emiko-o reware

Continuing emiko's Top 5 Tips for Getting Your Business Out There!

TIP 3: Take Note & Be Accessible

LEGO party, photo by Becca Bond, styled by Anders Ruff

Pay attention to how people respond to your work, feedback from your customer base, and who your customers are/what your niche market is. For instance,  I discovered early on that my largest client base were moms, not young women. Be open to feedback about your designs and don’t be afraid to ask what they would be inclined to purchase (“If I designed this as a pendant would you be interested in it?”)

Be Accessible: means have a web presence. As I’ve said in my lecture, “If you aren’t online, you don’t exist”. Sounds harsh, yes, but we live in a global marketplace, largely due to the accessibility that online markets afford. Invest in the time to set up a website or blog, an online store either through your website, Etsy, Supermarket, Custommade, or any of the other online retailers out there.

Also get involved in social media: have a business page on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and connect with other crafts people on crafthaus.ning.

Have as many of your professional images posted online, along with your artist statement and image description. Flickr is great for setting up collections of your work. Add descriptions and make sure to do those tags!

In hour 2 of Marla Johnson Norris‘ presentation for the Professional Development Seminar, (yes, that previous post was only the first hour!) she whipped through the benefits of Social Networking.

Harriete Estel Berman's facebook

Yes, the dreaded Facebook–ok, maybe I’m being overly dramatic in my distaste for connecting with creepy high school ghosts, but from a business standpoint, it really can work for you. The selling point: the Media LOVES it. Sure, creepoman can still find you, but so do curators, tv stations, and gallery owners!

Which brings me to the next dreaded portal that is even starting to steal Facebook’s thunder:

twitter

Twitter–did you know that 54% of twitterees are female? And the Media eats this stuff up; through twitter the news channels find out about breaking stories like the Santa Barbara Fires, Swine flu, etc.

So if you are considering tweeting, remember these points:

Have a Strategy. Be Interesting & Positive. Relate it to the News. Be Search Engine friendly. Integrate with blogs and other social networking portals.

Which brings me to the last point I want to share–link up your social networking sites, by using the SHAREBAR and bookmarks. See example below from Sienna Gallery. See the Facebook icon and addthis icon at the far left? Go, join, get found.

Sienna Gallery