Poster!

Check out this poster I made using Etsy's poster sketch tool! I first saw this idea at Littleput's blog. Thanks, Ryan! I plan to post these around town along with my new Moo cards!

Quick Update

I'm a liar. I know I said I was taking a break this week, but I wanted to share some news. I designed a new ad that is running for the next week at Boutique Cafe.

If you've never visited Boutique Cafe, you're in for a treat. From their website: "Boutique Cafe is the world’s first boutique podcast for Mom’s on the go. Our weekly shows feature all things boutique & couture, highlighting topics of interest to fashion savvy moms and Momprenuers around the world." It's really fun.



I recently downloaded GIMP, and used that to design the ad. It was a bit intimidating at first, but honestly, once I figured out how to crop and scale my photo, everything else just fell into place. It was really fun!


Alright, back to my blogging break.



P.S. I haven't found any presents for me, yet. They are all wrapped!

Big Announcement

It's finally here! We're being featured in the Design Mom Marketplace for the next 30 days!

Design Mom is a prominent blogger, the co-founder of Sk*rt, and a taste/style guru for her many, many followers. She recently started her Marketplace, as a place to display ads for products and companies of interest to her readers.

I know this will be a great way to introduce more people to Sweet Bean's!

More news: we recently adopted the domain name: http://www.sweetbeansshop.com/. Take a click, and it will connect you directly with our Etsy site. Pretty slick!

Please stop by on Monday, when I feature Flo from Wrapsberry.

Showcase Results

Well, as a result of our advertising on a Children's Category Showcase yesterday, we had 21 new views. That means people thought our photo and description were interesting enough to click all the way through to our site. Not bad. I'll compare that to the number of clicks we get today (a non-showcase day) and update the results tomorrow AM.



I think our next big step is to detail a specific marketing plan. We need to figure out exactly to whom we are selling Sweet Bean's.

Next week:

1. Monday I'll be featuring Kathleen from Cavendish Soapworks---check it out just for the photo!
2. We have a big announcement!
3. We'll be posting 3 new designs (Hooray, Sandy!)...photographed with my new DIY photobox!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

UPDATE: On Friday, we had a total of 5 views. The advertising quadrupled our views!

Advertising Experiment: We're on a Showcase!

Etsy has a unique co-operative advertising mechanism called a "Showcase." Shops pay a fee ($15/day) to be featured (along with 35 other sellers) in a showcase that is easily linked from Etsy's homepage. It's a seemingly easy way to get a little bit more visibility on such a vast site.

For a smaller fee ($7/day), a seller can buy a category showcase. This is a mini-showcase (25 sellers) that pops up when a buyer clicks on a particular category (like "jewelry"). Until very recently, these categories were limited to jewelry, art, and bags and purses.

Well, Sweet Bean's is being featured in a new children's category showcase today (well, Thursday)!!!! I will be tabulating the number of views and (fingers crossed) purchases we receive as a result of the $7 spent. As an added incentive, we will be offering 10% off the product price as a Showcase Special.

I'll update you all on the results tomorrow!

Marketing

Well, this morning, my manly husband Tony is lugging two bags of Sweet Bean's to a meeting with the North Branch (MN) Area Chamber of Commerce. He'll give them away as door prizes. He's pretty great.

So far, the marketing strategy at Sweet Bean's has been pretty simple: let people know we exist! We have family members near and far handing out free samples, and I've been sending free samples to fellow Etsians. I know that once people actually try it, it will become their drug of choice, so to speak. It's really that fantastic.

We also have our fingers crossed about getting Sweet Bean's reviewed on some prominent blogs. We've sent some to Mighty Junior, an offshoot of the very popular Mighty Goods. We've also been in contact with Cool Mom Picks. Keep your fingers crossed for us. A review on either would be a big coup for us.

We also have a very exciting ad "campaign" coming up. More later...