Cumulative Effect of Advertising

Contributed by:  Etteam member, Waterrose

On the Etsy forum I see the question asked over and over again in various forms—

• Is it worth it to have a blog or website?
  
• Is it worth it to advertise with Entrecard and Project Wonderful
• Does it make sense to have Flicker, Facebook, Social Spark, My It Things, or Stylehive,
• Should I spend time in the Forums, Chatroom, or making Treasuries?

I would answer with a resounding yes to all of them! Why? Have you ever noticed that every company that is successful doesn't use just one form of advertising medium. Back in the day, the choices were print, tv, or radio. Look at all of the choices we have today and you say…yes and all of the time I need to spend utilizing all of it. But think about this. The first time you see a logo/brand you may not even click on it. But, then you see it a second time in a different place, then a third time somewhere else. Your curiosity is now whetted and you click. See how this works?

You are thinking, I don't have time to spend doing all of this, keep track of it and make my beautiful creations. That is why if you want to become successful and stay that way you need to set up a marketing campaign. On a calendar or a spreadsheet. ON PAPER! You don't want to advertise all at one time it is better to stagger your campaign and overlap your efforts. So if you are already using Etsy plan the days/hours that you will spend in the forum, or choose how many times a week/month you want to make a treasury, or how often you want to chat. Put all of this on a calendar. Then look at Entrecard and plan your time there. Perhaps begin that campaign in a week or so. Visit Project Wonderful, give yourself a budget of $10, and look for blogs that fit the segment of the population that you want to reach. Set up your Project Wonderful marketing campaign so that it starts in another two weeks and lasts for a month or more.

It is important to have a campaign that is consistent, visible, and ongoing. If you are using the same avatar people will begin recognizing your avatar (which means you should have one that you like really well and is clickable). This is a good reason to create a brand for yourself so that if you like changing your avatar every so often people will still recognize it. Otherwise, you need to keep the same look so that when people see your logo/avatar they say, Oh that is ABC, they make XYZ. Perhaps you want to be known for also making LMN and OPQ. If you create a brand using the same colors, text, or images with a twist for each product it will pull your entire line together and people will recognize you as making all of those products.

Think about the big companies, McDonalds, Apple, Johnson & Johnson, Neiman Marcus, Intel…you may see their brand in TV ads, on radio, on the internet, in print, or on a billboard. Now ask yourself why they advertise in all of these medias. It's because they know that the more you "see" them the more likely it is that you will recognize, feel comfortable, and remember them. You may only see an apple or golden arches without any text, but you immediately know who the advertiser is. Think about Etsy and the colors they use, now when you see that shade of orange don't you think about Etsy? In essence, they are also growing your trust by becoming recognizable which means that you will be more likely to think of them when you want to buy something that they produce. And, how do they do this? By advertising in many mediums over sustained periods of time.