Promotion tips #6, 7, 8, 9: lean into the Felt sellers community

Felt exists to serve a community of NZ makers, artists, and creative craftspeople – and our measure of success is their success. This blog post outlines a few ways of diving into that community for the benefit of yourself and everyone else, as part of our Ten tips to promote your Felt shop series. Be sure to check out the rest of the series here.

6. Use Felt promotional cards, flyers, and posters

The first way of being part of the community of local creative people is to talk about it! At Felt HQ we’ve designed a range of general promotional materials that can also be customised to match your Felt shop address. You can download and print these for yourself, or order from us to get discounted printing rates.

These are useful for a few purposes

  • Hand out cards at markets and events, or pop one in with purchases
  • Include a card with a thank you note in purchased items you are posting out. (Ask them to help promote your Felt shop too!)
  • Put up display posters in your workplace or local cafés that promote local shopping
  • Share posters, flyers or cards with school, neighbourhood and community groups

Many people don’t realise that Felt is a cooperative, owned and operated by local makers. It really is YOUR local marketplace, and taking pride and showcasing it is one way that we can all benefit.

7. “Find me on Felt” cards at markets

Felt has partnerships with many of the largest craft markets in the country, and puts together dedicated collections that showcase Felt sellers who are also at each market. Find me on Felt cards have been showing up at markets and events all over the country for many years, and provide a helpful reminder to market goers that they can find you online also! These cards are also a great way for you to connect with other market vendors/Felt sellers.

Use Find me on Felt cards and other printed items to:

  • Include in photos on social media posts
  • Remind customers at markets that they can find you again online
  • Find and meet other local sellers at markets

8. Attend (or organise) Felt Chapter events

Often times many of us face similar challenges: getting good photos of our creations, social media and promotional ideas, postage and other logistical suppliers. You name it, someone else has figured it out! Many of these challenges will have been solved by other Felt sellers who you could meet by attending or organising a Felt Chapters meet up. Felt Chapters are informal meet ups around the country hosted by people who sell on Felt, and supported and promoted by Felt. Attending Felt Chapters is a great way to:

  • Meet other people interested in making
  • Find supporters, collaborators and solutions to challenges
  • Ask questions and share insights
  • Learn about events and opportunities for makers
  • Get insights into trends and sales from Felt

Here at Felt we are starting to share our latest lessons, tips, and data with organisers of Chapters so they can share it with other sellers in attendance too. Keen to get involved? Check out Felt.co.nz/Chapters for upcoming dates and some details on how to organise more!

9. Connect with other sellers and do joint promotions

Many crafts have clubs, groups, guilds, or associations connected to the craft. Many towns and cities have a local craft/cooperative shop run by creative people. These groups exist to support the development of a particular craft, and/or to make the most of collective promotions locally. Consider approaching other people with Find me on Felt cards at markets, or people you meet at Felt Chapters about doing some collective promotions.

  • Join marketing or pitching to local shops (Felt can help with this)
  • Collective purchasing power for raw materials
  • Social media campaigns
  • Pitching local media stories

Most of us make and sell things because we love being creative and the satisfaction of selling our wares – we should be having fun! Find other creative people who you can work with, and let Felt know what we could be doing to help you on this front!

Stay tuned for our final post in this Ten tips to promote your Felt shop series, looking at sharing your own stories and being proud of your work!