Marketing Tidbit: Play A Little

Have some fun with your customers - invite them over to play once in a while.  Laugh a little.  There doesn't need to be a payoff, a prize or a giveaway for them every time they come to visit.  Sometimes, it's enough just to hang out with you and goof off for a while.

Halloween-themed free downloadable coloring page from Kittycrossbones over on Facebook for you, your kids, your friends, whatever

Some marketing isn't going to have an immediate and direct effect on your bottom line, but it does build up your likeability, which is a huge part of what handmade is all about.  Besides, even if nothing comes of your evil plan for world domination through free coloring pages, it's worth doing for the smiles.

Read more ...

Marketing Tidbit: "Senno Ecto Gammat!"

NOTE: Because today's "tidbit" is so long, I'll be back on Monday with the next installment.  See you then!

Senno Ecto Gammat
("Never again,

without my permission")

Don't "advertise" on your competitors' pages.  Not ever.  It's one of the fastest ways to get your page banned from posting again and will get you a nasty reputation in the indie business community.

As a matter of fact, don't even do it on your colleagues' pages without express (not assumed or implied) permission.

Now, I know there are a lot of people who think posting their promos all over facebook is an acceptable form of "networking," but it really isn't.  There are even quite a few people who don't mind spam on their pages, so when they spam others, they don't even know they're being rude.

Try thinking of it this way: you live in a small town with a 2 block Main Street and are in Luigi's Italian Restaurant.  Someone from Mario's Sicilian Eatery across the street wanders in and starts handing out sales coupons to absolutely EVERYONE.  Wouldn't you think that a bit unprofessional?  Which response do you think is more likely? (1) Luigi things excitedly "Oh boy! Now I can pass out my coupons in Mario's restaurant!" (2) Luigi tosses Mario and his coupons, a-fluttering in the wind, out the door.

Why is it that when we get behind a keyboard and monitor, all social niceties go out the window?  It's that darned feeling of anonymity we all have on the internet.  Since running a successful indie business means letting your customers get to know you and your company, let's bring back those small town business niceties, shall we?  We'll start with what NOT to do.

DON'T post links or contests to your business on a competitor's page!  Even the name-dropping and flattery in the first couple of lines doesn't excuse this bad behavior. This is very bad manners.

Fan fishing: a post by one artist on another artist's page

Asking for advice is, while acceptable, a little presumptuous.  Most successful indie business owners/artists just don't have time to answer every individual request for help, so those of us willing to help out will write blogs (*ahem*).  Try asking if they have already written or know of a post that addresses the issues you're asking about or, better yet, go search through their blogs yourself first.  If you really need one-on-one advice that only they can answer (meaning you're not just too lazy to do your own research), ask privately and be gracious and understanding if they don't have the time to respond.



DON'T post links on a colleague's page without permission.  Let's say instead of a competing restaurant, Mario owns a little street cafe that just sells coffees and gelato, and instead of coming into the restaurant, he hands coupons to everyone going in or out of Luigi's Italian Restaurant.

A new company's post on an established business' page

While this is admittedly more subtle that our artist friend above, it's still going to be perceived as begging for fans. This person snuck in a hotlink back to her own promotions business page!  Clever girl.  

Here's another, even less obvious, example of self-promotion on another company's page.

Posted on an indie makeup company's page (MUA="makeup artist")

You're not really "showing some <3" if you post like these folks.  No matter what your intent, your post will be received as an attempt to collect someone else's fans for your own business.

There are potential business opportunities here for all the businesses in this example.  They could cross promote, link share or even offer deals to customers who do business with both.  However, if we go back to the restaurant/gelato example again: the problem is that "Mario" didn't even ask "Luigi" if he'd be OK with him handing out coupons to every customer entering or exiting the restaurant.


I saying never post on other business' pages?  Heck no!  Post away!  But if you are going to post on someone's page, DO post something positive and substantive, for example:

☺ a fan photo of their product 

☺ ask a question (but don't pick their brains!) or even better,

☺ answer someone else's question!

☺ a "my [whatever that company makes] arrived, and I love it." 

☺ a link to their page from yours so you're sending your fans to them, like these companies:

It doesn't matter whether you're a Mario, a Luigi, a start-up makeup company or a struggling new artist, don't make a posting faux pas like the companies I pointed out did.  Promoting your business on other pages without permission, no matter how subtle you are, will eventually get you in trouble.  Just ask Korben Dallas. Not asking permission is how he ended up with Leeloo pointing that formidable looking gun in his face.  And none of us want to end up in that situation, now do we?

Read all Marketing Tidbits

Do you have an indie business question or tip?  Drop me an e-mail at art@krissisandvik.com and let me know!

Read more ...

Marketing Tidbit: Make The Connections for Them

This little piece of advice is probably the one I give out the most: MAKE IT PAINFULLY SIMPLE for potential clients to find you.

How?

Well, for expample:

Add your business' facebook fan page to the employment section of your personal profile AND be sure to make it publicly viewable.  That way every time someone lands on your personal profile, there's a bright, shiny link right up at the top sending them over to your business page.

Add a shop link every single time you promote.  Don't make people click over to your Twitter/Facebook/whatever profile from their news feed to look for the link.  More times than not, they won't do it -especially those who get posts on their phones- and you'll be wondering why nobody took advantage of that sale you ran ... somewhere.

• WRONG: 25% off everything in my shop for the next hour!
• WRONG: 25% off everything in my shop for the next hour!  Just go to my facebook page and click on the ArtFire Kiosk link.
• WRONG: 25% off everything in my shop for the next hour! Find me on ArtFire at MyAwesomeShop!
• RIGHT: 25% off everything in my shop for the next hour!  Ends at 11pm Eastern! http://myawesomeshop.artfire.com

Provide all of the coupon/sales/promotional information a customer would need every time you post about it.  You might actually have a potential customer who just 'tuned in,' after all.

• WRONG: IMAGINARYWIDGETSALE for 25% off almost all of my widgets this weekend!
• WRONG: Widgets 25% off this weekend - scroll down for coupon code and terms/conditions.
• RIGHT: 25% off all widgets in my shop through Monday when you enter coupon code IMAGINARYWIDGETSALE at checkout (excludes clearance widgets)  http://myawesomeshop.artfire.com

Add your shop link and e-mail to your information/profile section already.  Right at the top where people will see it when they visit your fan page.

Utilize applications like the ArtFire Kiosk and My Etsy (they can be a little glitchy, but if you can get them to work properly, they're great tools).

If people ask for the information you have already painstakingly provided for them (and they will, 'cause there are just TOO MANY LINKS our there screaming for our attention), simply provide them with the link and then tell them where the info is for future reference.

• WRONG: It's in the side-bar, genius.
• WRONG: It's http://myawesomeshop.artfire.com
• RIGHT: It's http://myawesomeshop.artfire.com and if you can't find this post again or forget, you can always look in the left sidebar and find the link under the ABOUT section!  <3

You can come up with some of your own 'painfully simple' tips by taking note every time you see a link or post and need to link somewhere else or ask someone for the information.  Remember, if the info is there but it's buried in text, then it's not painfully simple, is it?  The easier you make it for your customers and clients to find you, the more customers and clients will actually make it into your shop!  

Read all Marketing Tidbits

Do you have an indie business question or tip?  Drop me an e-mail at art@krissisandvik.com and let me know!

Read more ...

Marketing Tidbit O' The Day: Facebook Fan Pages

Welcome to the first edition of Krissi's Art Studio Marketing Tips! A few weeks back, Wenchkin started a great conversation in the Glitter Bitches Handmade members group about marketing dos and don'ts. Since then, I've been thinking about ways all of us could improve our shops and online presences.  Several times a week, I'll be posting little tidbits of information for the indie business owners and artists out there.  Enjoy!



FAN PAGES - USE THEM!

Are you on facebook?  If so, USE A FAN PAGE for your business. If you don't have one set up already, head over here and create one. I know, I have heard it all before.  "But I already post on my personal profile. Why should I make a fan page?"  Well, because you can:

• access it from your existing profile - you don't need another login
• post your art publicly (people don't have to friend you to see your work)
• separate your personal stuff from your work (and then DO NOT double post everything or you'll lose fans AND friends)
• spare your non-customer friends from a gazillion "just listed on Etsy" posts 
• prevent your fine art collectors and creepy fanboys/girls from seeing pictures of your kid potty training (or whatever)
• post as your fan page.  Just think about the clicks you'll get when you post something clever (way better than friend requests from people you don't know)
• there's no limit - you can have more than 5,000 fans (you cannot have more than 5,000 friends

Read all Marketing Tidbits.

Read more ...

Where the HELL Have You Been? Do You Know What Time It Is!?

I know I haven't been over here blogging all that much lately, but I don't want you to think it's because I don't love you all.  Amidst and amongst the usual excuses of the colder, darker, wetter winter season, I have been working on some fun stuff.

Glitter Bitches Handmade logo
(art by Wenchkin)

Life of a Glitter Bitch - My team, Glitter Bitches Handmade has been crazy busy over the past year since we first formed.  Initially, we figured we'd simply cross promote across our fan bases and give a few things away as a group.  After we added four new members at the end of last year, the group started to morph into a full fledged "guild." We expanded our presence on Facebook and opened an ArtFire shop to cover our growing administrative expenses like mailing prizes, business cards and promotional items.

Around the time we were setting up our shop, our good friend and fellow Glitter Bitch Kim Mayhew of Ant Farm Studio** was diagnosed with an aggressive form of uterine cancer - and there she was, with no insurance.  Well if you don't already know this, you can knock a Bitch down, but she'll get right back up again.  Fighting.  Hard.  So we started adding items to the shop to raise money to help Kim out.  The Teal Ribbon Fund, as it came to be known, has been a runaway success, thanks in large part to Kim's friends and the DIY community who turned out in force.  We even list items donated by some well-known non-Bitch artists & crafters as weekly featured Guest Artisans - Honorary Bitches, if you will.
**you can find Kim online at Got-Ants.com, on Facebook or in her ArtFire shop!

Hmmm.... Let's see, what else?  Oh, one of our members, ArJay of Kiss Zombies, has started up an inspiration contest series to help spark creativity in our collective fan base.  The current round ends on April 7th - Fabulous Prizes are a definite possibility if you enter....

Glitter Bitches Handmade Inspiration Contest
"Bitch Favorite" Prize
2" Pendant of Old Growth (detail)
(ends Thursday, April 7th
check here for details on how to enter)

Random prize:Loco Folko Vampire PEZ dispenser
by Kim Mayhew of Ant Farm Studio

Anyone may enter, as long as they follow the rules ArJay has set forth here:  INSPIRATION CONTEST GUIDELINES AND RULES.  The "Bitch Favorite" entry will win my twinchie pendant (doesn't Brooke look cute modeling her twinchie Glitter Bitches pendant?), and a random winner will receive one of Kim's awesome "Loco Folko" PEZ dispensers - I have a few of them myself and love them.


Art Stuff - I have been working on a few new pieces, but they are mostly in the sketch phase or are "secret" and not available for public consumption.  Yet.  Sorry, but that's just part of the deal I struck.  I've been keeping up on my prints and pendants (which were featured in December on Rings & Things' blog), with earrings in the works.  The prints and jewelry have become a very popular (and affordable!) way for people to collect my art.

Oh! And my new business cards came in yesterday!  Next week's shipments will have them.

I've been replacing the headers in my sites with the newer, more Krissified image.  This blog is next.


Makeup - It was a weird winter and several indie makeup companies have been outed for a lot of bad/unsafe/unethical practices, which makes me sad for the good companies out there.  However, I have tried to focus on the fun part of makeup, rather than turning into a Mean Makeup Girl.

For those of you who want to see what I do when I'm painting my face, you can follow it on my relatively new Facebook page: Krissi's Makeup Studio.  I will remind you that I am not a makeup artist; I am an artist who likes makeup.  However, there is some cool (to me anyway) stuff over there like my series of tutorials on the color wheel called Beginning Color Theory for Non-Artists (so cool, in fact, that I am in the process of copying them all over to this blog too).



Life - I continue to spend just about every day enjoying the life as a Jack Russell Terrier's human.  Abby keeps me sane and happy.  I am THRILLED that the clear weather is finally upon us so that we can take more breaks during the day and get outside to take pictures and dig for voles (I do the former, she the latter).

Me in my 2007 Z4M Coupe at Thunderhill

Finally, I have started tracking my car.  For those of you who don't know what that means, it means that I take my car to the racetrack (yes, a real one, not an oval) and run it around.  Fast.  As I write this entry, I am preparing for my second track day on Friday, April 1st at Thunderhill Raceway here in Central California.  It would appear that the Skelekitty has a need for speed....




Enjoy the Spring and I'll really TRY to check in over here more often.  In the meantime, you voyeurs can spy on me over on Facebook.

Read more ...

Falling In And Out Of Love (Denouncing Glittersniffer Cosmetics)

The following post was original written for my personal facebook profile yesterday.  However, since that profile is not public and I have several blog readers who also follow my hair and makeup recommendations, I am reposting it here.

Falling in and out of love (or, "dude, it's only make-up")
by Krissi Sandvik on Sunday, December 12, 2010 at 3:58pm

You know that awesome feeling you get when you find something special that you really love and you want to tell EVERYONE you know about it? I have; you know I have. You've even seen it if you follow any of my blogs, videos or even just my facebook status. Just a few things that you may have seen me fall in love with over the past 5 years include Hina's Tea (oh how sad I was when they closed their doors!), Golden brand's acrylic gel medium and fluid acrylic paints, Special Effects hair color, driving, wood burning, Moleskine journals... and Glittersniffer Cosmetics.

Three different formulations of Glittersniffer's pigment "A.D.D."
Notice the unblended chunks of pigment in the far right swatch,
typical of almost all of the pots I received in the last 3 or 4 months.

I have fallen out of love with only one of the above brands/items, Glittersniffer Cosmetics, and I am sad to say that it is not because I found something better, different or that I lost interest in all similar products. It is due, very simply, to the company losing sight of who and what made it so wonderful in the first place. I was quietly retreating, but when several of my friends sent me messages saying they purchased from Glittersniffer because I used her product, I decided to speak my mind. And so, dear friends and fans, I will no longer recommend Glittersniffer Cosmetics to you.

Specifically, I experienced a growing number of the following problems as Glittersniffer grew over the last six months:

Two jars in my "mattes" collection (too chalky to use) arrived
completely open; sifter was improperly inserted, preventing
lid from being secured. My final three orders (which were incorrect)
arrived with open jars and pigment spilled all over the box/envelope.

• incorrect orders / incorrect "replacement" orders
• substituted items without notice or option for refund
• items never sent / "lost" packages
• accepting payment for items out of stock offering only store credit (not refund); credit required to be used in conjunction with another order
• inconsistency in formulations (visibly noticeable from batch to batch)
• poorly mixed or unmixed pigments (aka "chunks" of color and chalky pigments)
• multiple attempts at communications ignored
• broken / open / unsecured jar lids
• blaming others for errors and lost packages

I personally experienced all of these issues on multiple occasions and even brought these issues to the owner's attention, again on multiple occasions. I understand that running a small business is difficult and that mistakes happen. I run a small business and of course, I have made mistakes. However, I do my best to ensure that they never happen twice. I have turned away work if I feel overwhelmed or am unable to fulfill obligations to existing customers. In the case of Glittersniffer, I would receive an apology, sometimes a product I did not need or want and then it was back to business as usual on the next order. After my last 8 or 10 orders, I started to suspect that maybe this was a pattern.

I am not qualified to say that every experience was like mine (though I can assure you that this issue is quite wide-spread throughout at least 25 of her very long-term customers), nor am I telling you to boycott her items. However, I will say that if you do purchase, I hope that you do it of your own accord and not based on any recommendation I may have made in the past.

There are MANY cosmetics companies out there - some which are also 'cottage industry' businesses - from whom you might wish to purchase. Here is a very small list of companies from whom I have purchased in the past and with whom I continue to be happy (just type the names into Google - you can find them very easily):

• Madd Style Cosmetics (new company this year)
• Hi-Fi Cosmetics
• Medusa's Make Up
• Alima
• Aromaleigh Cosmetics (no longer in business)

And I added another to my "faves" list in March 2011:

• Brazen Cosmetics

Other companies from whom I have not personally purchased, but about whom I have heard good things:

• Pure Luxe Cosmetics Fell prey to Glittersniffer Syndrome and is selling glow in the dark pigments (updated 3/28/2011)
• Beauty From The Earth
• Detrivoire Cosmetics
• The All Natural Facekept her shop open during a 4-week absence, selling items not in stock (3/28/2011)
• Shiro Cosmetics
• Sugar Pill Cosmetics
• Elohi Cosmetics - noted here for good product, but mixed reviews on customer service admitted to allowing people to smoke in enclosed space with product ingredients and packaging (3/29/2011)
  and, of course, there's
• TKB Trading for bulk purchases and supplies

The 2-5 week turnaround time is the only reason Fyrinnae is not on this list. I understand why the production time is so long, but it's tough to recommend a company who takes that long to ship.

One final note: This is a description of my experiences only, and you are free to disagree. However, please keep your comments here civil and to the point. I know I may lose "friends" over this, but frankly, if I do, my response will be "it's only makeup and they clearly weren't my friends."

------------

Update (12/13/2010 - 2:20pm):  Yesterday, I set out to write a simple, clear post with the single purpose of letting my friends know that I had experienced ongoing and unaddressed problems with a company and was removing my recommendation.  I assure everyone that I had no idea the issue was so widespread or ran so deep.  While I did NOT set out to defame anyone or to bring anyone down, I cannot apologize for the avalanche this first post started since all I did was state a few facts about my personal experiences.  I cannot control that others had similar experiences as well.


With that said, while I empathize with everyone's anger and disappointment, I also request that you keep your comments constructive and restrain the urge to name-call others on this post (you can call me whatever names you like).  I'm not asking you to edit yourselves, just to post those more "subjective" expressions elsewhere so the point of this post stays on topic: the removal of my endorsement.


Thanks everyone.

Read more ...