Jul 22, 2015
This Week’s Episode
I’m wrapping up the Crochet & Knitting Design &
Self-Publishing Mini Series by talking about
promoting your pattern after release.
Updates from Last Week’s Episode
Since last week’s episode, I’ve been informed that CraftFoxes
now offers a digital download option. I can’t find anything about
it on their Seller Help page, but a quick scan of
the Patterns section in the
Shop confirms that several sellers are offering digital
downloads.
Additionally, there has been some concerns raised about selling
on Craftsy. In the episode, I share two tips for your PayPal
settings that can protect you from both issues.
Promoting Your Patterns
I talk about two different aspects of promotion in this episode:
strategy and systems.
Promotional strategy
Promoting your pattern is part of your business’s overall
marketing strategy.
- Think about your target audience and where they congregate
(online, or off).
- How does your target audience prefer to get information? Are
they interested in detailed backstories about how the pattern came
to be, or do they just want a pretty picture?
- If your target audience is very defined (a “niche”), you might
find that you should only promote patterns in certain areas where
they are likely to congregate. If your target audience is more
general, you may want to consider something more like a “mass
marketing” approach, where you share information about your new
patterns widely.
It helps if your promotion of each pattern – your methods of
communication, your “voice,” and your pictures – is consistent with
your overall brand as well. Of course, you may need some time to
try different concepts out before you settle on your strategy.
Promotion systems
I recently created a checklist to formalize my process for
promoting my Underground Crafter patterns online. I’ve found
that having this system makes things easier because I don’t have to
“think” about what to do with each pattern, and I can also track
traffic (and potentially conversions, depending on the site) more
easily.
You can customize this system, or process, to meet your own
needs.
Ravelry
- Create a project, including all of your pattern photos.
Link to the yarn used.
- Add the pattern to the Ravelry pattern database, whether or not
the pattern is available as a Ravelry download.
- Link the project to the pattern.
- Share the project (and yarn, if you received yarn support) with
relevant groups.
- Add the pattern to the appropriate bundle(s) on your Ravelry
designer page.
Blog/Website
- Write a blog post. If the pattern isn’t available on
Ravelry, remind readers to add the pattern to their queue or
favorites on Ravelry and include a link.
Back to Ravelry
- Link the blog post to the project and yarn. Now your
pattern will show up (as a project) in your groups as a
“recent blog post.”
- Announce the pattern in appropriate threads. I announce
the new pattern in my own group on Ravelry, as well as in
the Designers group’s monthly new
designs threads. If appropriate, add it to a relevant group’s
new designs thread, and to one of the “Big 6” boards
(both Needlework News &
Events and Patterns have promotional threads).
- Be cautious about violating Ravelry’s Guidelines: “Posting the
same message to more than 2 boards without permission from the
group owner/moderators is not permitted. Unreasonable crossposting
is considered spam!” Some groups explicitly allow people to cross
post, and of course, you always have permission to cross post in
your own group.
Email
- If you received yarn support, email your contact at the yarn
company. Thank them for their support and provide a link to the new
pattern. You may also want to include a photo they can share on
social media.
- If you bought yarn at a local yarn shop, email the shop and let
them know about the pattern, too. You may even want to ask if they
want to display the sample in their shop.
Schedule future posts
- Most of us promote once and then forget all about our
pattern.
- If you use a social media scheduling tool, schedule some future
posts about your pattern. I currently use Hootsuite.
- Or, add a reminder to your calendar in
30/60/90/180 days to remind you to talk about it again!
Twitter
- Tweet a link to your pattern with relevant hashtags and
mentioning the yarn company and/or yarn shop.
- Share pictures to promote more engagement.
Pinterest
- Pin your pattern to your own board for your designs, as well as
any other relevant boards you have created.
- Pin your pattern to group boards. Group boards have been very
helpful in driving traffic to my patterns. Be sure to follow
the rules of each group board you belong to about what types of
content can be pinned (e.g., crochet, knitting, free, for sale) as
well as the frequency (e.g., no more than 3 pins a day).
- I now use Tailwind for Pinterest scheduling
and really enjoy it. You can hear more about it in Episode 30:
Going Beyond the Basics on Pinterest with Cynthia Sanchez. The
Interval Scheduling feature allows me to spread out the Pins
over a period of days, weeks, or months across the different
boards.
Facebook
- Write a post about your pattern on your own page with
mentions to the yarn company and/or local yarn shop.
- Add a picture to an album of your own designs with mentions to
the yarn company and/or local yarn shop.
- Share the pattern in relevant Facebook groups.
- Tag your own page when sharing to groups and in the picture so
people can easily find you if the post gets shared.
LinkedIn
- If your full time career is yarn related, or your
side business as a designer won’t negatively impact your other
career, you can also share the news of your new pattern release on
LinkedIn.
- You can share this information as an update, duplicate your
blog post as a post, or in appropriate groups.
Instagram
- Since I don’t have a smartphone, I don’t use Instagram.
However, I’ve heard from many designers who find that sharing
pictures of new patterns via Instagram is very helpful.
Kollabora
- Share your project on Kollabora, whether or not it is being
sold there, especially if it is fashion-oriented and/or has great
photography.
- Link to the pattern on Kollabora or another site where it is
available.
Add the pattern to other sites
In addition to Ravelry,
- Free patterns can be listed on CraftFoxes, Craftsy, and
Kollabora.
- For sale patterns can be listed on CraftFoxes, Craftsy, Etsy,
Kollabora, and Patternfish.
Free pattern directories
- If your pattern is available for free, submit it to one or more
free pattern directories.
Email newsletter
- Let your email list know about your new pattern release. I send
out my Underground Crafter newsletter weekly, so I
add the new pattern to my list of things to share that week. In the
past, I used it more like an announcements list, and I would send
the email earlier in the promotion process.
- If you’re new to mailing lists, you may want to listen
to Episode 27: Connecting with Your Mailing List and More with
Vashti Braha.
If you’ll also be hosting a crochet- or knit-a-long
So what link should you share?
If you share the link to your website and you use Google
Analytics or a similar tool, it’s easy to track where people are
finding your link. This may help you to narrow down or focus in on
particular promotional methods. You can also provide links to
multiple marketplaces, if you use them, and allow the buyer to
choose a preferred site.
On the other hand, if your pattern is for sale, a direct link to
the shop may increase “impulse” buys.
What about advertising?
I’ve found that Ravelry ads are quite affordable. You can find
more information in this brochure.
Many craft bloggers also offer affordable options for
advertising on a sidebar, in a newsletter, and/or on social
media.
Should you discount?
Many designers release their patterns for a discounted rate as a
“scarcity tactic” to encourage people to buy it before the price
goes up. Others never (or rarely) discount their patterns.
Don’t forget face-to-face promotion!
Wear or use your sample as much as possible. You’ll be surprised
about how many sales you can make this way!
Getting others to promote you
If you feel shy about promoting your patterns, consider working
with others to get the word out.
- Some crochet and knitting bloggers do pattern reviews. You can
reach out to such a blogger and gift her/him a pattern for
review.
- If you have a collection, consider organizing a blog tour. You
will need to gift patterns for review, write guest posts, be
interviewed, and/or offer giveaway prizes for the blogs on the
tour.
- Consider offering the pattern as a giveaway prize in a large or
multi-designer event to extend your reach.
Make this checklist your own!
Create your own checklist so you can routinize some of your
promotions to save time and increase consistency.
If you enjoyed this episode
The Creative Yarn Entrepreneur Show is no longer broadcasting.
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episode originally aired in July, 2015. Be aware that content may
be outdated.
If you'd like to chat with other yarn-related business owners,
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buying one of her books, Make Money Teaching Crochet: Launch
Your Business, Increase Your Side Income, Reach More Students
(Amazon
| Gumroad) or Design
It, Promote It, Sell It: Online Marketing for Your Crochet and Knit
Patterns (Amazon | Gumroad).