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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:before we get into the show today,
Speaker:I want to make sure that you know about the newest
Speaker:thing happening over here.
Speaker:It's called the gift biz bash a zoom party that turns
Speaker:into a podcast episode.
Speaker:Several weeks later,
Speaker:the party consists of a short training with Q and a
Speaker:from yours truly.
Speaker:And then an opportunity for you to give a shout out
Speaker:about your business.
Speaker:You can tell us about a promotion you currently have going
Speaker:on or share a collaboration that you're considering so that you
Speaker:can find a perfect partner for the event.
Speaker:A little bit of learning and visibility for your business.
Speaker:What could be better?
Speaker:There is a catch though spots are limited to keep the
Speaker:party to about 45 minutes or so.
Speaker:That means you should grab your spot right away.
Speaker:It's totally free to make sure you're included.
Speaker:Why not do that right now?
Speaker:Pause this episode,
Speaker:go to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com forward slash bash to sign up and then come back
Speaker:and listen to the show.
Speaker:I'll see you at the bash Marketing promotion.
Speaker:Many think they're the same thing and use them interchangeably.
Speaker:Here's where you can get lost in it all.
Speaker:Lots of time and money spent marketing and promoting you,
Speaker:choose your word,
Speaker:knowing it's important for your business,
Speaker:but specifically seeing the results that's blurry at best,
Speaker:which activities are bringing in the sales.
Speaker:How do you know if you should keep going with one
Speaker:thing or put more emphasis on another?
Speaker:Let's clear this up.
Speaker:So you can be more focused and purposeful in the time
Speaker:that you do spend on these two tasks and understand the
Speaker:intent behind each one that starts off with definitions promotion.
Speaker:This is when you're specifically selling something.
Speaker:It can be for a specific period of time.
Speaker:Like when you're announcing that you're exhibiting at a show and
Speaker:you want to let people know of the hours and the
Speaker:location, it can also be product and price specific.
Speaker:You're doing a Memorial day sale where all your red,
Speaker:white, and blue jewelry is discounted or pointing people to a
Speaker:sale section on your website where you're clearing out past inventory.
Speaker:It can also be an introduction of your new line of
Speaker:scarves, including the newest trend in color and texture.
Speaker:Promotion is any messaging or event that directly links to the
Speaker:selling of your handmade creations.
Speaker:Promotion is what the majority of small businesses do.
Speaker:And it leads to mostly one-off sales and makes growing a
Speaker:business really hard.
Speaker:Now as a product based business,
Speaker:you need to promote,
Speaker:of course,
Speaker:it's not a dirty word,
Speaker:but only promoting and not marketing limits you and leaves you
Speaker:at a disadvantage.
Speaker:If you don't add in marketing,
Speaker:I Googled to see what definitions are out there for marketing.
Speaker:And it's clear why the confusion comes in promoting and marketing
Speaker:are often used interchangeably they're to several position promoting as a
Speaker:subset of marketing others tap into the intent of marketing.
Speaker:But none that I found describe it with the power that
Speaker:marketing can really provide for you as a handmade creator.
Speaker:Since I really didn't find one that lands it for me,
Speaker:I'm creating my own.
Speaker:Here it is.
Speaker:Marketing is when you share information about you as the maker
Speaker:and the nuances of your creation specifically,
Speaker:that set you apart from all the others.
Speaker:Again, marketing is when you share information about you as the
Speaker:maker and the nuances of your creation specifically,
Speaker:that set you apart from all the others.
Speaker:So with marketing,
Speaker:you're placing information in your prospects and customers minds that endear
Speaker:them to you that makes them want to support you by
Speaker:buying your products and also telling others about you referrals.
Speaker:And you've made it easy for them to do so because
Speaker:you're giving them talking points by telling stories,
Speaker:things like how and why you started the business glimpses into
Speaker:creation of your products or any behind the scenes activities.
Speaker:These are also valuable because you give your audience something more
Speaker:personal to grab onto and love about your brand.
Speaker:It heightens the connection and changes the dynamic between them just
Speaker:being a customer and them rallying behind what you do because
Speaker:they relate support and enjoy the softer more personal aspects of
Speaker:your business.
Speaker:I call this your unique,
Speaker:special power,
Speaker:and I'm going to dive deeper into this in next week's
Speaker:episode of tips and talk.
Speaker:But for now suffice it to say that marketing is more
Speaker:indirectly related to a specific sale,
Speaker:but it has everything to do with increasing your overall sales.
Speaker:So what do you do now with these revised definitions and
Speaker:what actions should you take?
Speaker:The first thing is easy.
Speaker:Just recognize that there's a difference,
Speaker:marketing, something you should be doing on a consistent basis.
Speaker:New people will find you all the time directly and indirectly.
Speaker:They run into you at an in-person event.
Speaker:They land on one of your social accounts because they did
Speaker:a hashtag search.
Speaker:They find products in a local boutique,
Speaker:and now want to know more.
Speaker:So they take a look at your website.
Speaker:If all they see when entering your world is promotional content,
Speaker:meaning product,
Speaker:price, product price,
Speaker:how do they decide that your,
Speaker:the one they want to buy from versus any other brand
Speaker:small or large?
Speaker:Sure. Your ingredients may be eco-friendly or healthier,
Speaker:but so are others.
Speaker:And that's easy to copy.
Speaker:What's not easy to copy is your personal brand,
Speaker:your story and messaging.
Speaker:This is communicated through marketing,
Speaker:get it.
Speaker:And you want it to come through no matter where when
Speaker:or how someone finds you for the first time,
Speaker:given that you want to continually tell your story and create
Speaker:marketing content that brings the human side of your business out.
Speaker:And you don't just do it once you do it regularly.
Speaker:You're not in their face selling,
Speaker:but if people like what they're seeing,
Speaker:they know how to find and buy your products.
Speaker:When you've set it up correctly,
Speaker:the link on your Instagram bio goes to your website or
Speaker:a specific product that you just did.
Speaker:A reel on your website has an easy navigation flow when
Speaker:someone wants to buy,
Speaker:but also includes an about me page with friendly,
Speaker:personal, get acquainted verbiage.
Speaker:You don't lose the sale this way,
Speaker:and if they're not ready to buy yet,
Speaker:that's okay.
Speaker:It's more likely they'll stay around and follow you.
Speaker:If they see you're not just selling all of the time,
Speaker:you've provided them with information.
Speaker:And now they feel connected to you,
Speaker:your friends in a way,
Speaker:lots of ready-made examples of marketing posts that you can tweak
Speaker:for your product can be found in my content for makers
Speaker:program. I'll put a link to that in the show notes
Speaker:here, moving onto promotion.
Speaker:Of course,
Speaker:there's a time for this too.
Speaker:I'll say 25 to 50% of your content should be direct
Speaker:promotional activity,
Speaker:true selling,
Speaker:showing your product,
Speaker:explaining why it's so amazing and then giving the price and
Speaker:link to where someone can go and get it right now.
Speaker:Think of marketing and promoting like a quilt marketing is the
Speaker:umbrella over everything like the single piece of fabric that spans
Speaker:the entire back of the quilt promotions are the triangles,
Speaker:squares, and shapes that make up the pattern on the front.
Speaker:They exist in certain spaces only and come in different.
Speaker:There's also white space calming space between the pattern shapes equating
Speaker:to when you're marketing only and not promoting.
Speaker:Hmm, maybe this creative example works for you.
Speaker:And maybe not.
Speaker:Let me try again in a very concise way.
Speaker:You're marketing all the time.
Speaker:You intersperse promotions regularly,
Speaker:but as appropriate by recognizing that marketing and promoting are two
Speaker:different activities,
Speaker:you can now go back to your plan and adjusted accordingly.
Speaker:So you use them both to their highest powers,
Speaker:happy marketing and promoting.
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 dream
Speaker:of yours.
Speaker:Share your handmade products with us.
Speaker:We want them,
