You did it! 

Congratulations for completing the Handmade Business Bootcamp.

I know there was a lot of work in this course, so if you’ve done it all – wow, well done!

If you haven’t… don’t beat yourself up. You can finish it in your own time.

The blog posts will be up here on the site forever.

I’d love to know how you found the boot camp – please leave a comment below and let me know, or share your thoughts in the FB group. 

Did it help you? Should we do it again next year together? What was your biggest takeaway?

Now – go relax, celebrate, and congratulate yourself on a job well done.

Here’s to your best year in biz yet!

Action Steps

1. Congratulate yourself on a job well done!! 

2. Come over to the FB group and share your biggest take-away from this course. 

Today you’re going to create a weekly marketing schedule. 

Yesterday, you put together a bunch of ideas for the types and frequency of posts to different platforms.

Now it’s time to organise them.

There is no one ‘right’ way to do this, but I’m going to give you a few suggestions.

The key is: don’t make it complicated

And remember – this is your regular, every-single-week tasks.

You will no doubt have extra marketing tasks arise as you prepare for events – like markets and shows – but they are ON TOP of these regular, habitual tasks.

What you’re scheduling in today should be done every single week, without fail.

First – you could use a board on Trello.

You could have a separate board, with a list for each day, like this:

Or, you could have all your tasks in one list, within your weekly planning board.

This way, you can have a ‘Weekly Marketing Tasks’ list, and a ‘Marketing Tasks Completed’ list, and just move your tasks from one to the other as you do them, to keep track.

Then, move them all back at the start of a new week.

Of course, you may prefer paper – in which case, I’ve made this very simple print-and-fill pdf for you!

Simply make a note of your 2-3 tasks for each day, then stick it on your wall to remind you!

A plan is only as good as its implementation – so don’t over-commit.

Start by scheduling only what you KNOW you can commit to, then, if you succeed at that, you can start adding in more marketing tasks.

If you tend to forget these tasks, you might even want to schedule them into your calendar app so it reminds you each day!

When it comes to content ideas, it might help you to also have a ‘theme’ schedule.

So, if you’re posting to IG every day, have a bank of post types – such as:

• photo of a finished item
• work in progress
• videos of parts of the making process
• studio shot
• model/in-use shot
• cat photo (;D)
• selfie

… whatever works for you. Then, you can rotate around through these post types.

Or, you can be even more strict and have a theme for each day of the week.

The idea here is to make marketing as easy and choice-paralysis-free as possible. Do what works for you.

Action Steps

1. Create your daily marketing calendar, using whatever method works for you.

So you’ve locked in the big events for the year, which is a great start… but successful marketing comes down to routine and repetition.

Today it’s time to make a list of the regular, habitual marketing tasks that you are going to be undertaking every week.

Start with the marketing tools you decided on lesson 17.

How will you use each of these tools on a weekly basis?

Here are some possible examples.

Email marketing: commit to sending one email per week.

Instagram: decide to post a Reel 3x per week.

PR: send two emails to bloggers per week.

SEO: Update 2 listings per week.

Pull out your list, and decide how much work you can commit to on a weekly basis for each marketing platform.

Make a list of the exact tasks you are going to do. Bonus points if you do a bit of research on content ideas, too!

Tomorrow we’re going to put together a day-by-day marketing plan, using the commitments you make in today’s lesson.

Action Steps

1. Using the marketing tools you committed to earlier in the week, make a list of the exact, actionable tasks you are going to take each week.

2. Bonus step – make/find a list of content ideas for each platform – for example, a list of the types of posts you can make to FB, or ideas for your mailing list. Check the workshops page – there are a number of workshops that may help you with this.

It’s time to start tackling your marketing plans for the year!

We’re going to start big and work our way down.

So, today the focus is on finding or creating major promo opportunities for the year, and scheduling them in.

What these activities are will vary depending on your Ideal Customer and what you make.

Want to do a certain market or Trade Show?

Schedule it in – even if you’re not sure if you’ve got a spot yet.

If you haven’t found any yet – sit down and do your research.

You’ll probably find for the major shows you need to apply months in advance!

Got a certain holiday (Mother’s or Father’s Day, for example) that you want to target for a sales promo?

Make sure you know not only when it is – but how long before the event you need to do your marketing.

Is a month long enough before the event to get people buying, get their items made, and get them shipped out before the holiday? Work out the timelines.

Do you want to create a few of your own launches this year, for new lines or new designs?

Look at your calendar and work out when would be the best time! Then lock it in.

The reason I suggest you do this all in one go is that you can then ensure you’re spreading out your major promo events throughout the year, rather than jamming too many in a short span of time.

Or, missing out because a date/event crept up on you before you were ready!

By looking at it from a year-level view, you can make sure you’re doing regular events to boost your sales, and that events are far enough apart that the work to market them doesn’t burn you out.

Action Steps

1. Determine your major promo events for the year, and schedule them into your calendar (especially a whole-year wall calendar if you have one, so you can see the year at a glance!)

Now you’re clear on who your Ideal Customer is, and the venue/s you’re going to focus on for this year, it’s time to narrow down your chosen marketing tools.

Just because others are using Instagram, doesn’t mean you have to. Ditto for any other marketing tool.

It’s up to you to work out what marketing tools and avenues suit you, your lifestyle, your Ideal Customer, and your chosen sales venues.

Here is a list of some of the possibilities:

• Facebook (your page and local community pages/handmade pages)
• Instagram
• Tiktok
• X (Twitter)
• SEO
• Email Marketing
• PR (blogs, magazines, TV)
• Guest posting on blogs
• Flyer Drops
• Newspaper ads
• Magazine ads
• Retail Sales
• Celebrity Features/Influencers
• Trade Shows
• Pinterest
• Markets/shows/expos
• The side of your car
• The local community noticeboard
• Online directories
• Postcard mailouts
• Sponsoring events

… and the list goes on. 

My recommendation is that you choose 2-3 to focus on for the year.

Yes, you can of course experiement with others, but chose to commit to those 2-3 marketing tools and really throw yourself into learning everything you can about them, and how to make them work for you.

Remember – if you’re focusing on online sales – then market online.

Email newsletters, Instagram, and SEO might make the most sense. Or maybe Tiktok, especially if your Ideal Customer is younger!

If your focus is on getting your work into shops or galleries, then you need to focus on marketing to THEM, not just the end customer.

You might want to focus on trade shows, postcard mailouts, and an exclusive email newsletter for your stockists.

Action Steps

1. Choose 2-3 marketing tools/strategies to focus on in 2024.

2. Share what you’re going to use – and why – in the FB group!

Now you’re clear on your Ideal Customer – you need to decide what sales venue you’re going to focus on in 2024.

This might be a super-easy day for you – you may already be very clear on the sales venues you want to focus on this year.

However, if you’re not… now’s the time to think about where your Ideal Customer is likely to go to find what you make – and try to make sure that your work is there.

I’ll give you an example. My friend Megan Auman – who is a metalsmith – focuses a big chunk of her business on gaining wholesale sales to gallery shops around America.

Why? Because she knows who her ideal customer is, and where they are likely to shell out hundreds of dollars on one of her designs.

She can only do this because she knows her Ideal Customer.

If she was trying to sell her jewellery to boho boutiques, it just wouldn’t work – because that’s not the style of her (very modern) work, or the style of her Ideal Customer.

My Ideal Customer for Epheriell jewellery isn’t the same as hers.

Mine shops online. They don’t necessarily enjoy ‘browsing’ shops (at least half are men) – they have a goal (a wedding ring), an idea of what they want (not traditional) and they value handmade.

So – they go somewhere like Etsy or just Google what they’re after.

When it comes to deciding where you’re going to sell your work, you need to make sure the venue you choose makes sense.

Don’t try to sell somewhere just because ‘that’s what other people are doing’.

Think about your brand, your style, and the lifestyle of your Ideal Customer, and let that guide you.

Why is this important? Because where you choose to sell will effect your marketing efforts – the topic for the rest of this week.

Action Steps

1. Work out your ideal venue/s – whether online, markets, or a segment of retail.

2. Share your thought processes and questions in the FB group if you’re struggling to narrow this down!