So, you’ve decided to turn your crafting passion into a money-making enterprise.
You set up your Etsy shop, built up your inventory, and now … nothing.
Your first few customers were your most loyal friends and family, but you’re ready to branch out, gain a real following.
How do you do it?
How do you market your Etsy shop?
In this article, we’ll lay out four of the most basic and impactful ways to market your Etsy shop.
Let’s dive in!
Start a Blog and Optimize for SEO
Over half (53%) of marketers say that blog content creation is their top inbound marketing priority.
Why?
Because it serves a dual purpose: you provide useful information to your readers and establish trust and you can optimize your text and images for search engines, making your brand more visible to a wider audience.
So, how do you get started?
You’ve got a couple of options.
You can start a separate blog for free on a platform like Wix or WordPress where you can showcase your products and publish content that supports your brand and provides useful information to readers.
Or you can use Etsy’s Pattern platform, which actually syncs to your Etsy shop.
The pattern provides a personalized business website that can be managed centrally through Etsy Shop Manager but is not connected to the Etsy marketplace.
On this site, you can list select items from your shop and publish unique blog content that drives traffic to your Etsy shop.
To begin optimizing your content for SEO, use language that you know your target customer is typing into their Google search queries.
And label your product listings with these keywords as well.
And, of course, add plenty of high-quality visual content.
Get Social
Social media is absolutely essential for promoting and marketing your Etsy shop, but some platforms are better suited for this purpose than others.
Choose a highly visual social media platform like Pinterest and Instagram for marketing rather than text-focused sites like LinkedIn or Twitter.
You’ll want to start by taking and posting high-quality photos of your products.
But posting on your own page isn’t enough — you’ll need to stay thoroughly engaged with your audience.
Reply to their comments, thank them for their purchases, and “like” any photos they post of your products.
It’s the personal connection offered by these platforms that really makes all the difference in customer experience (and thus, your success).
Hold a Contest and Giveaway
Everyone loves free stuff!
And you won’t mind giving away a couple of free items if it means better brand recognition, greater customer satisfaction, and a boost in sales.
A fun way to engage your customers and draw in prospective ones is to hold a contest on Instagram, with a free gift as the prize.
The first rule of thumb is to make it super easy to enter; for instance, hopefuls can simply tag a friend or repost your photo on their Instagram page.
Give your audience ample time to enter, but don’t drag the contest on too long or you’ll lose some of the hype.
Promote the contest and giveaway for a few days, draw an Instagram handle at random, and then announce your winner!
The great thing about this strategy for marketing your Etsy shop is that your brand name gets out there as more and more users enter the contest and you continue to establish trust by giving something away for free.
Advertise
One of the most cost-effective methods you can use to boost sales and draw traffic to your online business is Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising, and Etsy wants to help you become a PPC master.
Back in February 2020, Etsy introduced their “risk-free” offsite advertising service.
This optional add-on uses Etsy’s budget and expertise to advertise your items on high-traffic sites like Google, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
You only pay an advertising fee when a shopper clicks your online ad and purchases from your shop within 30 days of that click.
Alternatively — or additionally — you can sign up for Etsy Ads, which promotes your listings on Etsy’s own search engine.
You set a daily budget and Etsy will continually optimize how that budget is spent to boost your shop’s exposure.
This guide is certainly not a complete and comprehensive manual on how to market your Etsy shop, but hopefully, after reading, you’ve added a few more tools to your marketing toolbelt.