Marketing your woodworking products online is one of the most important things you can do to grow your business. After all, millions of people search for handcrafted, custom furniture every day on the Internet.
Your potential customers are out there—you just have to get in front of them. Here are tips to do that:
1. Design a Responsive and Functional Website
Your products need a home online, and although you can always make a storefront on Etsy or Amazon, it pays to have a website that gives you greater flexibility in design and content.
However, these days, stunning doesn’t cut it for a website anymore. It needs to be responsive and functional. This means texts are easy to read, pages are quick to navigate, and media files like photos and videos are visually appealing.
Customers should be able to complete their buying journey here, which means your store needs to have a secure payment facility.
2. Create a Blog
Blog marketing provides many benefits to a woodworking business. First, writing about your passion will keep you motivated, engaged, and creative. Your readership will grow as you share more content, which means more opportunities for brand awareness.
A blog can also provide useful information to clients interested in your services. By sharing tips on woodworking projects, finishing techniques that work for you, or working environment best practices, your business becomes a go-to place for well-informed woodworkers.
To succeed in blogging, use keywords in your blog post titles and throughout the text to make them easier to find for potential customers. Write about trends in woodworking so that you can show your expertise and attract people who are interested in those topics.
Share photos of your work, including step-by-step shots, and the battery power tools you use to help people see how your products are made and inspire them to buy.
Respond to comments and questions from readers as this will show that you’re engaged with your audience and care about their experience.
3. Use Social Media Strategically
Social media is one of the cost-effective marketing tools for woodworking businesses. Not only are they popular, but they are also easy to use and track. However, you need to be strategic in setting up your social media channels as it is easy to spread yourself too thin across too many networks.
You can start with Facebook and Twitter, but don’t neglect other platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest, and even LinkedIn as they provide unique ways for people to engage with your products and services.
Use social media not only to educate but also to engage. Post tutorials on YouTube and other sites that teach viewers how to build specific projects. Participate in groups related to your industry where you can give advice based on lessons learned through your years of experience or knowledge about the latest woodworking news.
Engagement helps build relationships with potential customers who may eventually become clients, so be sure you’re engaging with people without being too pushy or sales-y.
4. Sell in Different Marketplaces
Sell your products on Etsy, eBay, or other online marketplaces. You might not have time to sell all of your items yourself, so why not outsource the work? Once you post photographs and descriptions of your pieces on these sites, let the Internet handle the rest.
Sites like this also make it easy for buyers to get in touch with you if they’re interested in purchasing something from your portfolio. Etsy even makes it possible for buyers to pay via PayPal.
Just be sure that you understand any fees or percentage of sale that you’ll have to provide once someone decides to purchase something from your site—and factor the costs into your pricing.
5. Don’t Forget the Offline World
Although it’s convenient for people to buy things online, they still want to see what they’re buying.
So hold shop events where prospective customers can see your work in person. This way, if they like what they see, you can sell your pieces right then and there. You may also get suggestions or feedback that will help you improve your future projects.
Another excellent space for an offline woodworking business is at local fairs and festivals, especially those with crafts-themed booths. Craft fairs are also great portfolio-building opportunities. Show off how good of a woodworker you are by getting some positive feedback from real-life customers who can give their honest opinion on woodwork you’ve done.
There’s no end to what you can do in order to promote your woodworking business. Start by looking at the marketing channels that are the most cost-effective for you and then determine where you can get the highest return on investment.