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| Sir Wallace Shufflebottom relaxing after a late night. |
I've been trying to sell my jewelry on Etsy since November 2010. Along the way I've been learning how to blog and about SEO and social media and all sorts of internet marketing. I actually have a Bachelor's Degree in Marketing but that was twenty years ago, the basic principles are the same but there's a bunch of new stuff also.
Lately I've been trying to learn more about branding. Branding is what Walt Disney, McDonald's, Starbucks and many other big companies do. If you see their logo or color scheme you know who it is. If you go to their stores or websites or blogs or print ads you know it's them because they keep the same look and feel for everything they do. This accomplishes several things, when you see them you know it's them, that instills a sense of trust, you go ahhh, I know this company, I feel comfortable with them. It makes customers more willing to spend their money with these companies because of that feeling of trust and familiarity.
What I've been doing the last couple of days is trying to create a cohesive look in all my online endeavors to start to create that same familiarity. I took more pictures of my logo (Sir Wallace, above), and I chose a lighter color scheme and try to narrow down how many colors I use. I'm happy with the results and I think it looks more professional. I have to do it myself, I have no money to pay a professional at the moment, that should be the next step. I made a new banner for my Etsy shop, I redid my blog and twitter, I am using the same avatar for everything. I still need to figure out how to change Facebook to match, that's on the menu for this weekend. When I get new business cards I will use the same color scheme as well.
Did all this work? I don't know, I've had three sales this week after over a month of nothing. I have been doing other things as well. I think it's probably everything combined, hopefully it leads to a steadier stream of sales.
What do you do to create a brand? What other things can we all do to create that sense of familiarity and trust with our potential customers?
As you said all those famous brands use their own style in everything. I think the most important thing is to have your own style that people can think "oh yes, I know that person who makes this jewellery". Because there are a lot of people selling similar things. Of course maybe you provide better service and have better descriptions but you can easily get lost in the world of etsy or in the internet.
ReplyDeleteArtists like van Gogh or Dali have their own style. There are a lot of artists out there but you will not forget about those two due their own style!
Therefore I want to work more on my own style as well. I hope I can develop and improve myself in this area to be more unique and remarkable!
You're absolutely right. I look at other sellers that have huge sales and it's tempting to try to do what they do, but in the long run I know keeping with my own personal style and my unique ideas will be what brings me customers. I hadn't thought of it as branding but it is, probably the best kind for artists.
ReplyDeleteGreta points. (And I LOVE your stuff!)
ReplyDelete