You may be a very creative person who has created gorgeous decorative items for homes, or you may have created a huge variety of knitting patterns that you would like to promote. However, you may be not sure how to go about this process of marketing your talent. You have no need to worry though, because you have quite a bit of help and resources available to you.
One of the most common ways to display your work is by renting a booth or table at a craft fair. Usually you can purchase this space for as little as $35. Other times, you may have to pay up to a few hundred dollars for this, but it depends upon for how long and where the craft booth takes place. You can also rent a small display kiosk in a shopping mall, which will usually cost quite a bit more than if you were to rent a booth at a craft show or flea market. In order to find listings of craft fairs, flea markets, and shopping malls where you can display your work, you can search for them very quickly doing a local Internet search. You will be pleasantly surprised how many places you could present your items for sale.
Another one of the most common ways to display your best quality craft items is by taking pictures of it and uploading those pictures along with descriptions and prices onto a web page. You can create your own on line catalog this way. Not only that, but you can present your items for sale as on line auction items at many auction sites as well. Either way is not very expensive. You can purchase hosting for websites for as little as a few dollars, and hosting for e-commerce sites for as low as $15.00, with the average price of an e-commerce website costing about $50.00. The average cost for a starter website costs around $10.00. In fact, promoting your website online is one of the cheapest ways to get the word out.
When advertising on the Internet, however, you need to remember one very important factor: you cannot just create a website and then expect visitors to know about it. You will need to advertise by way of search engine marketing, pay per click ads, banner ads, link exchange, classified ad listings, and other methods. This will help bring traffic to your site so folks will see it, and this is how you make money on the Internet. You can set up shop and promote in other ways as well.
Some folks might even open up a small gift shop in which they will feature their crafts plus other crafts made by folks in their community. This method of all the methods described above would take the most time and consideration. It may also require saving money and raising capital to start it and run it for the long term. Some folks, however, are able to make an excellent go of their crafting business in this way. That is because they know how to get the word out, and they provide enough products or services that are of interest to the public.
Other ways to promote your hand made crafts would be to start your own craft show. This is very easy, and is considered less of a commitment to run than would be starting your own craft shop. You can rent a small room somewhere in your community, such as in a hotel or bowling alley (anywhere there are large groups of traffic). These rooms vary in price from about $100 dollars to a few hundred dollars for a small sized room. Larger rooms could cost more. If you rent a room that is big enough, you will be able to even sell craft tables to other folks who are interested in selling for you as well.
Whether you choose to start your own craft show, rent a spot at a craft fair, or purchase your own craft table, you will need to publicize as well. Usually you can tell your friends and family, put a small ad in the newspaper (unless you are renting a booth, then the organization in charge of that craft show would be responsible for advertising), hand out fliers, and even send out mailings. You may also find publicity in news releases and so forth as well.
Another method of promoting your crafts would involve setting up your own home party marketing campaign. You can send invitations to folks you know and offer them a presentation of your best crafts, and then offer rewards for folks who would also like to host your crafts at their house. These events are even less costly than renting a booth at a fair, and are more fun too, because they reach groups of interested buyers on a more personal level. Folks love to come to these parties because they like to feel as though they are a part of something.
Other options for promoting your crafts would be to contact churches, schools, and other organizations that are in need of craft classes and crafts for display. These may be women’s retreats, children’s programs, or even a class of crafting for men. The possibilities are endless. Once you have brainstormed all your possible marketing avenues, it will then be time to get to work planning the execution of your home based craft business.