Attracting your ideal customers

TallTayl · March 18, 2019

It’s the time of year when we are heading into craft show and market season. Every year a new crop of crafters joins the masses setting up at their first farmers market or craft fair. Most have done a lot of planning and homework over the long, cold winter and feel prepared to conquer the world. Then the first event date comes and goes, often deflating the gusto that got them to that moment.

The movie Field of Dreams led us to believe that if you make it, they (customers) will come. Easy money. You’ll fan yourself with dollar bills every day. If you’ve been at your first event and felt the opposite, you’re most definitely not alone.

It takes time to woo “your” customers. “Your” was in “quotes” there intentionally.

Your customers are not the same as my customers, even if we sell the exact same thing. Your style, vibe, price point, etc. will be different from mine in every way. Many events take a full three, yes THREE seasons to do well. The first year, people might not even see you if you’re set up right in front of them. You’re competing with all the others in that venue to be seen, people who have been seen in the past and that customers recognize. There will be a handful of early adopters who test the water with you and buy something small.

Year two, you get a little smarter, set up a little different, have people who recognize you from somewhere and are willing to take the chance on you. If you impressed some of the first year customers, they may return. If they loved you they will return with FRIENDS! It’s much easier to sell to someone when they have a trusting friend tell them you’re great. No billboard in the world is as trust worthy as a close friend. All you really need is one GREAT customer.

By year 3, if you are a good fit with the event THAT’S when things start picking up. You find your market. You claim your customers and word spreads. Friends bring friends. Friends bring family. You have built your base. You have arrived.

How can you get ahead of that curve? Social media is a great first step. Take Instagram for example. Instagram is a positive vibe kind of place where “your” people likely hang out. Everyone loves pretty pictures that put them square in their happy place. They get to know you and your brand in a place they are already comfortable: right in their home or office. They picture your candles on their table or mantle. They can almost smell your pretty soap in their bath. They imagine how a piece of your jewelry will feel dangling from their neck or ears. When they see you in person at an event, they already feel like they know you and are excited to pick up a piece of your wares to touch in person. It’s like meeting a celebrity.

Forums and facebook groups are actually good too. You don’t need to be flinging your website address around willy nilly to be noticed. That’s kind of a turn off to many actually. We’re here to feel good in a community to which we belong. We don’t generally want to be hard sold to. You just need to be the kind of person people admire and want to be like. On a different forum a very wise woman from another country became known the world around for her wit and candor, in turn making her products highly saught after. People found her web site and etsy shops all by themselves and paid whatever price it cost to have something made by her. They didn’t care if the item cost $6 and the postage and duty cost $50. They HAD to have it.

It takes courage to put yourself and your brand out there to the public. It also takes time. Be patient with yourself. Give yourself an edge by being seen in ways you can control. Then go out there and rule the world. I can’t wait to want to spend whatever it takes to have a piece of something YOU made.