Ah, the mini store events...they go a long way toward getting my jewelry "out there". All in all in the world of marketing, a pretty great idea.
The mini store events are actually jewelry showings I host in my own home. I make a list of everyone in my area I can think of, create invitations, hand deliver or mail them, and then I set up the displays in my livingroom.
While I did set up these events to gain customers and to create a customer mailing list, I also used these events for creating new ways to display my jewelry (pictured above: the lollipop necklace display was done by my daughter and we worked together on the earring display), something I expected to get better at the more often I tried doing it. (The two displays below are from the 2nd mini event, which my son and daughter both helped me to set up. There are about 114 pairs of earrings on the earring table that I had previously packaged separately, so you can imagine why I'd need help with the setup. Whew!)
It does look as though I am getting better at this, which is great in case I decide that I want to do craft shows again. I must now get better at setting the displays up faster...
It's always something, isn't it? Never stop learning...
I have done three mini store events now and am about to do my 4th and final event for the season. (I may do one or two more at the very end of 2008...maybe.) It's going to be rather interesting because it will happen just before Mother's Day. Not just that...I'll be holding it on a Friday evening instead of a Saturday...AND...I'm considering holding a 2nd event on Saturday as well, but I think I'll invite a whole different group of people...
I will keep mulling that Saturday over, letting it "marinate", if you will... Meanwhile, I'll be spending this week posting brand new jewelry PLUS some de-stash items in my web store at http://www.marquina.etsy.com/.
("De-stash", by the way, refers to thinning out a stash of items once you've collected a lot of stuff - in my case, this includes things related to making jewelry and, since I used to sew, sewing items I no longer use. Just FYI...)
The mini store events are actually jewelry showings I host in my own home. I make a list of everyone in my area I can think of, create invitations, hand deliver or mail them, and then I set up the displays in my livingroom.
While I did set up these events to gain customers and to create a customer mailing list, I also used these events for creating new ways to display my jewelry (pictured above: the lollipop necklace display was done by my daughter and we worked together on the earring display), something I expected to get better at the more often I tried doing it. (The two displays below are from the 2nd mini event, which my son and daughter both helped me to set up. There are about 114 pairs of earrings on the earring table that I had previously packaged separately, so you can imagine why I'd need help with the setup. Whew!)
It does look as though I am getting better at this, which is great in case I decide that I want to do craft shows again. I must now get better at setting the displays up faster...
It's always something, isn't it? Never stop learning...
I have done three mini store events now and am about to do my 4th and final event for the season. (I may do one or two more at the very end of 2008...maybe.) It's going to be rather interesting because it will happen just before Mother's Day. Not just that...I'll be holding it on a Friday evening instead of a Saturday...AND...I'm considering holding a 2nd event on Saturday as well, but I think I'll invite a whole different group of people...
I will keep mulling that Saturday over, letting it "marinate", if you will... Meanwhile, I'll be spending this week posting brand new jewelry PLUS some de-stash items in my web store at http://www.marquina.etsy.com/.
("De-stash", by the way, refers to thinning out a stash of items once you've collected a lot of stuff - in my case, this includes things related to making jewelry and, since I used to sew, sewing items I no longer use. Just FYI...)
