Today I’m excited to share a guest post from Tara Gentile of Scoutie Girl. Tara gives her take on a recent Seth Godin post that’s been making the rounds in the handmade community.
Seth Godin – demigod of the community marketing movement (I’m not sure that’s what it’s actually called‚ but that’s what I’d call it if I was Seth Godin!) – recently posted on the rise in popularity of buying handmade. He pointed to the real draw of handmade being that, by its nature, it creates things that are rare. It also sends a message about what you value & what you can afford, he asserts. In wrapping up, Godin states:
All marketers tell a story. The “this is the best price and value” story is just one of those available, and in fact, it’s rarely the most effective for the audience you may be trying to reach.
When you’re marketing your business, are you focusing on sales, promotions, giveaways? Are you telling the story of how you have the best price & best value for your particular widget? Are you constantly tweeting your latest discount? Wait‚ what was that? Sorry‚ I wasn’t listening. Or have you told your story? Or the story of your product? The story we choose to communicate is the story that will stick with our customers (or not stick, as the case may be). So what stories have you told lately? Have you mentioned the time your grandmother tried to teach you to sew? Or perhaps how your last piece was inspired? Did you tell the story about how your dad showed you how to use the jigsaw and you thought for sure you’d lose a fingertip? How about the story where you put the most lovely clay bowl into the kiln to fire and, when you opened the cooled kiln, you found it had shattered? These stories – some sentimental, others heartbreaking, still more inspiring – are what separates you from all that is mass-produced. If you play by “their” rules, you’ll lose. Sorry. But if you can embrace your own personal journey, the essence of what makes you an artist-entrepreneur, buyers will make a connection with you beyond anything they could feel for a big box store. Learn to work these stories into your product/service descriptions, your tweets, your Facebook updates, and of course, your blog posts. Get excited about your life and share that excitement with others. Let your story be contagious (ahem, viral‚)! Learning to tell your story not only connects you with customers but it increases the value of your work. It is much harder to pay someone less than minimum wage when you know them inside & out. Suddenly, the work you do takes on real-life trappings of family, shelter, food, and clothing. You & your needs are intertwined irrevocably with your art & creativity. Finally, telling your story imbues each piece you create with a bit of that story. It becomes a part of the object that may be shipped halfway across the world. You multiply yourself many times over and spread your influence accordingly. Nifty. So – tell your story, connect with your customers, increase your value, and spread your influence. What’s not to like about that?
Tara Gentile is the editor of Scoutie Girl, the blog with a penchant for the passionately handmade, and also blogs about the behind-the-scenes of running a web empire & running after a toddler at taragentile.com. In May, Tara is teaching an ecourse on telling your story to build your business.
thanks for having me, megan!
Tara – This is a great post. It’s something that I truly believe helps sell handmade goods. People are more likely to buy from you if you engage with them. At craft shows, it’s important to engage each customer. Tell them how you started making your items, what’s special about them and how you do it. Then they become life-long customers and tell other people about you. Thanks for this inspiring article! BTW, I heart Seth Godin, and I’ve read a handful of his books – I believe anyone running their own business can gain knowledge from them.
Hi tara – as you know I don’t have a handmade product but I do head up a small manufacturing business.
I would never have guessed that the story behind my art would have been such a marketing tool for our product. Buyers love that my art and inspiration is based on the strange and bazar things that surrounded us when we were kids living in my grandparents house in Scotland(they were textile traders in India for years) I get asked about this over and over and it has become part of our brand.
Thank you for a very interesting post.
Fiona
hey fiona! i didn’t know that about your inspiration – how cool! see? you can even make a connection with random crazy bloggers who don’t read enough of other people’s blogs 😉
thanks for reading!
If the small shops try to keep up with the Big Box places in terms of price, they’re never going to get ahead. It’s just that simple. We have to make up for it in quality.
You have to give something better than just a cheap price. This post is so, so true.
hi lis! while i agree that we have to make up for it in quality – it is every bit as much about personality. we have to provide a framework for communicating the difference in quality and the more technical differences. we live in a throw-away culture and when you can provide someone with an experience that it more than throw-away (a connection to you through your story) you’ve made a huge leap!
Thank you so much for this post. I recently opened up my first Etsy shop and am still struggling to find my voice and story. This post, and website, are so helpful.
you’re welcome, emily! you might also want to check out this post i wrote on “crafting your online self” for tips on how to find your voice: http://www.scoutiegirl.com/2010/02/the-art-business-of-crafting-your-online-self.html – bottomline: it’s all about being you and being confident.
thanks for reading!
Nice! I read Seth’s post yesterday, and found it really interesting. I also like this post he did a little while ago where he took apart the packaging of some high priced body wash soap and explained all the little details that told a story, thus justifying its high price. (see post here: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/03/telling-a-story-on-the-label.html) .
While I don’t want to compare artists and crafters to those pushing high priced commercial body wash, I think it is interesting that in a day in age when soap is plentiful and readily available, rather than buying more soap, many people just want to pay more for a high quality soap with a story. Soap is nothing new or unusual, but a story can make even the most mundane product seem interesting and rare.
I’m not sure if this has always been the case. It seems like there has been a subtle shift from the bigger is better mentality to the less is more mentality. I don’t want 20 bars of Zest in my cupboard just because I can afford them – I want one really wonderful high quality one that has a great story behind it, a story that evokes a good feeling, because wonderful products and good feelings contribute to my quality of life.
[note: I think it you have to have authenticity here where the story or quality is concerned, or the whole thing goes out the window]
Thanks for a great post! I really enjoyed reading it, and it got my wheels turning!
-Kristen
Ooops, I seem to have fudged up that link a bit. Try this one:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/03/telling-a-story-on-the-label.html
Father,I give thanks to God for your news.Here in the Piedmont we can be happy for a reveosld health issue, and a couple of people who might have lost their jobs found better positions within the company. And, best of all, God is good, very, very good. Praised be Jesus Christ, now, and forever!
can an emotional aafifr hurt a marriage if the spouse pay you no attention?My husband of 5 yrs pays no attention to me. he seems to think that everything is fine in our marriage I love him but I feel like i’m not in love with him i knows he loves me but i don’t think he’s in love with me either we have 4 kids together and everything is fine when it comes to the kids we do the family thing he helps around the house pays some of the bills. but the one thing he does not do is cater to me like i would like him to. I’ve talkin to him seraval times about how i feel but then he goes back to his normal routine..when i’m out late he doesn’t question me or be concern where my whereabout when i’m on the phone he doesn’t care how long i converstate he takes long bath at night when me and him could have those quality time together my question is how can i get him to start paying a little more attention to me I’m finding myself more involed with this other guy i’ve been chatting w/ for 2yrs now we met once now its turning into something more serious..what should i do
Tara-
Such a fantastic post! I can always count on this blog (an Scoutie Girl) for engaging and helpful posts.
I agree a million times over about what you said…but I rarely think of putting my story out there. I am going to take this to heart and get more of myself and my story behind my products.
“It is much harder to pay someone less than minimum wage when you know them inside & out.” So True!
thanks, gina! i know – we try to be “professional,” we try to “market” ourselves, we try to communicate value & quality & style – but we forget all about OURSELVES!
good luck with your goal! thanks for reading!
Really great post Tara. Creativity has always come naturally to me, self promotion much less so! I find it so hard to talk about my projects…it always makes me feel like I’m pushing myself on people. But this approach is really great food for thought. If I can try to think about crafting interesting stories for people along with my products instead of just “hey look at this” I think it will feel much more organic to the whole creative process. You’ve really given me something great to think about. Thanks so much!
wonderful post! it’s always helpful to be reminded of the simplest/best ideas! thanks for sharing.
Great post, Tara! Thanks for the reminder to let our true selves shine through. Sometimes I get too caught up in trying to appear “professional” or more established than I really am. I think just being myself & being honest about how my work is made, no matter how slowly or on how small of a scale, will resonate with people far better in the long run than trying to appear as if I have an always-humming little factory over here! Your post has just inspired me to write a new blog post about the flowers in my garden that inspire my work… : )
Saintly Nurse :)We could hear your tone was loving … no woerris at all! We are very very VERY blessed to be able to do a fairly medical birth for the ladies that need it. Poor Michelene has some sort of bleeding disorder that we were not aware of entering into her birth. Thankful God provide Jen and Melissa for that particular birth, it got pretty scary. Melda – 8lbs is very big here!
Excellent advice! The stories behind our items are what we need to sell. Many major retailers do this, like Antropologie. Listings for their items not only are detailed descriptions, but actually give a background or story to it & customers are willing to pay a higher price for these items. They don’t need sales or cheap prices to sell what they sell. They’re selling the stories, not the physical item. Thanks for this great article!
hi shelley! right on with the anthropologie example!! they are also a good example in that they promote a lifestyle as part of their story. i think we can do the same by incorporating stories of our lives outside of our business into our blogs & social media.
I totally agree that your story is important to share. So many of us can thank our parents for encouraging a love of collecting something special, or teaching us a certain craft. I enjoy reading blogs that focus on these stories, especially about families that encouraged talent to blossom. My parents were antique collectors, then dealers, and eventually owned a unique gift and women’s clothing store. When I was a kid, they provided me with my own craft table and a trunk to store my art supplies. Now I am an antiques dealer and use vintage finds to create new crafts and jewelry.
so here’s the real challenge – how do we get our stories across without bombarding people with literature or sounding like a broken record in your craft show booth? Blogs are a no-brainer for stories but I’m thinking more of the craft/wholesale show booth when you have about 10 seconds to grab someone’s attention … any great examples out there?
LOVE this blog post! That is always what I am trying to do but could never have written it so well.
Karen – I always aim for a bright, colorful attention catching display- once that lures the ‘buyer’ to my booth – I share my story, if that’s what feels right. Some buyers are grab and go but usually they want to ‘meet’ you…hope that helps a little…
Photos and other images are great ways to tell stories without having to use a lot of text or having to tell each and every potential customer about the background of various items or your own crafting journey. I’m thinking of photos that feature your items in different contexts/settings used by all shapes and sizes of people.
I know that in the softee/plushie communities, these items are often displayed with a great story about the creations as if they were live beings. The plot lines make you want to purchase the creations to become part of the story.
faith!! YES!! this is such a fabulous point to make for “non-writers” especially. telling a story doesn’t have to be with words – you can say so much with the way you style a product. i also encourage people to style things differently for different audiences, depending on what might appeal to that customer base.
thank you!
This is such a great post. I think we get so wrapped up in the business side of things and the dollar that we sometime forget why we are there in the first place; and that is what the customers need to know.
Thanks for reminding me!!
amazing post yet again tara! i can’t wait to take your class in may. every time i read a post from you, i get inspired all over again. i think i feel another art piece coming on. i think i am going to find new ways to incorporate my story in other places than just my blog.
This is such a great post, Tara, especially playing off of what Seth Godin wrote. I’m printing this out and putting it on my wall in front of my computer, so that I can re-read it regularly, along with the article someone wrote awhile back about spring cleaning the clutter in our minds too.
I love creating, I love writing about my work…I’m less enthused about the marketing aspects…but telling my story IS part of marketing my cards, so…this makes it feel less threatening to do. Thanks!