In Sunday’s Washington Post there is an interesting interview (How to craft a successful career) with Chad Dickerson, CEO of Etsy. In case you’ve never had the urge to shop for handmade jewelery or other crafts, Etsy is the place to do that online. On Etsy, thousands of artists and crafters can sell their goods to a national/international market. It’s a model that is working to the tune of $1.35 billion in sales.
The part of the interview that caught my eye as a marketing communications professional was this:
Q. What do the best sellers on Etsy have in common?
A. The best sellers on Etsy have really great photography. They also tell stories about themselves, how they’re inspired, how they make the things they sell. Those are the keys to being successful on Etsy.
In other words, to market yourself successfully you have to have a standout image and a great story. Your graphics and your storytelling ability is what makes you stand out from a really crowded marketplace.
This is true everywhere, not just on Etsy. If you are shopping for a product online, you need to be able to see what you are buying (the power of image) and know why this product is better than the rest (the power of storytelling).
Perhaps if you are struggling to get “eyeballs” to your blog or website or buyers to your bricks-and-mortar business, you need to take Chad Dickerson’s insight to heart. Perhaps you need to assess the power of your graphics and your story. Are they strong? Are they setting you apart from our competition (in a positive way, of course)?
Oh, and the other thing(it should go without saying) is that to be a good Etsy seller you have to have a good product that people want to buy.
What makes you buy on Etsy or anywhere else? Do you assess the strength of the graphics? Do you read the description and/or story?
About Deborah Brody
Deborah Brody writes and edits anything related to marketing communications. Most blog posts are written under the influence of caffeine.
Deborah:
Good Etsy sellers also WORK at selling their stuffs, just like anyone else–the better ones do not simply set up a “good looking site” and wait around for the $$$ to roll in (I spent some time earlier this year investigating Etsy in order to sell some notecards for my watercolours–and if you really want to make a go of it, the time investment is NOT trivial, not just in the setup (getting good photos, getting good graphics, getting a good story) but in the on-going marketing–which, I guess, is true of nearly every endeavour!)
As it is, I don’t have the time to invest in Etsy, so I haven’t set up a shop there!
Lawrence