← The Product Boss with Jacqueline Snyder
The Product Boss with Jacqueline Snyder
648. "How do I attract and serve my ideal customer to get more traffic and sales?" | Coaching Session
00:51:58
Loading summary
Transcript98 lines
- [00:00]
A
I guess one of my biggest questions would be how do I serve my customers? I know the godmother and Godfather frames are such a huge part of my business. I don't know how to find my ideal customer, how to serve them.
- [00:14]
B
Hi, I'm Jacqueline Snyder and this is the Product Boss podcast. I've helped launch and grow thousands of product based businesses, even one of my own. And over the last 20 years, I've seen behind the scenes of businesses just like yours. Whether they are makers, manufacturers, artists, or food and beverage businesses. I have spent so many hours studying it all. I've discovered what makes them successful, what mistakes they could have avoided, how did they turn their ideas into successful business? And what are the strategies that they have used to make more sales and be discovered by more customers. And this is what this show is all about. Whether you're just starting out or you're looking to become a million dollar product boss, I'm here to give you the permission to chase your dreams no matter how big or small. All you need is the right mindset, a little courage, strategy and support, and you too can be the next million dollar product boss. Let's do this. Hey. Hey, Product Boss. Welcome back to another episode of the Product Boss podcast. Today I'm chatting with Asla and she is the owner of Boutique Butterloo and My Four Little Chicks. I know such cute names and now she makes and sells personalized picture frames for all occasions. Now, Asla has been in business for several years and has seen huge success with selling on Etsy. However, similar to a lot of you out there, I know she's also seen a decline in her sales in the past few years, especially on the platform Etsy. Now she's trying to figure out how to increase her sales and whether it's an issue with the amount of traffic on Etsy or if it's really time for her to add a second sales channel or start to think about the products that she's selling. Right. Like, does she need a shift to see more sales? She's not sure. She's not sure if the market's too crowded, if there's too many knockoffs, if it's the platform. These are the great questions of a product boss. And she also is sorting. You know, she's starting to feel like she's struggling to identify, attract and serve her ideal customers or her products. And what I'm really excited about is that Asla signed up for the Inner Circle Mastermind. So she's in with me. Now. We've been working together for the past, I think like two months since we did this call. She's gonna be working me through all of 2025 and in this incredible group with the Inner circle Mastermind. So I'm really excited to keep helping her grow and I can't wait to just kind of share updates in the next year of some of the people that you've heard on this podcast that I get to work with so closely in whether they're in their programs or they join one of my masterminds. So what I'm excited to do today is share with you how we're going to start to figure this out. So if you're ready, I'm ready. Let's dive in. Hey, product boss, let me ask you a question. Have you ever felt like you're struggling and spinning your wheels trying to grow your business online? I know, I know it can be so frustrating. I went through it with my own product base business and I know that you're dealing with so much like managing inventory, to shipping, to making all your products, to creating, to marketing all the things, right? I know you're wearing all the hats and you're worried about so many different things. And I need to tell you something. Your website doesn't need to be another thing to worry about. So that's where Shopify comes in. Now listen, Shopify isn't just a website builder. When I started my business back in the day, I mean, there were just website builders. No, Shopify is amazing. I wish I had it. It's our go to and number one e commerce platform built to make running your product based business even easier. So whether you're selling handmade jewelry, organic skincare, delicious treats, you might be a manufacturer, you might. It doesn't matter what you're doing, because this is the deal. Shopify is going to give you the tools to showcase your products beautifully, to manage inventory seamlessly, and to connect with your customers around the world. Because listen, customers need a good experience, right? It's all about the user experience. And that's why I'm so obsessed with Shopify. Because you don't need the tech skills required to create this amazing seamless customer experience. So with features like automatic payment processing and one click checkout, Shopify will actually help you focus on scaling your business and not having to worry about all the techie things that come with building a site and a site that converts really well. So my friend, if you're ready to make selling your products online easier, you can grab your free trial of Shopify today at the product boss.com shopify that's the productboss.com shopify. Now let's jump into the show. So from your words, tell me about your business, what you sell, I see that you sell it on Etsy but if you sell anywhere else and then what your best sellers are.
- [04:38]
A
I sell personalized picture frames, so we make picture frames for all occasions. They hold 4 by 6 or 5 by 7 photos. I have two different shops I have only been selling on Etsy. I put a few listings on TikTok shop, got a couple of sales from there. But I just, I'm not on TikTok a lot so I need to probably just take the time to get to know that a little better because I realize a lot of my ideal clients are probably on TikTok, so. But right now I'm only on Etsy. I'm starting to do some Instagram reels and trying to gain traction on there. I had a girl that did my social media a couple of years ago and she did awesome. But for Etsy, I feel like I just didn't see any of the traffic there that I expected to see. So we put that on hold for a while and I've been picking that back up the last couple months and I, you know, I was going to chat with you about maybe setting up a Shopify store or something along those lines as well. So I'm not solely on Etsy.
- [05:28]
B
Okay. I mean you've had 71000 over 71, 000 orders, which is amazing and insane. So tell me about what your team looks like to support you in this size business. I know things have shifted down since then, but what, what kind of team do you have?
- [05:41]
A
Things have shifted down significantly since then but I have girls that help me with my packaging and shipping all the items. I have a couple of. And they're just part time employees right now. I have a couple of designers that do they virtually design the frames as the orders come in and I have a couple of employees that physically make the frames.
- [05:59]
B
Okay, so it's all made where you are.
- [06:01]
A
Yes, that's right. Yes, we do it all.
- [06:03]
B
And then do you have an assistant or any extra help for you?
- [06:07]
A
I don't.
- [06:07]
B
Do you need it?
- [06:08]
A
Yes, I probably do. I probably do.
- [06:12]
B
And then what do you think? So in reflecting a lot of times when business changes, obviously 20, 20, 2021 was, we thought it wasn't going to be great and then a lot of people did really well. But what do you think? Did something break or did something change? Significantly to have your sales drop how much they've Dr.
- [06:30]
A
So not to sound like a stalker, but I have quite a few competitors that I follow regularly and in just gauging by their numbers, their businesses have also slowed down a lot. So I think it may have been an overall Etsy slowdown. However, we did change like we changed our listing photos and all that throughout like 2021, 2022, and I wonder if that maybe tweaked something in the Etsy algorithm when I was uploading new photos, changing things around. But besides that, no, there's been nothing else that we've changed. I have seen Etsy just trending down overall though.
- [07:03]
B
Okay, so you're saying potentially photos, but I mean what did the photos used to look like? Because these are great photos.
- [07:10]
A
So they actually looked pretty bad before. You know, there were a lot of shadows or the colors may not have shown properly. So they've actually been updated and they look much better now. I just don't know if that matters in Etsy algorithm. If they look at maybe changes in.
- [07:23]
B
A listing and, and then how did you get traffic to your Etsy shop?
- [07:27]
A
Etsy did it all. I did not do anything. I didn't lift a finger. When I started actually taking this on as a full time gig in 2015, it was the middle of 2015, it just started growing year after year, 100% growth, 200% growth. It grew a lot. And in 2021 it just exploded. When Etsy exploded, you know, everyone was on there making masks from fabric in like May of 2020. And I feel like that's what kind of got Etsy on the map as a whole. So business exploded then. But it was around June of 22 that I noticed a significant decline.
- [08:01]
B
Okay, well, I think, I don't know if I got it on the map, but I think it ended up being like a massive resource for Etsy. So when we would have gone there for gifts normally it was like all of a sudden it was like the home sewers are selling us masks or making hemi and sanitizer. So we were probably on the platform more than typically your year. So 2022, we saw it slow down. Do you find that, do you think that more competitors started popping up or really you might just really be feeling like it's traffic to Etsy and the use of Etsy.
- [08:26]
A
I honestly feel like it's just traffic. I do keep a pretty close eye on what's happening on Etsy and all my traffic numbers are trending down.
- [08:34]
B
Okay, so a couple Things you could try with Etsy is. And have you ever run ads on Etsy?
- [08:38]
A
I do run ads on Etsy, yes.
- [08:40]
B
Okay. And that hasn't helped at all in the lift?
- [08:42]
A
No.
- [08:42]
B
All right, so it sounds like. And I mean this is really a. You're in multi stream machine and you've given it a few years of trying to get this thing revved back up, but it's not doing what you want it to do, it's declining. And it's not to say people don't come back to it, but Q4 is one of your best seasons. But it is showing you that diversifying your revenue streams is important because you've got great product, you've obviously been able to handle a bigger size business. You have the systems and operations down for all of it. But it's just where you're being discovered. So do you think from when we look at your best sellers and from per. There's the personalization part, but is there any product here that's scalable without the personalization? So because you have like sayings on them like when tomorrow starts without me, don't think we're far apart. You know, there's like the, the quotes about let's say losing an animal or whatever. Do any of those feel like you could scale with them? Needs the personalization.
- [09:28]
A
I have actually one of my best sellers is a love at first sight frame and that's all it says on it is just love at first sight. So that's a pretty generic one. I've thought about maybe checking into wholesale.
- [09:38]
B
Okay. And what else that's like that or you know, godmothers are a blessing. Thank you for being mine without the personalization.
- [09:45]
A
Yes, absolutely. And a lot of people actually do buy these without personalization as well. So I feel like any of them could be just, just made and sold as is without a name.
- [09:56]
B
Okay. So that's what I want you to do. I want you to look at your products and you know like you have. There's this boy that stole my heart and he calls me and then you know, let's say it's like he calls me Mimi. Or this year for Mother's Day I actually saw this at home goods a lot. And I know that, you know, not ideal for you and your product, but they had sections of like Gigi, which we call my grandma. My, the great grandma for my kid Gigi. That's a trending name now because there's a lot more great grandmas around. You know, Nana is something that people use like there's different, Mimi, you know, so thinking about what the trending word is, or by having these ones where it doesn't just say grandma, but it says Gigi. It made me buy it because it felt more personalized to what my family calls them. So I want you to analyze your product and then see if there's any standouts that you think do well without the customization. That can still be different. So godfathers and godmothers, like, that's a huge part of the market that doesn't always feel served, if that makes sense. So I think I'd love you to do an audit. And then like, from a merchandising perspective, I guess my.
- [10:55]
A
One of my biggest questions would be how do I serve my. My customers? I know the godmother and Godfather frames are such a huge part of my business. I don't know how to find my ideal customer, how to serve them.
- [11:06]
B
Well, let's. Let's dig into that then. So by saying godmother and Godfather, big standout, what do you actually think that you made a large amount of money from? So we could talk about the, you know, your bigger years, but in the last few years, what are people buying from you? Do you know your top selling words or categories?
- [11:21]
A
Yes, the Godfather frames sell a lot. I have a godmother proposal frame that sell. I do sell a couple of Mimi and Gigi frames that are really good sellers, especially around Mother's Day and Christmas time and then grandpa and papa.
- [11:35]
B
So it sounds to me, and I don't know all your details, but it sounds to me like alternative occasions, like you're meeting, because there's already all the, like mom and husband and wife and love and whatever, you know. But it sounds to me like one of the things that you're standing out for right now are the alternative market categories that you would get cards for. You know, like we were looking. See, like you said godmother, Godfather, Mimi, Gigi, not just grandma. Right. Does that feel accurate?
- [12:01]
A
Yes, a lot. I do sell like grandpa's little girl or grandpa's buddy. I sell a lot of that. But yes, you're right. Everything is just like you said when you reached for the. The frame just because it felt personalized to you. That is majority of my sales.
- [12:15]
B
Okay, so I think that's where you go with this. As from a brand perspective, coming off of Etsy and thinking about the expansion of your company is you make. You're like the hallmark for frames in a way where I don't want to say the word alternative, but it's for like, how would you put it in your words?
- [12:33]
A
I've often thought of it as very specific. It's just a specific frame that I've had people purchase them with, you know, funny sayings that they've had in their family. I made my dad a frame that said I love my impa because that's all my one year old could call him was impa. So I feel like it's just anything that's very specific that the buyer is looking for to make the recipient feel special, like they received a gift that was actually made just for them.
- [12:57]
B
Okay. So I'm wondering if we can create the feeling of specific, like specificity without it always having to be custom. Of course you can do custom, but there's also this feeling of customization without actually customizing it. Because you are tapping into this kind of like alternative market. So it's not to say you don't do the other things, but you're looking for. I think what you're going to want to do is really think about trends, trends in familial titles. Like it's. You're really creating like keepsakes for important relationships in your life, if that kind of makes sense. So it's family focused. Your company is family focused. It is niche because it's not as broad as the general frames. Right. It serves more of a specific audience looking for like meaning, meaningful, personal items. So some level of this could be relationship specific. So it could be like keepsake gifts for. And I don't have the title yet and this is something you might want to work on but like for like meaningful relationships in your life where it could be aunts, uncles, stepparents, you know, thinking of, not the generic and then thinking about it for, you know, milestones, family events and really for you to lean into the emotional side to this. Because people ultimately want to buy things because they want to be seen heard. Right? They want to be seen and heard. And so you can sell. That's why people love to buy birthstone necklaces or their name on a necklace or their kids names on a necklace. Right. They want to like they need a. They need something about themselves. Everybody wants something about themselves or their gift giving something to someone to feel like it's about them. So that's where I think the gap in the market is that you could meet while having a broad range, but someone would come to you and buy from you because they know they could get this really sort of family focused keepsake product that has these like other alternative markets to them. How does that feel.
- [14:45]
A
That actually feels very well aligned. The family focused keepsake product is exactly what I'm, what I'm thinking of. I want the recipient to know that they received something that some thought was put into it wasn't just for purchased off a shelf somewhere. And I know that the product I make is high quality. It's not going to scratch peel crack. So I know that the recipient will be able to actually have it on their shelf for years.
- [15:07]
B
Yeah. And you're tapping in emotional value. Right. And then it's honoring like maybe it's honoring the most important relationships in your life or something. It's relationship based and then. But it's more than besties, BFFs, you know, whatever. And, and to the pets too. Right. Like it looks key of things for pets and animals. And that also feels personal. But it's not to say you can't keep the personalization like you've got Rainbow Bridge for your, for the dog or you know, these like personalized aspects. Like my mom, every time I had, every time I had two kids, so for each kid she went to Etsy and bought one of those little blocks that has their birth. They're so cute. And so she went to the same person maybe, or maybe she just looked them up and then found a different person.
- [15:44]
A
Oh yeah, those are so cute.
- [15:47]
B
So do you see where I was able to lead Azla here? Her question to me was, I have these godmother and Godfather frames that are a huge part of my business, but how do I serve my customers? And my question back to her was, well, what are your bestselling words or categories right now? Right. Like success leaves clues. We want to look at the data that we have. So based on her knowing her numbers, which you know is so important, knowing your numbers, knowing this data, the frames that she said back to me, the ones that she told me that were doing well, that's what we were able to determine that if she really wants to connect with her customers, she needs to find a way to create a specific feeling for her customers while also incorporating that emotional aspect. And by doing that, she's not only building her family focused brand, but she's bringing forward specific emotional feelings and connections for her customers to really get them to think about her product, to think about her brand and to buy her photo frames and really understand why they need them. So when you can start to take your product from just being a product and you could really start to, you know, you're thinking through the brand of it, which is something that you're going to hear me talk a lot about because it's a huge part of what I built into the product boss academy and what we're continuously diving into, right? She's almost a million dollar business and we're going back into this and thinking, okay, what's next? What's this next unlock? What do we have to do? So we really have to think through. All right, well, let's dig back in. So Etsy is product focused, right? The way that Etsy runs the channel, people search for something, they're not following brands or finding products, and then they're just comparing product to product, right? Her photo frame to another photo frame and whatever helps them make their decision. But to build the brand, to build something that can stand off of Etsy alone, that something that she can continue to do and not be beholden to what other platforms algorithms do, then we really need to think why. We really need to think about the specific feeling or emotion that we want her customers to feel and that shortcut of when they think this, they think about your brand, they think about your company. You all know that you have a business out there that you think of. I want you to think about the brands that you buy from, right? If I were to say to you right now, like, fill up a water bottle. Some of you might have very specific water bottles that you buy several of, right? Stanley? Hello? Anybody like that is at least all of our teens, right? They're like, I need a Stanley. Or if you're thinking about shoes and you're like, I need a new pair of sneakers or tennis shoes, depending on what you call them, right? You have a brand in your brain that your head goes to. You're not just looking for sneakers, you're also looking for the brand and how it makes you feel. And so this is one of the things that I'm really going to be diving in with all of you, whether it's here on the podcast, in one of my programs and my masterminds, because what I really want you to do is start to connect with your customers on more than just your product, right? It's more than just your product. It's that connection that you create with your customers. It's the way that you stand out in a crowded market. So if you want to successfully sell your products and keep growing and selling to your ideal customers, you want them to think about you, you want them to talk about you, and you want them to keep coming back for more. So now that we've determined how Asla can serve her Ideal customers and how she can start to really kind of build a brand and this connection that differentiates her from just personal, customized picture frames into something else. Now what I want to do is I want to dig deeper into the type of brand she can create. The hard part with Etsy is that we're competing product to product. You're not competing brand to brand. So really, if they're looking for something, Etsy's going to show you the products that meet your search and they're going to look at it based on reviews, based on price, based on how fast they can get it. Right. They're not buying from you as your company, but it's all backed up by the fact that you have this many purchases and stuff. It's just not the place that you're able to build a brand. And what I'm hearing you say and where the world is forcing you right now is we need to build a strong brand off of Etsy. We can keep Etsy and I have students that have done this. So an example for you is Sarah Cornwell Jewelry. Huge business on Etsy, really does really well with necklaces, personalized necklaces, mama kids names, things like that. But didn't want all of her eggs in the Etsy basket. So she started selling more direct to consumer. So she started doing ads like Meta Ads. And she had a bigger business. Right, like you. So she did ads. She really built a beautifully converting Shopify website. I don't actually even know if she went wholesale. I don't think that that was her route, but she really built up the Shopify site and then she was able to see the difference. People who went to her website really more so wanted the off the shelf product. I just want to buy this thing. And people who went to Etsy, one of the customization, even though you could customize on her website. So you'll kind of start to see you're not shutting down Etsy obviously, but it's just, you'll start to see, oh, okay. People come here for this. And then as I build my business with another stream of revenue, I can build it around that. So the idea you brought to me was wholesale. Do you want to try wholesale or direct to consumer?
- [20:20]
A
I think I'd rather go direct to consumer first.
- [20:23]
B
Okay. So one thing I would gauge is how many people are buying frames online. Do you have like a baby's first Christmas or anything like that?
- [20:30]
A
I do, yes.
- [20:31]
B
Okay. You could see and you'd have to check the timing on Amazon with when they're accepting things for the holidays. But you could even just try like a singular product if you wanted, like a baby's first Christmas, maybe your ornaments. You could try something like that if you wanted. But I do think that the thing about Amazon is people are buying a lot of things as gifts and sending them just directly to a person. So it could solve for a problem like that. I have a student, she was an MSM that built an entire greeting card company on Amazon and was getting it up to $2 million just selling greeting cards on Amazon and individual greeting cards.
- [21:04]
A
That is awesome. Yay.
- [21:06]
B
Yeah. So. So there's this alternative way that you can use. I think humans are using Amazon in a different way now. They're using it as like an instant delivery. I know when I lived in on the east coast, my family would send me stuff for Mother's Day and they weren't even ordering through florist. Like they were doing Instacart and getting, you know, a grocery store delivery of FL to me. Or I sent them stuff through Amazon to get to them. Right. Like it was like last minute gifting. So people are using it also in an alternative way.
- [21:31]
A
Okay, I'll check into that.
- [21:33]
B
So I'm just looking at what I googled here says the global picture frame market was worth around 9.3 billion in 2023 and is predicted to grow to 15.2 billion and by 2032. So that's good. Of more than 2, 600American consumers surveyed, 50% indicated that they made a purchase of the of art, wall, decor, custom framing or picture frames. So that's something I would look at is some bigger brands and looking to see if they've got the. The category right, like picture frame category. And seeing how they're also promoting it, it's probably not the biggest thing that they promote, I don't think. I normally get emails on like buy picture frames.
- [22:08]
A
Right. It's not a very popular gift.
- [22:10]
B
It. It is when you put a picture in it, you know, Very true. That could be something that you offer. You could potentially. I don't know. This is like changing things up. But you know how you offer personal. They sent you a photo, you printed it, you put it in the frame, and then you could send it framed with a picture.
- [22:28]
A
I do offer a photo printing option, but I just the other day I was listening to one of your podcasts where you were mentioning bundling and I thought, oh, maybe for Christmas I could do like a frame with 12 photo prints so that the recipient can change it out once a month or something. Along those lines, like bundling it with a few photo prints so that it was just ready to gift and they didn't have to go and actually print out the photo to put in it.
- [22:50]
B
I don't know if people, I mean, I might not be the right person then. I don't know that people change the photos that often. They may or may not. I mean that might be something, you know, because you've been in the market a little longer. Not a little longer. All, all the way longer. I've just been a customer. But if I look at your listing, it's not clear to me that I can add. Right. I can personalize it, but it's not clear to me that I can add a photo to it. So what if you tried something for the holidays where you were like you did something and you could run an ad to it. Cause you already run ads where it's personalized gifts. Like maybe, maybe you go really specific. It's like for Papa or Mimi or something that you know is kind of trending. You might need to look and see like what search terms are being searched. And then I wonder if you could run an ad specific to that with this kind of like upsell. So this plus photo and customize and we'll send it to your, we could send it to your person. Like it's, this is a little bit reaching, but it's just like an alternative way. So we have to think like how do we operate alternatively to or solve problems for people. So I think just studying some of these home decor companies and seeing how they market their frames, how they have them photographed, it's a little different than the way you've been doing it on Etsy. Okay. So I think Amazon could be an option if you sell wholesale. I think wholesale. So the harder part twofold. So when you're saying TikTok and TikTok shops now my, one of my students, she TikTok like comes to her and watches her and what she does, she's, she's. Her product's like the top 1% of what sells on TikTok, which is amazing. So, so if you find that your customers are on TikTok, you could try an all in strategy on TikTok for this season. Not so much Instagram. Instagram could be like your secondary thought. But if you go off of kind of what we've been talking about here and think like, think through this from the perspective of what would people search, what could go viral, what would be something that they really need. You could thinking again, you do personalized keepsake frames, like for, you know, the important relationships in your life because it's, it's more in general. And then, you know, like, you could try TikTok as a strategy to see if you can grow that in a time that they're prioritizing shops and in a time that you could try marketing. But you have to just be prepared to do that. And I don't know if that's something you want to do or not this, this season.
- [24:54]
A
Okay, I'll definitely check into it because I. I've been surprised at TikTok. I feel like when I put something out there, I actually get good response from it. So, yeah, I'll devote some time to that for sure.
- [25:04]
B
What else can I cover for you that you would like clarity around?
- [25:07]
A
So when I'm thinking of marketing, especially if I get a Shopify or a new store or website set up, where do I meet my ideal client? I feel like I have a. I do have a tough time connecting with them, like just really narrowing them down. Are there any exercises I could try or anything that, I mean, I've chatted with chat GPT a lot.
- [25:28]
B
Well, you're in standout society, so I teach you how to use it and how to look for your ideal customer. But I think what you have at niche down on is sort of what your secret sauce is, which is what we're talking about right now, which is where I see the biggest differentiator for you. So I want you to start to hone in on you as a brand now versus products on Etsy. And. And you have this in standout society where you can really kind of lean in and think, who is my ideal customer avatar? How can I solve a problem for them? So the problem that you're solving is either like a gift or a personalization of some sort with an alternative title, like a familial title. I don't know what we call that word, like aunt and uncle. But familial title, that is not as found. The same way that if you think about how like gift card industry has changed over the last several years, like we can find so many more things now. There's alternative stepdad, you know, from all of us. Like they really solve the problem of coming up with. Even though it's not the entire card section, we can still find it for people in our lives that are alternative to dad, mom, grandma, grandpa, uncle, aunt, you know. So I want you to hone in on that part. You've already like, you're already hacking the Competition and then really thinking through if this was you as like this alternative gift company that people knew they could come to you for, for people that they love for. With that I can kind of find not all the titles, but I could find kind of what I'm looking for. That could be a good start to honing in. Your ideal customer is probably still going to be a woman, right? And she's probably still in her, she's most likely, I think in her 30s. Let's give her like a, probably a 30s because she's got kids or young kids. So she's gifting grandparents, godmothers, godfather, aunts and uncles. You know, when their kids are younger, we do more with them and then when they're older we're like nobody needs a picture of their sixth grade picture in a frame, right? So and what we want is we want them to enter in then it's like this constant like the, like the brand grows with them. So for you, you know, when I was single and I didn't have kids, I didn't need to give frames to people. But then when I had kids or I had a family, then we would gift Nana popup, da da da da da. Because it's like gifting from the kids, it's familial. So you want to think of it as like the person has a family and they've got, got the older family, they've got younger family, they've got aunts and uncles, they have godmothers godfather, you know. And I do think there could be, especially because the godmother godfather, there could be this alternative market for you that could be in the faith based market. So the Christian market, let's say, or Catholic market where you could potentially get your stuff into. There are gift stores or like more faith based product categories that you could probably get your stuff into as well. Are you faith based at all in your own? Because that could be a TikTok marketing spin, but we don't have to go there.
- [28:05]
A
I would say I'm more like Woo, thanks.
- [28:08]
B
So to my Woo auntie.
- [28:14]
A
Which could.
- [28:15]
B
Be a niche in and of itself a hundred percent. I would be the Woo auntie. They come over like, why are there so many crystals? So I don't know if that specifically answered your ideal customer, but I think, I think if you can really hone in on, on this, on the solution. All right, so did you see this path that I took Asla on to answer her question about how she can meet and connect with her ideal customer? So it's twofold the first part was figuring out what platform she's going to focus on to build her brand. Now, while Etsy works as a sales platform because it automatically brings traffic to her products. Right. For you, one of the biggest issues, and I mentioned this before, is you're not really building a brand on there because people will go to Etsy and they'll just search for those specific products. They'll search for keywords, they're not typically searching for specific brands. Now if you have returned customers and they know that you can get X, Y, Z from you, sure. But a lot of people are just going on there and looking for something, like they're typing something in and whatever shows up, shows up. So she has several routes that she can take depending on what she feels most aligned with. But once that ASLA determines if she's going to build a website or start off with wholesale, her second step is really going to be figuring out who her ideal customer is and what problem she can solve for them. And when I say problem, it's also meeting a need, a want or desire, or solving a problem. Right? A need and a problem at the same time. Could be, I want to buy a special gift for the godparents of my kid and I wish there was something there that had godparent on it, for example, right? So I've seen that huge trend. I'm not sure I've seen that trend in Mother's Day that, you know, we call my grandma Gigi for great grandma, but Gigi, like G I, G I. And I don't even think my kids, the little kids in our family know that Gigi stands for great grandma. I was asking my 3 year old niece the other day and she didn't know what I was talking about. But nonetheless, at Mother's Day I think it was even in like a TJ Maxx. So when you start to see things that like TJ Maxx or home goods and things like that, you're like, oh, this is starting to hit the masses. This is more than what the specialty products you find on Amazon. They had like best Gigi, they had mugs, they had little desk markers. Like they had all these things that had the word Gigi in it. And you might see Nana or other alternative ways that they call people things other than just grandma. Right. Or great grandmother. So we have to. The cool thing about all of you being small businesses is that you can really jump ahead, right? Like you can, you can pivot, you can make changes, you can do things quickly. The, the bigger businesses are like the Titanic, like steering the Titanic, they cannot turn fast enough. So they made that decision a year ago. You get to come up with these cool ways of pivoting and standing out. And so for her, right, it's thinking about if she's gonna do wholesale, if she's gonna sell on her own website, that's okay. But the other way to do this is that she's finding that solution. So as I go back to, like, what problem does it solve? Well, somebody like me, I want to buy a gift for my grandma for Mother's Day, But I'm so fortunate that she's here with us still that my kids have a great grandmother. It's like, well, can I find a card that says, great grandma, can I find? But they call her Gigi. So it's like finding something that's closer to that is really helpful to me. It meets a need, it meets a want, it meets a desire, and it solves a problem for me. And you don't have to meet all of them, but you can see how each thing that you all make has a different. You can find reasons that all of those can work for you. I hope that's making sense. So here's the deal. Okay, we need to figure out where she wants to sell it. Then we really need to hone in on who her ideal customer is and what problem she can solve for them. And the simplest way that Asla can do this, right, is we want to figure out the solution that her product makes and then work backwards from it. So for her, her picture frames can serve as a family keepsake or personalized gift, but they're specialized in the way that the naming, right? Maybe it's to auntie or godmother or great grandmother or Gigi or Nana. She can alternative family members that we can't all find, right, because mom and mama cups, sure, she can have those, but is that the thing that leads her brand, or is that just like, okay, we have that, but people come to us to find those alternative names. So if you're struggling to build your brand or figure out who your ideal customer is, the first question I want you to ask yourself is, what solution can my product provide for my customer? The need, want, the desire. This is something I'm literally focusing in every single one of my programs. Because what I've realized is that people. You've heard me say this. People come up with idea, they make it, and then they jump to selling it. But they haven't thought about this part. And this is the part that stands Out. This is, this is the foundational bit that you can build everything on. So while now is Asla's busy season, she's likely not going to make any huge changes right now. In fact, I've been working with her through the busy season where it's like, all right, let's just keep pushing, let's keep pushing. But what I want to do is I want to figure out a quick way for her to try and drive more traffic to boost her sales on Etsy right now. Right. Because that's where her channel is. It's the season. Let's get people buying. Hey. Hey friend. I'm just gonna jump in and interrupt the show for a real quick second because I wanna talk about the side of your product based business that nobody loves. I know. Tracking inventory, right? Managing all the costs of what inventory you need when you need it and trying to stay organized while you blend it all together. And if this feels like it's resonating with you, I have a solution for you. It's something I wish I had instead of literally printing out Excel sheets and trying to write it all down back in my day. Back in my day. Right, right. So the solution for you, my friend, is Crafty Base. Craftybase is the inventory management, bookkeeping and production software built specifically for product based business owners like you. And with Crafty Base, you can track your raw materials, components and finished products in real time so you'll never run out of stock or over order supplies again. And it even calculates your cost of goods sold automatically. Right. It monitors your expenses and it helps you keep an eye on those all important profit margins so you can grow your business business. Because remember, I want you to be a profitable product boss. So if you're ready to feel organized, in control and never run out of your bestselling inventory again, then head to theproductboss.com craftybase and we've hooked you up to receive a 14 day free trial to try Crafty Base today. Again, that's the productboss.com craftybase. Hey friends, are you unsure of what to say on social media or what to even send in your weekly emails? Well, what if creating content could be easy? Would you be looking for a shortcut to creating consistent content? Yes, consistent content. Because you know, consistency is key. Well, let me tell you, you are not alone when you feel like you're struggling on what to post or what to write in emails. And we know that you have that product part of your business down. But as you're Listening to this podcast, you probably already know that to get more people to your products, to buy your products, you need to create great content. Oh, I know, I see. I keep saying content, and that's the drive dreaded C word. And we can't tell you how many product bosses tell us that they want to create great content for their audience and their customers, but they don't know what to say, or they are so busy they can't find the time, or they really, really, really don't want to be the face of their brand. Well, no worries, because that's exactly why we created a year of content. It is your shortcut to creating consistent content that resonates with your audience and brings more loyal customers. Customers who can't wait to buy your products. If you want to see how easy this is and how easy it is to create content for your audience and your customers, head to www.ayearofcontent.com.
- [35:31]
A
So my pet loss frames, because I have the second shop too, which we started, they're larger frames, so they fit five by sevens instead of four by six that are in butterloo. And my best seller there are the Pet Loss Brains, which are then hard for me with the ideal client because they've been as young as high school kids, kids and as old as, you know, grandpa's 70s.
- [35:51]
B
So. But keep. Let's keep talking about that because that's an alternative market.
- [35:54]
A
I was thinking of maybe collaborating with Instagram influencers or tick tockers that, you know, are into, like, golden retrievers or, or their own pets, or maybe even finding artists that make, you know, just custom pictures of dogs that can maybe fit into one of my frames that we could send out as a gift. I'm just not sure that would even be worth my time or where to even go with it.
- [36:16]
B
Okay, so, you know, technically the pet one could actually be the better one for TikTok. I wonder. I have students that do really well with, like, pet memorial product, and so that's really what that part of your brand is. Now, it's hard when we're talking about working with influencers and stuff, because unless you're following them and you've somehow just like caught it at the right time that they just lost a pet. It's, you know what I'm saying? And like, they're in mourning and they're. It's. It's a harder thing to kind of tackle with influencers, but it is something that you could almost passively do where if you start to share it and you Share stories. Or again, like if you want to use TikTok for that, that's something where people will spread it, spread information about something like that. And then what? It's just word of mouth. That's what TikTok is. It's word of mouth because people are sharing it. The algorithm is your word of mouth. So I think what's happening though is you've got two alternative products that you can sell because the pet market is different than the other market. They are the same company, but they might have different target end targets. And because the personalization of the memorialization of the frame for the animal, that might stay more personalized, but you could try especially locally. I don't know how big the businesses, but like pet cemeteries, vets, places like that where you. When my dog passed, they gave me like a paw print of the pet. They give you like the Rainbow Bridge poem, all the things. So another thing that they could do is some veterinarians might want to give a personalized gift to their customer so they could do something in hindsight, so you could approach some vets with your product. Even if they had the frame in the vet and then they took customers orders for you, it almost be. It's somewhat wholesale, but not like they're taking the order and they're processing the order and then it comes to you. But again, it's like word of mouth.
- [37:50]
A
This is where I struggle because sometimes I do feel like I have two different customers and two different products and I'm not sure which one to tackle. And just where do you even start?
- [38:00]
B
Like on Etsy, if you wanted to try to create some more listings for the pet loss and see if you could grow that side of your business on Etsy because people are willing to spend anything when the comes to the loss. Like, I don't think that the economy. I mean, yes, whether you pay for like the head. I buried a dog. I was in my twenties. My. It was my pet. I paid for the whole like pet cemetery, whatever. But I never did the headstone. I still regret it. It's like 15 years. Meanwhile, second dog, I still have like in a box. Cause it's like, you know, it was one of those emotional purchases. So. But that's the thing. So when we lose a pet or someone we love. But let's, let's go with pet. It's an emotional purchase and they're buying from an alternative. Like they want to commemorate that animal. They. They want to get it. So that might be an easier thing to keep leaning into. On Etsy and perhaps maybe your efforts of knowing how to make Etsy work for you. What if you transitioned Etsy right now to pet memorialization? You could try that. And potentially Christmas and holidays, like thinking about, you know, babies first Christmas, like start to market for those from a customization point on Etsy. Because you know how to work Etsy. Don't forget you, you do know Etsy really, really well. Well, true. It's just the throwing spaghetti at the.
- [39:12]
A
Wall with Etsy especially, even more so lately I feel like I used to have more of a handle on the algorithm and what it favored and how I could get my listings seen and on page one almost all the time.
- [39:24]
B
So maybe what you're doing is you're going too broad. So maybe it's like niching like what products do you really believe in that you're like, what if I try and lift these and see if the work that I do instead of like the whole thing, what could you focus in on that you could lift to see if that could drive traffic. Traffic.
- [39:37]
A
So just pick my top three or five.
- [39:39]
B
Yeah.
- [39:40]
A
Okay.
- [39:40]
B
Instead of trying to lift everything, they say a rising tide lifts all boats, right? So just lift the things that you think you could go kind of an all in on to test this strategy of. Because what's happening with Etsy is you're probably like, I have so many products now and it's like everything can't get all the attention and so nothing is getting enough attention. So if you could really niche in merchandise and start to think, what do I want to focus on? What do I think? What do I believe in that I could sell the heck out of this holiday season. And then focus, focus and test. Just keep testing, trying, testing, trying. And then you'll get better at the 1 or the 3 versus 50.
- [40:12]
A
Yeah. I do have over, I think 600 items in my shop right now because we just take pictures as we make them and they have different names like Mimi or Gigi or Lolly and we want to showcase that we can do it all. But I love what you say that when you're selling to everyone, you're selling to no one. So I've considered even deleting some of my listings that just haven't had any traction the last few months.
- [40:31]
B
You could. I mean, the thing with Etsy is that Etsy does want you to throw everything at the wall because it's product to product focused. So if someone looks up Lolly, they're going to give you everything with Lolli on it, everything with Gigi on It they're not looking up like, oh, I'm going to this, you know, I'm going to, you know, boutique Butterloo because I know that I can get. I know that frames normally lack like emotional significance, but I know that this company creates these products for special roles in my family. Right. No, they're just looking up godparent God gifts. Right.
- [41:00]
A
That's where it's kind of frustrating with Etsy.
- [41:02]
B
Yeah. So. But that's okay because it works for you and it has worked for you. But maybe right now you go back into niching, you got to go back to like your early days where you had less product and you were trying to lift that. So just find. I don't know if you want to make the decision now with me or if you want to come back to it, but like three to five products that you're excited about that you're like these feel on trend that I can focus in on and see what traction I can start to build on Etsy. Again with that.
- [41:26]
A
Okay. Yeah, I do have, I have my top three to five I could definitely do that with. Do you want me to tell them to you now or.
- [41:31]
B
Sure.
- [41:31]
A
Okay. I know for sure. My Godfather frame. The Godfathers are a blessing. That one is, has just always been a favorite and it's one of the ones that I love making grandpa frames. I do sell a lot of grandpa's buddy or grandpa's little girl. So my grandpa frames, the Mimi and Gigi frames, those would be my third.
- [41:48]
B
That'd be third and fourth probably.
- [41:50]
A
Okay, so each would be their own.
- [41:52]
B
Yeah, cuz one's Mimi and one like I'd never buy Mimi and someone will never buy Gigi.
- [41:56]
A
And then for five, I have some new grandparent frames that sell really well. The ones for like pregnancy announcements, they did not.
- [42:04]
B
So none of those had to do with pets.
- [42:05]
A
That's from the other shop. The pet bestseller is in the other shop. I do have some in this shop, but I wouldn't say they're in my top five.
- [42:11]
B
Okay. So how's the business on the pet side? If we were to split both Etsy shops into two different companies, where is the revenue coming from?
- [42:18]
A
I would say right now they're half and half. The pet shop has had a huge increase the last few months.
- [42:23]
B
Okay. See, I think, I think kind of where my gut is going with pet is that even when things are kind of people are going to buy gifts again, but when money feels tighter, people are scared or whatever. They're not kind of doing the Frivolous extras. They may not send, you know, like all the things to people, the pet thing, nothing shorter than death and taxes. So our pets are going to die, right? So like that's going to always happen and it's an emotional purchase. So do the same thing then for the pet side and treat these both as two different companies. But if you're seeing the pet one do better on on Etsy, you know, see what's working over there, try it on the new one or just split them into two different companies or two different focuses because they have two different customers. So are you catching onto a theme here? If Asla wants to test and try to drive more traffic to her Etsy shop and products, right now she's going to need a niche down to like three to five categories of products, right? And we figured out that that's possible because right now she's going to broad with her products. Right now she's trying to sell frames to all the customers which is actually causing most of her products to get lost in the Etsy search among her competition. So if she's able to choose her top three to five best selling categories or ideas for these frames and then she could be on trend and focus on bringing traffic to those, she's going to be able to start to build traffic again on Etsy, right? Let's promote those alternative names for these frames. Similarly, if you're someone who sells on Etsy and you're selling all the things or have tons and tons of products, chances are your products are getting lost. Because Etsy is very much a gifting platform. It's very much a search platform where somebody's looking for something very specific. And the thing is, is like I know and I know a lot of Etsy coaches out there teach you to throw spaghetti at the wall, to make new stuff every single day to post it. That is not sustainable. More is not more sales, more is more time from you and more is more effort and more money and more cost. And your time is money versus figuring it out, right? Figuring out your bestsellers, figuring out your core collection, your hero product, what you want to be known for, creating these sellable products and growing from those. And if you to my episode with Donna Baum, I mean, hello, that's proof, proof one product can bring you hundreds of thousands of dollars. I'm not telling ASLA to go down to one product, but I would love her to start to niche down. It's a big shift for you my friends that are really in that Etsy mindset. But I've seen it work time and time again. It's not necessarily that you have to do only three things. It's just focusing, okay? Focusing. It makes it easier to market and to sell. So if you're listening right now and you're one of those, you know, you're selling on Etsy or you have your own website, I want you to know if you're feeling this struggle, you're not alone. You're not alone. So people out here, right, this person is a multi six figure business and she too is having the same conversations that I could have with someone who's just starting out. But like I said, it's an unlock every level. Leveling up, right? Level up, level up, level up. We've got different things that we need to focus on and times that we need to go back in and hone in and ideate and rebrand. There's just lots. There's the levels. It always repeats itself and it's kind of fun. It's part of the game of entrepreneurship. So now let's dig in and see if there's anything else I can help Oslo with.
- [45:22]
A
Okay, I have another question for you of just something, just some things that I was jotting down as I was listening to some of your podcasts. So. But how do I position my product so that it's like a must have, you know, when I create urgency around marketing? Because I mean, you know, it's a picture frame, not really a must have, but it is a meaningful gift. So how do I do that instead of it just being like a thoughtful gift idea?
- [45:44]
B
So the biggest change that happens when you move off of Etsy into this other platform, this other world is, is the marketing side. So I don't know with your stuff if it's a scarcity aspect other than scarcity of time. So when it's Mother's Day, we need to buy gifts for people, so it's a necessity and we have to solve the problem, which is buying a gift for mom, grandma, great grandma, stepmom, alternative mom, whatever it is, right? So what you probably need to get stronger at is less of what you're asking and more marketing to the calendar. So know, Father's Day makes a lot of sense for your grandpa type product and knowing that. So for dads and grandpas, we're gonna have probably holidays, right? Like Christmas time, Hanukkah, all the things and then Father's Day. So you've got two points in the year. Sell the heck out of the dad grandpa products then same thing for mom, grandma, great grandma, two times a year, Holidays when we're gifting and Mother's Day most likely. So that'll be two. And you know, we've got May and June, so Mother's Day, Father's Day is similar in time. And then we've got Christmas, Christmas, the Christmas season. So that's great because it's Q2 and Q4. So you've got two quarters covered that if you could really be marketing to that and that you're focused on like being in all the places. So when I say being all the places, it's like if you're gonna sell on Amazon, you've got the product up there that's gonna sell it. It's not all the Mother's Day stuff. It might just be your one Godfather frame that you have up on there and like your one GG frame. Like it doesn't have to be lots of different things. And then obviously like baby, the majority of people have are born in August. I was just looking this up cause we have a lot of birthdays in August, September and so I was working nine months back. And that puts us at Christmas time, which is why people, when people are making the babies. So August has the most birthdays, but then September has the most days with birthdays or something like that. So knowing that potentially in the end of summer, early, early fall months, there's a lot of birthdays that come up. But people are having birthdays all the time. Right. So babies are being born all the time. So meeting the need of the solution for a baby present, a baby's birthday is another time of year that like you could, that's something you'll market throughout the year. And in that you're marketing gifts for Godfather godmother, you know, first grandparent gifts, things like that. Right. Because babies are being born. So that's more of your consistent year long marketing campaigns.
- [47:58]
A
I am seeing a lot of return customers, which is kind of new, but I feel like you're right. Once they buy a frame for one, whatever the need is, then they realize, oh, I can get this for, you know, Mimi also or so and so's birthday is coming up and I can place orders. So I'm seeing a lot more return customers on Etsy.
- [48:15]
B
It's different than scarcity. Yeah. So you're really always going to think how do I tap into the emotional significance of the calendar dates of the holidays? And so the scarcity is time to buy those gifts for people you love. And then the rest of the year is going to be Just highlighting the fact that and, and I, and I'm talking from the non personalized side. Personalize, you've got and you're on Etsy and you're going to keep doing what you do there. But the growth of you having a brand will be, look at these personalizations. But also you can get these and they're not personalized. Don't overwhelm yourself with too many new things, especially in the season. It's your busy season. If we were to talk about this in January, it could be a different like alternative plan for the new year.
- [48:54]
A
Okay, awesome. Thank you.
- [48:56]
B
If people want to buy from you, shop from you, follow you, all the things, where can they do that?
- [49:00]
A
I'm on Etsy butterloo.etsy.com and my Instagram is, is at Boutique Butterloo.
- [49:06]
B
Okay. So this was really a great session and what's really cool about it, it's the very first time that Azla and I worked together and really getting to learn her business. And I was so excited because after this coaching session she joined the inner circle Mastermind. So I get to work with her for a full year, which is awesome to see where she's gonna go and where she's gonna grow. Now the main theme here is that if she wants to increase her traffic on Etsy and make more sales, over all she's going to want to create a specific emotional feeling for her customers through her products. We want her to build a brand and determine who her ideal customers and then niche down to those top three to five categories that she can go all in on with Etsy. Now if she's able to do this, I know she's going to start to see more traffic and more sales of her frames going forward. Plus like I said, I get to work with her in the inner circle Mastermind. So as we're moving through the next several months, we get to level up. We get to think about new product ideation. If she's going wholesale, if she's going to sell direct to customers on her website.
- [50:01]
A
Right.
- [50:01]
B
We get to walk through all of these steps. So if you're listening and you're a product boss out there that has hit your first six figures. So whether you're making a hundred thousand dollars or you're making a million dollars, I have two programs, two different masterminds. I've got the design to scale lab which I call my mini mind and group coaching. So it's three month program that's for my friends that are just hitting that first a hundred thousand about $300,000. And then those of you that are 300,000 and above. And there's like a variation here because it's application only. And once you get that application in, we determine if you're a good fit, and then we determine if there's a spot and which group would be great. So if that's you and you want to learn more, I'm going to drop the links in for Design to Scale Lab and my Inner circle Mastermind. We have just a few spots left before we kick off in January. Once we kick off, doors are closed until 2026. So if you're looking for the support in 2025, let's stop letting the years go by and start having you feel supported. Have me as your coach. Have this incredible group that I've been forming. I've been so selective of this group, and they're so awesome and amazing, and I'd love to see your application come through. So go ahead and click that link if you're into it, and then we can see your application and we can maybe hop on a call and chat and see if it's the right spot for you. Or maybe you'll get accepted right off the bat and you're like, yes, I'm in. I remember the first time I was accepted into this one mastermind I wanted to get into so bad, and I was like. I was like, jumping. I remember me jumping and being like, this is it. And so I hope that this happens for some of you out there as well. So no matter where you are in your journey, my friend, I want to just remind you, you're doing amazing. You're doing big, amazing things. Things. Nothing is easy, right? When you're doing things that are pushing you to your growth edges, it shouldn't be easy. This is the thing, right? Like, you are incredible, and you are amazing, and you're doing things that our mothers, our grandmothers, our great grandmothers could probably never have even imagined for themselves. So I'm really proud of you. I want you to keep up the work that you're doing. I'm here for you twice a week on this podcast, and I'll see you in the next one.