so....how DID you get your business going....

[rubato456]

my friends and relatives like my soaps....but i've given them as gifts....so how do you cross over to ppl paying for them? i've started a site on etsy.....but i guess no one other than my mother knows it's there....

should i advertise in a local paper??
do a craft fair/farmer's market type thing (the fees for a weekend can be steep.....)

any other thoughts or suggestions.....

 

[AshleyR]

I would get out to the craft fairs and markets for sure! I wish I had more of them around here... I'd be at every single one of them! I need to focus more on wholesaling to local gift shops, etc. because my town is so tiny that we only have 1 craft show a YEAR! Same with the surrounding communities... pretty much. I would love to live in a city that had a regular farmers market - I think you can make some good money doing those regularly!

You definitely need to advertise. Make some business cards and leave them wherever you go, with your etsy address on them.

 

[jbarad]

Farmer's Markets and craft fairs for sure

I also printed up catalogs and started handing them out to people I knew.

Print business cards with your website on them and hand them out to everyone and their dog, find local businesses that will let you place the cards in their store/shop. ( Hair salons and spas are usually good places for this )

If you're giving stuff away anyway, give some away so it benefits you in the end IE : Leave a sample bar of soap or another product for waitresses when you tip, hand a sample to the lady at the bank who waits on you, the checkout girl at the grocery store, etc.

For Mother's day this year I'm doing up gift bags with a sample bar of soap, sample lotion, and sugar scrub - my son is taking them to his work and they'll be handing them out to the mother's who come in for dinner.

I didn't ask the owners to pay for them, I figured it costs me maybe $1.50 per bag and the free advertising I get from it is worth the cost to me, and since I give away a ton of stuff right now just trying to get my products out and about it was another way to get them seen by folks who are not in my general circle of friends, family, or neighbors.

 

[rubato456]

these are great ideas! thanks so much! i 'm waiting on my business cards

 

[Guest]

I love your ideas jbarad , about samples , that is sheer genius . thank you for posting this .

Kitn

 

[Lindy]

I agree with the markets and fairs. Also consider renting a table in your local shopping centre. I did the handing out of samples including as an introduction through the The Chamber of Commerce and I have to say I really haven't gotten any real response from it. My most effective form of getting known besides my weekend mall kiosk has been advertising in a free distribution magazine that gets distributed here in my area plus in ferries in the area. I also talk about soaps and my business to absoultely everyone....