5-minute talked delivered at inaugural Ignite Craft event on Jan. 14, 2011, at MIT, hosted by the Common Cod Fiber Guild.
So you knit. Or make magnets. Or homebrew. Or create replicas of baseball stadiums out of wire. Great! Now, how are you going to find the target audience to whom you might market your wares? The easy answer is "The internet!" The difficult part is *how* to use the internet to accomplish your goals and begin to profit from your craft. I'll go over some basics on using the web to discover your community, build an audience and, over time, develop a customer base.
8. Continue convo from real-life events – extend the relationship The web can meaningfully extend relationships http://www.flickr.com/photos/sailor_coruscant/3173772058/
10. Two rules: 1) add value 2) be relevant http://www.flickr.com/photos/wetwebwork/2402908982/
11. Behind the scenes Shared interest Share tips Open up and take people behind the scenes http://www.flickr.com/photos/bagaball/4050056932/
12. Be consistent, be thoughtful. Keep to your goals and the expectations you set http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/335988192/
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20. Thanks! Thanks for listening! More on me: georgycohen.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/sammy4586/4032741712/
Editor's Notes
10 years experience in communicating on the web – not a crafty girl, wrote major feature three years ago for Boston Phoenix
couple of things struck me back then - one was the sense of community in craft world - so much in the crafting world is around community and groups - communal roots
the other thing was all the intersections between craft and indie music. Crafting is an outlet for passion and personality.
Jayne hat - who watches firelfy - Jayne’s cunning hat
Jayne hat - cottage industry for knitters, tapped nerdy scifi passion
challenge and opportunity that crafters face in trying to market their wares is to build communities that thrive on these common interests
Real-life events and transactions
The web is a way to extend those relationships and conversations and hopefully turn them into customers and purchases, or whatever it is you’re looking to get out of it. Maybe it’s an opportunity for you to learn more, or to teach others. Continue convo from real life events. Find your community.
DIY - Not going to talk about Etsy or Ravelry or Craftster
Add value, be relevant – this is about more than commerce, making business personal makes business better
Behind the scenes, shared interest, share tips
be consistent, be a person not a craftbot, Don’t cut off more than you can sew
Twitter
Blog/wordpress
Deviant Art
Flickr groups and profiles
YouTube – top result – tags, category, link, title, description