A business podcast just for crochet business owners where we learn how to grow your crochet business and set it up for success!
Press play to listen to Bonus episode 5!
INSIDE THIS EPISODE
Welcome [0:00- 1:11]
As a business account who should I follow and interact with? [1:12- 5:04]
Should my Facebook banner say “on Etsy” and my profile picture be my logo? [5:05- 8:27]
How to copyright a pattern [8:28- 9:46]
How did you figure out your brand? [9:47-12:05]
Is a giveaway a good way to promote your business? [12:06- 14:07]
I am doing a market soon and I am so nervous I won’t sell anything. [14:08- 15:44]
Do you recommend giving product to influencers? [15:45- 19:59]
In your opinion what are the best items to sell in crochet? [20:00- 23:37]
Do you think it can work to sell finished pieces and crochet patterns? [23:38- 26:12]
You can find the live replay of this Instagram live video on my IGTV!
RESOURCES MENTIONED
Taylor’s Youtube Market Playlist
TRANSCRIPT
Hi friends! It is my turn for Tuesday Talks! I am all snuggled up under my heated blanket because I am freezing and it is cold outside. We are here for Tuesday talks where me and Taylor from Taylor Lynn Crochet alternate back and forth every other Tuesday and answer questions. We like to talk business and crochet and all of the things. We each have different strengths that we bring to the table. Taylor likes to answer the numbers, money, analytical, and pattern design questions and I am the other things usually. So if I don’t answer your question well be sure to ask it again next week over on Taylor’s page.
As a business account who should I follow and interact with?
These are two different answers.
You should be following the same type of people your ideal customer would be following. You should be following people who inspire you, encourage you, and fill you up with positivity whether it’s through encouragement posts or tips and tricks.
I would suggest to NOT follow anyone that brings you down. Just block, ignore, and unfollow those people. If every time they post something and it makes you feel bad inside- do not follow those people no matter what the reason is!
You do want to follow other instagram accounts that your ideal customer would be following. So if you make baby things- baby influencers would be a good person for you to follow because you can see what type of content they are sharing to your ideal customer- then you can share similar content with your crochet twist on it.
You should also follow your ideal customer because you need to see the things she is talking about, see the topics she is passionate about, you need to see the posts that are sparking conversation with her friends aka your ideal customers!
These are the people you should be following so you can strategically arrange your content around her to pull her in like a magnet so she will become a true fan to your brand.
To try and find people in your ideal customer I like to look up hashtags that are important to your brand. For me it would be #bohobabygirl then find accounts that I like that I think is my ideal customer or someone who my ideal customer would be following. If find someone who you think your ideal customer would be following, go to their most recent picture and read the comments. See people who were really passionate in the comments and go to their page and see if they are your ideal customer and if they are give them a follow.
It’s important for you to be in a community with your ideal customer so you can grow your business and brand.
Should my Facebook banner say “on Etsy” and my profile picture be my logo?
I think this is referring to my Crochet Boss Academy lesson- Your banner on Etsy should say “on Etsy” like mine would be “A Crafty Concept on Etsy” letting people know hey I am A Crafty Concept you found my little corner on Etsy. Your Facebook one does not need to say that.
When people buy something from you on Etsy they might say I bought this off Etsy, but you want to try and build your brand awareness on Etsy so you would put A Crafty Concept on Etsy so people will say I bought this from a Crafty Concept on Etsy.
For your profile picture on your personal Facebook it would be good to have a photo of your face because when you post in groups and stuff it will show your personal Facebook. So if you post in a group where your ideal customer is hanging out they will see your face which is more relatable.
When it comes to your business social media accounts it depends if you are a huge part of your brand. For me at A Crafty Concept I am a huge part of my brand so I have a photo of myself. For my new shop Wild Grace I will have my logo as my profile picture. There is no right or wrong 😉 If you do show your face I suggest wearing a shirt that is one of your brand colors if possible!
How to copyright a pattern
In America if you design something and post it for the world to see you automatically have the copyright to it. Copyright is different than trademark. I could get my business name trademarked but my patterns would be copyrighted.
There is a way to go online and submit it and get it legally copyrighted because if someone did try to steal it you could take them to court. I am not 100% sure on the steps to take to do this, I would google it or ask a local lawyer.
How did you figure out your brand?
What I did was a brain dump some words that I wanted to reflect my brand. For Wild Grace I wrote things like wild flowers, bare feet, fields, outside, cactus. Those are just some of the words that I came up with before I even thought of the name “Wild Grace”.
Then you want to create a mood board with elements, colors, and fonts that you like. You will have a mood board and brand board. Your mood board you want to fill up with stock photos that represent the feel we want from our brand.
I have a branding 101 PDF that is super helpful.
Is a giveaway a good way to promote your business?
Absolutely! It’s a good way to reach a new audience. It’s a good way to bring more of your ideal customers to you, and it’s good to collaborate with other brands that that have the same ideal customer as you!
A good example would be I sell Rainbow Rattles, and I do a collab with someone who sells pacifiers. We both potentially have the same ideal customer but are not in direct competition with one another. So both brands will benefit from the giveaway.
Networking is where it’s at. So if you are not spending time with other brands in your niche I would do some research and figure out who you can collab with!
Community over competition!
I am doing a market soon and I am so nervous I won’t sell anything.
Don’t be nervous, think of it as a learning experience. Worst thing is you don’t make a ton of sales but you come out with some experience so the next one you do you will absolutely kill it!
Taylor has a whole bunch of videos on market prep and such!
Also I have an ultimate guide on my blog which is a huge list of all the things you need to think about before your first craft show!
Do you recommend giving product to influencers?
Yes I do! I have never worked with anyone who was like huge influencers. The biggest person I worked with was a Youtuber who had 100,000 subscribers and I sent her a claire bun beanie and she did a review on her channel which in turn got me like 20 sales that day and I still get sales from that all the time!
It doesn’t have to be an influencer per say, it can be someone who has an audience with the same ideal customer as you! So if you find someone who has like 5k followers but they can take really cute photos for you for sure send things to her! Don’t ask for her to pay the shipping or anything, you pay for it. Reach out and say something like hey I love your feed, your photography style is exactly what I am looking for! I think you would flow really well with my products! I would love to send some items over to you in exchange for photos that I can use in my Etsy shop and through out my business.
If you can get photos that is awesome! Even more awesome if you can get them to share on their page and tag you! I usually have one ask when giving away product and that is to either get photos or for one shout out on their social media.
Even if you are just getting new followers from the arrangement that is still a win! If they give you photos back use the fire out of those images on all your social media platforms!
In your opinion what are the best items to sell in crochet?
It depends on who your ideal customer is. There is not a set list of items that everyone can sell well. It will depend on your ideal customer and your ideal customer is as unique as you are!
For Wild Grace my ideal customer is a millennial baby girl mom, she cares very much about appearances, her instagram feed is amazing, her house is decorated super nice and trendy- theses are the things I made up about my ideal customer but I know that she cares very much about things so when I talk to her about my products I am going to speak to her life! I won’t talk about the softness of my product, I would talk about how cute it is and how it will look because that is important to my ideal customer.
Tell them the benefits as to why this item will make their life better! If you don’t know those things right now I would spend some time thinking about them really hard.
Do you think it can work to sell finished pieces and crochet patterns?
Yes I do, but it will be very hard.
My personal opinion if you have two different ideal customers, then you should have two businesses, two Instagram accounts, two Etsy shops. It’s exhausting but that is why I am opening Wild Grace. I want A Crafty Concept to appeal to crocheters. I want to sell wrap labels, stickers, and crochet patterns. I don’t want to sell any finished pieces inside of A Crafty Concept! I want all my finished pieces to be in Wild Grace.
It’s very difficult to be known for two things under one brand. Not impossible just difficult and mentally exhausting.
It’s very hard to serve two different ideal customers at the same time. Say you are following me as a crocheter and every other post I make is telling you to go buy my claire bun beanie- you won’t feel emotionally connected to my account.
Thanks guys see you next time!
-Ashley!