Marketing Crafts

When you first decide you need to build and farm out a market, it dawns on you that you don't really know for sure which direction to go. Florists? Gift shops? Tourism? A specialized line?

If the point is to fill a need, you first need to go shopping. You are headed out to investigate.For goodness sake don't get caught up in that 6 of item #1 for Shop so and so and a dozen of item #2 for Shop what's his name. No. What you are out to do is to narrow down the product line.

See how many shops in your area are interested in one or two particular themes or items.An example: I go tooling around the area, poking my nose into every shop I come across. One is all garden decor with fountains and figurines and plants, etc. Another is all country crafts. Another is Home Decor, with all sorts of weird stuff from all over the world. I wear myself out visiting over a dozen shops.

All the while I'm keeping notes on the shop names, addresses, what they carry, what seems to be their main theme. Did they have lots of stock of one item and only one or two of another? You see, most likely those items they have in abundance, are slow movers while those things they are limited on are probably the steady movers.

That night, I'll study my findings and try to narrow it down to one theme or one subject line. Something like "vintage flower pots" or "salt n peppers with local themes" or maybe even "wild dish designs" or "native American". Don't forget Christian themes, Cross collections, Frog and owl collectors.

Try to get a hook on the local flavors. Not from your experience but from the point of view of the retailer.Check out colors. Some areas of the country seem to wallow in mauve and peach while another part of the country seems to favor turquoise and red. All flavors.

Tomorrow go west instead of east and do the same thing. Now you're ready for some homework.If you already have a collection of molds, study what you have that would fit into the majority of the market you've already witnessed. Boil it down to maybe 5 designs. Something you can play with, change the colors on to fit your market.Prepare samplings of each design, take pictures.

On market day you can take the photos of any large items and actual sample pieces of your small items.Timing is important. Most of the shops you will deal with will be closed on Mondays. Why? Because the weekends are the busiest time and certainly not the time to be closed. So normally a giftshop owner will close either on Mondays or Tuesdays.

Find out which day or days, the shop is closed. You want to be there on the first day of their week. It's normally the slowest day.Above all things, you conduct yourself in the same manner you would if you owned that shop. I never distract the buyer/owner when customers are wandering the shop and certainly not when customers are at the counter. You'll find the shop keepers truly appreciate this.

Don't over dress. If you happen to be in a tourism area, wear what a tourist would wear. These days, blue jeans and a T-shirt, are absolutely acceptable. I found that to dress 'my' part seems truly fit. I was a dusty manufacturer. What could else could I be? For me to put on clean pants and shirt was an amazing sacrifice.

When you introduce yourself, the shop keeper is more impressed with you dressing as who you are. It's more 'mystique'HaWhen you approach the shop, remember this. You are about to meet a new friend. It's not a scary thing at all.Want to hear one of my speeches? "I'm a local manufacturer. Among other things, I do a line of magnets and nightlights. I want to work closer to home where I can get more out of business than paperwork. If you're interested ( as I hand her my printed out page of pictures), I'd love to work with you and get to know you better. It's more fun. (Insinuating that I'm tired of the rat race but without offering any more information) "I like to work in exclusives. Mostly because it keeps my customers happy. And I will swap out shelf weary items. She's hooked.

You see, the game is like this. Who are we? China? Face it. We have the biggest, most powerful competitor our kind has ever had to face. So what do we have to offer, to compete with? Uniqueness, that's what. We are the unique. That product that no immediate competition has. It doesn't hurt to offer exclusives, if you've picked a line that many are interested in. You can always promise not to sell to any competitors within a 5 mile radius, or a 10 mile radius.

It's not going to kill us to make several deliveries on the same day. Make a loop route out of it and grab your groceries on the way.Let's say I'm producing a line of magnets and some are more of a Mexican theme and some a Native American theme while others are country cuties. They're just magnets! What's the big deal. Offer the line of Mexican theme to one shop, a line of Native American to another, and so forth. They pour the same, just different colors. Get it? You can do the same with night lights, with candle burners, vases. Offer exclusives. And offer to swap out for "shelf weary" items. Those are the items that sit there and collect dust, doing the shop owner no good at all. He/She can't get THAT from China.

If your new contact says something like "Let's give these a try. Bring me a dozen and we'll test them out". You be there when you said you'd be there. You bring your best. If you can't separately box, then at least cushion with tissue paper. Look as professional as you can and don't worry about it. Take your bill with you. Most times they will write out a check, there and then. If they don't have the checkbook, for some reason, tell them "that's ok, I'll be in the area tomorrow and will drop by". Hey, you have to get things rolling. Bend over backward. It'll be worth it.

Make it a habit to visit at least one new shop and introduce yourself, every time you go out to deliver. You'll begin to build your base and you'll be on your way. Keep a schedule. If you deliver on Tuesdays, make sure you're pouring Wednesdays, cleaning Thursdays, firing Fridays, etc....so that all is ready by Monday.

Some years ago, after a customer totally jilted me on a whole slew of these large pitcher and bowl sets, I put them in the trunk and started out. I dropped into a Nursery, with garden decor and such. I went in and said "Are you the buyer? I've got 30 sets of pitcher and bowl sets, in my car. Would you like to see them? I mean blunt as you can be.The buyer went out with me to the car, picked out 3 sets and paid for them.

Without being cocky about it, you put on an attitude of "I've got something you want. And if you don't, the next guy willI watched a representative of mine in action, one day. Blew my mind. There was a room full of rejects. Pitcher and bowl sets that just weren't right. He walked into this place that was set up in an old gas station on a corner. They dealt in used EVERYTHING. He had loaded up 100 of those sets.

He walked in and said "I've got 100 of our pitcher and bowl set rejects. If you take them today, I'll give em to ya for $11 a set". $11 a set covered my expenses, so it was strictly a bail out. They bought them on the spot. All of them. Evidently, they thought they could make a profit off them. I sure didn't know their business but if they wanted them, I was sure fine with it.That's the game.

Sweet little shop, hoity toity interior decor, swap shop, flee market, you name it. Profit and what they think they can sell. Period.See? It's actually easy. I know that when you first step out, you think you're going to vomit or something. Especially if you're starting this project in the hope of adding to the family income out of necessity. Jump out there.

If you happen to run into some dummy acting like you've invaded their space, just thank them for their time and leave them a card. There are plenty of others.Now at the other end of the stick, is the ones who have the means to get to those shows.

I don't personally like the small county or state craft shows. The idea there is retail sales and very few make their booth rent. It's usually nothing but disappointing.If you have the means to make it to one of the big shows, like Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, etc. Go for it but be ready. This is where you land the wholesale buyers. Truth is, nobody makes a huge landfall from retailing their own products. Wholesale is the answer but in wholesale, we're talking volumes.If you're going for the big market, wholesale, be prepared. Don't bite off more than you can chew.

If you want to hold down, being careful about not going overboard, you can go to the show and collect names and numbers. Talk to each potential buyer to see what they believe the volumes would be. You can be selective.Here's hoping you each one, find your way. That you each one don't make the stupid mistakes I made, along the way.