Tuesday

Cumulative Effect of Advertising

On the Etsy forum I see the question asked over and over again in various forms—
  • Is it worth it to have a blog or website?
  • Is it worth it to advertise with Entrecard and Project Wonderful
  • Does it make sense to have Flicker, Facebook, Social Spark, My It Things, or Stylehive,
  • Should I spend time in the Forums, Chatroom, or making Treasuries?
I would answer with a resounding yes to all of them! Why? Have you ever noticed that every company that is successful doesn't use just one form of advertising medium. Back in the day, the choices were print, tv, or radio. Look at all of the choices we have today and you say…yes and all of the time I need to spend utilizing all of it. But think about this. The first time you see a logo/brand you may not even click on it. But, then you see it a second time in a different place, then a third time somewhere else. Your curiosity is now whetted and you click. See how this works?

You are thinking, I don't have time to spend doing all of this, keep track of it and make my beautiful creations. That is why if you want to become successful and stay that way you need to set up a marketing campaign. On a calendar or a spreadsheet. ON PAPER!
You don't want to advertise all at one time it is better to stagger your campaign and overlap your efforts. So if you are already using Etsy plan the days/hours that you will spend in the forum, or choose how many times a week/month you want to make a treasury, or how often you want to chat. Put all of this on a calendar. Then look at Entrecard and plan your time there. Perhaps begin that campaign in a week or so. Visit Project Wonderful, give yourself a budget of $10, and look for blogs that fit the segment of the population that you want to reach. Set up your Project Wonderful marketing campaign so that it starts in another two weeks and lasts for a month or more.

It is important to have a campaign that is consistent, visible, and ongoing. If you are using the same avatar people will begin recognizing your avatar (which means you should have one that you like really well and is clickable). This is a good reason to create a brand for yourself so that if you like changing your avatar every so often people will still recognize it. Otherwise, you need to keep the same look so that when people see your logo/avatar they say, Oh that is ABC, they make XYZ. Perhaps you want to be known for also making LMN and OPQ. If you create a brand using the same colors, text, or images with a twist for each product it will pull your entire line together and people will recognize you as making all of those products.

Think about the big companies, McDonalds, Apple, Johnson & Johnson, Neiman Marcus, Intel…you may see their brand in TV ads, on radio, on the internet, in print, or on a billboard. Now ask yourself
why they advertise in all of these medias. It's because they know that the more you "see" them the more likely it is that you will recognize, feel comfortable, and remember them. You may only see an apple or golden arches without any text, but you immediately know who the advertiser is. Think about Etsy and the colors they use, now when you see that shade of orange don't you think about Etsy? In essence, they are also growing your trust by becoming recognizable which means that you will be more likely to think of them when you want to buy something that they produce. And, how do they do this? By advertising in many mediums over sustained periods of time.

20 reviews:

Tasha Early said...

I saw this thread in the Etsy forums. SO informative, thank you! It all seems so overwhelming, but I can already see the benefits of the little advertising that I have been doing. Thank you for this post!!

jenscloset said...

This is definitely a blog I will be going back to..I need to read this fully! It looks very interesting and informative..thank you!

Waterrose said...

I'm going to write more articles like this and really appreciate your feedback and comments.

OMB said...

This is great info.

Rosebud Collection said...

You are right..you only get back what you put out on the sites..Great information and thanks for writing about it.

Unknown said...

great article, very informative, thank you :-)

njemacreative said...

this post (in the etsy forum) is partly responsible for me signing up for entrecard today. :p

picciolo said...

what a great feature!
: )

Sarcasta-Mom said...

Very good points. I was o ne of the idiots on the Etsy forums asking about Project Wonderful just yesterday. I'm biting the bullet and doing everything I can to promote my new website. Unfortunatly, it has been sucking away a LOT of my creativity time. I just have to figure out how to balance it all out now.

kml said...

Excellent post! Now to make more hours in the day to do them all!

Pam Hawk said...

I've been musing over the same things and have kind of come to the same conclusion. Thing is, there are so many choices out there, and only so many days in the week!

Art for Hair said...

Great info, I've been trying to do the things you mentioned, good to know that it should pay off! Thanks for such a helpful post :)

Waterrose said...

Pam, I think it just takes planning. You identify where you want to market and then set aside time to do so. And, remember you are not going to spend a day working your marketing plan, since you want to stagger your efforts.

Art..just don't get frustrated if you don't see immediate returns, it takes people a little while to recognize that they are seeing you and make the connection to what you create.

Lisa Lehmann @StudioJewel said...

thanks for the info - nice to see it written down ...i'm inspired!

Anonymous said...

Great article; you covered a lot of details. Thanks

Pam Hawk said...

I've had so many people asking about all the little widgets and gadgets available to promote blogs and stores that I decided to start writing regular posts about how to promote a business and/or blog.

(Ok, there's more to that. I'm returning to college this fall to pursue a marketing degree so the other half of me kicked myself and said "Start now.")

ANYway, I'd like to use your blog as one of a few examples of blogs listed in Technorati. The article is scheduled to publish on Monday 7/14/08, so stop by and check it out when you have a minute.

Thanks!

Smadar's Treasure said...

Very interesting post, thank you!

Smadar

Zamzam Design said...

Thanks for this interesting post and for covering such a *popular* subject on Etsy! I do hear all the time the same questions too, and feel like it's evident that the more you put effort into marketing, the more it will impact on your visibilty and eventuality on your sales... You didn't just said it like that, you took time to go into details!

Edna / HandmadeDiva said...

Great article Rose. Thanks so much for taking the time to write it. Edna

Anonymous said...

Time to get a board and lay out an ad campaign. You are so right. I appreciate your expertise in Marketing and your Extreme Artistic Abilities too ! ~ Gracie

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