Sewing Business Blog

Six Creative Marketing Techniques

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Home sewing / crafting entrepreneurs are always on the look-out for new ways to promote their products or services.  It makes no difference if your business is just a local one or an online venture, advertising is a MUST in order to keep our names in front of potential customers.

Some of the following ideas have been used by us for years, and I would hardly consider them “new”, but I’m amazed at the number of people who say “I would never have thought of that!”  Whether you choose one or a combination of the following ways to promote your business, the most successful methods can be incorporated into your year-round promotional strategies.

1.  MAKE “MINI-FLYERS” – One of my personal favorites are “mini-flyers” that contain advertising messages about your products or services.  Mini-Flyers are made 6 or 10 to a page (depending on what size you want them) and contain basic information such as a catchy phrase about your product or service, followed by “FREE information” or “FREE catalog”, a website address if you have one, and your name and address.  The “mini-flyers” can be made easily in Microsoft Publisher, or similar software, that can be saved and reprinted as needed, as in the following example:

miniFlyer
We make our mini-flyers 10 to a page and use the Publisher format for Avery labels.  The mini-flyers can then be made on the labels or printed on regular paper to be cut apart and used.

The first thing to do with your mini-flyers that have been printed on regular paper is to put one in every bill you pay (electric bill, gas bill, newspaper bill, telephone bill, credit card bills, etc).  Remember that the clerks who open these envelopes must surely get bored with the job, and when they open your envelope and the mini-flyer falls out, you can be assured that it will be read.  It will probably also be passed around to others working in the same area.   The mini-flyers that are on labels can be stuck to every package you mail out – right next to the mailing label.  These will catch the eye of some of the postal employees along the way who will make a mental note of the website address, etc and perhaps check it out later.

2. REBATES.  Almost any business you can think of can benefit from giving rebates.  Rebates are usually associated with large purchases such as automobiles, computers, etc, but can easily be adapted to smaller businesses.  We’ve had great success with offering a “rebate” to customers who refer their friends to us.  When one of the customer’s friends makes a “first time purchase” from us, the customer receives a rebate certificate that can be used as a discount on their next purchase.

3.  GROUP RATES AND DISCOUNTS can be used by many businesses.  For example, a seamstress can contract with a community theater to do all of the alterations for an entire season, and give a 10% or 15% discount on alll the work.  School cheerleader alterations, repair work and sewing could be handled in the same way.

4.  HOLD FREE SEMINARS, workshops or lectures for people interested in your type of product or service.  If you’re in the crafts business, you could teach interested people how to make one or more of your craft items.  After the “mini-class” you could have a table of crafts, projects and/or books for sale.  Women’s clubs, sewing clubs or home extension clubs would be great places to start – they’re always looking for “program” ideas for their meetings.

5.  SUBMIT A PRODUCT, PATTERN OR YOUR WEBSITE to individual websites, such as this one, for “review”.  Naturally you’re not guaranteed that every site will do a review, but the ones that do will be putting your name and website name on the review, which will then be a permanent link to you, which could be read by potentially thousands or millions of people who may be interested in what you have to offer.  Remember, if you don’t ask (or submit your item) your answer is already a “no” — so do yourself a favor and do some submitting.

6.  MAGNETIC CAR SIGNS can be a wonderful way to increase your business.  For “local” sewing / craft businesses, be sure to do the sign with a catchy phrase about your business – “Cathy’s Quick Turn Around Alteration Service” and your phone number.  If you do the majority, or even a little, of your business online put your website address on the sign — http://SewWithSarah.com   — and you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the increased traffic to your site.  Also, don’t forget – if you’re taking a vacation, be sure your magnetic sign is on the car.  It’s amazing how many people along the travel route will see your sign and check out the website.

For additional information and books to help you get started in a business or push it forward faster, visit our “Business Book” shelf and see for yourself the many ways you can make additional money with your business/website.

 

If It’s To Be, It’s Up To Me

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“If it’s to be, it’s up to me” is one of my favorite quotes!  I have it tacked to the wall in my office along with a few other quotes.  This is a reminder to me that it is NOT a favorite employee that’s gonna make my business what it needs to be, neither is it going to be a friend, a mentor or a family member — it’s UP TO ME!!  I’m the one that needs to set the goals for my business, then work toward those goals with all the focused action that I can muster.

It makes no difference if your business is an online website, blog, brick & mortar store or a business in your home – the same principle applies — it’s up to YOU to ensure that your business goes in the direction YOU want it to go.

I once read about a man who would take 30 minutes a week to just sit and reflect on what his business could be, and what steps he could use to take the business to the next level.   I found that very interesting, and have quite often stopped to think about what could be done in my business to gain new customers, make more sales, add additional products, etc.

Please understand that “reflecting on what the business could become” is not daydreaming, wishful thinking or hoping for good things to come —- it is to be clear on what the purpose is and setting worthwhile and realistic goals.  Map it out!  Write down specific goals and dates for those goals to be completed.   Believe in your goals, and believe in your abilities.  Visualize your success.  Dismiss any distractions and difficulties – keep your eyes and your heart on your goals.

By reminding yourself of the “if it’s to be, it’s up to me” principle, you will be surprised at how much you can accomplish toward realizing those goals, and watch your business grow.

Is Your Business In A Slump?

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Nearly every business, whether brick and mortar store, online store or home business experiences a slow down or slump at certain times of the year.  Many businesses see this slow down at the beginning of the year – people are trying to figure out how to pay off those credit cards that went over the limit during the Christmas season or right around tax season, when a lot of us are trying to come up with the dollars owed to Uncle Sam.  Other times might be right after school lets out in the spring when families are only thinking about vacations, summer camps for the kids, etc.  Others may see this slow down right at the time school starts – school clothes, school supplies, new this and new that really do take a chunk out of the budget, so other areas of spending have to be cut back.

The thing to remember during these times is to recognize that these times DO COME, so to get down in the mouth, consider quitting the business, give up the website, or close your doors is nonsense!  This is the time to get PROACTIVE and use the little bit of extra time to do some business promotions, get the word out about your business and prepare for the onslaught of business AFTER the slow down ends.  I’m going to give you a few ways that you can become PROACTIVE to keep your business on the right track.

** If you’re in a craft or sewing business and make patterns to sell, this is a great time to use your extra hours brainstorming on new patterns that you could be working on.  Because there are two of us working on this blog and both do crafts and sewing as well as making patterns, we usually are working on new craft patterns, such as the Mermaid Tail Pattern and the Athletic Non-Slip Headband Pattern, and at this time are working hard on a bunch of new patterns for our Women’s Sewing Patterns category.  We’ll be having new ones coming into the store on a regular basis and we specialize in awesome designs for full figure/plus size women as well as the small-extra large women’s styles.

** Do you have a blog (Web log)?  If not, this is a good time to get one started.  You can write about anything you want – from talking about your personal life – letting others know how you manage to get to that stack of sewing or alterations and still take care of your family.  Or you can do a sewing/personal blog to mix together what you’ve been working on as well as cute pictures of your children or grandchildren and perhaps some snapshots of your latest projects you made for the little ones.  Or do a blog something like Denise’s “Shopper Strategy” that helps others save money as well as gives great information to the readers.

** Do you have something unique in your business that could be newsworthy?  Have you just started a new sewing niche?  Write up a press release to send to your local newspaper — they are always on the lookout for new material for their paper.  Who knows – you might make the first page or even the headline of the “local” section of your paper.  Think about how much this could increase your business.

** Are there some products or services that you’ve been wanting to start, but just haven’t had the time to get involved with?  Now is the time to take a second look at them, write down what additional things you could add to your business, and get started now while you have the time.

** Are you one who makes craft items?  From time to time we go through our boxes and shelves of fabric remnants and figure out what items we can make from them.  If you love making crafty things and want to know where and how to sell them you can check out our “business books” category and specifically the “How To Sell Your Handmade Items” book.  There are a LOT of places where your craft items can be sold – adding profits to your business!

I would say that while you’re considering and doing any or all of the things we’ve just talked about, you’ll run out of “free” time before you know it, and you’ll be looking for an extra few minutes here and there to do another post on the sewing forums or add posts to your own blog, make that new pattern you’ve put on your “to do” list, etc.

Grow Your Business With Customer Service

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I’ll bet you’re wondering HOW can you grow / build a business just by giving great customer service!  Think about your customers for a minute — how do they feel about you and your customer service?  Are you quick to respond to them?  Do you take care of small issues before they become big problems?

Smile!  That’s a key part of customer service!  Whether it’s in person or on the telephone – smile.  Your tone of voice IS reflective of whether you’re smiling while talking on the phone, or if you feel like you’ve been interrupted for the 10th time from an important project.

If you tell somebody you’re going to do something (try to find a special fabric, locate a pattern or check out a new trim) – DO IT!  It may be a small deal to you and very unimportant, but to the customer, it is EVERYTHING at this moment, so be sure to follow through on what you tell the customers.

Deal with questions promptly – don’t make the customer wait an hour or two or day or two for an answer.  Just last Friday evening I checked in on my computer before shutting down for the night (about 9 pm), and I’d gotten an email from a lady asking a question about an order she’d placed two days before.  I immediately checked it out and wrote her back before shutting down.  The next day I had a glowing email from the customer, saying “what FABULOUS customer service!  I figured maybe I’d get an answer by Monday or Tuesday, because of the weekend, and you took the time to answer me within MINUTES of my email!  I WILL be letting my friends know about your super customer service!”

So, there it is in a nutshell — how do you grow your business with customer service?  Your customers ARE the most important advertising your business will ever have – you just can’t pay enough for word of mouth advertising from the customers.  Customers with glowing reports about your excellent customer service will generate more new customers than you can imagine!

We have two books that give additional information on how to grow and succeed in your business:  “Jumpstart Your Business – Proven Techniques and Strategies” and “501 Tips and Strategies For Home Business Entrepreneurs”.  The books are $7.95 each and could be the best books you have on your bookshelf!