I am a Scrapbook and Paper Craft Artist. How Do I market my services?

Question

I also do freelance Home Organization and Home Staging Projects.

I want to market my services, as I am terribly passionate and have been told I am talented. I feel confident in myself and my business...but don't really know:A)what to call myself, and B)how to market my services...

I greatly appreciate any advice...Thanks

Answer 1

If I were starting a scrapbook service, I would start by contacting the wedding planners and people like that. See what kind of a deal you could make them them. You would probably have to leave a sample album for potential customers to look at. I would also contact the places that provide a venue for kids' birthday parties and see what you can work out. Then I would look for a small local magazine that caters to families and parents Either put an ad in that paper, or ask if you could write an article for them about scrapbooking. These small magazines rarely have a budget to pay a writer, so they let you put your business name and contact information at the end of the article.

I purchased an ebook once on how to start a scrapbook business. It has some good ideas in it. I don't remember if the link below was the one I bought or not, but it might be worth a look.

Answer 2

You have two separate things going, so you have to be very careful not to dilute your brand. You may want to devote half of your time to each, until one starts to make more money than the other. Then you can see how you would have to divide your time.

I make handmade paper and use it to make stationery and also cast objects, and it's not a good seller. Most "crafty" things are not, because they're fun to do, but people wouldn't own any except what they do for themselves. BUT people might pay you money to teach it. For marketing, you can launch a website and also go around to craft stores and your local adult ed to offer classes.

Pick a name that tells people right away what they will be getting. Don't be too cutesy because a lot of your customers will be men.

For the organization and staging, you may first have to convince people they want it. Give away some services and then get testimonials on how much time and money it saves them. Do your research. Meet with realtors (pay them for their time or offer them a freebie) and ask if staging makes a difference. Write your materials based on what they tell you.

You could join the local chamber of commerce and other business organizations in your town. The members always try to do business with the people they're having breakfast with. Here is how to handle your local newspaper: Write an article talking about yourself in the third person, as if it's written by a reporter. Send it to the business editor of your local newspaper. Guaranteed they will call to sell you some ads, but make sure that an article about you is part of the package. It's ethical. You are news!

A nice website is an important part of the package. For your crafts, you can start with a freebie site and then upgrade to paid when the money starts coming in. But for your service business, it's important to be ad-free right away. I only pay $7.00 a month for up to 5 different websites, plus $9.00 a year for each dot com name.

Good luck and have fun. Being self employed is the BEST!

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Answer 3

Try to advertise on website, newspapers.

Answer 4

Well Id first start out by realizing that not all of that falls in the same category. The people who want a staged home is not the same people who want paper crafts. So maybe market for 2 different things, under 2 different business names. One for your paper crafts and one for organizing/staging homes. Depending on what it is you actually offer to clients, you can start by putting ads on Craigslist and in your local papers. Get business cards and post them on community bulletin boards, along with flyers, etc. If its in your budget then I highly recommend starting a website to showcase your services. This will let people get a sense of what you can do for them.