BUSINESS: Modern Marketing for Traditional Crafts
This article was originally published in the recent Autumn 2011 issue of UK Handmade Magazine.
Article by Tatiana Hitchen.
There may be a battle raging to keep some traditional crafts and skills from disappearing into the mists of time, but the traditional and heritage crafts community has one very powerful tool it can and is utilising! The internet has proven itself to be a veritable boon to individual artisans and crafting communities, first through the uptake of e-commerce, allowing for people to sell directly to discerning buyers and then in the social networked Web 2.0 era, allowing for unprecedented connection and communication.
E-commerce and social networks are now enmeshed, giving artisans the ability to reach and be reached, by people around the world. At the same time, crafting communities provide support and combined influence, fulfilling the role of mediaeval guilds (protection in numbers, camaraderie, a degree of regulation) but with numerous benefits and far fewer negative features.
Perhaps one of the most challenging things for an artisan to achieve is some form of publicity. Traditional advertising is prohibitively expensive and of dubious value in an era when people spend less time watching television, reading papers or listening to the radio. Therefore, it is almost impossible for an artisan to achieve recognition amongst their peers and potential customers.
However, it is free and virtually painless to set up a website, blog, Facebook page, Twitter feed, or a combination of the above. With that basic infrastructure in place, it is also just a matter of writing, commenting and tweeting to start telling the public who you are and what you do. This means that those practising traditional or heritage crafts can spread the word about their craft like never before. There is an unprecedented opportunity to make people aware of the plight of fading heritage crafts and reignite people’s interest in them and in doing so perpetuate their survival. All it takes is a little bit of time and effort; leaving comments on other blogs, participating in online forums, responding to other tweets, and getting involved in Facebook groups.
The ideal outcome is then that other people - peers, benefactors, clients - see a person’s work, understand who they are, understand the importance of keeping the skills involved alive and start to pass on the news. Even a retweet or a ‘Like’ on Facebook is a good start, since one opinion can spread through a global social network in minutes. Moreover, the interconnectedness means that a recommendation is not limited to one person but can spread to their friends and their friends’ friends and so on.
It is certainly similar to garnering positive feedback on sites like eBay but quicker and more pervasive, since it is not restricted to one page or domain. Moreover, many sites, will display which users have given the thumbs up to an artisan’s product or profile, thereby passively compiling a record of recommendations that potential clients can note and follow up.
A vigilant community, such as a Facebook group for artisans, will also provide some of the support and protection that guilds offered in days of yore. Other crafters are acutely aware of the challenges faced by artisans, such as the need for promotion, the need to pass traditional skills on, encouragement, strength against mass-production and mechanisation and even alerting people to possible copyright infringement.
Finally, a key benefit of an online community stems from the fact that it comprises a number and possibly a significant one, of people. A community is easier found by individual buyers (thus attracting custom) and has more clout when recommending or sanctioning others. That there is strength in numbers, in a most exponential sense, is powerfully shown by the way the web’s social networks encompass the globe and reach far beyond oneself or one’s immediate contacts.
And, of course, a key feature of the social internet is that communication is dynamic and sustained. The ease and instantaneousness of tweeting means that you can receive feedback and respond to it as swiftly as in a conversation but from anywhere in the world and almost at any time. It is much easier to generate and maintain direct interaction with customers and appreciative admirers when you are limited to the 140 characters of a tweet or have your social network profile loaded on your smartphone and it brings some humanity to the otherwise sterile and impersonal world of online commerce.
It is precisely because of this that e-commerce need not result in the sort of robotic, cookie-cutter soullessness that was prophecised by those who exclusively favour physical selling.
The online market is more like a marketplace such that buyers and sellers can have a chat, understand one another, understand the uniqueness of the craftworks on offer, and leave with a happy feeling that one person can and does, make a difference.
There are, then, numerous possibilities for an artisan to engage in a craft-based community with all the acquired knowledge and influence that comes with a motivated group; to reach and ‘meet’ an appreciative audience; to help admirers and customers express their esteem and understand the skills involved; to communicate the fragile nature of some of these skills and crafts; even just to receive feedback and gain insight and knowledge necessary to improve one’s work.
The social internet means that artisans have more influence, more autonomy, and more opportunities than before; a powerful tool indeed.
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