How to Market Yourself for the Winter Show.

From the Winter and Easter Show, we can absolutely prove that the knifemakers who did the most promotion of their own work, also are the ones that got the most sales.

The promotion of your own work (marketing) is something that should happen all the time. If you are only doing marketing the weekend of the show, it does not have much impact. If you start your marketing now, and you work on it a little bit every single day, then by the time of the show you are already known by the potential buyers.

Marketing Checklist

Build your page on the website

The sooner you build your page on the website, the better. If you wait till the last minute, you will be in a line of people. If you get your stuff together for your page today, then your page will be built very fast. And once it is built you can start using it in your promotions.

Documents to email to us:

 

  • Knives you want on the show:
    • The best possible pictures and video if you can – the better your pictures the better your chance to get a sale
    • Top, bottom, left side, right side of each knife
    • The price you want in Rands and in US Dollars
      We cannot change these prices at the last minute. So if you are worried about changes in the exchange rate, you need to deal with that in how your price.
    • Knives you have made in the past, so we can show many good examples of your work: These are knives that are not for sale, they are just to show off your work

Personal Details to send to us:

 

  • Biography: a short description of 150 words about your knife making journey.
    • Contact details: Email, phone, WhatsApp
    • Links to your online presence: Your website, Facebook page and group page, Instagram link, Youtube link and any other where you are on the internet.

Properly set up your Facebook pages

What most people don’t understand about Facebook: They show your post to between 3% and 5% of your friends, or group, or followers. So when you post, and you have 100 friends… that post just got shown to 5 of your friends.

That is the reason we have to do many things in addition to just one post, so as to reach more than those 5 people.

 Note that a Facebook PAGE and a Facebook GROUP is not the same thing. You need both. They fulfil different functions.

You should have at least the following on Facebook:

  1. Your personal Facebook page
  2. A Facebook page just for your knives/business
  3. A Facebook group for your knives

Each of these must be set up properly. That means you look at the setup options on Facebook for the page or group, and you fill in as many details as possible.

Facebook Tips:

Some great marketing opportunities:

Facebook banner - When you change your banner, Facebook will show that change to more than the normal 5% of people. 

Facebook image (where you usually have a photo of your face) - When you change your image, Facebook will show it to more than the normal 5% of people.

Welcome function for new members to your group - When you use this function you get one opportunity to give a message to every single new person in a group. E.g. you can give them a link to your page on the website.

Set up an Instagram account. Link it to your Facebook account. Then, when you post to Instagram, it automatically also post to Facebook for you.

Promote to people you already know:

Facebook Friends:  

Here is how you invite your Facebook friends to a group and/or get your friends to invite their friends to one of the Facebook groups:

I am exhibiting at the Online Baobab Custom Knife Show the weekend of Friday 2 April, Saturday 3 April, and Sunday 4 April.

I would like to ask a HUGE favor - can you all please help me with the following. It will only take a minute of your time.

Go to the Custom Knife Page here: https://www.facebook.com/CustomKnivesZA/

Go to 'COMMUNITY' 

Click 'INVITE FRIENDS' 

Click 'ALL' 

Wait 10-15 seconds for the invitations to send

Supporting small businesses doesn’t require spending money. It’s as simple as sharing, liking, and promoting us! It really means a lot! 

Thank you

People who have bought from you in the past: 

Facebook Friends:  

These people are certainly interested! If you have them in a list, send them an email, SMS, WhatsApp, and tell them about the upcoming show.

Places on the internet where you are listed or mentioned: 

Facebook Friends:  

If you are listed or mentioned on a web page, ask the person who put you there to update your information and add a link to your Show Page.

Create new Marketing content every single day

Create new Marketing content

every single day

Link to your pages:

By sharing your social media links with us we can connect them to your webpage. From here you can build your audience.

Share:

Share your profile on your facebook page/s. By sharing your webpage to your social media people can see all your knives.

Like and follow:

Like and follow the show and knife maker page. In this way you can become part of the comunity. 

Create Content:

  1. Create photo and videos.
  2. A detailed description of the item or happening in the photo or video
  3. Make sure your friends are tagged.

.

What does a good post look like?

The people that visit knife shows, the people in our knife groups… These people love knives like a fat boy loves cake! They are obsessive about knives. They are fanboys and fangirls. They are addicted to knives. Which is why they are always in trouble for spending too much money on your knives.

Yes, the quality of photos and videos is important. But what is importanter… is that you create and post every single day. Yes, a “bad” photo is certainly better than no photo!
Not sure what content to create and post today? Just look in the groups at what the other knifemakers are sharing. Then do the same. First, we copy; later we innovate.

Submit your application

Remember to submit your application before Friday 29 May 2020 so that we can upload your profile before the show.

Submit Now

knifemakers.sa@gmail.com