E-Commerce Resources For Artists & Crafters By The Liberty Jane Clothing Team
Hi Everyone,
This week we’re mixing it up a bit and instead of me writing the newsletter – I thought I’d ask YOU to write the newsletter. The topic? Etsy! To participate simply fill out the survey and hit, “Finish Survey” button. Then (to enter the book giveaway) leave a comment on this blog post saying you completed it. I’ll choose one participant and send them a paperback copy of Instagram Power! I’ll post the results next week!
Hi everyone,
The Newsletter Is Online – if you’d like a printable version simply click this link
Here is the full text as a blog post:
Marketing With Engagement Devices
Most salespeople will tell you that one of the most difficult parts of the sales process is getting past people’s initial defenses.
We all have a powerful force field we can project quickly that shields us from unwanted sales attempts. It’s an interesting psychological super power we all develop.
Of course some customers immediately want what we have – and they know, like, and trust us, so selling to them is easy. But other people aren’t interested and are much harder to work with. How do you get them to consider your offer?
The Old-School Marketers’ Trick
Turns out marketers have been trying to solve this problem for a long-time. One easy (and ethical) technique they’ve discovered is the “engagement device”.
It is a device that gets prospects to engage with you or your offer. If done well it allows the prospect to learn about your product without getting defensive.
You can’t (and shouldn’t try to) sell stuff to people who don’t want it. But you can (and should) allow people to know about your product or service so they can decide if it’s right for them.
The Best Engagement Devices
There are a few engagement devices that work incredibly well because they not only get you into a conversation with the prospect; they also give you further insight into your prospects opinions, attitudes, and interests. It’s a win-win. When you know people’s opinion you can refine your product or service for them.
Let’s look at three examples of the best engagement tools and how to apply them to your situation.
#1 Online Polls – Doing an online poll as part of the sales process is an easy and fun engagement device. You can use www.polldaddy.com for free and you don’t even need a website to use it.
If you read my special email last week, or visited https://makesellgrow.com you probably noticed I’m using several polls to collect people’s opinion about my newest ebook. I asked people to help me decide on the cover color, title and sub-title. Here is what one of the polls looked like:
I did this because 1.) I really needed the help to decide on the final choices 2.) I wondered what would be the most appealing to most people. 3.) I wanted a way to discuss my new book project in a way that was engaging.
#2 Comment Contests – You’ll also notice that I added a comment contest to the article with the polls. This had the extra benefit of getting people to share their opinion in writing and also explain their thinking in a more in-depth way. Offering a fun reward is also a nice way to boost participation.
#3 Surveys – Doing a survey of your existing or prospective customers gets them involved in the process in a fantastic way. You can use a site like www.surveymonkey.com for free.
How To Use These Methods
So at this point you might be thinking – I sell doll clothes on Etsy, how am I supposed to use engagement devices to help sell my items? The short answer is – use the engagement devices wherever you are communicating with prospects and customers.
Email: The best option is probably email marketing. Etsy allows you to collect email addresses via your “About” page, and they explain those details here.
Of course we’ve outlined our email marketing strategies previously in our Email Marketing Power ebook, (it’s just .99 cents on Amazon).
Social media: Facebook is another great way to use engagement devices. Of course we’ve always loved Youtube for contests. You could say a design contest is a form of a comment contest – and it is certainly an engagement device.
Blog: You can also use these types of tools on your blog. Don’t have one? Consider using Wix.com, Weebly.com, or WordPress.com – all of them are free – and for some reason they all start with the letter “W”. I’m not sure why.
Bottomline – get people to join you in a conversation about your product today with engagement devices.
Do You Have A Question?
This newsletter is written for you! So feel free to submit a question today. Submit it here. We are honored to partner with you!
Jason & Cinnamon
[Update – Contest Ended – Thanks for participating everyone! The winner was chosen on the 5th – Congrats to Lori B from Indiana she has been contacted and the books have been sent. The new book will be out in June – stay tune for more info about it – and thanks again.]
Hi everyone,
So I’ve got a new ebook ready to publish, but I don’t know what the title should be. I am hoping you can help me decide by participating in my 3 polls, (one poll about the title, one about the sub-title, and one about the color of the cover).
About The ebook: The ebook is all about increasing your income! It is filled with advice and recommendations about salary negotiation, strategies for getting promoted, and ultimately, how to create a small business revenue that can liberate you from the 9-5 world. Some of you may know that I started my 9-5 career as a compensation Analyst, then HR Generalist, then ultimately SVP in charge of HR (and Marketing). So I have lots of stories, tips, facts, and suggestions about how to optimize your most important asset – your income potential.
Okay, here is how I need your help…
Poll #1 – The Title, (Leave a comment on this post if you have a suggestion).
Poll #2 – The Sub-Title, (again, leave a comment on the post if you have a suggestion).
Poll #3 – The Cover Color, (again, leave a comment on the post if you have a suggestion).
Bonus Comment Contest: [ENDED] Thank you all for helping me figure this out – I truly appreciate it. And, as a special bonus – if you leave a comment below – you’ll be automatically entered to win a fun book bundle from me. (No purchase necessary, void where prohibited). The winner will be chosen on Monday May 5th. They will be sent the following awesome prize:
1. A paperback copy of Instagram Power
2. A paperback copy of Youtube Marketing Power
3. A paperback copy of Craft Business Power
[Special Update: The winners of our comment contest are Rachel B. and Rebecca C. – they have just been informed via email. Congratulations!].
We are thrilled to announce the launch of our new ebook Craft Pricing Power!
We did this project because in a December 2013 poll our (awesome) partners said that pricing was the #1 issue they needed help with – so we decided to jump into this fun topic.
We blogged about each of the pricing principles here on MSG and asked for comments and feedback. Then we asked everyone to vote on a title and cover option.
The results showed that people overwhelmingly liked the title “Craft Pricing Power”, and while it was closer – they also liked the bold & clean design of cover option #1.
Ultimately we went with a version of cover option #1 that we modified in several ways. First, we removed the red accent color and went with a blue that Cinnamon helped me pick.
We also went with “Craft Pricing Power” instead of “Online Pricing Power“. Most of the comments in our survey stated that people liked the craft focused title more than the generic “Internet” title.
In the final writing process we also broke a couple of the pricing principles down a bit and clarified things so there were ultimately 12 principles in the final version of the ebook. We added new content to each chapter too. The final ebook version is longer and more complete than the original blog posts.
We also added a secret bonus at the end of the book – a 13th principle that we didn’t blog about or mention on the book cover. It is a really powerful lesson on pricing that you’ll want to read about. It has to do with a powerful concept called “charm prices”.
We’d love to have you snag a free copy. The book is available right now on Amazon as an ebook with the $.99 cent price. That is the lowest price Amazon allows. But we have five promotional dates picked when it will be free. The dates are:
You’ll notice that the free promo dates are the last Friday of the month. We’ll continue to do that for the near future. So check back in May, June, Juy, and August. It will most likely be free on the last Friday of those months too.
Don’t forget, you can read Kindle books on any computer, tablet, or smartphone, find out how here. You don’t need a Kindle.
We would be incredibly grateful if you’d leave your highest & best review on Amazon in support of this ebook. Reviews help launch new ebooks in important ways. When books get good reviewed on Amazon – they get additional visibility and new customers are willing to take a chance on them. So if you wouldn’t mind taking a moment to leave a review – that would be a huge help.
Thanks again for helping us work on this book project. We do all of our writing to help you – our amazing Liberty Jane Partners – we hope this new resource is a big help. We are honored to serve you.
Hi everyone, We are really excited about our new ebook for crafters, artisans, and small business owners. Want to help us decide on the cover and final title? Give us your feedback and win a chance to get all five of our paperback books, plus a seat in the February Design Academy.
Tell us what you think is better – option #1 or option #2 – by participating in the poll below. Cover Option One: The “Internet Pricing Power” option – (with white, red, and black). Cover Option Two: The “Craft Pricing Power” option – with denim and a design that generally matched Craft Business Power.
To enter the comment contest – leave a comment with your feedback on this post. In your comment, answer the question, “I like Option, [insert option], because, [insert reason].
Two lucky winners will be chosen at random and receive a tons of great prizes. Including,
A copy of five books,
(That’s more than a $60.00 value).
Plus, free access to the February Design Academy.
That’s a $79 value. [If you win and you’re already enrolled in the February Design Academy, you’ll be refunded the amount you’ve already paid – so your participation is free.]
No purchase necessary, void where prohibited.
The winner will be chosen at random on January 26th, 2014.
Not only is this a comment contest – it’s also a chance to get your feedback about our new books title and cover art. We know that “Pricing” was the #1 issue that our Liberty Jane Partners expressed concerns with when we recently asked them. So we want to make sure we’re presenting this information in a way that appeals to craft business owners. Let us know what you think.
Hey, we figured out how to do a poll. Fun. So, first question…There are almost 50 of you, yet no one seems to comment very much under our posts. That’s okay, but we were wondering…would a forum be helpful to you?
Let us know what you think: