Three Great Ways to Promote Your Bead Jewelry Business

Author: JT Miller

Part of the amazing charm about bead jewelry is just how easy it can be for someone to sit down and learn the basic skills of jewelry making in a matter of a few hours. As any bead jeweler will tell you, creating jewelry is one of those skills that only takes a few minutes to learn, but a lifetime to master!

While it's fun to sit around with some friends at a bead shop and all work on jewelry together there is a grim reality: if you're all making jewelry to sell then there's going to be a little competition between you and your friends for customers. In fact, bead jewelry has become so popular in recent years among just about everyone that I've heard some bead jewelry artists actually say they were quitting because there were too many people making jewelry and it was simply too difficult to sell anymore.

And while making jewelry pieces is fun and even easy at times, actually selling the pieces and building a business with clients and customers can be rather difficult, especially if you've never been a salesperson or run a business before.

Here are three ways you can promote your bead jewelry business without coming on too pushy or spending a lot of money on advertising.

Referral Bonus: On all your business cards you simply write the line "Receive $10 credit on any of my jewelry for every customer you refer!" How does this work? Let's say I sold a beautiful glass bead necklace to my child's daycare teacher. A week later the teacher's sister contacts you and has you create a similar necklace for her. You go back to the daycare teacher and say that she now has a $10 credit to use at any time for any other piece of jewelry she wants to purchase from you. Once people get the idea this really catches on! People will be going out of their way to have their friends buy jewelry from you so that they get a credit.

Donate to a Charity Gift Auction: A lot of nonprofit groups, charities, schools and churches have gift auctions where they accept gifts from local vendors and then auction those gifts off to the higher bidder, keeping the money made at the auction. You can donate a collection of bead jewelry like a matching necklace, bracelet and earrings and prominently display your business card in front of your jewelry. For the whole evening people will be looking over gifts and seeing your jewelry and business card. If you can put a stack of business cards in front, do so. You might be surprised how many people contact you after the event and tell you that they didn't win the auction but would love to see what else you have.

Mix Web Sales with Table Sales: Don't try to sell all your bead jewelry at one venue or the other. The people who are really running success bead jewelry businesses are hustling and cross promoting themselves all the time. List your website on the business cards that you give out at craft shows (even if they don't buy anything!) and mention the craft shows you'll be attending on your website!

There you go, three low-pressure way to increase your customer base and get your bead jewelry in front of more people. These things might not generate lots of sales right away, but if you stick with it you'll be amazed at how your bead jewelry business keeps growing and multiplying!

Visit the Bead Jewelry Blog to get more bead jewelry ideas, news, trends, tutorials and beading business advice.
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