An Etsy Shop With Possibilities...

To preface this post, I need to say that I'm not seasoned in blackhat, whitehat or any form of online marketing. I'm simply a guy who runs a carpentry shop; someone with a few skills, who makes some bang-up products. It started innocently enough, a few sales here and there in my first year and I was the lone designer and maker. The 2nd year brought some revenue growth, added personnel and current projections are around $50,000-$80,000 annual.

The problem is my shop has started to stagnate. If I had to find an attributing cause, it would be that our lines of demarcation, our marketing spread so to speak, does not extend far beyond the environs of Etsy. We have been featured on blogs, offered sellers spots on TouchOfModern, MassDrop, and about 10 other drop-sellers. Our shop receives approximately 650-1000 views a day, our feedback is immaculate and our products are distinguished. Hell, etsy shops attempt facsimiles of our products repeatedly. Yet, we haven't broken through; not truly. (420 sales to this point).

My question, for the brilliant marketers around here: how do we jump to the big time? I think we have the product line that if pushed can gather tremendous momentum. So, how do we push it?

Below you will find my shop. Thanks to any and all that proffer an opinion.

*Not allowed to post links as a tenderfoot. A little extra work for anybody who cares to proffer an opinion.

Etsy Shop Name: WoodWarmth

Seriously folks, this is a shop unlike any you have seen before. For a marketer that shows me something, I wouldn't mind entering a reciprocal relationship. The beauty of it is, the products sell themselves. Take a look, you'll catch my meaning.

You make really nice stuff guy! Your Etsy sig says you're in Brooklyn? If I were you I'd start hitting the weekend markets. You can sell massive amounts of stuff just within 75 miles of your home. I used to live in NYC and now I'm upstate.

Do the big flea markets like Stormville and that massive one in Pennsylvania. I used to do flea markets / farm markets for my family's baking and BBQ business. Some of the other vendors make their whole year at Stormville and the 2 big annual shows at the Dutchess County fairgrounds.

There was one guy who make had carved race cars. Not tiny ones, like 10 inches or so. Insane workmanship. At all the big shows, there he was, sitting at a table with a couple dozen $500 pieces in front of him. In a 3 day show if he sold 2 or 3 that more than made up for the expense. But the big deal was connecting with interested customers. He's sell 2 or 3, then have leads for another dozen or more.

You need a combination of offline and online. A blog talking about new releases and news in the shop. Hire some people to sit at tables in the big fleas around here. I'm doing something like this for a local shop and it DOES work. takes time, but you need to spread the word and having your items where people can touch and feel (and take away a card for later) will def pay off. Especially now! The season is just starting. By the holidays you can be selling like a maniac. Your stuff would go over big time in the Hudson Valley. Warwick Apple festival, Ellenville Blueberry festival, Beacon Strawberry Festival are just 3 where you can make a killing. There's serious cash up here and tables are much cheaper than at the few fleas there are in NYC.

Feel free to PM me if you want to brainstorm! Good luck

Thanks for the info! I sometimes go to Englishtown Flea Market, but as a buyer, rather than a seller. I do sell in a few local furniture shops here in Brooklyn, that found me via Etsy. My only concern with flea markets is the emphasis on deals, cheap finds, etc.. Much as I love buying something unique for $15, I don't really cater to bargain-basement shoppers (don't mean this at all offensively, for I am myself one). While I do well here in NYC, I'm not certain how well I fit into a flea market's milieu. Still, I'm going to check out Stormville this weekend. I'd definitely like to PM you for your thoughts some time soon. Thanks again fella.

The thing about flea markets is that you can sell expensive items after the show. Flea shoppers come from a wide range of income levels.

Have you seen antique dealers at flea markets? They're not expecting people to write $5k checks right there, it's to make contacts for later. You can get a table for at most $40-50 a day and that $100 will generate more leads than PPC. Especially for hand made items: people interested in wood crafts are very tactile. They want the touch and feel experience. So, that's why I recommended fleas.

But not all fleas. The weekend one in Middletown NY in the Job Lots building is garbage. A bunch of deadbeats looking for keyrings. The new(ish) re-opened Duchess flea market is slightly better but still not the best clientele. Stormville gets heavy buyers, as do the others I mentioned above.

Have fun at Stormville! And one of the best things is networking! Find someone selling handmade items in your price range. Maybe jewelry custom clothes or other fabric arts. Ask them what shows they like. Vendors are generally a talkative bunch. Look for the hand made cars guy.

Your stuff would sell like hotcakes at RenFair. But getting in there is insanely pricey. You can look for smaller Ren Fairs around the area

Thanks TapTapper for terrific advice on what I can do outside of Etsy (among other things). If anyone has any thoughts on how I can get my products out there and generate traffic (social media, a marketer with a plan, etc...) that too would also be awesome.