My friend Megan Auman has been running her eponymous jewellery line for over 12 years. She also, like me, teaches makers how to craft successful businesses.
It was a pleasure to chat with her in this episode – we talked pricing, branding, marketing & more!
We highlight the difference between the ‘one to many’ and ‘1000 true fans’ marketing/business growth strategies; why you don’t need to manufacture problems to sell handmade; and, why social media may just be one of the lowest return-on-investment marketing strategies.
Listen now:
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Highlights and quotes from this episode:
- The myth of the starving artist mindset is unrealistic.
- “Sell for an amount of money to sustain your business and sustain your life” {Megan}
- Makers can’t compete on price so we need to compete on other things.
- “We are not a commodity and we need to compete on something other than price” {Jess}
- “There is a lot of fear around raising prices – you just have to be brave about it” {Megan}
- Jess and Megan share anecdotes about their fears of raising prices – and the strong payoffs.
- “My most valuable people are the ones that have been on my (mailing) list for years and buy” {Megan}
- Consider what marketing strategy will best fit your business:
- One to many strategy – one core product with limited repeat customers, get new customers again
- One thousand true fans – build a core audience, keep giving them new things
- “Some people are going to love my work, some people are going to hate my work, but I’m not going to manufacture a problem just to get those people who don’t love my work to suddenly feel like they need my work” {Megan}
- “If you are selling a physical product or object, you should be spending 80% on your photography and 20% on that writing” {Megan}
- “You need to have beautiful photos – it is what will stop the scroll when they see a beautiful image” {Jess}
- Put some personality in your images and brand them with a consistent photographic style.
- Social media is probably the lowest return on investment of your time and energy.
- Pinterest marketing and SEO are great ways to direct traffic but don’t forget a blog!
- Blogging your content can be easy – take the Instagram image, add some keywords, add a couple of sentences and publish. Then share this information on Pinterest etc.
- “A brand is an emotional connection built over time” {Megan}
- Make sure every photo you post supports the core emotions your brand is about.
- What stories can you tell that help communicate the emotion of using your product.
- Find out more about Megan Auman on her website.
