Craft Focus - Aug/Sep (Issue 68)

ask the experts Leading industry experts help with your craft and retail dilemmas FOKKE ROS Marketing Manager, PlastiKote plasti-kote.co.uk Fokke Ros is marketing manager at PlastiKote, producers of spray paint for the craft and home improvement sector. “Upcycling is really popular at the moment, and I’d like to use this trend to increase sales within my store. What products should I be stocking, and how should I promote this trend?” The fashion for upcycling shows no signs of waning, and retailers continue to see sales of spray paint increasing. Customers want to be able to reuse and repurpose, turning their unloved items into treasured possessions once more. For crafters, transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary is made easy with spray paint; bottles can be turned into decorative candle holders, tin cans into useful garden planters and glass jars into pretty tea light holders. Many retailers display small ‘before’ and ‘after’ projects to inspire their customers. With Christmas not far away, metallics and glitters come into their own. A few sprayed leaves and cones displayed on a shelf or in the window will look stunning and entice the customers to have a go. We’re busy on our monthly blog (spraypaintideas.co.uk ), Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook promoting our spray paints with fabulous projects to inspire our followers, showing them just how quick and easy it can be. Fast dry enamel and metallics are popular for craft projects, as is the multi-purpose twist and spray collection. Our new chalk spray paint has tapped into an on-going trend for a matt, chalky finish for home interiors and is proving very popular with consumers that want to achieve this look at an affordable price. ANDREA ASHFIELD Editor, Craft Focus craftfocus.com Andrea Ashfield is a journalist with 20 years’ experience. She has written for a wide range of magazines on subjects including crafts, homes and gardens, weddings and the hospitality industry. “I’m so busy running my business that I rarely update our social media – am I missing a trick?” Absolutely! Social media is here to stay, and it can be an extremely useful tool to help promote your business. Consumers are increasingly finding craft inspiration via sites like Facebook and Instagram, and these networks provide a valuable opportunity to speak directly to existing customers and engage new ones. If you want your company to seem up-to-date, a solid social media presence is increasingly important. The first step is to identify which networks are most relevant to your customer base. You don’t need to be active on every single platform – start with two or three that seem most relevant to you. Facebook is something of a catch-all, and with 2.2 billion monthly active users, it’s hard to ignore. Instagram is a mobile- only service and provides a great way to share visually appealing product shots. You can also create interest by hosting giveaways and competitions across these networks by inviting entrants to like and share your posts. If you want your business to appear current in an increasingly competitive marketplace, it’s a good idea to update each platform on a regular basis. When you’re busy running a bricks and mortar shop, finding the time may be a challenge, so decide upon a schedule and stick to it. You may also wish to train and appoint a particular member of staff to be in charge of your company’s social media presence, and remember that it’s possible to schedule posts to appear in advance, so you can work on content in quieter moments. 114 craft focus