Matchbook Notebook Promo Cards

I love it when businesses use visuals or hand-held things for advertising. I'm not talking business cards or coupons, but nifty little creative things really get my attention.

A couple of weeks ago I was cruising through my blog reader and clicked a link to Aurora's Garden, where she re-posted a link to Bluegrass Etsy where Etsy seller Kellibeans posted a tutorial slideshow. Ok, that was kind of a sister's friends' third cousin's aunt's best friend's mother kind of story, but I wanted to give credits where they're due.

Nevertheless, Kellibeans posted a GREAT tutorial. You could make these while watching tv, waiting in the car to pick up the kiddos from school, on public transportation, over your lunch break, or pretty much anywhere. Prep the materials ahead of time and keep them in your purse or bag and assemble them whenever you have a spare 10 minutes.

And how can you use these? Put some of those 151 Guerrilla Marketing techniques to use on your Matchbooks!

Here's the tutorial: Matchbook Notebook Promo Cards

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Put Your Shop in Your Pocket

Today I'd like to show you how to put your shop in your pocket for about $11.

No, I'm not kidding.
Yes, I said you can put it in your pocket.

Just upload your pictures to a digital key chain or digital photo frame.

Digital key chains have a picture area of about 1.5" and run from about $8 to about $20.

Put on your thinking cap and imagine the places where this could come in handy...

• In line at the grocery store or post office
• While getting your hair or nails done
• When buying business supplies
• Out with your friends or family - show them what's new
• Any time you're doing some business networking
• Picking up kids from daycare (or school)
• On an airplane
• At a sporting event
• Social Events
• Church

This is useful for any business who relies on visuals.
Can you imagine these kinds of small businesses showing their digital pictures to prospective customers?

• Etsy Shops


• Restauranteurs


• Realtors


• Travel agents/Vacation Planners


• Hairdressers and salons (how about showing off bridal hairstyles)


• Bridal Boutiques


• Retail shops - fashion, home decor, jewelry...


• Antique shops


• Florists


• Interior Decorators


• Faux Painters and Mural Painters


• Auto Dealers


• Auto Detailers


• Dentists - teeth whitening and orthodontia


• Tattoo artists


• Professional Home Stagers


• Landscape Professionals

Another similar idea is to put your images in a digital picture frame. You could set this anywhere, but it may have the biggest impact in these locations:

• Craft Shows
• Waiting rooms
• Home Shows
• In a lobby
• Work out an arrangement with a complimentary business, for example, you could show your bridal floral creations in the bridal gown boutique down the street.

Digital picture frames vary in size, starting at about 7" and their prices start at about $50 and go up from there.

So now I'm sure you're thinking of places where one of these could help you showcase your work. Please comment here with your own ideas!

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CraftyBIZtips.org

Here's a new resource for all you folks in the crafty business. Shalana, The Funky Felter, created this site to help you find all kinds of helpful information and related links for your indie business.



It's still a work in progress, but there's already some very useful info available. Please check it out at http://www.craftybiztips.org/

Last week I was reading some older articles in Etsy's Storque and was interested in this article about how to get noticed and blogged about by high traffic blogs. Only six of the high traffic blogs were mentioned in the article, but there are many many more.



Shalana's list of blogs and sites, which is under the button "Crafty Sites": http://www.craftybiztips.org/craftysites.html is the perfect compliment because she lists more than 20 of the "big (glue) guns" of crafty and indie and design blogs all listed in the middle column.



...now to work my way through that list with my Pass It On Plates...

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What will you show us in your video?

Last week you learned how easy it is to put video in your blog. Have you need wondering what you could do with it? ...or were you even wondering why I told you in the first place?

Imagine you're at an art fair or visiting an artisan's village. You wander from shop to shop, marvelling at all the wonderful things for sale. Some shops have the items displayed on shelves for you to look at, other shops have items on tables that you can pick up and examine more closely.

A few shops feature the artist at work. They talk to the growing crowd about their equipment, supplies, and technique, and look like they're genuinely having fun as they create more of the same art they are selling. It's fascinating to watch them work and explain the process, both technical and creative. As you watch them work, you notice there is always a crowd around their shop and the cashier is very busy, constantly ringing up purchases. After watching for a while, you decide you like this artist, their style, their sense of humor, and you just have to have one of their items. Not only because you love the item itself, but you are enjoying the complete experience of how your item came to be.

You buy the best piece in the shop and bring it home. The next time the art fair comes around or the next time you visit the artisan's village, you look for the same artist to see what new items they are selling this time. You also recommend friends to check them out and talk about your experience.

So now let's think about your business.
Is it a blog? Do you have an Etsy shop? Is there something you would do differently if you were selling to your customers in a shop, face to face?

You could create that same artisan environment with video on your blog. Invite your readers into your studio, office, or other workspace and introduce yourself.

For those of you with an Etsy shop, you could show off different techniques you use. Hint: this will add value to your work once your customers see how work intensive/detailed your craft is, or how much skill goes into creating your pieces. You could also do a regular video series regarding your studio or shop - why not have your customers ask you questions and you dedicate a 2 minute video to answer each question, and run this as a regular weekly series?

You could also show off the process you need to go through to create a piece of your work.

How about showing video highlights on new items in your shop?

Or... show us your muse, so to speak. How about a video of people or places that inspire your creativity?

Do you publish tutorials on your blog? Why not pair up a written tutorial with still photos with a video tutorial. Just watch a cooking show or Carole Duvall on HGTV to see how they plan their video tutorials. They're not that hard.

If your video really stands out because it's unusual (such as the couple having breakfast on their porch with their neighborhood deer,) or funny, very entertaining, cute, informative, or even maybe a little controversial it could circulate around the internet as a YouTube cult classic.

What else can you think of? Comment here with your big brainstorm - or share a link to your video so we can visit... and marvel at your cleverness!

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Seven steps to hosting a Great Giveaway

Do you regularly host a Giveaway on your blog or website? This is a great way to increase your traffic and get your products in front of new potential customers. It's also a fantastic way to drive a lot of new traffic to your online store, if you have one.

Today's question is: How do you conduct a Giveaway?

1. Plan on what you will give away. It could be:
- Something from your online store and/or something you have made
- A gift certificate to your online store or to your favorite online store
- One of your favorite products (a new one, of course!)
- Something your regular readers would love to have - perhaps a hobby or lifestyle item?
- Something related to your blog topic or something you frequently blog about
- Advertising space on your blog
- A one-year membership - like a pro account from Flickr.com, for example
- Entrecard credits, if you use them

2. Take clear, well-lit pictures of your item on a simple background, then write up an irresistible description of the item. At this point you could package up the item and get it ready to be mailed. Include any promotional material you have for your shop, if applicable. Just make sure you label the outside of the package so you remember what it is.

3. Calculate your cost to host the Giveaway, including shipping. Since this will cost you some money, you'll need to decide if this is a hobby or a business. If it might be a business expense, you may want to consider how to categorize it. I am not a bookkeeper or accountant, so I recommend contacting yours to check on the best way to calculate the cost of the Giveaway into your accounting method, whether it's part of your advertising budget or belongs in a different category.

4. Write out your Giveaway rules.
a) Do you want people to perform specific tasks, such as visiting a certain website and/or leaving comments about anything in particular? Several Etsy shops require contest entrants to visit their shop then leave a blog comment about their favorite thing in the shop. Some bloggers ask contest entrants mention the Giveaway in their own blogs. Others ask for everyone's answers to a specific question. Requiring a specific action, while not necessary, can make the giveaway fun for everyone.
b) What are your Giveaway dates? Note the time zone of your start and end times.
c) How will you pick the winner? There are a few online places that will randomly pick a winner, such as Random.org or Contest Machine. Actually, Contest Machine collects entries, then randomly picks and contacts the winner for you. If you're really into hosting Giveaways, you may want to look at Contest Machine to help. At this time, use of the widget is free for up to two Giveaways per month.
d) Write up your entire Giveaway announcement and doublecheck it for clarity.
I am also not a lawyer so I cannot give you legal advice, but I recommend you look into any laws that your Giveaway will need to follow.
e) Where do you want people to put their Giveaway entries? You could have them leave comments on your blog or if you're expecting a lot of traffic you could install a Mr. Linky widget to take care of that for you. (You'll have to register to use the Mr. Linky, but there are two basic Mr. Linkies for free with a basic membership.)

5. Just like sending invitations to a party, invite people to your Giveaway.
a) Make an announcement on your blog at least a week prior to the beginning of the Giveaway.
b) Include a signature line in your outgoing emails with the Giveaway dates and a link to your site. (Be careful not to spam people with emails about your Giveaway, though.)
c) Get the word out. Notify all the blogs and other websites that announce Giveaways a day or two in advance. (Keep in mind it may take them up to a couple days to announce the giveaway, so you may want to consider running your giveaway for up to a week. Experiment and see what works best for you.)
Please follow the submission rules of each site, of course. Some places to start are:
Tip Junkie
Etsy Giveaways
Blog Events Dex
Blog Contest Station
Mom Giveaways
The Giveaway
Barefoot Mommies
Prizeatron

If you look at my sidebar you'll see a "Giveaway Toolbar" where I will continue to list these Giveaway announcement blogs as I find them. If you host a Giveaway blog not listed here, please comment below and I'll add you to the list!


d) If you advertise via Project Wonderful, The Indiego, or through other sites, run an ad for your Giveaway. Schedule your ad to end a couple hours before the Giveaway ends.

6. Get ready for traffic. Giveaway time is like tv sweeps, where you are offering something fantastic to encourage new visitors to stop by and check you out. Clean up and spruce up your blog, if needed, and schedule some great blog posts for first time visitors to read. If you don't have a "Subscribe to this blog" button or a "Follow Me" widget (available on Blogger,) add one near the top of the page to make it easy for new visitors to become a regular reader.

7. Unleash the hounds! Post your Giveaway announcement with the picture of your item and watch the traffic zoom in. When it's over, announce the winner to everyone, thank your visitors for stopping by, and send the prize to your happy winner.

Related post: A Brilliant Giveaway Strategy

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What the heck is Biz Bling?

A couple weeks ago I introduced a new category of posts called Blog Bling. These are my reviews about tips and tools available to enhance your blog, and often a brief tutorial on how to add them to your blog.

This week I want to tell you about another new feature I call Biz Bling. Because this blog focuses on marketing your creative business and/or small business, my job is to let you know about new tools and techniques available today to really get your business in the forefront. These new tools make a greater impact on your customers and your bottom line.

They don't teach these things in business school and I know you don't have time to scout out and experiment with all the new stuff online. Let me handle the finding out, learning about, and trying out and I'll give you the lowdown so you can decide if it's something you want to pursue. My blog posts are written in plain English and I always try to break down technical jargon or explain tech-y stuff in real terms. Ditto for all technical tutorials I post here. If it's not easy to read, who's going to waste their time trying to figure out what I'm saying?

Again, these blog posts are my opinions only and I am not paid or compensated to blog about any other company. Nobody asks me to blog about them, either. I tell you this because I want you to trust what I have to say and not wonder if you're reading some sort of advertisement. When I want to advertise to you, I'll say so.

That said, please check back often to see what's new. Subscribe, bookmark, or follow me (see sidebar widget) so you don't miss any tasty tidbits.

Cheers!