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Be A Contender
Listed under: One Voice
Published: Thursday, August 13, 2009
The current media landscape means that we’re entering something of a golden age for smaller independent craft businesses and designer-makers, with editorial PR opportunities and social media together meaning that independents can seriously compete with larger chain stores in a way that’s not been possible before.
Reaching out to the Magazines
Firstly, the plethora of craft-related consumer titles out there at the moment means an abundance of editorial opportunities for independents – opportunities that you can largely access yourselves without using PR agencies! Existing specialist titles have been joined by an explosion of consumer-facing magazines that are keen to feature real-life independent retailers and designer-makers.
Consumer magazines that focus on a given craft, as well as the national women’s glossies with their huge circulation, like to show readers men and women who are making craft their day-to-day business. Independents should seize this opportunity and think about how to best provide relevant comment, insight and advice in a user-friendly way, accompanied by crisp professional images.
After all, every independent retailer is able to comment on current trends and what’s coming up in the next 12 months. No-one has the ear of craft consumers more than the retailers; magazines’ feature editors realise this and use topical comment accordingly. Your first stop should be to drop an e-mail to the chosen feature editor to introduce yourself in a one-page summary, including a bullet-point list of topics you’re happy to talk about. They might well want a high-resolution photo of you too.
Social Media: Levelling the Playing Field
Secondly, the advent of social media – whether that’s blogging or social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter – has done more than anything to really level the playing field for smaller craft retailers. Craft, more than practically any other sector, has the ‘process’ factor as well as the visual side that makes blogging an ideal tool to reach existing and potential customers.
Blogs are free to set up and extremely easy to use – if you’re starting out, try Wordpress. Remember that people read blogs because they want to hear what’s involved in your business, so make sure it includes lots of day-to-day news, how things are coming along, what’s next, and so on. Make it image-rich and include lots of opportunities to contact your organization if people want to know more. For inspiration, visit Crafty Blogs (http://www.craftyblogs.co.uk) to see some of the best individual blogs on offer, and where all the best ideas are easily translatable into business blogs.
Firstly, the plethora of craft-related consumer titles out there at the moment means an abundance of editorial opportunities for independents – opportunities that you can largely access yourselves without using PR agencies! Existing specialist titles have been joined by an explosion of consumer-facing magazines that are keen to feature real-life independent retailers and designer-makers.
Consumer magazines that focus on a given craft, as well as the national women’s glossies with their huge circulation, like to show readers men and women who are making craft their day-to-day business. Independents should seize this opportunity and think about how to best provide relevant comment, insight and advice in a user-friendly way, accompanied by crisp professional images.
After all, every independent retailer is able to comment on current trends and what’s coming up in the next 12 months. No-one has the ear of craft consumers more than the retailers; magazines’ feature editors realise this and use topical comment accordingly. Your first stop should be to drop an e-mail to the chosen feature editor to introduce yourself in a one-page summary, including a bullet-point list of topics you’re happy to talk about. They might well want a high-resolution photo of you too.
Social Media: Levelling the Playing Field
Secondly, the advent of social media – whether that’s blogging or social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter – has done more than anything to really level the playing field for smaller craft retailers. Craft, more than practically any other sector, has the ‘process’ factor as well as the visual side that makes blogging an ideal tool to reach existing and potential customers.
Blogs are free to set up and extremely easy to use – if you’re starting out, try Wordpress. Remember that people read blogs because they want to hear what’s involved in your business, so make sure it includes lots of day-to-day news, how things are coming along, what’s next, and so on. Make it image-rich and include lots of opportunities to contact your organization if people want to know more. For inspiration, visit Crafty Blogs (http://www.craftyblogs.co.uk) to see some of the best individual blogs on offer, and where all the best ideas are easily translatable into business blogs.
