:if there are only 10 send some individual emails.
Speaker:Ask them to reply to your email so that you can
Speaker:start a conversation.
Speaker:Get to know the people on your list.
Speaker:Just because your list is small doesn't mean it isn't valuable
Speaker:and you wanted to develop the habit early instead of waiting
Speaker:for some mythical big number in your list.
Speaker:I was just thinking of this as you were finishing that
Speaker:up. Any other creative ideas or ways to get people from
Speaker:social over to your email list?
Speaker:I think just the more you can talk about it,
Speaker:the better.
Speaker:But definitely things like having a sale that's going to happen
Speaker:in a specific time or having a launch that's going to
Speaker:happen in a specific time for sure.
Speaker:Seems to be the two best strategies for moving people over
Speaker:because it gives them a real reason to go there.
Speaker:Yeah. And they don't want to miss out.
Speaker:That whole FOMO thing.
Speaker:Exactly. The whole FOMO thing,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you know there's a reason people do it.
Speaker:It works.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:Okay. Let's talk about your customers now.
Speaker:What do you do to have them keep coming back over
Speaker:and over again to make them loyal?
Speaker:Where almost the only jewelry they're ever wearing.
Speaker:His jewelry of yours.
Speaker:Yeah. So one of the things that I do is I
Speaker:try to give them as much love on social media as
Speaker:humanly possible because I think that we all like a little
Speaker:bit of love and attention on social media,
Speaker:whether we are promoting a business or not.
Speaker:I think it's so important.
Speaker:So when customers tag me that they're wearing things,
Speaker:like I always share them in my Instagram stories,
Speaker:I have a story highlight that's literally all the people who
Speaker:are wearing it.
Speaker:I'll comment on things.
Speaker:Yeah. And I also very much happily have conversations with my
Speaker:customers in my DMS of Instagram.
Speaker:So if they are commenting on something,
Speaker:I'm responding back really having a lot of conversations there and
Speaker:it makes them feel really,
Speaker:really special because they're like,
Speaker:Whoa, like she's taking this time to have this conversation with
Speaker:me on social media.
Speaker:That's amazing.
Speaker:And it keeps you top of mind.
Speaker:So for me it's really all about interacting with them and
Speaker:loving them as much as possible on social media because they
Speaker:feel special and when they feel special they want to buy
Speaker:more of my work.
Speaker:Right. Absolutely.
Speaker:So keeping in touch with your current customers or people who
Speaker:are on the list.
Speaker:Right. And do you have your list tagged with who are
Speaker:customers and who aren't?
Speaker:Yeah, so the beauty of MailChimp,
Speaker:so I use MailChimp and Shopify and so the beauty of
Speaker:that is at any moment I can go in and create
Speaker:a segment of my list that is just customers.
Speaker:And this is people far under utilized MailChimp,
Speaker:it's magic.
Speaker:I can go in and create a list that's just customers.
Speaker:I can create a segment that is customers who have bought
Speaker:in the last couple of months.
Speaker:I could do customers that haven't bought in a long time.
Speaker:You can create so many segments and it's beautiful because if
Speaker:you're like,
Speaker:Oh, you know what,
Speaker:I just want to reach out to the people who purchased
Speaker:this year and say thank you.
Speaker:You can totally do that without having to have pre set
Speaker:up a segment.
Speaker:You can just do it when you're building your email.
Speaker:Wonderful. And I'll tell you my experience has been that a
Speaker:lot people,
Speaker:even though you can say dear and whoever the name is
Speaker:and those autofill still,
Speaker:a lot of people don't know that you're doing this through
Speaker:kind of more of a mass procedure to a list.
Speaker:A lot of people still think it's your emailing,
Speaker:just them and that's beautiful.
Speaker:They really do.
Speaker:And the other thing that I often encourage customers to do
Speaker:is, especially like through MailChimp,
Speaker:if they reply to the email,
Speaker:the reply comes to me.
Speaker:So I'll say at the bottom of an email,
Speaker:if you have any questions,
Speaker:please reply to this email.
Speaker:Or sometimes I'll even be more specific so that if people
Speaker:reply, then again we can start the conversation because then it's
Speaker:much more likely that I'm gonna be able to help them
Speaker:out and make them something custom or just a lay their
Speaker:concerns. If they're like,
Speaker:Oh, I like this necklace but I'm not sure it's going
Speaker:to be right for me.
Speaker:I'm always trying to get them to have conversations because at
Speaker:the end of the day,
Speaker:the reason I actually just had a customer tell me this,
Speaker:like the reason that they,
Speaker:people want to buy from independent makers and artists and crafters
Speaker:is because they feel like they get this personal customer service.
Speaker:It's what customers want.
Speaker:Otherwise they're going to go buy big box and it's going
Speaker:to be cheap and whatever.
Speaker:But if you can give them that level of interaction and
Speaker:service, it just makes them feel really special.
Speaker:And that's why they buy from us.
Speaker:Absolutely. And they're willing to pay a higher price too.
Speaker:Exactly. Yeah.
Speaker:So what would you say,
Speaker:Megan, to someone who's listening to you talking today and saying,
Speaker:Oh, you know,
Speaker:I am a jewelry designer and I'm really,
Speaker:I love doing it as a hobby.
Speaker:People tell me how pretty it is.
Speaker:I'm making a number of different gifts for friends for Christmas
Speaker:this year.
Speaker:Should I think about turning this into a business?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:so that's such a good question because I think there's so
Speaker:much pressure to do that.
Speaker:And the answer really is,
Speaker:do you want to actually work that hard and have your
Speaker:self esteem tied to your income?
Speaker:Right. I think that's one of the things that people don't
Speaker:think a lot about.
Speaker:But honestly,
Speaker:when you start selling your product and it becomes the way
Speaker:that you make your living,
Speaker:then you really have to think about,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:if I get negative feedback or sales are low,
Speaker:it ties into your self esteem.
Speaker:And so it actually takes a lot to overcome that.
Speaker:And so if you love what you do,
Speaker:that doesn't mean that you have to sell it.
Speaker:And I think we live in this kind of weird world
Speaker:where since at sea started,
Speaker:there's so much pressure.
Speaker:Right. I was talking about,
Speaker:my mom was a painter.
Speaker:She painted my entire life and she never sold her work.
Speaker:It was just the thing that she did and it's how
Speaker:we define her as my mom was a painter but she
Speaker:wasn't selling.
Speaker:But now I can only imagine if she was still alive.
Speaker:It would be like,
Speaker:Oh, do you sell your paintings on Etsy?
Speaker:Right. Cause that's what people ask now.
Speaker:And so just because we live in a culture where you
Speaker:can sell,
Speaker:doesn't mean that you have to sell.
Speaker:But that said,
Speaker:if you do want to sell,
Speaker:definitely go for it.
Speaker:But try to get some of your ducks in a row
Speaker:first, right?
Speaker:Get your pricing right,
Speaker:because making something for a gift and then trying to turn
Speaker:around and sell it are two very different things.
Speaker:So make sure that you've got a handle on your pricing
Speaker:and make sure that you're actually willing to give it a
Speaker:try for a little bit.
Speaker:And I would say give yourself some time to build it.
Speaker:Like people tell me,
Speaker:Oh, I was on Etsy for a month and I haven't
Speaker:sold anything yet.
Speaker:I was on Etsy for six months before I sold a
Speaker:darn thing on there.
Speaker:So just because you didn't sell something the first weekend you
Speaker:tried, doesn't mean you're never going to sell things well.
Speaker:And just because you're on Etsy doesn't mean people are seeing
Speaker:you. Exactly.
Speaker:You have to direct people to your Etsy site as well.
Speaker:So I think some people think that even Shopify,
Speaker:because it's a big platform,
Speaker:Oh, even Shopify for sure.
Speaker:People will just,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it's that build it and they will come.
Speaker:Yup. It does not work like that.
Speaker:We all know it doesn't work,
Speaker:but then when we do it for our own businesses,
Speaker:we think they should.
Speaker:I don't know why.
Speaker:Right, exactly.
Speaker:I was actually just having this conversation with my online group
Speaker:that I run artists and profit makers and we were talking
Speaker:about how no one talks about actually how hard it is
Speaker:to build an online business.
Speaker:It's so easy to set up a website but to actually
Speaker:get traffic there,
Speaker:build your customer base,
Speaker:make sales.
Speaker:That's actually really hard and I think it's important that we
Speaker:acknowledge that because you can't just slap up a website and
Speaker:hope that sales will come.
Speaker:You have to work.
Speaker:You have to figure out what your traffic strategy is,
Speaker:whether it's social media or Pinterest or SEO or press or
Speaker:whatever it is.
Speaker:You have to have some kind of strategy and you have
Speaker:to give that strategy time to develop.
Speaker:If you put up a Shopify store and you post twice
Speaker:on Facebook and then you're like,
Speaker:this didn't work well of course it didn't work.
Speaker:And so I think that's the other thing.
Speaker:If you are thinking about turning your hobby into a business,
Speaker:know that it's going to take some work.
Speaker:No, that you probably have to be the person who either
Speaker:a loves taking their product to shows every weekend or loves
Speaker:talking to wholesale buyers or loves spending their nights on the
Speaker:computer, editing photos and blogging and posting to social media or
Speaker:has a lot of money to hire people to do all
Speaker:of those things or is interested in seeing if they like
Speaker:it. Maybe they just don't know.
Speaker:Exactly. And if you don't know,
Speaker:try it all.
Speaker:Like I really thought when I started my business that I
Speaker:was going to be that person who did craft shows forever.
Speaker:That's where I saw all like my peers and my heroes
Speaker:doing. And I was like,
Speaker:Oh, I'm totally gonna do that.
Speaker:And a couple of months.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:Nope. Not for me.
Speaker:But I would have never known that had I not given
Speaker:it a try.
Speaker:Wonderful answer.
Speaker:I love that direction.
Speaker:Let's talk a little bit about artists and profit makers.
Speaker:What's that all about?
Speaker:Yeah, so this is an online community that I started.
Speaker:It's a community,
Speaker:but it's also more of like a mentorship program where I
Speaker:work very closely with the people in the group and I
Speaker:started it because what I was seeing over and over and
Speaker:over again was that artists and makers were getting really bad
Speaker:marketing advice because it was aimed at infopreneurs and service providers
Speaker:and so they were being told to do all these things
Speaker:like you need to create PDF things for your email,
Speaker:or you need to write these epically long blog posts or
Speaker:you need to start a podcast or whatever.
Speaker:All of that advice was,
Speaker:or even just things like that,
Speaker:your emails need to be full of text when in reality,
Speaker:one great image and a little bit of text is going
Speaker:to sell your product so much better.
Speaker:And so I was so tired of seeing artists and makers
Speaker:get discouraged because they were following this bad online marketing device.
Speaker:And it's not bad.
Speaker:It just works for different kind of business.
Speaker:I know I have that other kind of business and it
Speaker:works beautifully if you're selling information,
Speaker:it does not work if you're selling product.
Speaker:And so I just wanted to create a space where I
Speaker:could really answer those questions that are very specific to artists
Speaker:make our product businesses,
Speaker:especially ones who are selling higher end products.
Speaker:Because the other thing is the things that work to get
Speaker:someone to buy a 10 15 $20 product online don't translate
Speaker:when you're trying to sell a 200 or 300 or 400
Speaker:or a $2,000
Speaker:product, right?
Speaker:There's a nurturing of the client relationship that has to happen
Speaker:when you don't have an impulse buy product.
Speaker:And so that's also a lot of who I work with
Speaker:in that community is people who need to really kind of
Speaker:plant the seed and build the relationship because their price points
Speaker:are higher.
Speaker:Makes a lot of sense.
Speaker:And where would we find that community if someone is listening
Speaker:and interested?
Speaker:Yeah, so you can go to,
Speaker:it's just artists and profit makers.com
Speaker:and there's lots of information there and you can also always
Speaker:just follow me on Instagram.
Speaker:I'm at Megan almond and if you have questions about the
Speaker:community, just DME,
Speaker:I answer every DM in my Instagram.
Speaker:I love having conversations there again that love,
Speaker:hate, love,
Speaker:but Instagram Morning or night though,
Speaker:I'll catch back up if I don't get you within like
Speaker:the first batch,
Speaker:I'll catch you up the rest of the day,
Speaker:but I'm happy to answer questions about it because it's a
Speaker:really great community of women and one man right now who
Speaker:are really passionate about growing their businesses and are interested in
Speaker:looking at and learning these marketing strategies for higher price point
Speaker:products and really passionate about just making their art and figuring
Speaker:out ways to sell it.
Speaker:Perfect. And give biz listeners,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:there'll be a show notes page connected with this episode,
Speaker:so any links that you need,
Speaker:any additional information,
Speaker:we'll all reside there and is accessible for you anytime.
Speaker:Okay. As we're winding down,
Speaker:Megan, I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:So it's tactical.
Speaker:I'm thinking about the candle and the quote.
Speaker:You might explode this box.
Speaker:I'm not sure what you're going to do with it,
Speaker:but this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable
Speaker:Heights that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:So please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside your box?
Speaker:Yeah, so this one,
Speaker:like my brain went in two different directions,
Speaker:so I'm just going to share them both because like you
Speaker:said, I'm going to explode the box.
Speaker:So the first one is that,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:for me on a personal level,
Speaker:I was talking about that my studio is in a house
Speaker:that I grew up with and so I have this dream
Speaker:of someday turning that space.
Speaker:It's out in the countryside in Pennsylvania.
Speaker:I have this dream of creating this space where artists and
Speaker:makers can come and take workshops and have retreat and really
Speaker:just be this gathering place in the country for people to
Speaker:learn about their business or learn new skills or learn things.
Speaker:And so eventually,
Speaker:hopefully someday that really becomes true.
Speaker:But that actually feeds into the bigger goal of what I
Speaker:actually see coming out of the box,
Speaker:which is that I want to live in a world where
Speaker:artists and makers see and understand their value in the world.
Speaker:I think it's so easy to think that what we do
Speaker:is frivolous or pointless or you should give it up.
Speaker:And I completely disagree.
Speaker:No, I like to call myself an unapologetic art lover and
Speaker:I have that broad definition of art.
Speaker:I think beauty and creativity and sensory experience,
Speaker:I think all of those things are so important and so
Speaker:valuable in the world.
Speaker:And so I just want to live in a world where
Speaker:artists and makers understand their value and can communicate it to
Speaker:people who will support them and see that value as well.
Speaker:And so that's really what's going to pop out of the
Speaker:box for me because I want to live in this world
Speaker:where we value art,
Speaker:where we love art and craft and creativity.
Speaker:The way that as a culture we value things like sports,
Speaker:right? There's no reason that we can't value art the same
Speaker:way and that's the magical world that I want to live
Speaker:in and it's the world that hopefully I'm helping to build.
Speaker:Well, I believe in that tube and I've been thinking about
Speaker:this a lot lately because I think that a lot of
Speaker:people are now looking at more of the small business boutiques,
Speaker:the local artists,
Speaker:not just for carbon footprints,
Speaker:but people are done with the big box stores,
Speaker:but now you can buy everything on Amazon.
Speaker:But I think people are really looking at who can they
Speaker:support, who they really love,
Speaker:who they're able to get to know.
Speaker:As an artist,
Speaker:which we've talked about a little bit through here before and
Speaker:I'm really feeling like the value of handmade,
Speaker:whether it's candles or high end jewelry such as yours and
Speaker:designing is making its way back to the forefront.
Speaker:So I have a lot of faith in what your gift
Speaker:would be.
Speaker:Thanks. So true.
Speaker:And I think it's so important to remember that it starts
Speaker:with us as artists and makers too,
Speaker:that we can be not just the ones communicating our value,
Speaker:but we can be our biggest advocates and really enjoy using
Speaker:things to,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:when you're talking about people wanting to have candles and things
Speaker:like I'm thinking about at a crash,
Speaker:I went to a craft show just to shop it.
Speaker:I couldn't work it,
Speaker:but I was like,
Speaker:I'm going to go shop this craft show for my birthday
Speaker:and I have this ceramic artist that I love Elizabeth Menotti.
Speaker:And she had candles that she had partnered with a candle
Speaker:maker and so I bought one of her candles and every
Speaker:morning I come to my studio and I light that candle
Speaker:and it's like just this beautiful experience.
Speaker:And so I think it's so important that we as artists
Speaker:and makers and crafters,
Speaker:we're not just the makers and the marketers.
Speaker:We're also the consumers of this too because then it helps
Speaker:us to be able to spread the wealth and talk about
Speaker:this value.
Speaker:I just want everyone to see how valuable and how enriching
Speaker:handmade can be in their lives.
Speaker:That is so powerful.
Speaker:I'm not even going anywhere else with that.
Speaker:This has been perfect.
Speaker:Thank you so much for all of your information,
Speaker:your perspective.
Speaker:It's right on.
Speaker:It's given us a few new things to think about,
Speaker:which is fabulous and I just really appreciate your being on
Speaker:the show today,
Speaker:Megan. Thank you.
Speaker:Well, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker:So I'm usually pretty good at keeping secrets,
Speaker:but I'm spilling the beans.
Speaker:I can't help it.
Speaker:I'm so excited.
Speaker:I just want to tell you guys what I've been working
Speaker:on over the last few months.
Speaker:It's been a little bit of a secret project because I
Speaker:wasn't sure exactly what the timing was going to look like
Speaker:on it,
Speaker:but I can't wait.
Speaker:I have to share with you my secret.
Speaker:Many of you have been following me for a while.
Speaker:Know that I wrote a book that came out last may.
Speaker:It's called maker to master,
Speaker:but that's not what this is about.
Speaker:Although it spins off a similar concept.
Speaker:When I was getting serious about writing that book,
Speaker:there were actually two books that I had in my mind.
Speaker:One was maker to master and that truth be told was
Speaker:the harder one to do,
Speaker:but I also was really interested in writing a book that
Speaker:was an inspirational book kind of inspiration a day.
Speaker:I know you've seen those out there where it's 365 inspiring
Speaker:thoughts for your year or something like that.
Speaker:I think very often we get defeated by our own self-talk
Speaker:and we also sway away from core solid business growth values
Speaker:because there's a new social media site that's available or other
Speaker:things come up that take our mind off of the really
Speaker:important things that we need to grow our business.
Speaker:As things happen,
Speaker:my idea continued to evolve and I came up with the
Speaker:idea of instead of doing a 365 inspiring tips type book,
Speaker:it would be way more helpful for you if it was
Speaker:included in some type of a planner so that every day
Speaker:when you're planning out your day,
Speaker:you'd also then see a tip.
Speaker:If I look at how I work with things,
Speaker:I don't know if I would have a book on the
Speaker:side of my desk and every day look at one day's
Speaker:inspiration and then another day's inspiration.
Speaker:Way better to have everything in one place.
Speaker:Consequently, I have created a planner.
Speaker:It's called inspired a daily planner specifically for you,
Speaker:our wonderful community of gifters,
Speaker:bakers, crafters and makers.
Speaker:I'll be sharing more in the upcoming days,
Speaker:but let me give you a few highlights here.
Speaker:One of the cool things about this planner is you can
Speaker:start any month of the year.
Speaker:Have you ever been like me where all of a sudden
Speaker:in may you decide I want to start doing things different.
Speaker:I want to get myself really organized,
Speaker:but then you go to find a planner and they either
Speaker:start in September going into the next year or you have
Speaker:to buy a year and all the prior months of the
Speaker:year are useless for you because you're already in may with
Speaker:this planner.
Speaker:You can start any time.
Speaker:If you're listening to this announcement in January,
Speaker:you can start it right away.
Speaker:If you're hearing this in may,
Speaker:you can use this planner starting in may.
Speaker:It has monthly and daily layout,
Speaker:so you'll be able to keep yourself really organized and special
Speaker:life enhancing sections.
Speaker:More on that later.
Speaker:It also includes what I've been talking about earlier and the
Speaker:reason I changed this from a book to a planner and
Speaker:that is daily inspiration.
Speaker:Things that you need to be telling yourself,
Speaker:affirmations to get in the right mindset as the owner of
Speaker:your business.
Speaker:Also, business tips and ideas.
Speaker:Some of them you're going to read and you're like,
Speaker:yep, got it's covered,
Speaker:And then others might give you some pause ideas of things
Speaker:you might want to implement into your business to further either
Speaker:solidified or grow what you all have going.
Speaker:That's all I'm going to share with you right now,
Speaker:but I will tell you that we are just two weeks
Speaker:away from getting this out to you.
Speaker:I'm going to do a limited first run and if you
Speaker:want to be one of the first ones to know when
Speaker:it's available,
Speaker:jump over to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com forward slash add me and you'll get an email when
Speaker:the planner is ready.
Speaker:That link again is gift biz unwrapped.com
Speaker:forward slash add me.
Speaker:There is no time like the present to take the next
Speaker:step on solidifying the dream you have for your business.
Speaker:The new inspired planner could be just the ticket to making
Speaker:sure that that actually happens for you this year.
Speaker:With that,
Speaker:I'm calling it a wrap and I'll catch you next week
