Twelve #InstaSFETSY Days in October

#InstaSFETSY 12 Days in October

 Its the Craftobergram

Instagram Photo Challenge!

SFETSY Team

We LOVE Instagram and Seeing Your Pictures So We Selfishly Decided to 

Challenge You to Share Your Pictures! 

October 20 - 31

Instagram Team Challenge Rules

• Must have Instagram account and follow SFETSY on Instagram

• We highly suggest a Facebook Fan Page, Pinterest and Twitter Account to extend your reach.

• Follow the SF etsy Fan Page and @SFetsy Twitter Account to see everyone's #InstaSFEtsy posts!

• You need to post a photo daily from list below using the team challenge hashtag #InstaSFetsy in your Instagram posts. The tag encourages everyone to go see and share your pictures. To increase your traffic -  we have also included popular tags you can choose from for the individual topics - Use them to reach a broader audience if applicable.

• You need a cell phone or tablet that allows for an Instagram App Download to participate.

• Sign Up - (See Link Below) October 12 - Sign Up Deadline

What We Will Do:

SF Etsy will tweet and promote all the photos using the hashtag #InstaSFETSY on Facebook and Twitter. We want your images to go viral. Our goal is to gain some momentum with this contest online and get you some new likes and follows for you. We want to see your insights and your influence online grow. Plus we think it will be super fun and creative.

We encourage non-participating and participating members from the SF Etsy team to promote and share favorite images on their own personal social media venues.  We want to see the team post comments, heart and tweet their experience. Let's Go Viral! All shares, likes, comments and RTs  count towards your exposure ..  get friends and followers to help!

At the end of month we will review the images that were tagged in the 12 days in October and see what the most popular photos were based on its Instgram popularity (number of hearts). Your social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter , Pinterest and Facebook are the tools you have and we encourage you to use them to engage your audience.

Instagram is an amazing way to brand yourself and your Etsy shop. We want to share how creative the team is and we look forward to what you share.  

If you don't have Instagram yet - Start an account - its a free app --> Instagram

Note: Your images may be used in the promotion of the Instagram contest on SFEtsy but photo credit will be given to photo and uploader.

Each day you have an Instagram mission!  

Here is the list for each day of the challenge in October

with its photo topic goal and the suggested popular tags.

• October 12 - Sign Up Deadline
• Sign Up Here ---- https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1L2bme9YKNDM5CeOK9LwOpJSSO53GuJZXYIuAfdT8cTo/viewform

• Oct 20.  SFetsy WIP  #Art #Maker #IMadeThis #Crafty
• Oct 21. Selfie #FollowMe #Igers #InstaDaily
• Oct 22. Tools of the Trade  #MakerGear #SFMaker #tools #handcrafted #handmade
• Oct 23. Where You Create  #Art #UrbanArt #Studio #MakerSpace #ShowYourArt #SmallBiz #EtsyShop #CraftMess #WorkSpace
• Oct 24. Vintage Style #Fashion #Retro #InstaFashion #Heels #LoveIt #OOTD
• Oct 25 Bay Area Moment #BestOfTheBay #Mode #WestCoast #SanFrancisco #YayArea #StreetPhotography #Architecture #BuildingPorn #510 #415
• Oct 26. Seasonal #Fall #Autumn
• Oct 27. Outfit of the Day #OOTD #Fashion #InstaFashion #Model #Style
• Oct 28. What Is SFEtsy To You #Friends #Mentors #BayArea #SmallBiz #LocalMakers
• Oct 29. Share your Shop #WorkDay #IMadeThis #ShopEtsy #ShopLocal #SFMaker #SmallBiz #Art #ShopEtsy
• Oct 30. Bay Area Love #SF #SanFrancisco #WestCoast #StreetPhotography #510 #415 
• Oct 31.  Halloween #Art #WestCoast #StreetPhotography #StreetArtistry #Halloween

Here are Some Photos from the 2013 Craftobergram

#SFEtsy April 10th - Getting the Most from Paid Advertising

Now we know how to find our target market we're going to look at how we can use that information to get more sales! Next week our topic will be all about paying for advertising. We'll be asking people for their success (or failure) stories, comparing the different types of advertising available and looking at which are most suitable to our types of businesses. Of course we'll also be discussing how we can use our target market information to get the most value for money from advertising.

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Katy or Steph about joining SFEtsy!

#SFEtsy Catch Up - April 3rd

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Suggest a topic for a future chat or vote for topics you want to see here

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If you missed our chat on Tuesday (Identifying and Locating your Target Market), don't worry, you can  read the full transcript here. You can also login to create a list of your favourite tweets from the chat.

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Katy or Steph about joining SFEtsy!

#SFEtsy April 3rd - Finding Your Target Market

For April we're going to move away from our twitter theme and start looking at other aspects of running an Etsy shop, starting with Finding your Target Market.
We'll discuss what information you need to collect to identify who your target market is and then look at how to find out where they hang out and connect with them there!

Apologies to anyone who is waiting on the transcript from last week's chat, we're having some technical difficulties in getting that published. There will be a post as soon as we can get it sorted.

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Katy or Steph about joining SFEtsy!

Savvy Entrepreneur: Finding Your True Fans

The most important advice I ever give is this: If you don’t know who you’re selling to you can’t build a successful business. You must be able to identify your target market.

You will spend time and money marketing your business, but you won’t connect with anyone because you’re not speaking directly to anyone. The more specific you can be in who you’re talking to the more likely they are to hear your message.

So how do you get to know this elusive ideal client? You start by writing a description based on what you know. Who already buys your product? Who gives you the most glowing reviews? If you’ve never sold, start with who you think will love what you offer. List as much info about them as you can: gender, age, where they live, pets they own, style of dress, food they eat, where they shop, hobbies, etc.

Now think beyond just a basic description. Who is this customer buying for? How do they decide what they buy? Where do they find new information and recommendations? How do they see themselves, trendy, sophisticated, outsider? Do they really have the money to afford what you’re selling?

You are not your ideal customer. You may have many traits in common, but you have the skills and passion to make the product. You are not the buyer.

Once you’ve got a basic description you need to do two things. Observe and hang out.

Test your theory about who’s buying your products. Ask them questions about who they’re buying it for, how they found you or what drew them into your booth. Collect information to make that description even more detailed. Notice who’s drawn in but doesn’t buy. Can you figure out why?

You also need to be where your ideal customer is. This means you need to get written up in the blogs and magazines they read. Are they obsessed with vintage, always reading about home décor, or constantly looking for new craft projects? You might even try guest writing for some of the top blogs. You need to be at the events your ideal customer frequents or in their favorite stores. Think of where they socialize and put up flyers. If you sell jewelry to 20-30 something women who have an independent style and love going to see local bands you’ll do much better selling at NoisePop than at the Sausalito Spring Street Faire. You might even try going to more local music shows wearing your most attention getting piece with a stack of business cards in your purse.

It’s an ongoing process but the more you know about your target market the easier it is to reach them in a way they’ll pay attention to.

How many key details do you know about your ideal customer?

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I encourage comments directly to this post, but also feel free to email me directly with questions, reactions, struggles, etc. genevieve [at] lightboxsf [dot] com

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Jen from Mama's Magic Studio about joining SFEtsy!

Who's Your True Fan?

I recently read the original article that Seth Godin and Chris Guillebeau have referred to many times, "1000 True Fans" written by Kevin Kelly back in 2008. Since then I haven't really been able to let it go. It brought up two core ideas for me that are extremely powerful when trying to get a perspective on your business model and ideal client. 

Let's start with the business model first. Kelly's premise is that if an artist has 1000 true fans that support him by spending $100 a year, the artist can make a decent living and not have to worry about appealing to the masses. While a valid and interesting argument there are many ways to debate its merit. I won't bother with poking holes, instead I want to focus on the numbers. Ugh I know, I promise to keep them simple.

To me the idea of having 1000 true fans or ideal clients for my business seems like a high number. We're not talking mailing list subscribers or blog readers, we're talking people who buy what you're selling regularly. But I'm also not an individual artist, I'm a consultant. So I played with the numbers a little and thought, what if I had 200 ideal clients that paid me $500/year? Same end number and that seems much more doable for my business model. That's 2 e-courses or only 5 in-person sessions. I can see that happening.

Then I started thinking in terms of clients, what if I'm talking to someone who sells t-shirts at $25 each. They would need 1000 true fans to buy 4 t-shirts a year to make those numbers, is that realistic? I'm thinking that might be a little high, but what if they sold something else at a $50 price point? Do you see where I'm going with this?

Playing with the numbers is this way gives you a whole new perspective on how many people you need to reach and what you need to sell them. Maybe you really only need $50,000 a year or even less, or perhaps your work sells for $100-$500. Play with the numbers the same way to see what that really means in terms of items/services sold and total number of customers. You might even begin to find it fun.

The second idea that stuck with me was the definition of a true fan. Kelly talks about it terms of someone who loves everything you do and buys it all, he was focusing a lot on musicians. But I started to think, who is that person who would be so excited by every course, e-book, and workshop I could think of that they would sign up? What would I have to give in terms of information, support, and/or guidance to keep them coming back? I'm still working on that answer, but I'm pretty sure it'll help me grow the business.

Imagine who that person is that would want to own every piece of jewelry you make or would be so excited by the colors of yarn you dye that they buy some of each. Can you picture who they are? Do you know why they love what you do so much? Do you know how they found you and why they keep coming back? You are certainly on to something if you can answer those questions.

There is no solid right answer to either of these ideas, but I'm sure that if you even attempt to answer them both for yourself you'll gain some serious insight into what structure your business needs to take and who's going to support it.

I'd love to hear some of the answers you come up with.

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I encourage comments directly to this post, but also feel free to email me directly with questions, reactions, struggles, etc. genevieve [at] lightboxsf [dot] com

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Jen from Mama's Magic Studio about joining SFEtsy!

Your Ideal Customer

In many of my past articles I've talked about looking at the customers you already have to define your target market. As I've been coaching some key clients lately and doing a bit more reading of philosophies on target markets I've had a bit of a shift in thought.

Instead of looking to who you're already reaching, I challenge you to define who your ideal customer is. Not only the key characteristics of who they are and how they buy, but why they buy from you and why you want to sell to them.

Why, you ask?

Because I've come to believe that defining your target market is really not all that different than choosing the career you want to have. I coach clients to follow their passions and dreams, not look for the easy win. I coach them to imagine the biggest dreams possible and then figure out how to reach them, not settle for what comes your way.

Using that same philosophy to define your ideal client means you'll be serving someone you understand. You'll be able to create exactly what they need. They won't be able to help but buy it. They'll feel like they found the perfect item or solution and tell all their friends.

But even beyond just simply buying, you'll be able to communicate in a way that resonates. You'll connect over a shared experience or concern. You'll be more than just a jeweler, knitter or illustrator, you'll be that amazing person who sells the most amazing ____. It's called creating a niche.

Why force yourself to appeal to people you don't understand? This may mean alienating some previous customers. This may also mean it takes you a little longer to reach those who you really want to, but in the end you will understand them so well that serving them, producing new products will be as easy as dreaming.

So here's your challenge. Dream up your ideal customer. Who are they? Why are they attracted to what you make? Why must they have it? Why will the buy more and tell all their friends? Now look at what you're already doing. How can you change the wording on your website or tweak the presentation of your product to speak directly to this ideal customer?

Now go do it!

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I encourage comments directly to this post, but also feel free to email me directly with questions, reactions, struggles, etc. genevieve@lightboxsf.com

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Jen from Mama's Magic Studio about joining SFEtsy!