Sunday 30 December 2012

Forget New Year's Resolutions

New Year's Resolutions are so last year!

This article from Venture Village is well worth reading. It will put your ideas of success and failure into perspective. (go with the weird fish analogy, it'll make sense)

Click to read this....



And it got me thinking. In Europe 2009, I was a stay-at-home mother and part-time artist. If a gypsy had foretold my life in 2012, I would have been impressed and slightly disbelieving:

  • running a bona-fide art and fabric design business in Australia.
  • created an online design-your-own chair website
  • featured in Vogue Living, Home Beautiful, House & Garden and other major press.
  • successfully grasping and utilising social media to cross-channel market My Bespoke Chair.

So this NYE I will sit back with a glass of bubbly and savour my achievements. Then I shall get back to self-flagellation, a huge To Do List and high expectations.


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Wednesday 19 December 2012

Love is...Facebook?

Facebook - we can't seem to live without it. It's a love/hate thing.



I'm hooked. I can't go a day without a fix, spending hours trying to visually map this vast on-line community. And no, I'm not just stalking people, posting pictures of fancy dress parties or letting you know about my latest blog post....

I've been spending my marketing dollars on various Facebook ads to build awareness of My Bespoke Chair and to create an online community. The page I set up for My Bespoke Chair has grown hugely since I launched on Nov 1st. And so far, I'm fairly happy with the results, gaining an average of 87 Likes per week.

It's a case of trail and error. Testing which types of ads get the biggest bang for my buck:
Wide audience v. a tightly targeted audience. Ads for page Likes v. ads driving traffic directly to the website. Ads with offers v. ads with information. Clicks v. Impressions {still baffled a bit about this one...}

But, these have worked well for My Bespoke Chair:
  • Ads for page Likes, both wide and targeted audience. {the concept seems to have wide appeal}
  • Ads for Free Delivery which links to the website.
  • $5/$10 Promoted posts to fans and their friends.
  • Impressions come out with more actions than Clicks {again, not sure if this is a good thing}
My biggest marketing expense to date has been engaging a Social Media Strategist to give the business a "health check" and strategic overview. Although I have basic social media experience, it was a good exercise in learning solid, proven methods in social media marketing and converting engagement into sales. Working alone, I also appreciated cold, hard facts and advice. Friends and family tend to praise pretty much everything! {though, please keep it coming; it's like a glowing hug}

Some points from my social media health check:
  • The unique nature of product and customer experience makes social media an obvious channel to capitalise on.
  • Spend $100 per week on Facebook marketing.
  • 80-100 new Likes per week is good growth.
  • Focus on Facebook marketing for first 1-3 months - fast, broad market penetration.
  • Stick to Australian market for 1-6 months before launching on a global platform.
  • Utilise Pinterest as a secondary channel to share merchandise and brand image.
  • Develop brand personality with individual personality {me} to appeal to target market.
  • Focus on reaching out to key social influencers to capitalise on shared audience. {bloggers, vloggers, brand ambassadors}
  • Cross-promote social channels to grow communities and engagement.
So see you all on Facebook....let's face it, we're addicted. 

P.S But Zuckerberg had better watch out - we getting fed up with only a % of Likers seeing our page posts. But that's a blog for another time.



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