Lessons

Lesson Info

Who is the Right Buyer for My Crafts?

Has who has this need and this question I asked you on page seventeen and this is a simpler than it sounds um the person who has this need is your right person this is the person you're talking tio so what I mean by this is if your thing fills the need of I'm self expression of having art to put above your couch, then the your person is a person who needs are to put above their couch and who has a very specific aesthetic that lines up with your aesthetic that you offer if you sell greeting cards for teen boys birthdays where fans of doctor who then your your person who has that need as the person who wants that card so probably not the teen boy whose birthday is coming up but his mom or sister or girlfriend so the person who has this need who needs it whatever that your thing is fulfilling that's your right person and so it's going to start really broad in the example of the person who just has an empty wall and then you're going to get more specific by looking at were sparkle like the...

thing that makes you different talking to the person who would like that who's needed that would fill you had a question you find an approach that type of a person say with jewelry and fashion where in that kind of stuff? Because you're a person is somebody that obviously either likes jewelry or likes wearing scarves and likes creating a a look that describes them, but how do you narrow down fashion or that type of person? Well and that's where what's different about your thing comes up because you're right, you can't be too broad and fashion is a tricky one, so I think what you want to do is you are looking for a girl who cares about her look enough to invest in the in the value of what it is you made so that's one thing about her also, she has a really specific aesthetic and that which she would wear that scarf more headband so you could even go with a headband like, what kind of hair does she have? A long haired girl, short haired girl? Because your marketing is going to reflect that and then actually that's. The next question I have for you is what else you know about her from that? So you picture she's a girl who bought your thing? What else can you know about her? Right now? We're just thinking about the big needs so a girl who wants to express herself through her clothes, which actually narrows it down quite a bit because there many people in this world who don't care at all about what they were, you know, and there are then but in the group who care people who are only ever going to shop at wal mart and then among the group of people who will actually pay for it, people who have a really I think he is the word bohemian to describe the girl right who has that kind of look and wants to do that in with and that the people who care that it's handmade okay and care about the mix here about like, scarf some people don't like wearing scarves, right? Exactly. So you're looking for a scarf lover who wants to express herself who likes this style you see what I mean? And so we're getting like more and more specific with it got you is here to talk about it yeah, I just sit there and write it down yeah, but write down all of your senior way we're talking about all that definitely help, so I want to hear from you guys just just like you told me who has this need if you go just I'm not asking you who's about everything in the past I'm saying based on the needs you filled out who is a person who has that need anybody want answer with the chat room? Yeah going somebody spent money on therapy that's ok because what the need that your heart feels looks people somebody looking for an answer looking for answers ok, that was a great you know, search they've gone to school, they've been classes very they researcher there probably a rebel because you said that your work is like practical has practical applications for their life that but yeah, but it's also pretty quirky, right? Very quirky, right? I love that that's great, but I mean, you could just never it down to people uh maybe women instead of men who have space on their wall for our care about investing in art who have had therapy that's great that definitely narrows it down. Do we have people in the chat yet telling us who has this need? Yeah, we have some uh some examples here this one's from one girl circus and she says my garments helped my right people feel kinder and more compassionate for carrying where the materials come from and who makes what they wear they feel the need of self actualization because they only by my work when they really feel like they deserve something of high quality it also helps them feel smart because they're getting great value for their money and one more thing it strengthens community as they share their stories of their lives in the garment expressing who they are externally and their principles that's a beautiful you know, full well yeah, she just needs to put that on their web site is that like a fully formed, fully formed you're right on and it's okay, if at this point you're not it's, not fully formed because we're going tio shift this into using their language to talk about your work. So this is just the first step of many, so don't feel like you have tio know that you're a person is, you know everything about her and then exactly what she cares about this is just getting you thinking about it, because when you're thinking about it, then you can apply it and this also is going to roll around in your head and hopefully you will go out into the world and started spotting your person like, oh, she would definitely be end of this, because once you do that, you can start to picture her and that's. Why I really like selling in person like it craft shows, because it gives you the chance to meet people like it in tow really shape what you do based on those people. For example, when I first started selling your and I my very first experience with it before even started, the fc shopper had the website is that I went into this year and shop with something I had died, that I was actually meaning something. From my mom and I was looking for urine to go with it because I didn't have enough to finish the project I just wasn't going to get an accent yarn and the store owner saw it and she's like that's amazing and I was like, oh yeah thanks I could do this for you and she's like could you die custom colors for me? I said, yeah in fact I had not ever done that, but I knew that I could andi I have been thinking for a while that I wanted to start my own business anyhow so I was kind of in the back of my mind I offered to do it she had white yarn so I just bought dies that was my very first customer as I died customer erin for her with her own yard. And I thought then I started thinking about the website and dying more yarn I pictured my right person even though I wouldn't know to call it that then as being like the people whose knitting blog's I read this is back in two thousand six the blogging is kind of new so these air younger women who are more technique tech savvy and their knitting these really intricate things with it like sweaters and scarves so I started thinking about dying things enough for sweaters and then I went into the yarn shop another time this a person who is selling my arn and one of her employees and just quit and I was like, I could work here in the weekends, even though I totally had another full time job, and so I started working in her shop, but that brought me face to face with my customer, because then I actually saw women who bought the urn off the shelf, and they were nothing like I expected. There are women in their fifties and sixties who are well off enough to afford, like a thirty dollars skein of yarn, and they their knitting schools were very low. They were not on blog's and posting their lace shawls, and, uh, you know, tweeting, I don't know if twitter was the thing then, but they definitely weren't the kind of woman who is ever going to do that. Instead, they wanted simple scarves. They wanted really great, bright, interesting yarn tune it into the symbolist patterns ever so that shifted everything that shifted how I talked about it, how I labeled it, how I really thought about what to put on my block, because I realize the person who has a need for a crazy skein of yarn is usually not a person's going to get something really intricate, you know, because she's gonna want they yearn to do all the work for her so that's, why you want to think about who has this need and as much detail as possible and that's actually the next question once you know you're her need, I don't need it. You can ask, what else do you know about her if you like? We kind of did with the scarves where we dug in, we know that she's willing to pay the money for this. We know that in your case, we know that she has pictures that she loves, you know? We know that she really cares about being super personalized and having things that really show who she is, and, uh, there are questions about this on page seventeen, right after I asked who has this? Nina asked, what else do you know about them? Remember, in the beginning, I said, you're going to feel like you're making a lot of this up, like it's, a magical unicorn you're describing that's totally normal. You are guessing at a lot of this you are going to come in contact with people who will then prove your theory is right or wrong, and you'll continue to adjust. This is not set in stone, and then once you, um, think about what else you know about her, I want you to think about a specific person. Who has either bought your thing or would be the kind of person who bought this thing the girl we described that where that scarf like I know a few girls like that and I bet you do too so by thinking of her you can answer even more questions and at this point we're going to get crazy specific in order to really focus ourselves like we talked about before why focus on right people that's because it will narrow all your decisions down so you're going to create a marketing plan to reach this specific person now she adds, maybe already a customer maybe she lives across the country maybe she wouldn't actually buy it but that will give you an idea of how to talk, where to go, what to dio narrowing it down to one person really helps you make decisions because you think, well, is this where this person is? So in my example I thought that she was a tech savvy blogger, so I maybe would have bought advertising on bog side bars, but I found out that it was a totally different kind of woman who wouldn't be in those places she would be clicking on blawg sidebars she wouldn't be on twitter so joining twitter what necessarily speak to her so on page seventeen I ask you it insanely specific questions like what's her name? What did she buy from you? If you've already I sold something to her where she bought it what about her mater the kind of person who would buy your thing? This is another way of asking this need question in to dig in deeper so one of the examples is one of my clients chris shays these adorable stuffed toys and she thought that moms would buy it but what she actually found his grandma's by it grandma's by them because they're a low price here because you're all hand co shade and really detailed and uh moms don't have the budget of new babies but grandma's dio so grandma's under the ones who come and buy it and so for that question what about that lady makes her the kind of person who wants to buy it it's that she has a little more disposable income she has a baby in her life that she would spend any amount of money on and she wants to get something really unique and personal so their questions as you felt these out several of you looked up at me with desperation comment yeah when I'm thinking of like somebody that I would buy myself like my younger cousin adores my stuff but she doesn't work she doesn't have the extra money or income to buy it so that's always been a struggle for me because I've always thought younger girls would wear it but I guess now I can look at younger women maybe like the actually are going to college and have a part time job or, you know, can't afford it, and they're still at that younger age, but they're not in high school worried about if mom and dad are going to give him the money for it well, in the other way to think about it and this is a this is a good I'm glad you brought that up is maybe who you're actually selling to as a person is going to buy it for her many of us, like, you know, you sell gifts and so it's, not for the person who wears it it's for the personal by it. So that's kind of tricky because your marketing you went to appeal to that girl, but let her person know the benefits of buying it for her. So it might be if if your target really was a sixteen year old girls, it might be her her mom, they're really marketing tio okay? And from the scarves you've described, it sounds like something women older than two sixteen year olds would wanna wear. So yeah, so that's kind of the good thing is that none of this getting super specific we're not leaving anybody out, we're just focusing ourselves so that we're not too broad in general and vague. That's the worst thing is to be vague were being super specific so that when that right person lands there she's like this is me but the side effect of this is that many people who are almost right person will also land there and be like that sounds like me so even though you're going to be narrow in your own mind and your own writing it well you're not excluding people you're just letting the right person know they're in the right place that makes sense okay do we have questions online about what they know about the right person you know one of things that I love about the chat room is when people help each other out and that's what's going on right now we had an initial question that came up from laura love stars and she said help them lost I'm not sure where my potential writing and design service customers fit in and everyone sort of jumped in here and came to laura's rescue asking her a little bit more one girl circus has tell us more and amy's not dead yet says you want people who share your visual aesthetic people who like your writing voice and those right who's writing voices work for you so everybody's kind of chipping in and helping people in the chat room which is always good to see so keep that up we love to see those connections being made in the chat room yeah, and the great thing about this and about having a chat room and assault chatting here today is that it's so much easier to see for other people because again like you just are living your life and you know you can't see what's amazing about what you d'oh and for most of us we think well so easy to make or this was really like anybody could do this, but in fact they can't and people do want to buy it yes, I have a question it may not be a appropriate but my husband is always saying to me like the problem is is that women think that your stuff is too expensive but seriously, husbands would buy this because really if all I had have to do is give up my visa card and I don't have to go to the store and I already know it's going to make her happy, you know, like I'm going to get that credit for that gift more than once, right and that's what my how my husband shops um but but so I can't figure out how to get to the husbands, and when I suggested tio women, they say no, he would never do that and I'm like, are you kidding me waiting for you to tell him what to buy well, so I think there are some ways you can build this, and maybe not directly, but like having occasional emails that say, I did this before christmas a few years ago with my yarn, since I know that what you really want for christmas is knitting patterns, I'm gonna make it easy for you. Forward the following email to your husband, and then you write the email, darling, it's husband, please buy me this pattern. You can buy it here. I wanted in this side, or against sizes in the shoot with patterns, and so you can tell your people to tell their husbands that's one way. But I think you need to be direct like, say, husbands want to buy this for you. This is how to make it easy for them and give them things they can forward. Maybe at the bottom of your e mails, say, forward this to your spouse. Another way of doing it is. Maybe more technical on your web site have some way people could add things to a wish list, you know, or shared a facebook, and your little prompt could be sure this with your friends and family to get it is your birthday gift or something like that? And I think if you talk about it regularly enough for the right amount of people, everybody's not so blessed to have a wonderful spouse who will buy exactly what you want and maybe that's what the women are saying, my husband would never buy me knitting patterns, but for some person injured, they definitely would and I mean that's what me and my husband do, we make list for each other? These are the things I want, we give it, and so yeah, so you don't even have to market like for me, for him to buy me, that you don't have to market to him, but I have to feel like it's a thing I really want, and then I would pass it on to him. If you remind me to do that or you make it easy in some way for me to do that, they're probably intimidated by the pattern, like, I don't know if my wife will like that pattern or that pick thing to give, I mean, I tell him wait, wait oh, yeah! Give a corruption for gift cards to your shop. That's a good idea to because that's what? My husband is he grubs, joan's get buy yarn. I don't know what way, right? Right? And if the website, though told you, like, helped you ask him for specifically what you want and that's the thing is, I think the that askar would have to be super specific by me, this pattern, you know? Not just I like joe walcott does run it because, you know, he wouldn't know what to buy, right? Exactly. And so I've been curious about you. How do you encourage people to give it his gifts? Do you appeal to the gift giver? Is that who you think you're talking to? Well, that's kind of the epiphany I had recently is that I need to start because my ideal person is someone who's willing to spend money, time and effort because this isn't you don't just put this in your shopping cart you have to send me, you know, ten pictures, so a lot of my customers are, um, giving them to their mother or I've had a few sisters give it tio yeah, their sister weeks with their baby pictures on it, yeah. So, you know, it's, almost like you are selling to people who care about memory keeping, yeah, and those people will do it for their loved ones, so their loved one might not care about memory keeping as much as they d'oh, you know? But they already value that, and so they want to give a gift, tio, because I'm always giving people pictures and frames, you know what I mean? Because I love pictures and frame and most people don't go print their own photos, but since I do so much it's like no big deal, so you would be appealing to me and I would so easily give one of those to my mom, my mom is probably watching so now she's affecting. So as you read our work through page eighteen, I ask you and nineteen ask you way more questions about your gal I'm just going to say she's women with all of your businesses, what else is she interested? Where else is she? Where did she go and how does she feel right before she buys? Because this is going to shape everything you put on social media on one of these the big question here is, how is she feeling right before she buys what I mean by that is that most of us come to a buying decision before we clicked by right we see a thing and we like it. But there's, some reason we're willing to invest our money in it and that feeling so before people buy my book or my services. They're often really frustrated with her marketing. So frustration is what they feel right before they buy. Before you buy a piece of art, you might be especially art that's like therapy. You might be feeling in need of some clarity, and then you see the painting and you're like, oh, that's, that speaks to me right where I am right now, maybe it's like epiphany that they have with a knitwear design. You're usually looking for something. Tonight you're ready to start a new project, so when you can identify that, it makes it easier for you to talk directly to her in your content. And tomorrow we're going to talk a lot more about doing content in session to so we will on. We will apply this there, but getting clear on that feeling will really help you when we get there