Woolyn’s event sign highlights a vibrant lineup of crochet, weaving, and knitting gatherings, inviting fiber lovers to join the fun.
Instagram is my jam.
– Sally Moore
Keeping in touch with your audience is key to any business today. Whether it’s a traditional newsletter, a YouTube channel, social media like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, or some of the newer platforms like Blue Sky and Threads, staying connected with your customer base is key – even if they haven’t bought from you. Yet.
Craft marketing guru, Leanne Pressly says, “Don’t underestimate the importance of a newsletter. It helps build community.” It’s also a powerful driver of sales, appearing right in your customers’ inbox on a regular basis. When asked how important the Brooklyn General Store newsletter is, owner Catherine Clark said, “Very important!” Clark has been sending out a Saturday morning newsletter for years as a goodwill gesture for the community. “It always results in a bump in sales, even if it’s not directly related to the newsletter’s theme or featured products.” (Try subscribing to a few newsletters from shops you admire to get ideas for the types of content you might include in yours.)
For more information on the topics covered in this chapter, check out these Craft Industry Alliance resources:
Article: Shop Hop Inc Boosts Business for Hundreds of Quilt Shops
TIP: If you have an existing newsletter prior to opening your shop, your mailing list is the beginning of your customer base. And it grows organically: Every time someone forwards an email newsletter, it’s another potential customer. Leeanne Pressly outlines how important social media is to a marketing strategy in this post.
Blogging is another tried and true way of engaging with your customers and sharing information. My Sister Knits in Fort Collins, Colorado blogs weekly to keep customers informed on new products, trends, and events.
Many craft bloggers have moved to Substack, which is kind of a newsletter and blog hybrid. Substack entries come into your email inbox, or you can access them on their mobile app. Veteran blogger Jane Brocket, posted about her reasons for migrating her blog, Yarnstorm, to Substack after being a blogger for many years.
Substacker Astrid Bracke posts about how to use the platform here,
Your Social Life
Sally Moore of Parker Avenue Knits says Instagram is her social mainstay. Every Sunday morning, she religiously does an upbeat “Instagram Live” that’s a combo product and project update, pep talk, and political commentary. She’s not concerned about alienating viewers because she knows who her core audience is and is playing to them. They are predominantly urban and aligned with inner city issues, and concerned about how the current political climate will affect them.
Brooklyn General Store has a beautiful and entertaining Instagram feed with a large following that features Catherine Clark’s stunning colorwork knitting designs and scenes shot in the shop. Clark says it’s harder to quantify the financial boost from social media than the newsletter but sees it as a necessary aspect of business. In fact, she has recently added TikTok to the repertoire and has been surprised by the positive response to her posts. “It’s definitely a younger demographic,” she laughs. “I posted my Ixchel pattern, which has been around since 2018, and it got 20K views.” The intricate phases of the moon colorwork sweater was new to the TikTok audience, and opened up a potential new customer segment to Brooklyn General Store.
TIP: Pressly suggests, “Reserve your company name on all social, even if you don’t plan to use it right now.” Things can change rapidly – like people fleeing Meta for newer platforms, and it’s important to be visible and findable.
Cooperative Spirit
Yarn crawls and shop hops have been around for a while, but they still offer a tried-and-true way to work with other stores in your area in a collaborative way. Brooklyn General Store participates in both the New York City and Brooklyn yarn shop crawls. There are five yarn and craft shops that participate in the annual April event, which Clark describes as, “Amazing!” It’s a way for the shops to work together for the benefit of everyone, create excitement, and bring new business in. Crawl-branded merch, custom yarns, colors, and designs are some of the ways shops draw customers in. “We are looking at ways to encourage crawlers to visit every shop, even though we are quite spread out.”
Karin Strom
contributor
Karin Strom has worked in the yarn industry for many years. She was the editor-in-chief of Yarn Market News, editorial director at Interweave, and most recently editor of the premier print issue of Farm & Fiber Knits. She has served as creative director and consultant for yarn companies and publishers. Karin lives, gardens, and knits in an 1850s farmhouse in northwest New Jersey. Find her on Instagram @yarnstrom.
