Oh Sh*t My Faires, events, & Cons are all cancelled!

“this is not about a pandemic or any other crisis. It is about making a shift or even a complete pivot for your business. “

By Donald R Dodson, Jr.

We are living in unprecedented ….” No, that’s no good. “In these uncertain …” Yeah, that’s a no for me, dawg. Seriously, I have rewritten this article a few times, and realized that this is not about a pandemic or any other crisis. It is about making a shift or even a complete pivot for your business. I am mostly talking about folks who sell physical products often in a physical location or at least a face to face venue like a Renn Faire, a festival, craft or county fair. Or, maybe you fit that description and just need to grow, or because of other reasons need to shift FROM the those venues. In any case, you need to bring your physical product into the digital or on-line space. So, I am going to suggest some strategies that will get you headed in the right direction.

So, we just jump right in, start making a website right? Not really, in fact, the first two things you need to do is

• Take “inventory” of what on-line assets you DO have. Maybe you already have a website. But it looks like something you made for that class you took in 2001. Do you have a Facebook business page? What other social media do you have? Email list? Do you have an on-line “audience”?

• What do you need, and what resources can you bring to bear? Obviously we want to have customers beating down our digital door as soon as possible, but some people might be in a different position then others and that means their strategy will be different. Plus, having money (or a really tech savvy relative) to throw at the problem can help tremendously.

I am going to assume that you have little on-line “inventory”. I base this on the research I have done and few on-line polls. At best, you are 80 percent in person and 20 percent online. These folks are the outliers. Less than half of you have a website or any real social media presence. This is not a dig, its just establishes where you are.

Now, can I make a website?

Yes and no! Many of the strategies can be done concurrently and need to be started as a few can take several months to get up to steam. Should you START getting a website made? Absolutely! But these next strategies will be quicker in the meantime. That means On-line sales sites like Etsy, eBay, Amazon Hand-made as well as Buy-Sell groups on social media. You can literally set up a half-assed Etsy store or eBay account and be selling in the time it takes you to read this article! OK, maybe not that quick, but within a few hours.

EBay

Most people are familiar with eBay. You can post your items for sale and you have the option to let folks bid on your items auction style or list with a “Buy It Now” price. To list an item you pay a small insertion fee (starts at 25 cents and you get 50 free ones), any listing upgrades and then you pay a percentage (about 3.5%) to E-Bay (including shipping costs) which depends on the sale amount (it has a limit). You will also have to pay any appropriate fee for payment processing. The advantage with E-Bay is access to millions of motivated buyers without having to drive traffic to a website. You can also set up a store front which has a monthly subscription (starts at 7.95) which offers some other benefits.

Etsy.

I am surprised how many people have never really checked out Etsy. Etsy started as a seller’s portal site for handcrafted and artisan goods. It had Inexpensive fees and an audience who wanted the handcrafted aesthetic. Etsy has lost some of that flavor and has added some policies that make it a LITTLE more costly. However, it is still a pretty good option, with a significant audience reach that is likely a little more targeted to people who appreciate handmade items. I have had an Etsy store for over four years.

With Etsy, you set up an account (your store), pay a small fee to list items (20 cents per item) and once you have made a sale, Etsy gets 5 percent, plus payment processing. Recently Etsy has urged its sellers to offer free shipping on items over 35 bucks and is charging a marketing fee (which stores under 10k sales can opt out of) of 15% on sales that can be attributed to its marketing. This may be off-putting, but you can add some of that to your cost, and, honestly the reach is hard to beat. This is a sale you likely would not have had!

Also, of note is Amazon Handmade and Marketplace. The reach is even greater, but there are more upfront costs and more requirements. It’s still worth checking out! (I’d go into this one, but my editor is already grumbling about my word count.)

With any of these sites it’s important to take good photos, use attractive key words and descriptions. There are quite a few articles out there to be found that help.

Groups

Next is check out many of the Buy-Sell groups in Facebook (Not FB marketplace) and other sites like Reddit. Some Facebook groups, like Faire Relief 2020 are expressly created to help folks sell their stuff. I have also seen a group for Cowboyrelated items. Pirates, SCA Groups, etc. Just be wary, some groups have specific policies regarding sales and sales posts, so be sure to check it out.

Let’s establish an On-line Presence. Simply, this is creating a virtual storefront and identity, where people can find you. Social media profiles for you and your business, Google, and yes, a website. This is key, because when you interact with people and gain followers in most any social media platform, you have a profile to serve as your virtual self and, most importantly, a “place” to send folks to learn more about you and feast their eyes on your glorious merch.

Facebook Business Page. Unlike a normal profile, a FB business page provides more benefits like post and ad scheduling, analytics, its own pass through to a store, etc. Set one up, plaster it with albums of all your cool stuff and share the neat stuff you make. So, when you are in your favorite Facebook group in your niche, and some asks, “Who makes x?” you can share the link to your Facebook Business page. You gain both a potential sale, engagement on your sales, and other people seeing that conversation. I also list both my website and my Etsy on my business page. Use as many sales channels as you can handle.

Google My Business.

This is great to have regardless of where you sell and its great for SEO (Search Engine Optimization – IE, making it easier for folks to search for and find your stuff). Its essentially a on-line Yellow Pages ad for Google, etc. Its free, and pretty easy to use. You do have to have an actual address that is connected to your business, but not necessarily a store front. You can also set up a free limited website there too. You can also list items with prices.

Websites.

Yes, we are finally gonna talk about websites.

Firstly, a website is only as good as the traffic you send to it!. It could take 3-4 months with efforts in decent SEO, social media sharing and word of mouth, for you to build any kind of substantial traffic. That’s why is suggested sites like Etsy and eBay, first. They do much of that for you, at least indirectly. With a website, YOU have to help push that traffic yourself. Secondly, e-commerce platforms on a website can be pricey or stiflingly restricted for the free template ones, with some exception. So, as important as a website is, it is going to take time to build up traffic. Lets dive a little deeper. Personally, my need for a website was because I needed a place to share galleries of my leather work, which I could not really do on Etsy. A website can provide inspiration, they can allow you to share your craft in both images and long-form words (think blogs). They can encourage interaction, and, most critically for us, they can SELL!

E-commerce

This is also one of the more challenging things to do on a website. I mean sure, you can post pictures of your cool stuff with prices and have folks email you. But it can be so much more -- a real E-commerce site.

Firstly, WHERE you have your website can dictate what kind of e-commerce you can support. “Free” sites like Wix, Weebly, etc either have limited templates or, you need a pass-through link that sends them to a storefront site like Square or PayPal that will host your sales pages securely and do your payment processing. These tend to have limited offerings as well in terms of both look, and how much info can be in your item listings.

If you have your own domain name and host it with a service you have virtually no restrictions, if done properly. It will also look more professional having a domain like www.CromsSharpSwords.com rather than www.Square.com/stores/croms23.... This is an added expense.

Which e-commerce platform?

There are many e-commerce packages available. Shopify is a front runner in terms of popularity. There are some good free ones, like WooCommerce that you can use, too. This really comes down to the cost model you are comfortable with. Let’s look at two examples.

Shopify, and others like it, have a monthly subscription fee, regardless of whether you make any sales or not, plus a listing fee and a percentage of sales. In the case of Shopify for the basic level, its 29.95 a month, plus 2.9% and a 30 cent transaction fee. A benefit is that you don’t have to pay hosting for Shopify, though your non sales pages are more limited in design.

WooCommerce is very similar to Shopify in terms of what you can do. But the cost structure is different. You purchase a theme – a template, usually around 60 bucks – though free ones are available. You might want to upgrade it with plugins which might be a few bucks, but as far as the platform, that’s it. The costs come in if you need to pay for hosting. However, you may already pay tat for your website. Just know that not all of the “free web building” and hosting sites may not support it. Word press, however does.

Again, it needs to be said, that you need to help push traffic to these sites. They won’t automatically garner sales just because you built it and filled it full of cool stuff. That’s why its important to use social media and connecting to people in groups to help create that traffic.

Which leaves us with the last, most time-consuming and possibly most important strategy. Audience building

Building your audience.

Realistically, audience is everything. Think of them as the on-line versions of your regulars. You need to help nurture those relationships and that takes time. Think about how word of mouth spreads and then apply that on-line. We already talked about buy-sell groups in Facebook, briefly. You’ll need to expand that to the regular groups in your niche and interest area. Many of you do this already, but now you need to focus with a bit more intent to share all your cool stuff but do it the right way. Many of these groups want to talk ABOUT the things that interest you, but they may not be there to buy. Or, if you offer a more general product, like Soaps, or everyday items you might need to increase your participation in more general groups.

The point is you are going to turn people off if all you do is talk about your items. You can’t just run amok on-line waving your merchandise around thinking people will buy from you. Its about building trust. Some of my best customers (and now friends) I met in groups that had nothing to do with what I make or sell. In fact, I do probably 90 percent of my on-line sales (which is more than half my total sales) through Facebook, often as reactions to something I share, people referring me, or engagement in a group.

Leveraging an audience Once you have an audience there are some ways you can drive traffic and sell in interesting ways. One vendor does an auction in her Facebook page. She posts the items and people bid on them, with each person posting their bid in the thread. Another person uses Facebook Live to do a virtual trunk show and shows her audience her items and people buy from that.

Ideally, you should implement the things that work best for you from this article. Most importantly, is connecting with an audience and then building from there. It’s OK to pick just one or two strategies. Good luck!

Donald Dodson, owner of Dodson Designs, has been involved in artistic pursuits for as long as he can remember. Starting at age 16 as a sign painter assistant, and after high school, he pursued a career in graphic arts, finding his home in graphic design and web design. After an eight-year stint as a teacher, Dodson, a combat veteran, longed to return to his passion for the arts and, at 49, started a full-time leather working business.

He crafts handmade, creative custom leather goods and accessories near Lancaster, Pennsylvania.