Creative Hive

My thoughts on spending money on brand awareness

As small business owners, we work extremely hard to make every penny that comes through Paypal. Where does that money go? You spend them on supplies, listing fees on Etsy and on a new tool you've been wanting to get for months!

You've probably also encountered moments in your business where you are asked to spend money on marketing. A blog sidebar ad? Giving away products (that cost you money to make) for a celebrity gifting suite? Were you approached to work with a social media agency?

Whatever it is, you'll first have to ask yourself these questions.

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Raising the bar on customer experience: under promise + over deliver

I'm not usually one to make new year's resolutions, but 2014 was the year that I really wanted to WOW my customers at Tiny Hands.

If you've ever made a purchase from my shop, you'll probably know about my two-week made to order policy.

My handmade jewelry take a lot of time to make (up to three days!) and I just couldn't see any other way around it.

But these days with Amazon and other big online retailers raising the bar on what's considered normal for delivery time, two weeks in addition to shipping time is WAY too long to make you wait for your order.

I'm always looking to improve the customer experience while sustaining my business along the way.

I'm not going to commit myself to a business where I have 24 hour/7 days a week phone support but I did have other plans.

After reading Mike Michalowicz's The Pumpkin Plan, I've been feeling so strongly about this wonderful concept.

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Part 3: How to use email autoresponders to make automagic sales

Let's dive a little deeper into building an email list quickly with your target customers!

If you haven't yet, I would recommend going back and reading Part 1 and Part 2 of Building an Email List.

At the end of Part 2, I concluded that the fastest way to build an email list for product based businesses is by doing monthly giveaways. For every person that signs up to your mailing list, they get a chance to win one of your handmade items.

But is this the best way? Not necessarily, since many people that are into giveaways are not looking to actually spend any money.

Unless you can convince them that your products are really something they need in their lives. But how do we do that?

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Part 2: How to double your email list subscribers

Last week, I wrote about why you need an email list if you want more sales.

This week, I want to share some of the strategies I've used to grow an email list.

We talked about opt-in forms and Mailchimp. Do you have that ready on your website? Great!

Amp it up with an incentive

These days people don't just sign up to mailing lists anymore. You need to give them a reason. Especially if you're just starting out and no one knows who you are.

For product based businesses:

If you're selling something tangible that you made like soaps, handbags, scarves, jewelry, notebooks, prints… here are a few options on how to spice up your opt-in form to get more sign ups!

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Part 1: How to start building an email list

Why you need an email list

If you're not on it yet, you'll want to start building an email list right away. As soon as you have your Etsy shop or your own website up and running, start collecting those email addresses!

There is a simple reason for this. We spend so much time investing in Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social communities, but what happens if they go belly up?

I know, you must be thinking, “Facebook is huge! It's here to stay”. I admit, I had trouble believing it too.

But analysts are predicting Facebook will die within the next decade. And so what if it's just speculation or if their prediction is wrong?

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