Branding can increase your sales drastically, turn your one-off customers into raving fans, help you increase your revenue through higher prices, build trust in your products, and most importantly turn your first time visitors into customers. Branding doesn’t simply matter, branding can make or break your handmade business.
The problem with branding is that when you are just starting off, there is so much to do to sell your products to the world that it’s easy to put the branding thing aside. It also makes sense to try to get a few sales in first, so that you can get some moolah in the bank and hire a great designer to take care of the branding for you. Right? But what if these first sales never come because you didn’t take the time to brand your products and your business in the first place? What if because you skipped that crucial step, it takes longer (or for ever!) to build a profitable handmade shop?
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If you’re serious about turning your handmade shop into a profitable business, branding is a must have from the start. Don’t push it till later. Here are 7 reasons why:
People buy handmade products because they want to buy something that has been crafted by someone else’s hands. Yep that’s right – your little hands! They are buying a product and the story that comes with it. They care about who made it because by buying it, they know they are supporting the maker/artist/creator (you!) directly. Good branding is worth a thousand words and will help you tell your story to the world.
By doing so, you’re showing to your customers what defines your work and what you care for. You’re giving them a glimpse of what they can expect from your products and you are showing them what sort of experience they will get if they buy one of your beautiful products.
Good, consistent branding looks professional. It says that attention is paid to details. That the product is of great quality.
A consistent brand makes you stand out from the crowd and is a definite must-have if you sell in a competitive environment. And oh boy! …the handmade market can be a crowded one!
Whether you sell on Etsy, at craft fairs and markets, or on your own site – you are directly competing with a bunch of other makers trying to sell really similar products.
Let’s say you’re looking for a cocoa and beeswax based lip balm, what would make you chose one rather than another if they have the same composition? The brand. The logo. The colors on the labels. The packaging. The story behind it.
For all these reasons, a good brand will also help you turn your shop visitors into paying customers. Once they trust the quality of your products, understand and connect to the story behind your brand, and can remember your shop the most out of the 100 of other Etsy shops out there…the hard work is done.
Of course there are other factors that come into the buying decision (pricing, personal reasons that you can’t control, etc.) but a strong brand will help your visitors click the ‘add to cart’ button.
Not having a good branding is most likely to be holding you back from getting sales.
A consistent brand help your customers remember who you are. They loved your product, but they also loved opening up the package when they received it, they loved the little sticker inside of it, they loved that what they saw on your website/shop was reflected on the wrapping and packaging of the product. They feel like they know you and are talking about your brand to their friends. They feel special because you made them feel this way by showing attention to details and by sharing your brand’s story with them.
Returning customers are an important part of the revenue of stable, profitable shops. Convincing someone that already bought from you to buy again is easier than finding new customers. And if you can turn them into raving fans, they will actually spread the word and do the hard work for you, bringing more people to your shop.
Ok that sounds a bit weird ..but seriously, it matters!
Don’t you want to be proud of your products when you show them to your potential customers, to your friends and family? Don’t you want to feel proud when you send a package to a customer because you know it looks awesome and that the person receiving it is gonna be thrilled when they open it up? Don’t you want to share your shop url proudly rather than apologizing in advance for the look of your site?
Branding baby! It’s like the icing on the cake – makes your great products even more fantastic!
I hope you’re convinced by now that branding does matter and that you should get onto it ASAP if you mean business. But it’d be kinda crappy if I just told you that and then let you figure out by yourself how to actually make it happen and where to start. So I have put together a little brand assessment checklist. Don’t we all love a good old checklist ?
Branding is a necessity to turn your shop into a successful business. Not having a coherent brand is most likely to be holding you back from getting more sales and more customers.
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