5 reasons why your Etsy shop needs a marketing system
Have you ever fallen down the rabbit hole of Etsy and been insanely jealous of shop after shop after shop that just seemed to be OVERFLOWING with sales while your product was just as good (and let’s face it—maybe even better) and you are still hustling hard every. single. day. just to hear that one *cha-ching.*
It’s like every other seller on Etsy knows some mystical, magical secret about making sales and somehow you got left out of the loop.
I’ve got some good news for you, my friend: There is NO “mystical, magical secret” to making sales on Etsy. Those power sellers on Etsy?
Well, they have a little somethin’ somethin’ in place known as a marketing system.
Now maybe you’ve heard of this term, maybe you haven’t. I’m here to tell you that I spent the better part of 2 years on Etsy not knowing anything about “marketing system,” and so I hodge-podged my way through selling on Etsy to the results below :
And while $3,000 is nothing to shrug at (it absolutely helped us pay off those pesky student loans quicker!), it was the WAY that those sales came in that put me on edge.
If I’m being completely honest with you (and embarrassing as it is to admit), there was no consistency to those sales.
And that scared the crap out of me.
I was making them so randomly that some days would be awesome ($200! Hooray! Must buy all the things!) while other times I would go weeks between conversions (Boo. Must take all the things back). It was ridiculously scary to feel so out-of-control over our finances-- I knew that I wanted to be able to create an income stream that I could rely on, and this certainly wasn’t it.
So what the heck changed?
Between these first 2 "Etsy experiments" and my 3rd (and current one, LittleHighbury), I hired an e-commerce marketing coach. And one of the first things she introduced me to was the concept of a marketing system.
And after implementing that single piece of marketing strategy?
I was blown away by the results.
Like I said before, my first shop earned about $3,000 over the course of 1 year. Not too shabby.
But with a marketing funnel in place? Guys-- I earned that same $3,000 in THE FIRST MONTH (check out those crazy stats below!).
Need further proof that a marketing funnel is awesome? Let’s take a quick math break (ahhhh!) and see what it did for my shop:
It single-handedly 20x my shop views
Earned me exactly 3,754 more sales within 12 months
And last but not least, it increased my revenue by 3000% in the first year (what the what?!!?!)
So yeah, this stuff is the real-deal, guys.
But maybe you're not sure. Maybe it "sounds too good to be true."
I assure you, it's not-- heck, it's hard work, especially in the beginning.
But it gets easier.
And less time-consuming.
And eventually? It runs mostly on autopilot :)
Need further convincing that implementing a marketing funnel is the best thing you can do for your Etsy shop? Below I’m sharing my top 5 reasons why you need to implement a marketing funnel into your etsy shop, like, yesterday.
But first--
What the heck is a marketing system?
You may have heard this term floating around the internet and maybe you thought it sounded sleazy—like a way to just drive sales without thinking of the actual customer. And maybe you’re thinking “no thanks, that’s not for me!”
Ewwww. Nobody wants to be “that” seller (and don't worry-- you won't be!).
I’m here to put an end to that myth once and for all!
A marketing system is simply a way to streamline your sales strategy through a series of optimization, attraction, and conversion mechanisms.
It’s the ultimate way of automating your marketing (the Etsy seller’s dream, #amiright?!) plan and never having to ask “what do I post today?” again.
It’s that BIG PICTURE you’ve been missing (the reason why you’ve failed in the past)-- because a marketing system takes every single piece of your strategy and makes it work together effortlessly.
It is THE most effective strategy you can implement in your shop.
And it’s also the one that’s going to save you from selling your soul to the Etsy SEO and marketing gods ;)
And maybe that sounds good in theory, but you’re still not convinced that a marketing system is for YOU and YOUR shop. Well keep reading, my friend :)
5 reasons why your Etsy shop needs a marketing system
1 | So you can stop worrying about that next sale— and rest assured that you’re doing everything you can to get it
I love being an entrepreneur; I really do. But one of the most stressful things early on was that constant hustle I felt with trying to make sales. Maybe you can relate?
When I planned to start LittleHighbury, I was at a point in my life where we desperately needed additional income, so I was constantly uptight and tense trying to figure out how to market my shop all day, everyday (you know—in between the baby napping) so that I could get those much-needed sales.
I’m here to tell you that after about a week of that crazy hustling, I was feeling irritable, exhausted, and so far removed from my Etsy shop that I considered giving up before I even started (luckily I didn’t, but that’s not to say that the thought didn’t cross my mind!).
There must be a better way. I KNEW there had to be a better way. There was no way that every single entrepreneur out there woke up feeling as anxious about sales as I did.
A marketing system ensures that you don’t have to worry about where that next sale will be coming from—it drives traffic to you consistently on autopilot so that you can have the peace of mind that most etsy-preneurs only dream of.
2 | So when Etsy search goes bonkers, you don’t too
Remember that day when you woke up and checked your stats on Etsy only to see them significantly lower than usual? And then you popped into the forums and found a million and one people talking about how Etsy had changed the search algorithm again (oh, and it was probably during the holiday season, because, well, why not, Etsy...)
Yeah, it’s happened to us all.
If you’ve come to rely on your Etsy income to any degree, a sudden drop in views and sales can seem absolutely catastrophic and flustering to bounce back from.
It’s frustrating, to say the least.
There was a time that I’d be in panic mode whenever that happened—I’d instantly jump to the worst-case scenario and immediately start rationing food and conserving energy because I just knew that this was the end (I’m nothing if not melodramatic…).
But.
Just because Etsy search goes bonkers, it doesn't mean that you have to, too!
If you take the time to create a marketing funnel, Etsy can completely do away with the search function, and you'll still be able to drive traffic and make sales like craaaaaaazy. You won’t have to solely rely on people finding you through Etsy anymore—you’ll have systems in place that will allow you to roll with the punches and still get a good night’s sleep.
3 | So that when one platform doesn’t drive traffic, the other ones can pick up the slack
If there’s one thing I’ve learned after over 6 years in business, it’s that nothing is more constant than change.
When I started my first Etsy shop back in 2011, it was a much, MUCH different ball game then it is today. The strategies that worked back then don’t always work so efficiently nowadays (hello, Etsy shareholders).
And Etsy isn’t the only one making change—Google recently announced a new major algorithm adjustment, Facebook becomes more “pay to play” everyday, and Pinterest is constantly updating their “smart feed” to be, well, more smart.
Part of being a successful business owner is being able to adapt and adjust to those changes as they happen (even if you don't always want to). But sometimes they can take a while to figure out, and if you’re only driving traffic from one source, the minute that platform makes ANY change in it’s algorithm, you’re going to be hustling like crazy trying to make up for that loss in sales.
Driving traffic with a marketing funnel is THE BEST way to maintain consistently high views and sales with your Etsy shop. Even if one platform makes major changes; you’ll still have 3-4 others that you can rely on until you can get the adjustments in place for the other one.
4 | So that you always have something working overtime to drive traffic for you
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel so busy with everything going on in my Etsy shop (not to mention my home life with a crazy toddler! Wait--are they still considered a toddler at 3 years old? See—I’m too busy to research these things!), that I don’t have time to work on a last-minute Instagram post for that day, or to organize a promotional contest to drive sales for that week.
Honestly? Most of the time (nowadays, especially, as I'm running these two businesses!), I’m just too exhausted to organize a grand marketing scheme.
Having a marketing funnel in place ensures that you’re always going to be driving traffic into your Etsy shop—even when you’re not actually doing the driving at that exact moment.
Imagine a marketing strategy that:
Makes you sales in your sleep—literally—while you dream about...whoever is considered dreamy nowadays (see-- I don’t have time to figure this stuff out!)
Pays for your vacation—you know, the one that you’re currently on (making $$$ while riding the teacups at Disneyland? Yes, please!)
Allows you to take a day off—on a complete whim—and still hear *cha-chings* as you play hooky (or just sleep. You do you.)
And as far-out dreamy as that all sounds, let me let you in on a little secret: There are Etsy sellers all over that have that freedom—because they’ve set up a reliable marketing system. I would know because I’ve done it myself :)
5- So that YOU can take charge of your future— and not put it into somebody else’s hands
THE most important reason of the whole bunch, I’d say.
There is NOTHING more crippling then waking up one night and seeing that Etsy has made a change to their search algorithm— the one you rely nearly 100% on for traffic + sales— and realizing there is NOTHING you can do about it.
I’ve lived it and I’m here to tell you— I sincerely hope you never do.
When you rely on Etsy for a portion of your livable income, it is absolutely CRUSHING to watch your stats plummet overnight and realize that you are going to have to start from square one again with your SEO.
This is YOUR shop.
YOU should be the one in charge.
Not Etsy. Not some silly algorithm.
YOU.
Creating a marketing system allows you to break away from that “SEO-or-bust” train and actually take control of your shop’s success— in a very profitable way.
If you are like “Heck yes, a marketing system is EXACTLY what my shop needs!”
…then I can’t wait to introduce you to my signature program, Mastermind Your Marketing.
Mastermind Your Marketing is the ultimate done-for-you marketing system framework for creating consistent sales on Etsy.
Is there work still involved in setting things up?
Of course.
But Mastermind Your Marketing is going to minimize that work by giving you EVERYTHING you need to hit the ground running— the swipe copy, the templates, the cheat sheets, the task lists. No “easy” step is taken for granted. You are — literally— getting handed an A-to-Z roadmap for creating your own marketing system customized for YOUR shop.
I want you to imagine what it would feel like:
…No more hustling every single day (to the sound of *crickets,* no less).
…No more selling your soul to social media (and feeling like a sleazy salesman in the process).
…No more wondering what the heck you’re doing wrong (and watching other shops succeed effortlessly).
Mastermind Your Marketing is going to change the way you approach selling on Etsy— and I can’t wait to have you join us!