Branding / creating a brand image for your craft business, according to me, is a very important thing to concentrate on if you really want to make money from your crafts. Even a small effort goes a long way.
Why? “Because branding increases the perceived value of your handicraft. The same handicraft can sell at 3 to 5 times the price if you put just a little effort into creating a brand image first.”
So what are the benefits of developing a brand image for your craft business?
- You can make a 3 to 5 times your income making the same number of sales.
- You can work 3 to 5 times less and still make the same amount of income. Either way you look at it the concept of branding is extremely embraceable.
This is just the way consumerism box. People are used to putting value to a brand. A good brand image demands its own value. A brand makes your craft looks professional and your business a serious one.
Even if you have spent hours in a room making the craft yourself, the minute you put a label, a business name and some good packaging, the buyer gets the impression of a professional business.
A professional business is always more trustworthy in the eyes of the buyer and hence demands a better price for its products. You might be using the best of techniques and material in your crafts but the professional image is what reassures the consumer of the quality. This applies to all businesses and products. It is just a universal law of how consumers behave.
Branding is not difficult to start with and believe me when I tell you that the returns are many times more than the investment you put in.
When people buy crafts they are usually paying for the following things:
- Aesthetics (how pretty and attractive to crafters),
- Innovativeness (how original and different to the crafters),
- Utility (how useful the crafters),
- Coolness factor (I’m sure you know what i mean by this!),
- Quality (how well made is the craft).
The price that a person thinks the craft is worth is a combination of all of the above factors. When you throw in some good branding the value of all of the above factors goes up substantially. A well branded craft is thought to be more trustworthy, more desirable, of better quality and is worth a lot more in the eyes of the consumer.
These comments and ideas are very interesting to me, but I would like to learn more about the execution or “how you create a brand.” I started a woodworking business 2 years ago and it is doing quite well at this time. However I think branding would be helpful.
Hello. 🙂 Thank you for taking time time to comment. In response to what you said I have a couple of links I would like to post here. Do have a look if interested: how to make niche woodcrafts & 7 steps to easy branding. I hope you enjoy reading them.