The holidays are just around the corner. Which means the average consumer is now starting to think about what gifts they should buy their loved ones! At this point, you should be setting up your holiday keywords so they’re ready to go, but that’s not always enough to land the sale. Here are some last-minute tips to help you market your Etsy holiday gifts.
“Holiday gifts.”
Surprisingly, it’s an Etsy search term that quite a few buyers use this time of year.
The not-so-surprising part: consumers search Etsy high and low to cross off holiday gifts from their shopping lists. Consumers know Etsy, and they know it’s a place they can kind find unique, handmade goods for everyone on their Christmas list.
Holiday shoppers can be clueless
What is surprising is how vague some shoppers tend to start when looking for holiday gifts. Typing “holiday gifts” in Etsy search will bring back all kinds of gift ideas, from custom candles to slippers and jewelry, to raunchy light switch covers, and everything in between.
And while this isn’t a bad place to start for a clueless shopper searching for something that sparks their interest, eventually these shoppers are going to hone in on a product idea that catches their eye.
In this article, we’re not going to cover setting up your keywords for the holidays, since we already talked about that here. No, in this article we’re talking all about catching your buyer’s attention with some last minute marketing tips!
Your shop is ready, now it’s time to market your Etsy holiday gifts
We’re going to assume you’ve already gone ahead and upped your inventory, refined your shipping processes, and updated your returns policy.
After all, the holidays are here, and with it can come a massive surge in traffic.
But will that surge in traffic reach your Etsy shop or your competitors?
There’s only one way to be sure.
And that is to generate your own holiday traffic directly into your Etsy shop.
The benefit of marketing your own Etsy holiday gifts is that you’re marketing your products as gifts. The traffic comes directly to your store and is aware and ready to buy directly from you.
Here are a few surefire ways to get your buyer’s attention and sell your Etsy holiday gifts this year.
Market your Etsy holiday gifts with lifestyle shots in your product photography
If you want to sell your Etsy holiday gifts this year, you need to instill desirability for them. When you give your Etsy shop visitors an “I want that!” feeling, it’s a powerful way to turn them into customers.
And one great way to do that is with excellent product photography. And with the holidays in full swing, a photo on a blank white background just ain’t going to cut it. But a well-structured lifestyle photo just might. Here’s what we mean.
With Christmas in the air, it’s time to get festive with your product photography. Set up a Christmas tree backdrop, start a roaring fire, make your scenery as cozy as you can, or go out into the snow! A great way to create desirability for your product is to get desirable with your imagery.
For example, a closeup of a young child’s face with a blurred Christmas tree in the background as they’re smiling and holding your product with the opened packaging close by.
This is a perfect way to show potential customers that your product is the gift they want to give.
So, how in the world do you get people to your shop to see these photos in the first place?
Long-form social media posts about your Etsy holiday gifts
Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest, you probably have a social media page (and if you don’t it’s time to get at least one)! And unless you’re well advanced with your marketing, you probably don’t have a blog. If you do, that’s great; that just gives you another outlet for this next idea!
While it’s true that social media accounts are a visual platform, text still plays a vital role. Yet, we rely so heavily on visuals to do the talking when we can easily use the caption of a Facebook or Instagram post to be a mini-blog.
Use your photo posts to do this. Explain why you started to sell these products, what they’re made of, how you make them, why you like them, etc. Use your words to tell a story that accompanies your well-designed lifestyle photography.
Collaborate with other Etsy sellers
A load of products work well together—shoes and socks, belts and suspenders, matching wall decor. There’s a very high chance that no matter how unique the product you sell, someone else is selling something that’d complement what you’re selling.
Find that person and reach out to them for a potential collaboration.
How the collaboration works is up to you. Perhaps you can exchange a set value of products to sell as a set in your own shop; maybe it can be nothing more than a marketing collaboration.
The point is this: The Etsy community is very open and helpful. Finding a seller that can complement your efforts is a great way to help spread your brand’s name come the holidays, and generate a few more sales!
Tag a friend on your Etsy holiday gifts
We’re adults. Most of us are, anyway. And many adults are hard to buy gifts for.
A great way to leverage this is to ask your followers to tag a friend that might be struggling to find you a gift.
“Tag that friend that’s hard to buy a gift for – this is for them” is a perfect way to not only present your product as a gift but also get more engagement on social media posts. Don’t abuse this, as many social media algorithms quickly pick up on this tactic and punish you for using it too much.
The point is this: come gift-giving time, the value propositions of your marketing should change. Rather than focusing on how well made your product is, show how your product would make the perfect gift. With the ability to tag and share posts, social media is a great way to do this.
Earned media
Digital PR still works – it’s just not commonly used by Etsy sellers.
And that’s precisely why you should give it a shot.
Many fashion publications, bloggers, and journalists still need to be told about new releases. Not just fashion – interior design, crafts, art, country living – you name it, there’s probably a well-known website that regularly posts content about it. And that website has journalists that are hungry for help when it comes to creating content. Your products may be just the content they’re looking for – gift guides anyone?
HARO is an email service that’s sent three times a day. In it is publications looking for input for articles. Respond to these emails with your Etsy products, and you’ll find your name starting to spread.
But you don’t have to wait for them to come to you, either. Tools like ClearBit and Hunter can help you find the emails of anyone at a given business. Take the name of the publication you’d like to be mentioned in, find a journalist that works there and send your pitch!
Over to you
“If you build it, they will come” simply doesn’t ring true in the world of digital marketing. And your Etsy shop is, in fact, an online storefront.
However, it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to channel a little of that holiday traffic into your Etsy shop. The challenge is getting creative about it!
Use the above ideas and fine-tune them to something that works best for you. You might not find that customers flock to your store on mass, but replicating results over several products in Q4 can help you turn some healthy profits!
