← How to Sell Your Stuff on Etsy
How to Sell Your Stuff on Etsy
Ep 177 | Beat the Etsy Summer Slump with Strategic PR Features – with Gloria Chou
00:45:36
Looking for strategies to beat the summer slump on Etsy? Today I'm joined by PR expert Gloria Chou, who reveals powerful strategies for Etsy sellers to boost their summer sales through PR features. Gloria shares tips on how to get your products...
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- [00:01]
Lizzy Smiley
Hey, my name is Lizzy Smiley and I absolutely love helping people connect with their calling and all the tools they need to kick roadblocks and excuses right out the door so they can cultivate the life they dream about. If you want to launch, grow, pivot or scale your Etsy shop, or you've always wanted to develop the mindset and skills to run your own business, then I'm your girl. I've had that entrepreneurial spirit going strong since my very first lemonade stand and now I'm a work at home mama with multiple online companies and a full time Etsy shop. All while being present with my kids for the everyday chaos and most important milestones. On this podcast we'll talk about all things business, mindset, Etsy, creativity, dazzling our customers, and so much more. There's plenty of room at this table for you, so scooch on in and let's go. I'm holding nothing back. Welcome to how to sell your stuff on Etsy. I'm so glad you're here. Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast. This week I am so excited to be behind the mic and getting to talk to Gloria again. More on that in a minute. This is such a fun conversation. Really quick, I want to make sure you know that coming up on April, it's A Thursday, Thursday, April 24, we are having an AI wall art workshop. This is happening because I've gotten so many emails from you guys asking for this. Wall art is like everyone always thought it was super saturated on Etsy but right now it is massive. There is so much opportunity, so many of the opportunities I'm finding in the trending, the transplanting membership. There's really, really great possibilities in wall art and now there is. The AI can do a lot of really cool things that I know I certainly couldn't go into Canva and design myself. So we are going to learn how to find what to design because that's a big thing. You want to avoid anything super saturated and go into the really exciting niches that are doing really well. You want to be able to create really beautiful, high quality, high resolution wall art with AI. You want to be able to resize it effectively because people in the wall art space want have different sizes and dimensions to fit their frames and you want to be able to position it beautifully on Etsy with the best SEO to get seen and sold. And we are going to cover all of that. So join me. The link is down in the show notes and you can come to the workshop. It's going to be Fabulous. The last one was the coloring pages workshop and it was an absolute hit. I feel like, like with the PNG Tumblr wraps was spectacular. The coloring pages were just getting better and better. So come to this one, you've been asking for it. It's going to be amazing. And then I have two questions for you. Jenny from the shop, you know how we do the mindset episodes and you guys, love you guys, gobble those up. I get the best feedback from those episodes. We're toying with the idea of a workshop. Do you guys want a live mindset workshop with Jenny and me? And we'll do a little bit of activations, help you work on some of your blocks, talk through like literally do a live workshop. Super, super short questionnaire. Drop us your email if you want to, if you think that would be fun and then I will also let you know if we schedule one. I think that would be really, really fun. But I'm just curious, I want to ask you first and then the other thing I want to ask you. This is so random. Would any of you guys be interested in being able to have like an all inclusive membership with me? So not just the trendspotting membership, but like it would be a monthly cost, like totally affordable, but a monthly cost. And you get access to everything I have. You can come to every live workshop, you can go into every recording I have. You'd have access to the trendspotting membership. You'd be able to come to literally everything that I do and everything I have done. It would just be all inclusive. If that's something that you'd be interested in, probably it would be like between 2 to $300 a month. So not for everybody, but for some people because then you're not having to like pay for everything as you go. You just pay for what you want. Access, you know what I mean? You get access to everything. I'm just curious. I'm just putting feelers out there. So look for that link below and if that would be a really good fit for you, let me know. Just kind of gauge interest. But what I want to talk about today is the summer months of Etsy. I personally think it is such a myth that you, you know, like Etsy just dies in the summer. I think it just depends on what you sell. Like just like if all you sell is Christmas stuff, you're like, you know, one, one time of year is going to be, that's it, you've got it. You'd have to diversify if you want to sell other times of the year. I think almost all of us can definitely like see things happen in the summer, unless you're so niche that people wouldn't be buying it in the summer. But one approach that can change this game for us is pr, which just simply means getting featured in the media. Whether it's people, social media accounts or it's from public magazines, or it's gift guides. There's so many different ways. I'm gonna let the expert tell us about that. So many of you are not even realizing that you'd be a perfect fit for this. Like more people than not. It can fit for literally any type of product. So we are gonna have the lovely Gloria Chow back on to talk about PR for the summer and then some some tips she has. Like honestly there's. She brings so much value. If you haven't heard the first episode with, with Gloria, it'll be linked below. Make sure you check that out. It's going to be a little more foundational, her backstory and a little more intro to pr. This will be a little more advanced, but let me tell you about her. Gloria Chow is an award winning PR strategist and host of the top rated small business PR podcast. Known for her untraditional yet proven approach to pr, which makes visibility and access to media accessible to anyone. Gloria helps bipoc and female founders get featured organically in top tier media without needing PR connections or a large following. Her strategies have earned small businesses in nearly every industry niche over a billion organic views and features and outlets like the New York Times, Oprah's Favorite Things, Vogue and Forbes. Without any pay to play. That means you're not paying to be featured. It's free. A former US diplomat turned small business advocate, Gloria has been on a hundred podcasts and was named pitch writing expert of the year in 2021 as part of the influential Business Women's Awards, Businesswomen Awards and a Forbes Next 1000 honoree. That is so amazing. So let us, let us welcome to Gloria to the podcast. I like buckle your seatbelt. There is not a single one of you listening that this is not relevant to Gloria. Welcome back to the podcast. I'm so, I'm so excited to get to talk to you again.
- [06:01]
Gloria Chow
Yeah, I'm so excited and I'm so thrilled to hear that you said from the last episode somebody got on Real simple. Is that what you said?
- [06:08]
Lizzy Smiley
What is it? Southern living. Southern living, yes. So first of all guys, go back and listen to the first episode with Gloria because it was. We'll lay the foundation for this. But yeah, Gloria, so you came on, you talked about getting PR features. So like getting in magazines, on websites, different gift guides, things like that, getting featured for Etsy sellers. And I had two people email me within a few weeks that they listened to what you said. They went and they applied some of the. I think they took your free masterclass. So I definitely recommend that to everyone. And they went and they just sent a couple emails and someone literally, well, I'll tell you guys, Tina Reeves, the bloom who we all are so proud of, she was featured in Southern Living and there was another one I need to keep confidential who was had a feature as well. And like, they just, you gave them the courage to do it.
- [06:50]
Gloria Chow
That means everything, providing access. Because I think for the longest time product owners just don't know that PR is available to them. They think it's for celebrities or politicians. And my whole thing is about really just demystifying it and making it super simple. Because if it's not simple, it's not going to get done. Right. So we're going to talk a little bit about really what PR is. I think a lot of people don't understand it because we always get spammed with those, like, let me feature you in the random 40 under 40. And that's not what we're talking about here. Right? We're talking about free PR where you're not paying someone, you're not pay to play, you're in a beautiful roundup, you're meeting your customers exactly where they are. Because think about it this way. If I was to click on an article titled Best, you know, running shoes or best pet personalized pet things, my buying intent is probably 10 times higher than a random person on Instagram. So there's really no better way to get in front of your customers than being listed in the listicle or a gift guide or a shopping roundup and you're not paying the journalist for it. You know, sometimes you can obviously offer your affiliate code, but it's, it's, you're not paying for that placement. And so it gives you SEO, it gives you credibility, and it gives, gets you right in front of the customer. And that's why it's so important. That's what we'll talk about today of how you can actually do that.
- [07:59]
Lizzy Smiley
I think Etsy sellers especially, like we all talk about this in entrepreneurship and you and I have even talked about it before, Gloria. But Etsy sellers especially struggle with imposter syndrome and questioning whether or not their product is worthy, questioning whether like, well, gosh, it kind of like you said with celebrities, but even more like, oh, but like I'm not, I'm not one of those products who's been featured on the first page of Etsy, like where they're saying like, you know, showing this creator. Can you maybe help us dispel some of this, Gloria? Like what kinds of products are worthy of being featured? Who should even be going after this?
- [08:33]
Gloria Chow
Yeah, I think this is the biggest lie that the industry tells us so they can monetize on us. Right? The the traditional PR industry says you need to pay us 10 grand a month for six months for us to call up our buddies. And what I have found because I'm a PR outsider, Lizzie. And if you listen to the previous episode, I actually never worked a day in any PR marketing agency. I started cold calling by picking up the phone and cold calling the newsroom operator and with, with trembling hands and getting phone slammed in my face. And I slowly picked up on patterns. And here's the thing. Journalists don't want to talk to a PR rep. So let's remove the middleman. They want to talk to the founder. And this content is going to get published with or without you. So why not have it you? There are so many articles for so many different things. 10 gifts for her, 10 gifts for him, 10 gifts for graduation, 10 gifts for the newly divorced dad. And so this content is, is, is, is tremendous. And we need to help them feed the machine from helping thousands of small business owners. And by the way, they're all mainly solopreneurs and they don't have a big following. I actually asked the journalists because I actually bring the journalists in who write these gift guides and they all say, I don't care about your following because your following can be fake and it's not a popularity contest. So it's not about if you have a celebrity endorsement. And the reason why is because they want to be like, they want to be ethical. And if journalists are always covering the big box brands, right, then you probably wouldn't really depend on them to discover new brands. And so for them to be the go to person to discover new brands, they want to discover new brands. And so it's your job to just present them the right product for the right season and we'll talk about how to do that. It's not about your benefits and features and so that way that they can list you because they really, they're in the job of discovery and we want to just help them because that's what they Want another thing is like, you don't need, you know, to have made a million dollars. They're not going to ask you that. Out of all the times that people have been featured in a gift guide, I don't think the journalist has ever asked, well, how many units have you sold? They just want to know the pricing. Is it for shipping right away? Is it made to order? All the kind of nuts and bolts of how someone can order it. And these stories can get turned around really fast. I mean, like you said, some people pitch one day and then the Turnaround time is 24 hours later and you're collecting that SEO right away.
- [10:40]
Lizzy Smiley
I. So back in the day before Etsy, I, well, even some crossover, I ran two blogs and I regularly did gift guides because they got me so many clicks. You know, if I could put pins on Pinterest for my little blog, I would get all these clicks on the gift guides. So I'm sitting there assembling these lists as just a small time blogger, but still, they got a ton of traffic. So I'm sitting here thinking like, oh my gosh, we're doing the journalist a favor. Like if we've got something. Well, okay, but let me ask you this, Gloria. We have a lot of listeners who do maybe print on demand type products or they do digital products. What about that? I know they're, I know they're sitting here like, this is not for me. Do you think even they can get featured? Are there places for them?
- [11:17]
Gloria Chow
Totally. You know, there's a huge bucket of personalized gifts and stationary and wall art. And so we have a lot of people who do that as well. And so instead of just thinking up about print on demand, think about the item. That would be perfect, right? So we have someone who, who does like, wall art that specializes in seascapes and that's perfect for relaxation or for moms. We have someone who does like T shirts that's perfect for graduation or bridal or college. So think about not just everything that you sell, but what is the right item or items that's perfect for that, that season. And so you start to look at pitching differently. I always say there's no such thing as a newsworthy person or product. I mean, I've written pitches for, you know, bath salts and candles and they get featured. And even, you know, something very unsexy like, you know, I don't know, like a mouse pad, right? There's, there's a reason for it because people need it. It's just about positioning your product for the right season. So if you make 30 different things, what is the right thing for that season? So your print on demand. So if you make print on demand, maybe a mug for outdoors is perfect for, for spring and summer. Maybe a luggage tag is great for when people are traveling. So think about what that is. I mean, I know Taylor Swift, that was a big thing with her ERAS tour. So maybe like pink rhinestones. So do you see what I'm getting at? It's really thinking about what is the sentiment of the consumer in that season, whether it's weather related, whether it's graduation related or a holiday or something happening in the pop culture sphere.
- [12:41]
Lizzy Smiley
And I think the other piece of this, a lot of us maybe will sit back and just kind of wait. We wait for that email from Etsy being like, hey, we want to feature you. Or they wait for that blogger to email them, hey, I want to feature your thing. And in both of these cases where we had these wonderful success stories, they actually took the bull by the horns and they reached out to publications. I actually think that they like sent an email and, and were, you know, talking to the. The. It would be a journalist would be the name of it. So you can see how far removed I am from your industry. What are some like, proactive ways? Like people don't need to sit there and wait on their, on their laurels and wait for someone to reach out they can actually like. So I guess my question is how do we find who to reach out to and what do we even do to put ourselves forward?
- [13:25]
Gloria Chow
Yeah, you know, I always say, why not reach out? Because if you're making 10, 20, 30 Instagram reels and we know that the algorithm is actually hampering down, they actually don't want your thing to be seen. I read a statistic saying something like 15% of your audience will see your stuff. If you're spending time on that, I would rather allocate it to do something smarter. That gets me a higher roi, which is learning how to be a great pitch writer, learning how to be your number one advocate, learning how to connect with a journalist who's going to write these run ups that is such a high roi. So let's talk about pr. PR, really at its core, if we boil it down, is two things. It's writing a good pitch and sending it to the right person. And so let's talk about sending it to the right person. It's not going to be infouzzfeed.com or media@ New York Times. Right. It's not going to Be the editor in chief. It's going to be the commerce or the shopping writer or editor. Commerce or shopping. Like literally look for that in the title. So commerce editors and commerce writers, they're the ones that are rounding up products to represent, to show their audience. So that's usually a shopping guide, a gift guide, you know, best 10, whatever. So those are the people that you want to look for. Now obviously, if you make something that is, you know, wellness or health or beauty, you can also look for the beauty writer too. So it's, it's basically the commerce or shopping writer plus whatever industry you're, you're in. And here are some ways that you can start to compile a media list of journalists who are writing that. So one of my favorite tools is called Source of sources. Com and if you sign up for it, it's kind of like the new Haro helper reporter out, which is no longer if you go to source of source sources.com, it'll ping you three times a day with all the different requests that journalists are looking for. You might get something like, I'm looking for Easter basket gifts. Please email me by X date. Right? They'll give you exactly their email. They'll give you exactly the publication it's for and the deadline. So that's one way that you can, you can find journalists. Another way is to set up a Google News alert, which is free, by the way. And so if you make print on demand or headbands or children's gifts, put that in there. And then Google will send you all of the articles about your industry. And so when you click on the article, you'll see the journalist name and usually you'll be able to find their email. This is public information. And you can start to assemble your own ever growing media database. Now we have this in our program, of course, over 172 niches. But you can start to do this on your own and start to create your own list. Now a third thing which is actually not so often talked about but a huge gold mine is using substack. So a lot of freelance writers now are on substack and they actually tell their substacks subscribers first what stories they're working on before anyone else. And so I follow about 30 different journalists on substack and you can just search like, for example, if you make beauty, or you can just put in, you know, beauty Writer. If you can follow one person, then it kind of expands with like four or five other journalists for you to follow. And you can go down an Internet black hole and just start accumulating these, these follows and subscribe to their substack. And they will send you an email probably once a day or three times a week with here's what I'm working on this week. And so today I just got something for Real simple and apartment therapy of like what they're. They're covering and they'll give you their email and the deadline. So that's another great way to know what journalists are writing in your field. The fourth way is to just follow hashtags. So for example, on X. Yeah, on x or on LinkedIn or on Instagram you can follow hashtags like E Commerce or Etsy or journal requests, which is like journalists requesting, you know, different interviews. But I would say that's probably the. One of the least effective ways. I think that the substack and the Google News alert and the source of sources are probably the best. And then you can kind of combine that with a. With, with following hashtags. So those are kind of the four ways that you can start to look for journalists and what they're writing.
- [17:04]
Lizzy Smiley
I feel like substack just like crawled out of the abyss and blew up.
- [17:07]
Gloria Chow
Yeah. I think the reason why is because, you know, journalists right now, they're not getting paid as much. Right. Because, you know, publishing is under a huge squeeze right now. And so what they're doing is they're trying to monetize and develop their own platform. And so there's free subscriptions and paid subscription. Now a journalist that's an ethical journalist will never charge you to upgrade to paid just to see their stories that they're covering. So you can subscribe for free for a lot of these journalists substacks and never upgrade if you don't feel aligned. And you can still find out what they're writing every week.
- [17:37]
Lizzy Smiley
What do you think? How would you describe. I think a lot of people aren't even familiar with it yet. Just real quick, how would you describe what substack? Is it like it was just a blog basically. Like, is it kind of like the new blogger. Blogger.com or, you know, WordPress?
- [17:50]
Gloria Chow
WordPress. It's just, it's just a platform where you can subscribe and you can read journalists private blogs.
- [17:57]
Lizzy Smiley
Wow. I think that's so interesting. I thought. I was wondering if it was more robust than that. But it's just, I think it's just the new cool thing.
- [18:03]
Gloria Chow
And you can become a writer as well. Right. It's kind of like medium in a way. Right. They take your Email and they also email it to you. But there's also an app that's really optimized for mobile. So I have the app and every day it refreshes with all of the stories so that I can kind of curate it and actually post it in our PR program. You know, I curate from around the Internet, but you can start following them yourself. If you make dishware, if you make pet products, there are journalists on there who's going to be writing that and it's just a matter of answering that right away. And I have people who get Featured in like 24 hours just answering these substack requests.
- [18:38]
Lizzy Smiley
Are you a print on demand or digital product Etsy seller who's tight on time or still learning all of the Etsy secrets? I totally remember the days of having no idea what product to create next before I learned how to make those informed decisions. So I can really identify with where you're at. I know how stressful and frustrating it can be to just create listing after listing and see little to no results. You wonder what you're doing wrong and just you just want someone to tell you what to create that's actually going to sell. Where are those opportunities? So let me give you a leg up with my weekly trends and opportunities report. You just join my membership and every Monday I'm going to send you an email with a list of exactly what is trending right now with a video tutorial showing you how I found those trends and how to apply them in your shop. We're taking guesswork and time, extensive time off of your table. I'm also going to send you five print on demand and digital product opportunities that are growing in demand right now, helping new shops make sales and still have very low saturation in the marketplace. So your tight schedule, your newbie status doesn't have to hold you back anymore. I'm gonna help you earn while you learn. You can grab my free demo to start and see an example of what the weekly trends and opportunities email looks like right from the show notes. See what you're gonna get and I will see you on the inside soon. What is so amazing about what you're telling us is that, and you already said this, but I wanna reiterate it for the, for the person who's not quite getting it yet. You know, we talk about the, the graduation of building an Etsy business and I always say just start with Etsy. Don't add a whole bunch of. You don't need to start your own website too. You don't need to build a brand like leverage the free organic traffic on etsy, there's what, 90 million shoppers on there, something insane like that. And then as you go, you get good at it, you start getting sales, you get over a hundred sales, you get established, then you can start doing things like building an email list. Maybe starting a Pinterest is a really great, great entry point. But with the PR angle, Gloria, they don't even need any of that. Like they could literally be a brand new seller. It doesn't matter. They don't have to any social media, they don't have to have their own website, they don't have to have any Pinterest, any email list and they can just start emailing these, these journalists. It's such an easy entry point. So I think because we're talking about, in some cases, they're a very, very new business owner. Could you give us some etiquette tips about how to be reaching out to these, these folks? Like what is the right thing to do, how many times, what should the follow up look like? Maybe some of that angle. Thank you.
- [21:04]
Gloria Chow
Yeah, you know, and, and don't get like down on yourself because we're not taught this. This is a very radical act and no one's teaching anyone this, right? No one's like, oh, here's how I'm gonna pitch. So, so don't be hard on yourself because again, it's been gate kept by the industry for so long. But journalists are people, you know, they're not gonna bite your head off and they get hundreds of emails. So they're used to people being persistent, especially the really pushy PR agencies, right? So just, just know that they understand that that's how pitching works. They're, they expect you to, to pitch them. That's, that's how they find products now. So we talked a little bit about where to find the journalist. Now let's talk about what to say because PR again is writing a good pitch and sending it out. So what makes a pitch good? Remember, there's no such thing as a newsworthy person or company. A good pitch is just something that's relevant for that season, period. And a lot of times we don't think about that because we're so close to our product and we're thinking about the benefits and features and we kind of forget to zoom out. And so I want you to become a good steward of the news. So what are people buying this season? So if you make skincare, right, you're not going to pitch something super oily in the summertime, if you do food and wine, you're going to want something that's fresh ingredients for summertime. So think about that. And if you, you know, for Mother's Day, people love bundles. You know, for gift guide season there's like, like stocking stuffers and there's luxury gifts. So think about all of the, the buckets that you can fit your product into. So it's not about pushing all of the product. Right. It's maybe like one or three items for that season and then just writing a good pitch. So let's start with the subject line. The subject line is not going to be your name or your company name or the word pitch. It's going to be reading kind of like an article title. For example, best personalized stocking suffers under $30 that ships by Christmas. You see how specific that is, right? It gives them to know exactly what is the bucket. So I have a whole training on this in my program, but that's really what the subject line should, should be. And if you have samples, you can put samples available. And then using my CPR method and by the way, listen to the previous episode, I go in depth. But my CPR framework is kind of the, the, my method of how to structure your pitch without going on and on and on about it. Right? So CPR stands for credibility, point of view and relevance. But for a product pitch it can be very, just get to the point. Just be like, hey, start with the relevance. As people are looking for graduation gifts this summer or as we get into bridal season, people are looking for X, Y and Z. That is why my product is perfect. And then I like to have, you know, the point of view, which is three bullet points. Three reasons why it's perfect. One, it's made from organic materials. Two, we donate 10% to local charities. Three, it's available in this three sizes and colors, customizable. And then you always want to conclude a little bit with specifics about where it's shipped. Is it available only on Etsy? Can I buy at a store? Is it ready to ship or made to order? If so, how many, how long does it take? Right. And then what, what are, what's the price point? Are you willing to send a sample and do you have an affiliate link? So those are all the kind of the nuts and bolts of what that is. And you can put a photo, I would put like up to no more than three low res photos. The rest you can hyperlink. I love a hyperlink. So to find out more, go here. If you have a really interesting story. Don't go crazy about it. Just put one or two sentences. And that's the credibility part. It could be we've been featured here, We've been voted number one at our local farmer's market, or, you know, teachers love us because this notebook xyz or I am a mom and daughter team and we founded this because my daughter is dyslexic. Like, whatever that is, just put like one or two sentences and that's it. That's really how you write a gift guide pitch. And then you sign off and that's it. So don't attach anything crazy. Keep it very simple, very short. Use my CPR method. Watch my masterclass. It'll show you exactly what that is. You can go to gloria chow pr.com masterclass that's gloria c h o u p r.com masterclass and you'll see exactly the structure of it. But there you have it. That's really how to write a good pitch for a journalist.
- [24:54]
Lizzy Smiley
And if they don't really have a story, they can even leave that part out. Haven't I seen you send emails? Be like, you don't even have to include that piece. Like, keep it simple.
- [25:00]
Gloria Chow
If you have a really interesting story. And being a mompreneur is not enough. Like, if you have something that's very interesting and unique. Like, for example, we have someone who makes sustainable hand warmers for skiing, Right. And they make it from beaver fur, which I didn't know, but that is actually ethical and sustainable because you're not using those, like, throwaway ones. And it's all. All made by Aboriginal women in the Arctic part of Canada. And so that's a really interesting story.
- [25:26]
Lizzy Smiley
Yeah.
- [25:26]
Gloria Chow
So then I would put that there. You know, I put one or two sentences. But not everyone has a story like that, so it doesn't exclude you from being featured. What matters is that you get to the point right away. A lot of times people put like, oh, you know, I have some really great gift ideas for bridal. But then they don't actually tell the journalist what it is. So don't hide the lead. Put exactly what you're pitching and why it's perfect and all the nuts and bolts. And the energy of the pitch is not, like, please feature us, please. Like, we can't afford an ad. It's just very objective and confident. Like, hey, I know people are looking for this right now. I saw that this is trending on TikTok. Like, try to validate it with some sort of relevance. Whether it's pop culture, whether it's data, whether it's what, what people are looking for that season, and then just go into the specifics of your product.
- [26:10]
Lizzy Smiley
You'd mentioned having an affiliate link, which is an interesting, a little interesting nuance tidbit for Etsy. And so since obviously you can't, we can't provide them with an affiliate link, which you can do. And this is thanks to Bree Dudley who came on the podcast a while ago and taught me about this. You can point them to the Etsy Creator Collective and what that is is it's Etsy's affiliate program. So while you as a seller can't offer them an affiliate link, you can I suggest, and Gloria, correct me if I'm wrong in that email saying you can sign up as an Etsy, an Etsy affiliate to refer to anything on Etsy and it would help you actually get affiliate, you know, pay for this, for this product as well and you can just link them to that and then it's not even your deal, like Etsy will manage it. But it's a way for you to like, I don't know, like throw in a little consideration for the reporter.
- [26:54]
Gloria Chow
Yeah, yeah, they actually are. So it's not a number one requirement, but more and more they are looking for products that do have an affiliate link so that they can have a win, win and it doesn't matter the percentage as much as you as you have one. Right. And if so that actually we just had somebody who writes gift guides come in to coach our people. And that's what she said is like the percentage doesn't matter as much. But if you do have one, definitely.
- [27:16]
Lizzy Smiley
Put it in there, like proactively share it because it is. And then, I mean you could, you could be doing a service for that journalist because then they're like, oh my gosh, from now on going forward, I'm already in this, I can do Etsy stuff and have like you could actually really be helping the journalist, which I think is a, as a nice touch. And it's very easy to sign up for.
- [27:32]
Gloria Chow
We are helping by creating content. And the worst they can do is say, no, not right now. Oh, here's another pro tip is before you send any emails, install an email tracker. And that's going to help you know who's opening or clicking multiple times and so you don't have to make up a drama in your head like, oh, this journalist hates me. It's really not about that. So install an email tracking device. I like to use A Chrome extension, because I use Gmail. And if a journalist is opening it multiple times and they're not responding to you, it's a sign that they really like it. They just don't have a place for it yet. And so the follow up trick is to follow up once a week for three weeks max. But when you follow up, don't say, hey, following up, hey, following up. Like, try to refresh like, and by the way, reply on that thread, but try to say, hey, now we're getting closer to graduation, or hey, this, like now we actually sold out of this, or hey, we just won this award. So try to, every time you follow up, bring a new angle in there. And just because they don't respond doesn't mean it's dead in the water. I ask journalists all the time and they say that they always file away these different gifts in different categories so that once they're tasked to write something like Best socks, you're going to go back into the folder and do a quick search and it's a matter of time until they actually email you. So I had people who, you know, emailed and they didn't get a response and then three months later something happened, right? And they're like, oh, like, are you available for a quote now? I'm doing a roundup of X, Y, Z. So just get your name in the hat. It's going to be in the journalist, you know folder. And always refresh your angles because the news is always going. So if you pitch something for Valentine's Day, you didn't get a response, well, guess what, then it's Earth Day, then it's Mother's Day, then it's graduation. Right. So how can you repurpose what you have and just freshen up the angle so it doesn't seem like you're beating a dead horse.
- [29:09]
Lizzy Smiley
Do you have a tracker that you like, Gloria? Because I love that you said we could use Gmail. I think we want to keep it really simple for people. Is there a tracker that you could recommend?
- [29:16]
Gloria Chow
Yeah, so I have different ones. So I've used Mail Suite, which is pretty simple. Yeah, but there's different one you can even use. Like, like I think Streak is one of them as well. There's like free ones and then you can just pay a little bit to get rid of the watermark. So it doesn't say like mail is tracked, which I don't think journalists really care. Right. What matters is that you're sending an email. Don't send it on the weekend, you know, Send it Monday through Friday during business hours, don't have a crazy amount of attachments, and then just monitor it. And I would, again, I would follow up once a week for three weeks max. Another way. Another great way to follow up and break the ice is say, hey, I loved your article that you published yesterday on this so much that I actually bought one of these for my daughter. Right. So there are people. So use compliments, engage with their work, follow them on Instagram, share their work.
- [30:05]
Lizzy Smiley
So a little real life story here, and I'm sure you get this as well. As a podcaster, I get pitched constantly.
- [30:12]
Gloria Chow
Yeah.
- [30:13]
Lizzy Smiley
Do you also. Do you get, like, a million emails?
- [30:15]
Gloria Chow
Yeah, I get. And a lot of them are pretty terrible.
- [30:19]
Lizzy Smiley
They're so terrible. So a couple things, like, first of all, the first thing I would say, as just someone on the receiving end of these pitches, I definitely can't get to them all. So I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but I can't respond to every single person who pitches me. I don't mean to be rude, but, like, if it's not relevant, I can't spend my time or else I would never be able to be here to record for you guys and talk to y'all. Help the people I actually want to help. Number two, there's definitely times that I go back to something that was sent to me six months ago or more, and I'm like, you know what? I remember I had that and it wasn't right at the time, but now it's actually perfect and I'll go back to them. So also don't. Who cares if you don't hear back right away? Like, it's great to do it. Number three, it drives me crazy when I get a pitch and they pretend like they know what I do and they really have no idea. Oh, my gosh, I loved your. Your video about such and such. And. And, like, they clearly just copy and pasted the title. They didn't actually look at what the content was. And then. And then when they're like, the other thing is when it's so not relevant, like, they're trying to pitch to be on an Etsy podcast, and they're like, this person's like a master gardener or whatever. And I'm like, yeah. And I want to respond. I don't, because I don't have time. So tell me what their Etsy shop is because I talk about. So. So I think there's like, this consideration because the people who do. Gloria, the people who email me and they've obviously paid attention and they're not just being super gener. It is super relevant. I take those pitches. I put the people. Actually, I think that might have been how. Nope. You and I found each other on Instagram.
- [31:45]
Gloria Chow
But I have had too. Right. And I would. I gave very specific. Here's a. Here's a hack about, about pitching for podcasts. It's still the CPR method, but instead of the three bullet points about your product list out, here are the five questions I can answer for your audience. And I will say that like 99% of the people who I've talked to who have podcasts really don't like it when it's like a third party service that you're paying for people to pitch you. Now, I'm not saying that you shouldn't use those services. All I'm saying is that the quality tends to be poor and it's a volume game. So they're working with tons of clients and they're just shooting in the dark. And a lot of times if you can't even like. And you can validate this for me, if you want to get on my podcast and you can't even be bothered to pitch me and you're like using a third party service, I'm not that interested. You know, I want you to pitch me directly. I want to hear from the founder.
- [32:33]
Lizzy Smiley
I've had two of them that were really good. They used someone and they really did a quality job. And I got, they got on the podcast. But the bulk ones I get every day, honestly, it just makes me angry and I won't even. I just, I actually mark them as spam, which is something I don't usually do as an entrepreneur. But I'm just like, this is. This is because you're wasting my time. So. But the, so the point is, guys, like, do your homework. Send something that's actually really relevant. Don't just massage spam, trying to get featured. Really pay attention to it. Send a thoughtful email. Short is great. When it's really long, you might be perfect. And I'm still skipping you.
- [33:06]
Gloria Chow
Yeah.
- [33:07]
Lizzy Smiley
So I think, I just think that's a very relevant scenario. And I also just want to reiterate, I sometimes go back to them later. So don't. And I think following up once a week is great. It drives me crazy, like you said, when they're just like, hey, just following up. And I'm just like, you're like, no.
- [33:23]
Gloria Chow
I read it like, give me a rating or review. Like, this is something I learned from My friend Ellen Yin is like, if you actually, like, paste a screenshot of, like, I actually loved your podcast so much, I went ahead and did a rating and review. Here's a screenshot. Like, 99% of people never do that.
- [33:37]
Lizzy Smiley
You got me with that. No one's ever done that before. Gloria, you were the only one. You were the only one. You're amazing. I thought it was so brilliant. Okay, here's the other thing I think would be so interesting to talk about. So one of the reasons this was the time frame that I was hoping I could get in touch with you is because, you know, one of the problems that Etsy sellers face depending on what they sell. I actually think this is a myth, which is part of why I think this will be fun to talk about. Summertime for, for handmade product sellers can be a big lull. For Etsy sellers, the organic traffic tends to go down a little bit on Etsy, just depending on. I mean, again, for graduation. No, it's a. It's an event, and lots of stuff's happening then. But you know your people who really have a lot of sales around the holidays because people are buying gifts and there's a lot of, like, Q4 is huge, just like retail generally. But what I was wondering is if you have some suggestions on how people could position to maybe get pitches in the summer that might help drive more business for them during those slower months. Quote unquot slower. Because it's really a myth. You just have to be wise about positioning.
- [34:30]
Gloria Chow
Yeah. So again, it's. It's not about your benefits and features. I actually, you know, in our program, we have a calendar of all the different dates. But think about what people are looking for. Summer, they're thinking about travel. They're thinking about minis. They're thinking about graduation. And then I think about bridal. So there's a lot of personalized gifts there. I'm thinking about dresses. I'm thinking about citrusy scents. I'm thinking about ingredients that are fresh and light. Thinking about colors that are. So think about what people are looking for in the summer and then pick the one or two products that's perfect for that. And I think it's not about it being a lull. It's just we're not taught to think like this. And so, yes, in terms of the relevant seasons, you realize there's a blue ocean of opportunities you can pitch for all year round. I mean, really, we had people get featured. For example, we had a dermatologist. He makes like a sunscreen product. And you would think, okay, well that's only in the summer. But he actually gets featured even on Halloween because he pitched everydayhealth.com about how Halloween candy is wreaking havoc on our, on our skin. So you can also be an authority in your niche too. It could be. Just because you make print on demand doesn't mean you can't talk about kind of the wider scope of what's happening. So there's also ways to get featured for your founder feature, not just, you know, the product. We had people who, you know, make physical products, you know, they make some travel minis, but then they got featured on a home organizational, like how to tidy up your home. Because it's kind of tandem, like kind of related to. Right organization. So think about all the different ways you can branch out of just talking about what you're doing, but kind of the broader narrative, whether it's parenting or wellness or minimalism or sustainability.
- [36:02]
Lizzy Smiley
Are you brand new to Etsy, about to get started, or struggling a bit to find your groove? What I'm about to say is just for you, okay? I can completely relate to where you're at because I think I can help you achieve success faster. When I first started my Etsy shop, it was not one of those success stories that we hear on the big YouTube channels, even on this podcast where I just had crazy success and it took off right away. I all but failed for my first six months, just like a lot of new sellers. And so it's very relatable. And the issue for me was I didn't understand demand for one. I didn't understand SEO. I was way too broad in my search terms and I didn't know how to position my product so that customers just couldn't help but click add to cart. And so once I learned those things, I went from making about $25 a month in sales to $6,000 a month and up. And in the holidays, I would even have $13,000 months, like at my shop peak. And the thing about me, if you've been here for a minute, you already know this. I'm a terrible gatekeeper, okay? When I figure something out, when I crack a code, when I get excited, I cannot help but tell everybody who wants to listen. It's like either my, my best asset or my toxic trait. I can't decide. But I put everything that you need to know to fill that beginner knowledge gap into a low ticket, just under three hours beginner course that I have called Six figure secrets to getting started on Etsy in it, I'm teaching you how to find what's in demand for your niche, how to find and use trends, how to start your shop if you're worried about that part. SEO strategy to find the micro niches where the opportunity is, how to understand the Etsy algorithm and a ton more. The whole thing is bite sized videos. Not long form, just small bite sized videos. Zero fluff and to the point. You could get the course today, go through the less than three hours over the next couple days, launch your shop this weekend and have sales coming in as soon as Sunday. So let's get you the few missing pieces of the Etsy success puzzle, those little tweaks you need to make so you can start making the sales that you deserve. Because I have never been more convinced that there is room at this table on Etsy for everyone. And the opportunity is so ripe right now. I am in the, in the numbers in the data every day and my mind just keeps expanding on the possibilities. Okay, so as a special treat, use the code save50 to save $50 on the six figure secrets course today. That's, that's $50 off with a coupon. Save 50. And by all means DM me or shoot me an email when those sales start popping because I want to celebrate with you. I think you know what's a little bit underrated is Christmas in July has actually become pretty huge. I'm betting journalists are doing some writing about that because it's become such a fun thing for people. But I'm also thinking about like, I think the travel angle and hostess gifts. So I mean, who is not going to barbecues or whatever is in the like hostess gifts could be perfect. It's just about positioning. And then you know what I, what I spend a lot of money on in the summer. This is so funny. We spend half the year in Wisconsin. And so in early June is when we trek, we start our drive from. And so many people take road trips from Texas to Wisconsin. And I spend so much money putting together things for us in the car. And it's not just like, you know, is it activity stuff for the kids? Yes, absolutely. That's where a lot of it's going. But it's also like kind of creature comforts for the like I am shopping for accessories and scents and just things that'll make it more pleasant to be in the RV for a few days, be traveling. I think, I think solving some of those problems is a massive opportunity in the summertime.
- [39:26]
Gloria Chow
Exactly. We had someone who actually doesn't even make her own product. She makes like a home decor subscription box and she got featured for like, the funniest headlines. Like, one was like, you know, what to give Hostess with the most is another one. And by the way, it's the same product was what to give a newly divorced dad in your life, which I thought was really fun, you know, so, like, be creative with what you think. And no, you don't need to have a different product for every season, but you need to switch up your angles a little bit.
- [39:52]
Lizzy Smiley
Do you have any tools? This is so good because I'm actually. Sometimes I'm not the best ideator about these kinds of things. This isn't my metron. How do you teach people to think outside the box? Like, I mean, I know we just rattled off a bunch of things, but the next time fall comes around, our examples won't be relevant. So. So how do you teach people to ideate for that?
- [40:09]
Gloria Chow
Yeah, well, definitely having a content calendar. Right?
- [40:11]
Lizzy Smiley
Which is what we provide, but also a niche calendar. Yes, that's what I guess.
- [40:15]
Gloria Chow
So we have that for our members. We have like 56 different ideas all year round. But then also, like, you can use tools like Perplexity, which what I love, it's replaced my Google. And what I love about Perplexity is that you can search. It's like an AI search engine that kind of amalgamates all of the answers instead of you having to click on each individual, like Google Result. And so all of. For example, if someone makes candles or home decor, you can literally type in the search box of Perplexity. What buckets of gift guides does Apartment Therapy write? And if Apartment Therapy only writes a certain amount of. If they don't do one for luxury gifts and if you make a premium candle, then you're not going to pitch to Apartment Therapy. So you can definitely do some searching with Perplexity to figure out what are the types of stories. Because a lot of times these stories are not new. They're the same buckets and categories. They just. Just update them every year.
- [41:04]
Lizzy Smiley
Is it like chatgpt or. It sounds totally different.
- [41:06]
Gloria Chow
Yeah, it's so Perplexity is an AI web search tool, whereas Chat GPT is not really a web search tool. So Perplexity AI, I definitely recommend you replace your Google with it. It's the best web search tool that helps you crawl for all of the answers, kind of gives you the best one. So you can type in what are the magazines that writes gift guides for this category. And then it'll give you and Then you can kind of ask again. Well, out of these magazines, what are the five types of gift guys for gifts under $50, right. So you can kind of have a conversation with it. And it's really good because it really, like I said, it takes all of the answers and synthesizes it into a very succinct answer for you.
- [41:46]
Lizzy Smiley
Add to cart. I literally want to look at it right now. Gloria, one of the things I love about you is you are like, you have no gatekeeping. You are such a breath of fresh air. Like, I swear, every time I talk to you, all you do, you just give, give, give, give, give, give, give. I just really hope the universe is overwhelming you with giving back, because I cannot believe. No, you are genuinely, you are so generous and I'm warm and wonderful. Pardon me.
- [42:10]
Gloria Chow
You too. I mean, look at the community you've built.
- [42:13]
Lizzy Smiley
Thank you. That's very kind. I just remember in my case, like being a new mom and desperately wanting to be home with my kids and having, having freedom, having choice on like the idea of a corporate being away. And I know that is, I'm so extremely fortunate. I am privileged. But I just get really excited about that. There's choices. My mom was a high powered business woman back in the day. My parents ran their own company. My mom was home for less than two weeks with me as a newborn and handed me over to the nanny and got back to work. And we just have choices now. So I think you and I both just get excited about especially giving women, giving women choices and sharing what we've learned to make it easier. Because I just remember what that felt like, like thinking, just feeling trapped of having to go back. Fortunately, I didn't because I was building businesses, but that's why, that's why we are how we are. So first of all, I think everyone should go take your free PR training because it is free and because they're going to pick up tools and because before you even build social media, an email list or anything, you can literally just launch your Etsy shop with two listings and this is like, relevant. Like what? How else can we learn from you?
- [43:23]
Gloria Chow
So the free training is gloriacr.com masterclass is gloria c h-o u p r.com masterclass watch that. That's definitely. A lot of people get featured, honestly, just watching that because I just literally give you a screenshot of what that pitch looks like and then it becomes so easy. And then I'm available. I'm on Instagram, I'm very open. I share a lot of like, very vulnerable and honest stuff. I have a very bold stance on my values, so I'm not unapologetic about it. I mean, I am unapologetic about it. So, you know, be prepared for some content. So I'm on Instagram Loria Chow pr and if you DM me the word Lizzie, I will give you an extra bonus so that you can have another PR resource to be on your way. So DM me the word Lizzie with an ie.
- [44:05]
Lizzy Smiley
Not that it really matters. Do you know that you, your. We all, we all get a ton of emails. I think I read every single email you send. There is something about the way you send emails that I, like, see it and I, I have to stop what I'm doing. Like, what is she talking about? Because it's either going to be so full of value that the time is worth spending or you're going to shock me so much with the content of what you say.
- [44:28]
Gloria Chow
Guilty as charge. Yeah, I really, I'm here for it.
- [44:31]
Lizzy Smiley
I hear for it. Okay. Well, it is always a joy to be with you. Thank you so much for sharing your time and your wisdom with us and I hope we can continue to be buddies and friends. So thank you. You're the best. You guys, thanks for hanging out. I hope, I hope you're walking away inspired. Like, there is just not a single one of you that shouldn't be having ideas, shouldn't be taking that PR training. So thanks for being with us. I love you so much. And until next week, go make something awesome. Bye, guys. And that's a wrap on this episode of how to Sell your Stuff on Etsy. Thanks so much for hanging out with me today. If you're looking for more resources, head on over to how to Sell youl Stuff, where you'll find podcast show notes, all the links from today's episode, the blog courses, coaching, and more. If this episode was helpful to you, awesome. The greatest compliment I can receive from you is a rate, review and subscribe on this podcast. Not only will it allow us to connect again on a future episode, it lets me know I'm providing you with value and helps other people find this content more easily. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your support. Have a great day and see you next time.