Before you develop marketing materials for your craft business, you need to take some time to know yourself, and also to know your customer. Have you ever really thought about the nature of your work and who it appeals to? Professional crafters who have a bit of experience at craft shows may know on an intuitive level who their customers are, but it can be very helpful to describe your work and your customers very concretely.

Take some time to describe your work very precisely. Describe the nature and quality of the materials you work with. What techniques do you use? Is there anything special about the way you apply those techniques to your work? Is your work traditional or modern? Does it have a message? Does it reflect a specific era, culture or genre? The more precise you get with your description, the better understanding you’ll have of the appeal of your work.

Next, describe your typical customer in detail. Who is your customer? Why do they buy your work? What are your customer’s style preferences? Consider your customers’ education, interests, income, gender and age.

All of this insight can then be applied to your marketing materials such as business cards, brochures etc., your website and your craft booth setup. If you design your marketing materials and craft booth with these things in mind, you’ll present a cohesive image that connects with your target customers. Knowing yourself and your customers allows you to focus your efforts and target your customers effectively.

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I’ve added a new feature to the Inspiri home site. I’ve asked craft business customers to provide their tips and feedback on selling crafts. If you’ve ever wondered what your customers are really thinking (and not telling you), here’s a chance to discover what goes through a customer’s mind when shopping for handmade items.

You’ll find customer tips on selling crafts here: Sell Your Crafts – Customer Tips For Selling Crafts

At some point in the growth and development of your craft business, you’ll need to determine whether you plan to target wholesale contracts. There are pros and cons inherent in selling wholesale, so it will be important to think through your options to decide whether venturing into wholesale craft sales will fit with your resources, your work preferences and your long term goals and vision for your business and yourself.

If you wholesale your crafts, you’ll be selling your work to a buyer who intends to resell your items at a higher price, usually at least double the wholesale price. Before selling crafts wholesale, consider the following:

1. You’ll need to ensure you have a large enough production capacity to manage large orders. Since you’ll be selling crafts for less per unit, you’ll make this up on volume. Therefore, it’s important to ensure you are ready to manage that volume.

2. You’ll sell your items for a lower price than you would if you sold directly to retail customers (usually half of retail), but you’ll sell your items in a higher volume to fewer buyers.

3. When you attend shows, you’ll bring only a range of samples of your line of product, not endless inventory. You’ll take orders for items that you will then produce and deliver at a specified date. Many professional craft artists say that it is nice to know that items they are producing are already purchased.

4. Feedback on work will come from professional buyers; your contact with the end retail customer may be quite limited.

5. You’ll typically attend fewer shows than you would if you were selling on a retail basis, and you’ll spend more time in production in your studio.

6. Your sales will consist of larger but less frequent purchases. That means you’ll have to be good at managing your money because income will not come in a steady flow.

If you decide that pursuing wholesale contracts is not right for your craft business, your focus will be on retail craft sales. When you sell your crafts at retail shows, you will be selling your work directly to the end customer. To determine if this strategy works for your own craft business, consider the following:

1. You’ll sell items at a higher price than you would if you sold on a wholesale basis, but you’ll sell smaller quantities to more customers.

2. You’ll need to bring plenty of inventory to craft shows, so you’ll need to make plenty of items ahead of time to sell at retail craft shows.

3. You’ll get direct feedback from and contact with your customers, which can be very satisfying and important to some craft artists.

4. You will make all of the money from the sale of the product (as opposed to approximately half when you sell wholesale), and since you’ll attend more shows, you’ll have more frequent influxes of cash.

5. Retail craft shows provide opportunities for interaction with customers and with other professional craft artists. This interaction can be important to some people who work alone and can provide important opportunities to network with colleagues and to understand your customer.

6. You will very likely attend more shows that you would if you were selling wholesale, some craft artists enjoy attending art and craft shows and see this in a positive light, while others do not enjoy the time spent away from the studio.

7. Time spent at shows will take you out of your studio. You’ll need to ensure you have enough time in your studio for production and balance this with number of shows you chose to attend.

Selling crafts retail or wholesale is not an either/or proposition. Some craft artists choose to incorporate both strategies into their craft business. If you have a clear understanding of your work preferences and your vision for your business and your lifestyle, you’ll be well prepared to make smart choices about the business strategies that will work best for you.

One of the best tips I got when I was in the planning stages of launching my business was that you should never skimp where customers will notice. Of course, it’s wise to ensure that your business expenses are kept in check, and cost effectiveness should be a priority. However, when you are selling crafts, customers are compelled by the sense of uniqueness and quality that comes with owning handmade items. Anything that make your customers feel that your items are “cheap” can take away from the feeling that your items are special. If cheap looking materials are causing you to lose sales, then they are not the most cost effective option.

More tips on getting started with your craft business