Keeping your product visible

Old Brewery Pottery

Artists, designers and creatives have one thing in common - they would rather be making than marketing.  But if  you make for your living then every day that your work isn't visible to potential buyers is another day you are losing a sale.


Making your work visible on-line
If you sell via a website or a third party on-line seller, such as Etsy or Folksy, then listing your items is just not enough. If you use a research tool such as Google Analytics or a shop stats programme, you will see that your item  probably received the most views on the day it was listed.  After that the graph goes down.  You can raise the profile of your work through social media such as blogging, Facebook and Twitter. Just because you placed the item on-line several months ago doesn't mean that you can't Like it on Facebook, add a link to Twitter or revisit it via a blog post.  Did you enjoy making it, is there a story behind the design, does it fit into a theme or celebration or topical event? Use a great photo with a short, snappy text and remind your followers, customers and fans just how great your art is.

Leigh Shepherd Designs

Keeping your work visible even when someone else is selling it for you
If you are selling your work through a retailer and you have agreed to Sale or Return terms, then knowing that your stock will be kept visible whilst it is in the shop is vital.  The best way to find out if they hold stock back is to ask them. Of course, if you are selling items in multiples of the same design/colour it may not be practical for the retailer to get all your stock out. But if your items are sitting in a box rather than on display then you could be losing potential sales. 
There are two ways that you can combat this:
withdraw your stock from their shop
or take a few selected items rather than a lot of work.


Just because your work is being sold by a third party (the retailer) doesn't mean that you don't have a responsibility to your business to promote it and keep it visible. After all, with SOR the work is still your property until sold and the copyright is always yours, even when the product is sold.  There are lots of ways you can keep potential customers aware of where to buy your work. Here are some suggestions:

• As before, you can use Facebook and Twitter to show your items and include a link to where customers can buy them
• Got a new stockist? Blog about it, adding a link to their website or shop location
• Taking new stock to a regular stockist? Tell your customers via your website, blog and/or e-newsletter
• Do you have a website? Add a map to your site with a link to the retailers so that your customers know where to shop
• Is the retailer displaying your work in their window? Take a photo and upload it onto Flickr or your preferred photo sharing site

Here's a Challenge:

Sort through the work that has been sitting in your studio for over a year and devise a campaign that will make it visible and, hopefully, sell.  I'm sure we could all use the extra space if we can sell our old stock. 

Jo Whitehead of Artists in Business will be delivering a free seminar - Approaching Retail - at Handmade in Bradford on 23 June. 

Where: Handmade in Bradford 1 Tyrrel Street Bradford BD1 1 RJ

When: Saturday 23 June 2012 10:00 to 16:00

Contact: Gideon Seymour at 01274 370291 or email: info@fabricculture.co.uk