Nov 23 2009
Three Ways to Muck Up Your Marketing
Last weekend, I was in Eugene, Oregon visiting family and I went to the wonderful Holiday Market, filled with very high quality handmade pottery, fiber art, jewelry, woodwork, glass art and more. Excellent artists and a lovely event.
When I first arrived I spied a booth that had some stunning earrings that caught my eye. I loved them immediately. Since I was just visiting for the weekend and with my husband who isn’t much of a shopper, I asked for her card, thinking I might look on her website and buy later. Earrings for me are like shoes for some “girls.” I love gorgeous earrings.
So I asked for her card and she said she wasn’t even sure she had any cards. She finally dug around and found one. She handed it to me, and I was surprised to see that it was very homemade, poor quality and not a very professional presentation. I would have expected any artist to have an attractive. artsy card. It immediately made me wonder if she was a fly by night business.
Next, I noticed there was no website on her card. When asked, she admitted that she in fact, didn’t have one. I didn’t hide my surprise, and handed her the card back, as the only reason I wanted it was for her web address. I told her I loved her work and wandered off.
Her last mistake was in letting me walk away. I wanted her to stop me but she didn’t ask me for my contact information. If she had done so she could have contacted me later when she got her website up, or sent me an e-mail, anything rather than let a potential customer just walk away. I didn’t feel important to her.
She was like many, many talented people who begin to make a business out of their art or skill. They focus entirely on their products and miss the boat on marketing. You don’t need customers to create beautiful art, but without customers you won’t have a business.
A successful entrepreneur knows to focus on marketing as much as products, learns the correct strategies to connect with their potential customers and follows a marketing plan that allows their business to grow and flourish. Don’t make the same mistake she did!
Very important information and well told too.
Thank you very much for sharing this. I hope many see the importance of business presence. It makes all the difference.
Thanks Charity,
I always enjoy hearing from another professional like you. So many people miss the boat on business presence and it is so important. I did send a link to this blog to the Holiday Market so maybe that artist will end up reading it and know it was her