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Did you ever stumble upon the concept of email marketing for artists?

If yes. Then, you would know about the various benefits it brings.

If not, then you must read further to know about it.

What is Email Marketing For Artists?

It is the use of emails to engage and sell art to patrons. Most of the time, it involves updating the subscribers about the latest products. Furthermore, it facilitates offering digital art forms to download. Plus, it can also communicate about upcoming events and exhibitions through newsletters.

Email marketing is an effective means for an artist to retain and grow their audience.

Why Artists Should Do Email Marketing

1.     Point of Contact With Audience

Emails work as a direct point of contact with the audience. That means you can start communicating with them the moment they land on your contact list.

Consider your email list like a tribe of like-minded people. That means there is a strong connection with your subscribers. 

This to and fro flow of information is the biggest advantage of email marketing. It enables building strong connections around your handmade business niche. 

You can have personalized conversations with every person on your list. This leads to a strong network that facilitates fulfilling business goals.

2.     Effective and Everlasting Marketing Activity

Every digital marketing guru talks about the high ROI for email marketing. It makes sense to listen to them and learn from their experience. Though until you direct your focus on making email a priority. You will not understand the difference that it brings to your handmade business.

Instagram for artists works well to build a following. But in comparison to social media marketing, the sense of recall is higher with mail. An email subscriber would be more interested in your craft than a social media follower.  Thus, staying in touch with your email list proves fruitful in the long run.

Moreover, email marketing is not subjected to algorithm changes like social media. Therefore, email marketing has fewer changes to adapt to, unlike social media. 

3.     Helps Sell Affiliate Products for Wholesome Earnings

In the initial days of starting an artist journey, it is difficult to sell your artwork. There is a lot that goes into updating the target audience about your craft.

In those times, you can make money as an artist by doing affiliate marketing. 

It makes sense to sell products that complement your artwork. That way you help your audience to have a wholesome experience of your art.

With email marketing, it is easy to sell products to your subscribers on autopilot. The welcome sequences keep introducing products to every new person on your list. This further leads to sales that bring passive revenue to make a living. 

Selling affiliate products is a huge benefit of email marketing for creative makers. 

Some of the examples of affiliate marketing through emails for artists are:

1. If you make handmade soaps, you can sell loofahs and soap making tools.
2. If you make handmade jewelry, you can do an affiliate marketing of jewelry boxes.  
3. Or if you make money through woodworking projects. Then, you can mail your audience about buying chainsaw or other handyman tools. 

How Artists Can Make Use Of Emails For Selling

1.     Offer A Lead Magnet a.k.a Freebie Digital Art

If you receive my newsletters, then chances are that you subscribed to my list via a freebie.

In technical terms, the content that makes a viewer provide their consent to stay in touch is a lead magnet. In the popular culture of digital marketing, Freebie is the term used for the lead magnet.

A freebie is one of the best ways to test an email marketing strategy. There are different ways to figure out freebies for email marketing. But if you are precise about what artwork you will sell. Then, the freebie that acts as a precursor to selling that artwork works the best. Hence, a digital version of art/sculpture works as a good lead magnet.

You must have noticed a lot of free lead magnets for various articles on this website. A visual flow of the email marketing strategy for artists is the freebie for this article. 

2.     Share Your Craft Through Newsletters

The process of creating art interests the readers. Therefore, if you share with them how you go about making your crafts, it enthralls them.

Sending periodic newsletters is a great way to achieve that connection. 

An artist’s work consists of several processes with unique elements. Letting your readers know about them is a great way to include them in your craft.

Being active in communicating with your readers through your work creates strong bonds. Furthermore, these bonds lead your audience to buy your artwork. In a best-case scenario, a few artists are even able to presell their art through email marketing.

3.     Promote Your Exhibitions/ Shows

As of writing this post, the pandemic is on. Thus, in the current scenario craft shows and exhibitions are out of scope.

But the good part is that selling through online art blogs and stores is at an all-time high. Irrespective of whether you are seeking success through art exhibitions or through websites. You always have the option to promote to those who are a part of your email list.

This comes as a major advantage since one e-invite works for a large group of people.

What Are the Best Email Provider for Artists

To put email marketing for artists into action, you need email marketing software.

There are a few options that are free up to a certain number of email subscribers. But those free ones have a limit on full-blown features vis-a-vis the paid ones. 

The best email marketing providers come with an upfront cost. But that cost gets adjusted with the revenue you make due to their advanced features. 

This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you purchase any of the products mentioned in this article through routing via the links in this post. Then, I may end up receiving a certain monetary percentage from the sale. Though the one who purchases through the link does not end up paying anything extra apart from the mentioned MRP on the product. Full disclosures on the Affiliate Page.

I have used a few of them for this website. My experience is as follows:

1.     Mailchimp

I started email marketing with a Mailchimp account since it is free for up to 2000 subscribers. Their policies do not allow affiliate marketing. Thus, I looked for Mailchimp alternatives for facilitating monetization. 

2.     MailerLite

It is free for the first 1000 subscribers. I could never use them since they did not approve of my website.

3.     Convertkit 

I used their freemium account when they had some promotions. I liked them, but their cost hurts my profit margins. So, I made a switch from them as well.

4.     Aweber

They allow selling affiliates, unlike the competition. But their automation features are basic. Thus, I did not continue beyond their one-month freemium service.

5.     GetResponse

This is my current and most favorite email marketing service provider. Its review deserves a separate post. But in brevity, its distinguishing features are its :

• Automation options
• Ease of facilitating affiliate marketing, and
• Low cost

Conclusion

If as an artist you find yourself struggling with questions such as:

“How Do I Market Myself As An Artist”                        

“How Do I Get My Art Noticed”

Then, investing in email marketing is one of the best solutions.

It not only helps you put your latest creations in front of your audience. But it also helps you make money as an artist.

There are several ways to use email marketing to your advantage. But to do the same, you cannot rely on free email providers. Switching to a robust service with good deliverability helps you automate the process. 

Before you end up wasting resources on other expensive tactics to sell your handmade art. Do try your hands at email marketing to enjoy long term fruitful benefits.

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Did the meager sales on Etsy of your handmade business ideas make you rethink your business plan? 

Or did you start your craft business without planning? No matter what you did before, you can still start afresh to improve your business. 

Knowing what you are selling and knowing who you are selling to brings clarity in business. 

Chances are that you might be going wrong in any of the above factors. You can improve on them to better align your products with your targeted customers. 

If you wish to know more about exploring creative handmade businesses. Then, you can read further —–>

7 Remarkable Handmade Business Ideas That You Need to Know

The popular things to make and sell fall under a few major categories. You can consider these categories as WHY and your craft as HOW to fulfill the needs of the market.  The alphabetical list of those categories are:

Broad Categories of Handmade Products List 

1. Art and Memorabilia
2. Baby Collection
3. Beauty and Grooming
4. Celebration and Party
5. Clothing and Shoes
6. Craft Supplies and Tools
7. Gardening and Outdoors
8. Home, Kitchen, and Living
9. Jewelry and Accessories
10. Pets Collection
11. Prints and Stationery
12. Sports 
13. Toys and Games
14. Vintage
15. Wedding Collection
16. Holiday and Seasonal Events 

The above mentioned categories include most of the handmade business ideas. But if you are looking for specific ones which you can start with minimal investments. Then, you should know about —–>

7 Home Business Ideas With Low Startup Costs

1.     Paper Crafts 

Paper is one of the most inexpensive materials to start a craft business. It brings in myriad opportunities to generate art. 

The most popular handmade business to start with paper are as follows: 

• Quilling
• Papier Mache
• Origami
• Lanterns
• Cards
• Recycled Book Art
• Notebooks and Organizers
• Paintings
• Creative Handmade Paper

Also, most of the papercrafts are lightweight. Thus, packaging and shipping paper art is easy and economical.

Most of us know how to play with paper. But it is easy to upgrade skills with experience and the resources available online.

2.     Fiber Art

If you got the knack to deal with a crochet hook or knitting needles. Then, you can start selling crafts made with threads and fiber online.

The tools to create fiber art do not cost much. But you need to have enough finesse to bring beauty to your creations. But the low priced materials do not imply low selling costs for makers. A few Etsy sellers make multiple figures business by selling chunky yarn blankets. Though the best part is that those oversized blankets do not require needles. You can knot them with your bare hands. 

There are various options for fiber art handmade business. A few of the options are:

• Create and Sell Macrame Art
• Embroidered Art Projects
• Crochet Crafts
• Knitting Crafts
• Rugs Making
• Lace Making
• String Art

You can start creating and selling friendship bracelets and hoop earrings anytime.

3.     Small Woodworking Crafts 

Woodworking is one of the most popular hobbies among men worldwide. Though a lot of women also make money woodworking. 

Projects like furniture and musical instruments can get both bulky and complicated. That is why not all wood projects count as business ideas with low investment.  

But there are several ones that you can create for a few dollars but sell for almost 10 times the cost. Most of them involve the use of wood slices. 

You can invest in buying slices in bulk to create several projects.

4.     Recycled Crafts 

This category of crafts involves products made from discarded materials. That makes it obvious that these crafts are low on investment. 

The market exists for recycled crafts from almost every discarded material. Wine barrels, pop tabs, bottles, obsolete gadgets, and even old clothes find use. 

If you are a creative person buzzing with handmade business ideas. Then, you have limitless options to create recycled crafts. Plus, since the cost of raw materials is almost nil. Hence, you will end up with the most successful small business ideas.  

5.     Bath and Body Products

Creating artisan toiletries is one of my favorite handmade business ideas. Handmade soaps, bath bombs, and scrubs are easy to make. A basic bar of soap requires a carrier oil and lye.

But you can create several variations by learning how to balance different oils with lye. 

The beauty of this handmade business is that you can start at home. Then, as your business grows, you can switch to professional premises. But to increase your profit margins, you must stick to a niche. Else your brand will fade away amongst the competition.

6.     Candles

Much like the soaps, candle making is a low investment handmade startup.

There is a huge scope in selling natural hand-poured soy and beeswax candles. Moreover, there are various options to customize with fragrances and swag art.

The tools and equipment are a one-time investment cost. Though the base wax is an ongoing cost. You can reduce the costs by buying the wax, dyes, and wicks in bulk.

7.     Paintings, Sketches, Mandalas

Drawings and paintings are the common universal ways of creating and selling art. There is always a demand for sketches, caricatures, wall art, mandalas, and pop-up art.

Furthermore, customization brings in a lot more revenue if you start getting customers. 

For selling hand-drawn art, colors, time, and skillsets are the most important element. 

The more you engross in your craft, the better will be the results. 

Once you develop yourself as an artist brand. You can jumpstart your creative business that is not expensive on the pocket. 

Conclusion

Today is the best time to put your handmade business ideas to work. There is no dearth of handmade marketplaces like Etsy and Amazon Handmade. Thus, the opportunities for sale and showcasing your work are also many.

If you are clear about what you would like to sell. Then, the next obvious step is to start investing in a craft blog to push sales. Else, you can select a niche and start testing the markets with low investment projects.

The list of 7 projects in this article will help you monetize your creative passion in an informed way.

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Do you own a successful soap making business? Then, do you know what is your soap business profit margin. If not, then, what is it that one thing that makes it a success? 

Does your business bring in enough money to cover your bills? Or it brings way more than that? 

Is it that you get repeat orders from loyal customers? Or your stores run out of products? 

Do you know how much profits you make per bar of soap? Are you happy with the profits or would you want to make more profits in your handmade business? 

If you keep asking these questions. Then, you should read further.

How to Make More Profits in a Soap Business

Calculating the soap business profit margin is an important aspect of understanding profits. That is why you should know —–>

How to Calculate the Soap Business Profit Margin

Profit is the difference between revenue and expense. This difference lets you know how much money you made. But it does not help you know how good that profit is. Meaning it does not tell you if you can sustain your business. 

To determine if your handmade business is on the road to success, you need to know the profit margin. 

Profit margin refers to the amount you make per dollar sales. If you sell more than one product. Then, the profit margin indicates how much you make in your entire sales portfolio. 

Hence, it is important to go beyond profit to know your soap business profit margin. The more the profit margin, the more money you have at your disposal. The profit margin helps you know how successful your business will be in the long run. 

The simple calculation for the same is as follows: 

Profit Margin = Revenue – Costs/ Revenue *100 

In the above formula, you should include all your costs. So, it can have the cost of equipment that is a one-time purchase along with the regular materials cost. 

For example, if your costs for a batch of soaps are as follows: 

1. Carrier oils – 200 $ 

2. Essential oils – 100$ 

3. Packaging, Labelling, and Shipping – 100$ 

4. *Utensils – 500$ 

5. Revenue – 1000$ 

Then, we can calculate the Profit Margin as follows: 

[1000 – (200+100+100+500/100)]/1000*100 = 59.50% 

* Since it is a one-time cost, it is divided by 100. It is an assumption that the utensils will last to make 100 batches of soap.

That means for every 1$ spent, you are earning almost 60 cents. Then, by all means, these numbers show a healthy business.

As a handmade business owner, your soap business profit margin should keep increasing. Therefore, it is essential to know —–>

How to Increase Profits in a Soap Business

  1.     Reduce the Cost of Soap Making Supplies

This one is the universal rule of business to increase the profit margin. But you have to practice it with caution.

Reducing the cost of supplies can hurt the quality of the final product. Therefore, instead of using cheap supplies, you should buy them in bulk. That way you will be able to reduce the cost of raw materials without compromising the quality.

But to execute this you must know your sales figures. It is important to know your current sales figures so that you can —–>

2.     Increase Your Sales Volume

To increase your sales volume, it is important to know what your current average sales are.

If you know your average sales volume per month. Then, you can identify what factors contribute to it. That way you will be able to do more sales by increasing the factors that increase sales.

For instance, during fall, pumpkin spice soaps could see an upsurge.  Or charcoal soaps may form the bulk of sales every month. Both of these sales trends can give valuable data on customer shopping preferences.

If you can pinpoint trends from your sales data. Then, you can use it to boost your sales. 

3.     Improve Your Soap Distribution Business

Shipping and logistics form a significant cost in the business. That is why it is necessary to keep them low to increase the soap business profit margin.

Because we are living in a pandemic era, in-store purchases are an all-time low. Hence, shipping the products via postal services is the new normal.

Hence, to save costs, the soap business should strive for the cheapest shipping rates. A lot of it depends on where you live and where your customer lives as well as the weight/volume of your soaps. For the same, you can use services like Pirate Ship to bring down your shipping expenses. 

4.     Reduce Your Marketing Expenses

Marketing is the necessary evil that no business can do without. Irrespective of the stage that a business is in, it has to invest in marketing. 

Print/TV/billboard ads are beyond beginner handmade business entrepreneurs. But they can promote craft business with digital marketing which is low in expense. Furthermore, digital alternatives deliver marketing goals despite being cheaper than the traditional ones.

5.     Diversify Into Appropriate Extensions

Once you know what ticks with your customers. Then, it is easy to funnel them into similar products that pique their interests.

Meaning if you know that unicorn-themed soaps sell the best. Then, instead of coming up with a new theme of soaps. You can rather introduce other unicorn based bath and body products. So, the options could be bath bombs, scrubs, or lotions with a unicorn theme.

This way you get to dive deeper into your handmade business niche. This in turn increases your chances to make more sales. Thus, more the chances of better profit margins.

How to Make a Good Profit Margin in Soap Manufacturing from the Beginning?

  1.     Start With a Solid Business Plan

If your business cannot talk numbers. Then, trust me you will never be confident about its profitability.

Sales and expenses determine how much money you bring to the table.

One of the best ways to have a sustainable creative business is to come with a handmade business plan.

A plan lets you visualize how to achieve financial goals with your handmade products. Though a business plan may seem daunting for the novice creative entrepreneur. But it is fine to determine and track only the basics in the initial stages. 

Average product price, expenses, and time to break even are some of the crucial figures in the plan.

2.     Understand the Niche That You Are Selling To

Every successful handmade business upscales by staying true to its niche. In simple terms, a niche refers to the branding that you have built for your enterprise.

The branding helps the audience understand what your business is all about. If you can communicate to your audience what you do as a business. Then, the next step of expanding becomes much easier.

If you are doubtful about your handmade business niche. Then, sit back and think who would be your ideal customer. From there you will get answers to most of your questions.

This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you purchase any of the products mentioned in this article through routing via the links in this post. Then, I may end up receiving a certain monetary percentage from the sale. Though the one who purchases through the link does not end up paying anything extra apart from the mentioned MRP on the product. Full disclosures on the Affiliate Page.

3.     Build and Serve a Loyal Fan Base

If you have experience in running a business. Then, you would agree with the fact that it is much easier to serve existing clients than to find new ones.

Thus, it is important to stay connected with customers. For the same, newsletters work the best. They are a cost-effective means to update about your new product line and offers.

Moreover, unlike social media, newsletter services are not subjected to algorithm changes. That means there is not a constant learning curve that will keep you away from your business. Rather, with time it will become one of the best marketing channels for your business.

Conclusion

If you intend to start a soap making business. Then, you must grow and nurture it.

Growth requires a sustainable healthy soap business profit margin.

That means an increase in your profit margins should be an ongoing activity.

Selling more soaps and keeping expenses to a minimum ensures good profitability. But apart from that, you should also invest in appropriate marketing channels. That is how all the cumulative efforts bring in holistic gains.

Do you own an artisan soap making business? What do you do to maintain healthy profits?

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