Asking for advice on how to market things I make

I have just finished a chair and ottoman that I would like to sell. I showed pictures to a lady that runs a local co-op. She liked the piece but did not have room. I thought about ESTY as an option and wondered if anyone has experience with that site or has another suggestion that might work. Any advice is welcomed.

Thanks,

Jim Adams

the rule of marketing is to get your products in front of people most likely wanting to buy them. It is not an accidental process.

So ask yourself a few questions. Where would people look to buy furniture? How far are you willing to ship/deliver large items? How will that impact your pricing? Where does your competition advertise? What are they delivery/shipping costs and policies? Does your local market/economy support custom furniture?

Is this a one time effort on your part or are you trying to build a business? Have you built other pieces for which you have good photography? Do you have a portfolio of your work?

The best bet for custom furniture is providing brochures full of pictures to as many interior designers as you have locally. Make a list of features and benefits of your pieces, provide pictorial demonstration, and get that information in the hands of those good folks. Ask them what will sell. Be prepared to tell them how long it will take to finish a piece. In essence they have contact with likely customers and they become your sales people. Know what you will need to pay them for this service. Marketing is not free, often equaling the cost of the product. Can you make the enough profit to make all this worthwhile?

Questions only you can answer.

With regard to Etsy. Is furniture sold there? How is shipping/delivery handled? Your lovely chair and ottoman doesn't fit in a priority mailing box. It is huge part of the purchase for a buyer. I mention priority mail boxes because that is the most efficient way to ship items. The boxes are provided by the post office when you need them. No inventory on your part, or shopping for them, or storing them. Available when you need them. Shipping costs are shipping costs. There are including in the ultimate cost of the product. Don't just compare shipping methods. Remember the shipping container and the packing of your item as well. None of that stuff is 'free.' Just like marketing is not 'free.'

HTH.

Jim,

Generally speaking, the things we make in our small shops it time consuming and very labor intensive.

When we add our time and materials, not to mention overhead, the money we have into something is staggering. Add a decent hourly wage of a professional, not a laborer like a hamburger flipper at Micky Dee's, and the price usually goes quite high. So WHO can buy it?

Additionally, Style. It's Wood. Yeah "WE" love wood, but not everyone loves wood. It is also of a distinctive style and I don't know about comfort, I can't sit in it. So WHO will buy it.

So WHO - is the market group that WILL buy it.

Is the Walmart shopper group the right market? -- no
Is the Ebay shopper group the right market? --- no

None of the markets where people go to find a bargain is going to be the right market group.

So WHO is going to be the correct market group?

Probably those in the higher income groups. They don't so much shop for high end stuff at Walmart of Craigslist. I don't know about ETSY. Perhaps they would hire an interior decorator - like Carol mentioned.

I don't really know how to market to the group that buys from high end things. One thing that was said to me at one point in time, is that they also look for brand and reputation. They also know what they are looking at and quality will be noticed.

It would be nice if you could post about what you learn as you go through this process.

Thank you for your input.

Good idea, thanks.

Over the last dozen years I have sold tons of furniture through my web site... or more realistically, I have started the conversation with the customer through the web site. A color brochure is very expensive, but necessary if you are going to work through decorators - they need to have something in hand to take to their customers, not a laptop with a link to your site. The web is international, but it is also local, so shipping is not a primary concern.

If you are not going to be able to get gallery space, you might want to change your style slightly. On close examination, your furniture looks like it is probably well made and very nice, but it doesn't jump at you from the picture as something you "must have." That, to me, means premium wood and classical finishes. I rarely use stain, as you appear to have, to add character to your wood. Your pictures didn't say "buy me."

As Leo points out, custom work by a solo woodworker is a tough business. You may love being the craftsman, but you are also the janitor, the repairman, the sharpening expert, the salesman, and the marketing person. Not much time left for woodworking. When I retired 12 years ago, I wanted a job that kept me away from the golf course. I have a very fancy shop, all paid for by my sales. I have made a profit every year. But I could not live in the style I have become accustomed to (from my pre-retirement jobs) from my woodworking income. But I am successful in that the golf courses are safe from me.

I have to go with Charlie and the others on this. Try to do it locally if it all possible. When I built rustic furniture I had it on my website, but made it clear it was not going to be shipped unless the customer wanted to pay a large freight bill. Most of the tables I built had to be moved with a absolute minimum of 4 big men. And like Charlie all of my tools were paid from from profits, though my shop for turning is far from fancy. Rustic and crude is more my style for working. Bothers me not at all to get good and dirty doing my turnings. I see your in central South Carolina. Maybe you should take a brochure of your work and go take a road trip to Columbia or even Charleston to find a dealer to handle your work. If you can get a good dealer relationship going you might be surprised how well your business might expand. I never used stains either. Wood had to be totally natural with as much natural or free edge possible. Most of my customers were well to do horse and oil people. They drove by, saw me and my work and stopped and it went from there. Good luck on your endeavors. I posted a photo of two tables I built just for the giggles of it. Had to go way back in the archives to find them.

No stain. wood is natural, that is what I like about it the most.

Charlie Plesums said:

Over the last dozen years I have sold tons of furniture through my web site... or more realistically, I have started the conversation with the customer through the web site. A color brochure is very expensive, but necessary if you are going to work through decorators - they need to have something in hand to take to their customers, not a laptop with a link to your site. The web is international, but it is also local, so shipping is not a primary concern.

If you are not going to be able to get gallery space, you might want to change your style slightly. On close examination, your furniture looks like it is probably well made and very nice, but it doesn't jump at you from the picture as something you "must have." That, to me, means premium wood and classical finishes. I rarely use stain, as you appear to have, to add character to your wood. Your pictures didn't say "buy me."

As Leo points out, custom work by a solo woodworker is a tough business. You may love being the craftsman, but you are also the janitor, the repairman, the sharpening expert, the salesman, and the marketing person. Not much time left for woodworking. When I retired 12 years ago, I wanted a job that kept me away from the golf course. I have a very fancy shop, all paid for by my sales. I have made a profit every year. But I could not live in the style I have become accustomed to (from my pre-retirement jobs) from my woodworking income. But I am successful in that the golf courses are safe from me.

Click to expand...

Funny, I sold all my tools so I could fit the golf cart in the garage and play golf 4-6 times a week. We have two beautiful courses right outside my door and over the last 17 years I am approaching 3000 rounds.

Do not make the connection that playing often makes you good. I play with a great group of friends so the golf works fine for me.

The last time I played golf, I got two birdies. One in a tree and another on the ground. Both survived. I also got a car and a house. I figure I am doing a service to golf courses to avoid them. Even though we live in the center of a golf course (the course is close enough that I can hear the cuss words as some people tee off), I have had no desire, so "keeping me off the golf course" has become a standing joke.

Generally speaking, the things we make in our small shops it time consuming and very labor intensive.

When we add our time and materials, not to mention overhead, the money we have into something is staggering. Add a decent hourly wage of a professional, not a laborer like a hamburger flipper at Micky Dee's, and the price usually goes quite high. So WHO can buy it?

Click to expand...

Yes. That pretty well sums it up. Example: I have a potential customer for an item she can use in her new restaurant. I can make it but would have to charge a minimum of about $30.00 to barely break even. Similar items can be purchased at Wal-Mart priced at under $10.00 for three. But they are made in China of bamboo. OTOH, the Chinese ones are very attractive and will serve her well. I'm sure the business considerations will have her buying the Chinaboo stuff. I would.

Charlie Plesums said:

The last time I played golf, I got two birdies. One in a tree and another on the ground. Both survived. I also got a car and a house. I figure I am doing a service to golf courses to avoid them. Even though we live in the center of a golf course (the course is close enough that I can hear the cuss words as some people tee off), I have had no desire, so "keeping me off the golf course" has become a standing joke.

Click to expand...

In my junior high and high school years I caddied and even worked on the grounds crew. I was around golf almost every day for years. But the game never appealed to me. When I tried playing I found it very nerve wracking and stressful. Hated it. Never played in later years and never will.

I'm very new to all this myself but I wouldn't have made something like that to sell in the first place, I may be completely wrong about this but the problem (as I see it) is that you have a particular style of chair with a particular colour upholstery which means that you have a much smaller group of potential buyers. Add to that the fact that not everyone will buy custom built furniture & you end up with a very small group of potential buyers.

What you haven't said is what sort of money you are looking for which will probably make a difference, if you are just looking to re coup the material costs to fund your next project then a small add in a local shop window might be enough but if you are hoping to make a business from doing this sort of thing then that sort of approach is unlikely to work