So how do you actually market your offer to shoppers and customers?
In this chapter, we will look at the ways to do that effectively to your Etsy shop.
For most Etsy shop, here are the main traffic sources:
And they are the channels that we will focus on:
Out of all the marketing channels, email marketing is one of the best options because of its high ROI (return on investment).
Email has a much higher engagement rate than social media, meaning that your customers are much more likely to read your email and click on the shop link compared to an instagram post.
Also, customers who are in your email list already know your brand. It’s much easier to sell to them (warm traffic) compared to a random person on social media (cold traffic).
The prerequisite of this marketing method is having a decent email list. You want to build your list early; it’s better to have a small list than no list at all.
Here are the email marketing service that I recommend:
To build an email list, you would need to create an incentive for customers and shoppers to sign up. A simple discount code works well here.
There are two main ways for you to contact your customers for a sign up: direct messages on Etsy and automatic receipt message in their order receipt.
Here are a few points to keep in mind when writing your message to get customers to sign up to your email list:
(For more about the foundation of email marketing, check out this course.)
For your email marketing, your message should be concise with a clear CTA (call to action).
That means, don’t write an essay. Customers are faced with many emails during the BFCM period and it's best if you can get your point across with as few words as possible.
Your email can be as simple as including the photos of a few of your bestsellers, saying that it’s the biggest sale of the year, the end date and a button to your Etsy shop. We will look at some email content ideas down below.
Subject line:
Message:
Subject line:
Message:
Subject line:
Message:
Subject line ideas:
Message (Limited Stock):
Message (Why Customers Love Our Products):
Subject line ideas:
Message:
Similar messaging can be used for your social media posts as well.
Social media is a great way to reach new potential customers who may be interested in your products.
As it can get competitive on all social media platforms before and during BFCM, it’s best to focus on the platforms that you’ve found the most success on. It’s not the time to test and experiment on new platforms.
For example, if you have more followers on Instagram, then you should focus most of your effort on it. And only repurpose a few posts on other platforms like Pinterest and Facebook.
During the week of BFCM, you should post at least once a day and interact with your followers and new potential customers. A few of the posts you can make throughout the week:
And make sure to use relevant hashtags when you post: #blackfridaysale #cybermondaysale
Other than posting during the sale period, it’s a good idea to increase your social engagement with highly related accounts in your niche. Engage with them by leaving meaningful comments to build positive relationship with them and get exposure to their audience, which should be similar to your target audience.
Don't forget to use the Canva templates in the previous chapter to customise for your holiday sale:
I wouldn’t recommend running ads on social media platforms during the busy sale period, because it will be highly competitive and expensive.
Unless you are selling products with a high price tag (above $100), I wouldn’t consider ads on social media during BFCM.
However, Etsy ads during that period is still relatively reasonable. Start running ads when your sale starts and include listings with sale-related keywords like “Black Friday Sale”.
A few things to keep in mind when you run ads:
Because Black Friday is only about a month away from Christmas, there are customers who buy their Christmas gifts during the sales period.
Offering gift wrapping or highlighting your gift-ready packaging can help you win these customers. You can use tools like Vela to add an extra packaging photo to all your listings.
When you offer gift wrapping, customers can add that service to their order for an extra fee (You can set the price). Customers can also add a gift message so be prepared to write/print that to include in the order.
Another way to boost revenue is to reserve some of your exciting new products and release them with the Black Friday sale. I find the most success when I released them after the sale starts (so that I can use it as a second chance of reminding customers of the sale).
This is best used with email marketing or social media marketing.
These strategies are useful, but they may not have much impact on your sale performance or are difficult to implement. So only consider them when you have time, and they shouldn’t be your priority.
Can make your shop looks more complete and notify shoppers who have followed your shop that you have an update. To upload the photos, use the Sell On Etsy app.
Donating to a charity that you and your target customers believe in can be for your Black Friday promotion. Doing so can improve your brand image in customers’ minds.
You can donate a percentage of their revenue during the Black Friday - Cyber Monday period. Usually it’s 5-10% of the earnings. Posting a receipt of your donation afterwards on social media or your Etsy shop update is a good idea.
For a chance to be included in gift guides or Black Friday deal guides, you can pitch your products to relevant blogs and magazines.
The process can be very competitive and can take weeks. And it’s hard to know the chance of success as a small handmade business owner compared to established brands.
Search phrases like “2021 Black Friday Deals” on Google and see what potential blogs you can contact.
If you have a blog or social media accounts with a decent following, you can create your own BFCM gift guide. This way, you can feature your product in a more personal and authentic way.
Other than including your own products, you can include other cool handmade products that serve a similar target customer. Just make sure they are not your direct competitors. For example, if you sell handmade bar soap, you can feature other Etsy sellers who make bathroom and self-care products, like bath salt, candles and essential oils.
When people think of influencers, they only think of big names that have over a million followers. It would be amazing to get featured on their feed, but getting them to notice your product is difficult.
A better way to get exposure for Etsy sellers like you, is to approach micro-influencers, which usually refers to accounts with around 1,000-50,000 followers. Although they may not be as big, their followers usually have more trust in their opinion.
One good way to have a chance to get featured by them is to send them free product. For Black Friday promotion, do that early to allow shipping time and time for the influencer to create quality content. Be sure to communicate with them beforehand and come to a mutually agreeable terms (e.g. free product in extra for a post on the main feed).