Craft Focus - Oct/Nov (Issue 63)

FIONA PULLEN AND JULIE BRIGGS, Owners of The Sewing Directory thesewingdirectory. co.uk Fiona and Julie run The Sewing Directory, a directory of UK based sewing businesses plus a source of free sewing projects, tips and tutorials. The Sewing Directory has over 80,000 social media followers and receives 1.5 million hits a year (25 per cent of that from social media). Fiona is also the author of Craft a Creative Business, which includes advice on using social media to help build your craft business. “Except for a few followers, likes and sharing information, it’s difficult to really see any benefits to my business so why should I bother with a social media strategy?” Social media can be a powerful tool for businesses when used correctly. The trick is to get the balance between marketing and useful information right. If all you do is promote your own products you’ll struggle to get a good response, people don’t like to be blatantly marketed at. However, if you mix those updates with useful tips, advice on using your products, relevant tutorials, free projects and share offers that might interest your followers – such as discount codes for industry shows or magazines for instance – people will come to rely on you as a source of information. This means not only will they regularly check your social media, and maybe share it with their friends, but they’ll also respond better to the sales related posts when you do then as they will be more engaged. It’s also useful in ways other than sales generation. It can help build brand loyalty, give you a direct route to your customers allowing them to ask your questions easily and you can use it to conduct market research. We’ve seen several of our customers using social media to decide which fabric collections to stock. They share photos of upcoming ranges and ask their social media followers which ones they would prefer to buy, and which prints or colourways they prefer. If they get a very good response they then start taking pre- orders, or email addresses so they can notify those people when the fabrics are in stock. If you’re not sure what to post about on social media take a look at Fiona post at craftacreativebusiness.co.uk/socialmediatips.html JULIE BONNAR, Editor, Craft Focus , KD Media Publishing craftfocus.com Julie has worked in the craft industry for more than 13 years on both consumer and trade magazines, designing projects and craft PR. Currently the editor of Craft Focus , she originally trained as an interior designer but found she liked making her own clothes more than she liked making curtains. Julie now also runs her own blog style website called The Pattern Pages on fashion and sewing. “My shop window is extremely small. Do you have any advice on how I can use it to attract customers in?” Whatever the size of your window display, you need to use it as a billboard to what’s inside as it helps a potential customers decide to enter your shop or not, and ultimately fall in love with your brand. Before doing anything, step outside and look in your window – which areas are easy to see and where is the focal point? These days, people passing will be on the phone, talking etc and their attention is elsewhere so you will have a few seconds to wow them and draw their interest. As your space is limited, don’t be tempted to overfill it, as it can look cluttered. Make sure it is well lit and kept clean – a layer of dust does not look attractive! Try and use the space to tell a story or to celebrate a special occasion such as Halloween or Valentine’s Day. Use bright colours and try to think outside the ‘predictable’ box – just because it is Valentine’s Day, doesn’t mean everything has to be red and heart-shaped! Less is definitely more when it comes to your window. Although space is limited, choose larger items to display. Perhaps make up some craft kits so customers can see what sort of things they can make – try to capture their imagination. Remember to update and regularly change your window to keep it fresh, appealing and balanced to make it aesthetically pleasing to the eye. ask the experts craft focus 49