Tips & Talk 102 – Are You Doing This Backwards?

Hi there.

It's Sue and thanks for joining me for Tips and Talk

Day. These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions

and things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small

business. If you'd like to submit a topic,

DM e over on Instagram at Gift Biz Unwrapped,

I wanna remind you that doing events like craft shows and

farmers markets offers great photo and posting opportunities for social media,

and I bring this up because you've told me you're discouraged

when you don't see any of the time and effort you

put into social media.

Moving the needle on your sales,

putting in more time,

posting in the same way isn't going to magically bring you

results. You need to change the way you're posting and what

you're posting.

You don't need to put in more work.

You need to put in the right work.

That's when things will change.

If you need some help with this,

I've got you covered with the Content for Makers Program.

Content for Makers will enlighten you as to why your social

media activities aren't converting into sales.

It will also show you how to put less time in

and start seeing activity that will increase your sales.

Just imagine a day where you know exactly what to post

and to get it done in five minutes or less.

Then you can spend your time interacting with potential customers,

deepening relationships with those you already know too,

and it builds upon itself naturally.

Yes, this is possible.

Content for Makers includes a step-by-step strategy to formulating your unique

plan based on your business and your products.

Then you'll have 375 social media prompts over a full year

of ideas along with the 375 prompts come 375 image suggestions

so you're not left hanging on the creative.

These prompts and image suggestions can be used for all platforms

and all types of posting images,

live streaming reels,

even email direction,

but that's not all.

Posts aren't going to work if the right people aren't seeing

them. So you'll also receive a video in a worksheet on

how to choose and use hashtags.

This is a way to attract the right people who will

become your customers.

Most people are doing this wrong.

There's more to content for Makers too,

to see all the details,

just jump over to gift biz unwrapped.com/content

for Makers,

but honestly,

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As Julie Andrews once said or sang,

let's start at the very beginning,

A very good place to start.

When you read,

you begin with A,

B, C.

When you sing,

you begin with Do Ray Me the sound of music.

Yes, it makes sense that you start at the very beginning

except when it comes to one very important part of your

business, the messaging you use to sell your products.

In this case,

you want to flip the script.

Let's back up for a second.

You spent hours planning the promotion for your newest product rollout.

Your packaging is on brand.

You're sure it's priced properly,

covering all your costs,

including margin,

and you've confirmed it's in line with the market.

You've taken amazing photos with lighting and angles just right.

You have images with blurred backgrounds,

clean single product shots and lifestyle images showing your product in

use. The entire visual packet is ready to go,

and you are so excited to get this out.

For people to buy still,

to be done before this can happen though,

is the messaging behind your products.

You've added keywords to your product titles and descriptions,

so you're good to go there.

But what about your promotional copy?

This is where all the hard work you've put in could

topple over when it comes to results.

If you've ever launched a product expecting a huge response,

but instead saw only a dribble of orders come in,

it's possible that your messaging fell flat.

It may be backwards.

By this,

I mean the words you're putting forth are all accurate and

demonstrate what the product is with all its detail and even

the center flavor variations.

But it's not capturing attention and prompting action from your audience.

It's the old features benefit story.

Describing your product in this way gives them all the specifics,

but they may not be at the point to be interested

in that just yet.

Instead of giving them all the product details,

flip the script.

Get their intention by telling them what's in it for them,

how buying your product is going to make their life better.

Help them visualize what it will be like to own your

product, get their buy-in,

and then explain the options that they can choose from.

Have I confused you here?

A great example to demonstrate my point are the weight loss

commercials I know you've seen on tv,

do they lead with how their program works or do they

show you first what can happen for you if you use

their system?

Watch for it next time.

They give you examples of others who show their weight loss

success and they create situations you can see yourself in when

you've had the same results.

Being able to run around the yard with your children or

grandchildren, fitting back into your favorite jeans you've held onto for

years in hope this day would come.

Possibly they're not in style anymore,

but you don't know what I mean here,

or losing weight and gaining the confidence and pride of how

you now show up in the world because of your weight

loss achievements.

Only after all this do they talk about what's included in

the program,

like the number of meals you get or how it's not

about calorie counting or whatever the program is.

They get your attention by explaining what it will do for

you first when the commercials are short.

Those 15 second segments,

they don't even go into the product specs at all.

Just the results that you're gonna get from using the product.

You can hear from some of your fellow makers about how

they describe what their products do for customers in tips and

talk episode number 98,

but here are some examples.

If you've not thought this through before,

to get your mind going right away.

I'm giving you ideas here.

You can of course wordsmith this to make them your own

or your results may be entirely different from what I say

here, even if you sell a similar product,

so again,

by way of example,

if you sell decorated cookies,

you provide smiles for all sorts of events,

or you create a special mom daughter moment sharing her favorite

princess cookie or a special celebratory moment of a son's first

home run with a baseball themed cookie.

If you make jewelry,

you help women expand on their wardrobe.

Being able to use existing clothes for multiple occasions through just

switching out the effects of bold accessories or your jewelry provides

that extra spark of fashion that empowers you to show up

as your most confident self.

If you're a fine artist,

you provide the way to personalize a room with the addition

of one special painting that will invoke emotion and memories and

likely be passed down the generations.

Obviously, there are many angles you can take with your products,

but I think you get the idea here.

You're showing what the future could be for your customer when

they own your product.

It may be something that provides a moment in time like

candles, cakes,

and lotions,

or they could hold their impact for years.

As with jewelry,

pottery, and art,

what you create can evoke emotions,

provide health benefits,

guide inner peace,

or demonstrate caring and friendship.

If it's a gift,

the next time you're at the point of writing promotional copy,

I hope you remember this message.

Flip the script,

start backwards first.

Talk about the effect your product will have on your customer,

and only after you do that,

then get into the specifics.

That's a wrap.

I'm a get to the point kind of girl,

and this is what you can expect from these quick midweek

sessions. Now it's your turn.

Go out and fulfill that dream of yours.

Share your handmade products with us.