Creative Business - Your Target Audience

Target audience is a topic of many forum and blog posts. We read a lot about how important it is to define and know who your target audience is, and how to reach them. Today I have a couple of creative ideas you can use to help you narrow down and define your target audience.

We all would love for our target audience to be huge, like women age 18 - 75 who likes handcrafted items, but narrowing it down will make it easier to find and communicate to our intended audience. If we don't we are wasting time, money, and effort. Trying to be all thing to everyone results in not being anything to anyone.

Give this a try, answer these questions in your journal:

Where do your customers shop?

What groups or associations do they belong to?

What media do they consume? List magazines, books, blogs, TV shows

How are they using the Internet? Surfing, shopping, reading blogs, selling, sharing photos

What competitor products do they use? Think big box shopping as well as handcrafted

What are the demographics of your target audience? remember to narrow this down to your most likely customer - include age, sex, level of education, job, marital status, family situation

What trends affect your business?

Doing this will help you gain focus. It will give you a list of where your customer is shopping, what they like, people they spend time with, making it easier to target your marketing materials.

Are you a visual person? Try this:

Get a bunch of magazines and catalogs you like, and rip out pictures of who is likely to own your merchandise. Rip out several options, your customer in a casual look, dressed up, on location, the more you find the easier it will be to define your customer.

Once you have ripped out several photo's look to see what they all have in common. Start a list.

What is their age?

What is their style?

Where would they shop, watch on TV, read?

Answer the questions above as well.

Add the pictures you find to your list, so you have visuals of your customer along with the info you write down to get to know your customer better.

Give one or both of these options a try. You might be surprised what you learn, and the more you learn the better you are going to be at reaching your target audience.

Once you have put your list together post it so it is handy, and when you are online, keep in mind the customer you are trying to reach and market your efforts towards them. The results should be more people interested in what you are creating.

Have any other ideas on defining your target market, share them in the comments section.

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Creative Business - One Year Etsy Anniversary

My First Header

One year ago today I jumped in and opened my Etsy Shop. I had spent several months trying to decide if I wanted to have a shop online, and do all the work that is involved is setting up and running it. I am glad I did it has been one big adventure since I started.

I did not know how much work it was going to be, and time involvement, but I have invested the time and it's been a pretty good year . I have shared stores about how much time I have spend online in the blog post How Much Time and Tracking Time.

I have learned a lot this past year. I have changed my photo's, my policy page, my profile, even my blog. I have developed many new techniques for the hardware and my designs, and I have more new ideas coming soon.

I am looking forward to another year of discovering new ideas for creating, marketing, and running my business better. Join me for the journey! Visit my blog everyday to be inspired, grow creatively, and learn something new.

TODAY ONLY SPECIAL

everything in my shop is 22% off

to celebrate my one year anniversary

Shop early, several pieces are one of a kind and once they are sold they are gone forever.

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Your 2009 Success

As the end of the year quickly approaches, you start to think about all the things you did over the past year. You review your goals you set at the beginning of the year, you review your task lists, and it may not seem like you accomplished all that you had planned.

Instead of thinking about what you did not achieve, today I want you to focus on what you have done.

Make a list of your accomplishments for the past year. You don't have to do this all at once, take a few days or even a week and start listing.

When writing your list consider this...

New ways you promoted your business

New skills you learned and mastered

What you did to improve your online presence

People you helped

People you meet

What you tried that was completely new

Any causes you supported

New resources you found

What you did you enhance your work life

Grants/honors/awards you received

Articles written about your work

Once your list is written, give thanks for all the new people you meet, the things you learned and experienced. Take a few moments and be amazed at all the things you accomplished. Go forward knowing that you will be adding to those successes in the year to come.

What's the single best thing that happened to you in 2009?

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Awaken Your Creativity - Goal Project

Creating a strategic plan and goal setting, are important to achieving success. You should review your plan and goals often, to reinforce your desire for success. As creative people inspiring visuals elements make the task of reviewing that information easier.

There are several ways to make your goal list visual pleasing. Your could create a collage that you could hang on the wall as a daily visual reminder. Your collage could include words, phrases, and photo's that show what your are trying to achieve.

How about a planner, you can create your own easily. Check out Make your own Planner on the Creativity Prompt Blog, you can customize it to meet your strategic plan needs.

Another great idea is to create vision cards. You have two options for creating these, one work on a regular sheet of heavy paper that you can cut the cards down to the size you want, or at the craft store you can buy packs of artist trading cards and create directly on them. On the trading cards you can collage on one side and write your your goal on the other and when you are done wrap them in packing tape or laminate them so they are protected. You can pin them on a board or keep the stack of cards close to your work area and review them daily or when you need a little motivation.

A simple list works well too. Typed or handwritten, post it where you can review it often.

However you choose to prepare your goals is up to you, you just want them to inspire you to work toward them everyday. Have fun creating!

Do you have any other creative ideas for your goal list?

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Creative Goal Writing

Last week's blog post Creative Brainstorming, was to inspire you to review the ideas that you wrote up in What does success mean to you? and What do you want in your life? If you did the brainstorming you should have a list of what you want to achieve creatively, in your business, and life.

Now it is time to rank your list and create a list of good solid reachable goals.

You want to rank each item by how it makes you feel, if you get pit-of-the-stomach excited about an item on your list then give it five stars; if you are only mildly motivated give it a single star.

Next, look at how much money you could make from each listed item, so if it could bring you in a regular steady flow of cash give it five dollar signs; if it will bring you in little money give it one dollar sign.

Finally, rate how realistic the item on your list is, give it five check marks if it is really doable and one if it will unlikely come to fruition.

Now based on your scores, you should have a good solid direction for your 2010 plan. Choose the top 5 to 10 goals and then start creating action steps for achieving them. You don't have to list all your action steps, just overall achievable actions.

Having a written or typed list will give you incentive, you can read it every month, week or even everyday to inspire you to reach your goals.

Are you ready to reach your goals in 2010?

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Creative Brainstorming

I recently did two posts, one asking you What does success mean to you? and the other What do you want in your life? If you have not had a chance to read them, take a few minutes and check them out.

Having the answer to these two question will give you a foundation to writing out your strategic plan for 2010. To figure out what you want to achieve, review your answers and start brainstorming.

Create a list of achievements you want for 2010, don't hold back, don't limit your answer's to budget constraints, not enough skills, or even time issues. Just start listing.

Once your list is done combine everything that is similar or will reach the same objective. When you are done you should have a good start to achievable goals.

Now, if you have learn a new skill, figure out your budget, or find a new effective marketing ideas, use this week to do some research. Find places you can take some classes, or do online classes, check out accounting software, create a list of where you can market.

Next week when you create you plan for 2010 you will want to be specific about how you are going to reach your objectives and this information will be necessary.

Are you ready to create a workable plan for 2010?

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Creative Planning

I recently read an article in Success magazine called Goal Setting doesn't Work. In this article the writer talked about how you really can't achieve the success you want until you are ready to change yourself.

There were a few things that struck me in the article.

First, when you are creating your list of goals or plan for the new year, you want to state your goals in the positive. For example: I am going to have ____ amount of sales this year.

Second, you have to think about what you need to change to achieve your goals. Ask yourself: Who do I have to become to achieve this? Answer in the positive - for example: I am a smart, confident, and effective leader. I will feed my ideas and inspirations that will support my passion.

Third, you have to be willing and ready to work hard at achieving your goals to create your own success. Why not try starting each day reviewing your goals to reinforce your commitment to achieving them.

These steps will work for all the areas in your life, losing weight, changing a relationship, as well as building your business.

It's time to stop creating a wish list and create a plan!

I'm ready, are you ready to create a plan for the new year?

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Explore - Your 2010 Plans

Goals - the buzz word for the month of December.

Over the next month you will find hundreds of posts all across the Internet, on how to write them, how to use them, and how to keep them. But lets be honest, we all write goals at the beginning of the year and then after a few months most of us forget about them.

I am no exception. I had a whole page of goals for this year with action steps and all. Don't get me wrong I did achieve some of them, some of them got revised, but several of them went out the window all together.

I did make big changes in my plan this past summer, changing the focus on my blog, new product ideas, and developing a project that I will be working on in 2010. These changes changed my 2009 focus, hence changing my goals, which I did not put on paper, so by mid year I had nothing to hold me accountable.

I seem to do better if I do my planning on a monthly, weekly or even daily basis. (Here is a post about making lists with ideas to get you started.) These last few months I have pushed myself to keep my monthly goals, and write out lists for my daily activities. That has helped me to achieve my goals for the last quarter of this year, but I am going to work harder at having a plan I can stick to in 2010.

This month I am not going to talk about setting goals, but more about creating a plan for achieving them. Last month I did a post, to inspire you, to write out what success means to you. Take a few moments and check it out, it's a great place to start your planning process for your new year.

The next step in the process is to determine What you want in your life?
When you are writing your answer's consider all areas of your life, business, financial, lifestyle, spiritual, family, relationship, physical, and mental.

The answer's to these two questions will guide you in your planning process for creating your 2010 plan. Find a few minutes for yourself and start writing, by the end of this month you will have a plan you can stick too.

Did you achieve most of your goals in 2009?

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Creative Business - Holiday Shipping

It's December, and as we get busy it's important to stay on top of packing and shipping your holiday orders. Have you prepared everything you need to make shipping your orders a quick and easy process? Check out the post Are You Ready for some easy ideas.

I was reading The Handmade Business Blog and Quick Tip #16 was the shipping deadline calendars.
So here are the links - mark your calendars.
USPS

Fed-ex

UPS

Don't forget to change your policy's and shop announcements with your updated shipping deadlines. Also, remember to keep your customers informed. Let them know when you will be shipping or that you have shipped their package, they appreciate knowing it is coming soon and it's good customer service.

If you have a lot of orders to ship wrap and pack each order completely before moving on to the next one, to avoid any mix ups.

Happy Shipping!

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Creative Business - Black Friday Tips

Today I have a few quick reminder for readying you Etsy shops for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

• Change your banner and your avatar to a more festive holiday look

• Don't forget your shipping announcements - what will be your cut off date for guaranteed holiday arrival, will you offer priority mail?

• Don't forget your Featured Item section - use your most festive items there, it's the first thing people will see when they stop on your page.

• Do you create one of a kind items? - start promoting them, people are looking for those kind of items during the holidays.

• If you are having a sale start your promotions a day or two early to create excitement around shopping for your items.

• Create a buy now environment - check out this post Buy Now for tips.

I personally can't believe how fast the holiday are approaching. I will be working on my Etsy shop and my 1000 Markets shop all week.

Do you have any other ideas to share about getting ready for the holiday?

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Creative Busniess - Make Time

As we know things are going to start moving quickly, and the holidays will be here before we know it. As the weeks go by, we will be spending more time on our computers marketing our shops and trying to get our next sale.

It is important this time of year to put all your time management skills into practice. This way nothing gets over looked and you are still getting the things done you need to get done.

Need time management information? Check out these posts Time Management and More Time Management.

Even thou we are in crunch time for the holidays, it is important to stay creative and keep coming up with new ideas. We need that creative time to make all the work stuff worth it.

So don't sacrifice your creative time. If you are finding it difficult to find time then schedule it on your calendar or add it to your do list. You want to make sure you are using your hands for more then just typing, but creative growth as well.

More tips to help you create time for art, in this post Time for Art.

Do you create as much as you want during the holidays? Share your ideas.

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Creative Business - Make a List

Today is a quick tip to help you stay organized during the busy holiday season.

Write a To-Do-List everyday

The best way to do this, is at the end of your work day or before bed take 5 minutes and write down everything you have to do on the next day. Transfer over anything you did not complete that day, and add all the new things that need to get done.

Do you have goals set for the holiday season? Consider reviewing you goals and action steps once a week to make sure you are on track and to keep your momentum going. If not consider writing some goals for a successful season. Here are a few posts to help you create actions steps , ideas for setting goals, and staying with your goals.

You can do this in your sketchbook if you use it everyday or a planning calendar. I use a calendar so I can keep track of everything I need to do everyday, including what my daughter needs, and things I need to do at home. Try the ideas in this post for the best book to suit your needs.

Once you start creating your daily list it will easily become a habit. It is nice to know that you are achieving your goals and staying on top of everything.

Want to read more about To-Do-Lists

You are NEVER going to complete your to do list by Laurel Plum

5 Tips for Simplifying You Holidays by Laurie on Tip Junkie

Just a Little by Gordie Carver on Handmade News

Do you make a daily list? Do you find it to be helpful with your business and everyday life?

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Creative Business - Market Locally

In our quest for more sales we spend a lot of time marketing to brand ourselves online. Well how much marketing do you do in your own neighborhood?

Their are several ways you build your online business in your own town.

Do you have a Facebook Business Page? Market to your friends and family and their friends, you will build up a local network quickly. Share with them info about local events and offer them special deals if they shop your online store. Start a group with your local fans and offer them free shipping or even delivery for that extra special touch. Need info on setting up a Facebook Fan Page check out Eleen.com Promote you Etsy shop on Facebook.

How about joining a local Etsy Team? I am a member of Chicago Style Crafters and it has been great to have other local Etsyans to talk with and do special marketing projects to build our businesses. I know there are not local groups for every city, but if you have one it is worth the time to participate.

Try these offline options, participate in art and craft shows. This is a great way to get you name out there. I did several show when I started out making jewelry and I still do a few. They helped me build my business and after a while I was know as the jewelry lady in town. I still go out and run into someone who calls me the jewelry lady.

Consider joining a networking or parenting group. It is a great way to meet new people and to spread the word about your business. I did a couple of post about networking Join a Local Group and Network and Networking. Teaching a class will make you as an expert in your medium and it can be fun to teach. Need some ideas about getting started teaching check out this post Teach a Class.

Marketing locally will help your business grow as friends and family start to spread the word.

Have any other tips to share, leave a comment with your ideas.

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Shop News

Things have been pretty slow in my Etsy and 1000 Markets shop the past couple of weeks.

This slow time has given me time to built up my inventory again, and I will be adding even more items this week.

As the holiday's approach I am working on adding custom stamping to the washers for a more personal touch, and adding more men's items. The men's items are really popular during the holidays. Is their anything you would like to see in the additionsstyle shop this holiday season?

Item of the Week

Picture Hanger and Link Earrings

On Sale for only $5 (reg $8)

Purchase between 10/25 - 31 for this special deal

Blog News

Last week I did a post on Preparing for the Holidays. Click the link if you missed the great tip from the Indie CEO blog. Also, the Artist to Know was Etsy Artist alamodestuff, click the link to read about her creative journey.

This week more tips for you business, and inspiration for you creative side. Check in for something new everyday.

Have a great week!

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Creative Business- Preparing for the Holidays

The holidays are fast approaching, and it's time to get prepared. I was reading the blog Indie CEO where Linda has posted a great holiday checklist.



Here are a few ideas from her list to get you started:



Product
-Add a "stocking stuffer" to your inventory
-Order supplies
-Build you inventory

Shipping
-Order materials - boxes, mailers, etc.
-Get a stack of custom forms and delivery confirmation forms

Online Shop
-Prepare your holiday shop announcement
-Change your policy page -update shipping dates, returns, and exchange policy
-Work on your photo's so they are your best

Marketing
-Order your postcards, thank you cards, and holiday cards
-Decide on any sales you will be offering and put them in your marketing calendar
-Write you holiday blurbs for Twitter, Facebook, etc. so your not always trying to think of something new when you are short on time
-Determine you advertising budget and renewing budget to help you stay on track


This is just a few of the highlights, view the whole list in her post Online Seller, Start your Engines: Are you Ready?


What is one thing you doing to prepare for the holidays?

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Creative Business - Quick Tips

Here are a few tips I found while searching the web this week.

Blog Post Tip - Keep your posts consistent in length. Your regular readers get use to a certain feel from the blogs they read, and that consistency keeps them coming back. Read More on Blogging Tips.com How long should a blog post be?

Twitter Tip - Use twitter to build your brand. Its a great way to grow your brand through word of mouth. Check out Copyblogger.com How to Use Twitter to Grow your Business. I love Twitter and use it everyday, you can follow me at twitter.com/additionsstyle.

Etsy Tools - Here are 3 Links to make running your shop a little easier.
♦Find out if you are in a treasury quick and easy - Craftopolis
♦Check out how many hearts you have in your shop and on your items - Heartomatic
♦Want to know what your sale is really worth try the Etsy Fee Calculator
Want more links check out Handmade Marketing.
I use these tools often. Want to see my Etsy Shop? Click Here.

Facebook - Join the conversation. Every time someone makes a comment on your status you need to make a comment back. You want to engage your followers to keep them coming back. Read all the tips on how to attract readers from All Facebook. Stop by and fan my page facebook.com/additionsstyle and become a fan.

Flickr - Use Flickr to increase awareness in your brand. You can't actively promote on Flicker, but if you join groups and upload pictures often, you are giving more people the opportunity to see what you do. Here is a great article about Why Flickr is Great for Your Business. I update my page every week. Have a look.

Have any other tips to share? Lets hear them.

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Creative Business - Marketing Plan

It is important that you treat your small business as a business, set goals, make plans, keep the books, and marketing.

As creative people sometimes making these plans can be little more challenging then we think. Today I am going to give you tips for creating a simple marketing plan that will make your holiday marketing more effective.

This is a simple process, and can be done with a few minutes of planning and on one page.

♦ Set a Marketing goal - How much you want to make, how many sale you want, how you want to grow your business, just keep your goal realistic by taking into consideration the money and time available to you.

♦ Choose your market - How and where can I reach my target market? Read more about determining your target market in last weeks post Creative Business - Target Audience

♦ Create a list of where you can market your shop - online and off.

♦ Select your promotional tools - Running ads, contacting blogs, twitter, your blog, choose what you will have time for, more is not always better.

♦ Determine your time and money budget - Don't forget you have a life too. You don't want to stretch yourself too thin.

♦ Set specific actions to be taken - Break everything down into easy to manageable steps.

Having a plan will make it easier to to get things done, while giving you something to work towards. During the holiday season we want to concentrate on creating and selling, not what we are going to do to make more sales.

Do you have a plan in place for this holiday season?

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A New Year!

I want to thank all my followers who joined my blog in 2009!

I have big plans for my blog in 2010, and I would like to invite you to join me on the journey.

There will be interesting new content via guest bloggers, discovering amazing artists in the Artist to Know series, enjoying more inspiring photo's, and ideas to grow creatively.

The blog will have more tips, projects, and a challenge or two. I have done a lot of research this past year and I look forward to sharing everything I have learned with you.

There will be a new blog post every single day. My goal is to have each post start a conversation where we can interact and learn from each other.

I am going to work hard to build our community this year, do you know anyone else who would like to participate? Please share the link!

Are you passionate about being creative and running your online business? Or know someone that is? I would love to have you as a guest blogger. Contact me, and lets talk. additionsstyleblog@gmail.com

Stop by tomorrow to check out my first guest bloggers post in a series on organizing.

Let's have a great year, together!

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