Sewing Business Blog

Countdown To Christmas

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The Christmas Season has officially started at all the brick and mortar stores.  I’ve been seeing Christmas stuff in Walmart and some places already, but normally the first of November the Halloween decorations come down and Christmas decorations, sales incentives and banners come out in full force.

Well, the question of the day is — why aren’t we, the work at home people, doing the same thing?????

Actually, I’ve been doing this for several years.  I put up one of those small (they’re about 36″ tall) fiber optic Christmas trees in the corner of my customer waiting area and have a fairly long flowing “tree skirt” coming down from the tree to the floor.  I then wrap a few empty boxes in Christmas gift wrapping to put under the tree.

Next comes the “sales promotion ideas”.   We’ve already talked about having a corner set aside for baby gift items, like Portable Diaper Changing Stations, Animal Pals Back Packs, etc.   Well, you can use some of those same items for children, and add in a few additional items like a Holiday Kissing Ring, Golf Club Mittens for a man’s gift or little microwave mittens as an idea for a “hostess” gift for the parties your customers will be attending.

I have a price tag attached to every gift idea in the customer area – large enough that it draws the customers’ attention so they know that these items are for sale.  You will be helping your customers in a big way by having a wide variety of gift ideas they can be thinking about while they are waiting to see you.

As an extra note – I’ve found that whatever gift ideas I have in the customer waiting area, I need to be sure to have the one they can see, PLUS at least two extras.  If the only one you have is in the waiting area and a customer wants to buy it – you have only two choices — sell that one and you won’t have one for the next customer to see, OR just take the order for the item and say that you’ll let them know when it’s ready for them.  My idea is that if you do the second (take the order and say you’ll let them know when it’s ready), you’re taking a big chance that they may change their mind and you’ve lost the sale.  What you want is the sale TODAY and the money in your cash register!

If you’ve never done this before, I’d suggest that you get a small tree and get started on the Holiday Gift area immediately – this could mean an additional several hundred dollars in your pocket that you would not have had if you simply decorate with a little ribbon and a few bows.

Let us know how your Christmas gift area works for you, and what all gifts you’ve made available to the customers.  We’d love to hear about the extra dollars that you’ve made!

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.

 

Does Your Business Have A Website Presence?

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A friend of mine has been doing alterations as a home business for a number of years, and has a pretty good business.  About six months ago while having lunch I asked her if she had a website.  Her immediate answer was “of course not — how would I get alteration business over the internet?”  She has a computer, orders some of her supplies through the internet, prepares shipping labels through Fed Ex online, but never felt like she needed a website herself.

WOW!  I couldn’t believe my ears!  First of all, she’s been teaching classes at various women’s groups about lingerie, how to make various garments, what to look for in knits, spandex, etc.  She passes out information sheets to the attendees and does all the right things.

I started telling her why she can’t afford NOT to have a website!  Even if it didn’t bring alteration customers to her, and it very possibly could reach some of the hometown folks, she could surely set up a simple website page and start to sell some craft items and use up some of the scraps she has.  In addition she buys some types of tricot in bulk for her sewing, and gets it much cheaper that way — duh!  Another item she could put on the website to sell.

And, I mentioned to her that all that information she’s been giving out to the classes she’d been teaching could be written up and submitted to the various article directory sites.  These articles, while not getting immediate dollars for them, could send readers to the site and create sales.

Another method of getting traffic to the site is through two way linking, or reciprocal linking.  She knows that I have a website, so I could be the first one to do a reciprocal link, and she has other friends who also have websites.

Another thing I told her is to look up some sewing / alteration forums and register with them.  There are always categories that would fit just about any area of information that she, or you, would have knowledge about and could answer questions, pose your own question or give information in general about.  Many times your email address or website address are in your “signature” at the forums, so people could readily click on it and visit the website.  In addition, forums are normally spidered by search engines regularly, so if somebody is doing a search regarding your business items, your website name could very well pop up and additional traffic would be sent your way.

I did let her know, however that by doing these things, she should not expect to be flooded with traffic and orders immediately.  It does take time to get the website out to the public.  There is no quick and easy method for building website traffic, however the most important lesson is simply to let the site grow overtime — put in a little time, lots of effort and never forget perservance!!

Do YOU have a website for YOUR business. Just about everyone has a computer – does a lot of “surfing”, and buys from various sites, including eBay, Amazon, etc, but sometimes it just doesn’t register that YOUR site could be making sales too.  If you don’t have one now, think seriously about getting one set up.  If you DO have one, think about the methods of getting additional traffic to the site that we discussed in this post.

While you’re “surfing”, check out our two main websites — SewWithSarah and ShopperStrategy — you’ll find lots of goodies and information at both websites!  OR if you’re in our area, or thinking of traveling to the Gulf Coast (Pensacola, FL to be exact), check out the super website DoPensacola.com – “Everything to see and do in Pensacola”!

Advertise for PENNIES ….. Make THOUSANDS

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It makes no difference if you have an internet site, brick and mortar store, or a work at home business, it is a fact that none will succeed if nobody knows you’re there.

Advertising IS the key to success; however advertising doesn’t have to cost a fortune!  Of course, the big display ads cost advertisers many thousands of dollars, and “pay per click” advertising on search engines can add up to big dollars very quickly if you’re not carefully targeting proper key words and keeping track of the results of your advertising dollars.

There are many ways that we can promote our businesses literally for PENNIES, that can rake in THOUSANDS of dollars in sales.  Listed below are just a few ideas that work well, and I’m sure you’ll be able to come up with additional ideas once you start working with these.

** FREE AD ON YOUR ENVELOPES.  You can either use labels, or glue or tape one of your “mini-flyers” on the back or front of each envelope and package you mail out.  There is no way of knowing how much “free” advertising these mini-flyers will generate – after all, you’re mailing the letters and packages anyway, so why not take advantage of that and give your advertisement a “free ride”.

** ENCLOSE SALES LITERATURE in all outgoing orders.  If you already have a business where you send out orders, NEVER send out a “naked” package!  If you simply enclose the customer’s order and receipt and mail the package, you are missing out on one of the very best sales tools available!  Any additional sales literature you can enclose in the package (other items you offer for sale, information on another website to visit, etc) could bring you extra sales.  It is a well known fact that if a customer buys from you one time, they’re more likely to buy again and again, if they are satisfied with your service and products that they bought in the beginning.

** BUSINESS CARDS are one of the cheapest methods of advertising that I know of.  Many times, people will have 1,000 or more business cards made, then put them on a shelf and never use more than a dozen or so.  If you have a business or website and don’t have business cards – GET THEM!  Hand out the business cards to prospective customers, leave one on the table at the restaurant when you go out to eat.  Many restaurants and other businesses have a location where you can put a small business card holder with several of your cards in it for future customers to see and pick up as they pay their bill.

** SCREEN PRINTED SHIRTS.  This also is a “one time” purchase that will last for years, and will be read by people wherever you are walking – through stores, standing in line at a check out register, etc.  These don’t have to be fancy, just “to the point” so people reading them will know what they represent.  I saw one a few days ago that simply had a pair of glasses on it (the logo of the website) and the words “Specterweb.com” — everybody knows to put the http:// in front and in this case I wrote it down just so I could go there and see what it was (and this will work the same way for you).  You can make enough of these shirts for you to wear, or perhaps some of your family might want a “free” shirt (they will be advertising your website when wearing it), or you always have the option of selling or giving them to customers as a free gift for placing an order.

As you think about these suggestions, I’m sure you’ll be coming up with additional ones that you can use.  Remember, advertising is a MUST for any business, but it doesn’t have to cost a fortune!

The tips are just a few from our book, “Jumpstart Your Business With Proven Techniques and Strategies“!  Check out the book – read the table of contents – then see how YOU can get your business moving ahead.