March 18, 2009
Read this issue of the Inspiri Craft Business Magazine online.
Each month Inspiri Craft Business Magazine brings you current and in-depth information and resources to help you build and grow your own home craft business. If you have a friend who would enjoy this newsletter, please feel free to forward it to them.
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In this month's issue of Inspiri Craft Business Magazine:
Newest Articles at Inspiri
Consignment Selling
Consignment selling can be a great facet of a successful craft business. Here are several tips for negotiating consignment relationships with retail store owners.
Art Careers
Researching art careers can be simple if you know where to look for good, free and reliable information. Discover how to find good information about art careers
Art Jobs
If using your creativity and working within the arts is important to you, but launching a craft business is not the best fit for your needs, there are other ways to make money with art and find work doing what you enjoy. The art careers listed here will give you some ideas.
New Articles on the Inspiri Blog
The Importance of Great Photos When Selling Crafts OnlineBuild a Craft Business that Truly Meets Your Needs
Tips on Time Management
Sell More Crafts - Know Yourself
Your Contributions
There are two easy ways to share craft business tips at Inspiri.If you have a great craft business article (400 words or more) and you'd like a link back to your own craft related site, find out how to share a full article here: Share a Craft Business Article.
If you have a quick tip you want to share but don't have a full article, you can add your tips here: Quick Craft Business Tips
Please keep in mind, backlinks are not included on the quick tip forms, so if you'd like to receive a backlink to promote your craft business site, you'll need to use the full article submission option.
Your Contributions
Protect Yourself from Theft at Craft Shows
Plan a Bookkeeping Strategy Right from the Start
Buying Crafts Online - Customer Tips
Working from Home Doesn't Have to be so Hard!
Feature Article
Understand Why Your Customers Buy
Understanding who your customers are and what motivates them to buy will help you to make sales and marketing decisions that sell more crafts. Geographics, demographics and psychographics are three basic ways of considering and understanding your customers and their motivations.
Geographics
Geographics simply refers to where your customer is located geographically. The first step in determining who your customer is involves understanding where they are located.
For example, your plan may involve selling at craft shows within a two or three hour drive from your home. If most of the people who attend those shows are locals, not tourists, then your customers are located in those communities that are within a two or three hour radius from your home.
Alternatively, you may decide to sell your crafts online. In that case, you might assume that because your site can be accessed anywhere in the world, your customers are worldwide. That's not necessarily the case.
While your site may be accessible anywhere in the world, you won't necessarily get visitors to your site from all countries. A tool like Google Analytics, which is free and simple to add to your site, can give you a better understanding of where your customers are actually coming from.
Once you determine where your customer is located, you can ask yourself useful questions like:
If, for example, you're selling at craft shows, and there are a couple of large communities and several large shows in your defined radius, you will likely be able to feel confident that there are enough customers in your area to sustain a profitable business.
or
If you sell online and your craft business is based in the U.S., using Google Analytics, you may discover that a large number of visitors to your site live outside of the U.S. Then you may ask yourself whether you're willing to ship internationally and if you have clear information, such as international shipping policies, posted on your site to accommodate those customers.
Demographics
Demographics refers to statistical data such as gender, age, education, income, profession, marital status, etc. about your customers. Once you determine where your customers are geographically, you can research relevant statistical data about your customers.
For example, if you sell a high-end luxury item that appeals to women between the ages of 45 and 60, you can find data on household income for your demographic group to determine whether the average 45-60 year old woman in your area would have enough disposable income to purchase your products. You could also determine exactly how many people who fall within your demographic group live within your target area and further determine the size of your customer base.
Psychographics
Psychographics take demographics to the next level. Looking at the psychographics of your customer base means assessing the psychological factors that impact your customers' purchasing decisions. Understanding what lifestyle factors, values, behavior and opinions come into play when your customer makes purchasing decisions can help you to determine how to market your items to your customer.
You might ask:
It can be fascinating (as well as profitable) to get to know your customers in this way. Geographic, demographic and psychographic research and understanding of your customers can help you to market your products and meet your customers' needs more effectively and ultimately grow your craft business.
To get started with your research, you can find data at:
U.S. Census
Stats Canada home page and Stats Canada Community Profiles
Also check with your local Chamber of Commerce or business development office. They often have excellent resources for conducting this type of research.
Search Inspiri Art and Craft for more tips on building your craft business.
Thanks for reading the Inspiri Craft Business Magazine.
I welcome your comments and questions.
Best regards,
Lisa