Hello BitOfWhimsy,

ABOUT ME
My name is Rob. I've helped a significant number of people here on Mahalo Answers to find ways to creatively and effectively market their online businesses. Beyond this, I am a professional and have helped other small stores find the answer to your exact question.

You can see some of the answers that I'm proud of here to get an idea about my qualifications to answer your important question:
http://www.mahalo.com/answers/web-design/what-do-you-think-of-my-website-layout-design

http://www.mahalo.com/answers/internet-advertising-and-marketing/can-you-recommend-a-tool-for-online-publishers-that-helps-to-organize-and-automate-the-ad-sales-process

http://www.mahalo.com/answers/technology-and-internet/is-it-worth-registering-every-domain-variation-comnetme-and-so-forth

http://www.mahalo.com/answers/music/what-is-the-future-business-model-of-the-music-industry

http://www.mahalo.com/answers/entrepreneurship/is-this-a-good-affiliate-program

http://www.mahalo.com/answers/technology-and-internet/whats-the-best-shipping-label-printer-for-paypals-multi-order-shipping-manager-for-priority-mail-shipments

http://www.mahalo.com/answers/ecommerce/can-i-connect-homebase-23-easily-to-a-commerce-system-like-magento-to-run-my-own-online-bookstore-1

Specifically, I have years of successful online and offline marketing experience and in the past have been employed by large ad networks. In short, I know the Internet and I like to sell things on it.

http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_430xN.59885444.jpg

PREFACE

I really like your product line. Your dolls are very cute and selling the patterns is an exceptionally good idea. I've ordered one of your dolls for my 3 year old daughter and I bet she'll love it.

MY ANSWER

Here are the things that will make your store even more of a success.

1)
Ecommerce Basics:

Build trust. That is the whole secret to selling things online. You already have great products, great photos and a likely a good idea of product fufilment. All that is left is trust.

Trust is somewhat erroneous, but a good example is Etsy itself. Etsy is successful because people trust that their information is safe and that they will receive the products that they have ordered. You've chosen a good company to associate with early on. In every breath of marketing you take from this point forward, keep trust in the back of your mind. If people trust you and your product, they will buy it.

2)
Highlight your brand.

You've already got a great thing going with your dolls. Hiring a graphic designer to create a logo will give your brand definition and visibility.

Visit http://www.99designs.com/

Here, you'll be able to request the creation of a logo and people will send you their mockups before you pay. You'll be able to pick the logo that you think will work best. Personally, I would request that the logo designer incorporate 3-4 of your dolls playing and create a stitchwork effect for the lettering.

Use this logo EVERYWHERE.

3)
Etsy is a really great marketplace for unique products and gifts but you should view it as a single outlet for your products.

I'm willing to bet that your dolls are in a few stores (maybe on consignment) in your area. If not, get them in there! But just like brick-and-mortar stores are one way to promote and sell your products, so is Etsy.

You should list your products everywhere possible. Don't limit yourself only to Etsy, branch out to anywhere and everywhere that will let you list your products for free.

Find sites such as: ebay, craigslist, paypal stores, yahoo stores, etc.

A word of caution: make sure that you keep a spreadsheet listing the site you've listed your products on, usernames, passwords, and the specific items that you've listed for sale. This will ensure that you have good inventory control and don't get caught having to refund a sale because someone bought an out of stock item.

4)
Your Own Website

I've touched on the basics of ecommerce (trust, branding, support, etc) and mentioned that you should begin to submit your products to multiple places online.

Next, you need to develop your own website. You're really good at making dolls, but you're likely not very good at making websites. That's nooooo problem today because there are plenty of outstanding "outsourcing" websites where people will create outstanding websites for reasonable prices.

There are 2 ways to go with this. First, you can hire a local "project manager" to get this done for you. Pay this project manager $100 (or so) and ask him / her to take care of the (somewhat) technical side of this. Ensure that this person has even a little bit of experience online. This is an easy and fun job for many college students. The second option is for you to handle this part of it yourself.

You or your project manager should go to: http://www.scriptlance.com/

Post a project with this description (free):

"I need a simple, small brochure website created. This website should have the following sections:

Buy Bit of Whimsy Dolls
About Bit of Whimsy
Contact Us

The main page should feature a large rotating image and description of my "featured" doll.

I will send you all photographs and text that I would like inserted.

I also need you to set up a simple payment gateway with Paypal and Google Checkout using this system: http://www.fatfreecart.com/"

This project should cost about $150 - $200

5)
Ok, so now you have your products in a bunch of places and you have your own website to facilitate direct sales.

It is time to market. Put on your "yellow" hat and think creatively. Online marketing alone will not create a successful, sustainable product line. I have found that with products like yours that a 60/40 split is key.

That means that 60% of your marketing should be done online. But importantly, 40% of your marketing should be done offline.

What happens when this 60/40 rule is applied is that it creates a dedicated local community base along with a free flow of online customers. When online sales are low, you'll find that offline sales flourish and that above all else your efforts in both will amplify each.

6)
Places To Market Online

If you have your products in a variety of places in addition to Etsy, you're already well on your way here. All of these products will (in a little bit of time) be indexed by all of the search engines and will start to turn up for odd online shopping keywords.

Importantly, there are ecommerce malls that rely on "scraping" different stores to list your products automatically. This is a big deal internationally (Europe, Japan, etc) and as long as the search engines find you, you don't have to do a thing.

Blogs. Blogs are a great way to get your products out there. Write up a short introductory article about your dolls and submit it to as many blogs as you think are appropriate. Importantly, submit your article to each and every blog that you read and contribute to.

Submit your article to these blogs: http://www.google.ca/search?q=craft+blog

Press Release: Write a press release. There is a bit of an art to writing press releases so you may want to consult friends and family for their proof-reading abilities but in short, you want a clear, simple, exciting press release about your adorable dolls.

Submit your press release here: http://www.prweb.com/
This will cost you $140 and will advertise your products & site across many different venus

Email. Email everyone you know. Tell them that if they email everyone they know and tell them how much they love your dolls & patterns that they'll not only be helping you out, but if they CC you in that e-mail that you'll send them a customized doll of their very own to say thank-you. This friend-of-a-friend type of campaign is very effective.

Podcasts. There are a bunch of podcast about hand made items. They are ALL hungry for people to interview. Look them up here: http://www.google.ca/search?q=craft+podcast and send them an e-mail with a link to your website and say that you'd like the opportunity to be interviewed on their show.

Cross-linking. Since you have your own website, you are free to cross-link your website with other similar sites. Find other nice hand-made goods and ask those people to add a link to your website if you add a link to theirs. This is invaluable for search engine optimization (SEO).

Youtube and video sites. Make a quick, cute, video of a child sleeping with your dolls. Also, create another quick video of someone using one of your patterns to create a doll. Distribute these on youtube and all of the other video sites. Be sure to say and write your URL in the video.

7)
Places to Market Offline

Following the 60/40 rule, you need to build your online marketing efforts by marketing offline as well.

Locally:
Are there any small shops in your area that would consider selling a few of your dolls? If so, ask them to distribute information (your website) about your dolls with each sale.

What local craft shows take place in your community? Craft shows are an excellent way to market. In my area, there are literally dozens of craft shows. I suggest that you obtain a vendor list from the organizers and negotiate with 1 or 2 people at EACH craft show to carry a selection of your Dolls on consignment. Ask these people to distribute a business card (http://www.vistaprint.com for cheap ones) that have your website url on them.

Classified ads. They work. Take out inexpensive ($25 - $50) classified ads in 3 or 4 newspapers at a time. If you can, place your logo and website URL in the ad. In different newspapers each month, rotate the classified ads around to keep them fresh and noticeable. This will work wonders because not only are you listed in print, but almost all newspapers have an online classified section closely tied to their paper listings.

Not Locally:

There are many (many) craft and gift magazines. Do not take out ads in these magazines. Rather, contact (use phone and e-mail) the editors AND column writers of these magazines. Give them the press release you composed above, photos of your products and perhaps even a free sample. Ask them if they will accept a written article, interview or if you can be featured in the magazine. You'll have to try hard with this one to break into the first magazine but after the first one, it will snowball.

CONCLUSION

I sincerely hope that this has answered your question, BitofWhimsy. I also hope that it has give you direction and further motivation to get your product further out into the world!

You've got a really great product that will attract buyers. It's tough work doing grassroots marketing like this but for $1000 or under, you can spread your product infront of A LOT of people with the things I have mentioned here.
Source(s):
I have years of successful online and offline marketing experience and in the past have been employed by large ad networks. In short, I know the Internet and I like to sell things on it. Personally, all of my income is generated directly from the Internet.

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