I have been pretty busy working on YarnAndThreadRetailers.com… fingers crossed, it will go live this next week!

This question was asked on the Quilt Designer’s List I belong to:

*quote*

I need some advice. I guess it is a little late to think about this but I am stuck as far as a marketing plan. I have met with good results when offering my pattern to shops in person but not sure where else to go from here. I am trying to get a web page up but it isn’t ready yet. What am I forgetting?

*end quote*

Here is my reply:

Marketing for independent Quilt Designers is getting more and more important AND more complicated, as the market becomes saturated, the economy tightens up, and the chain store situations become more tenuous.

As Wheat said earlier *frankly it has me quite concerned and that concern is deepest for that segment of the independent design community.* I agree with hewr wholeheartedly!

It is with this in mind that I am focusing my efforts on the marketing sites I am creating for NW and Quilting, Retailers AND designers.

Here is an overview of what you need to be doing…

You REALLY do need a *Marketing Plan*. It is now just as important as the *Business Plan* you should also have…

You should be working on YOUR USP *Unique Selling Proposition*. It should be fairly concise (think Mantra, rather than mission statement)

You need to be building YOUR Brand, and it should be apparent in all of your markeitng and presentation materials: logo, pattern covers, web site, market booth, email signature line, etc…

You should be working on:
* ways to market online AND offline
* ways to market to retailers AND consumers

If possible, you should be trying to coordinate your marketing so that one action or strategy can work in different markets…

If YOUR name and your company name are different, you need to be marketing BOTH, since Quilting is a Personality driven industry…

Check out my Marketing Blog for the post about your *About Me* page…

Go back and read the posts here about why you need BOTH a Blog AND a web site…

This may seem overwhelming but like any big, important project, you need to just take it a step at a time. You have already taken that most difficult first step by asking the question.

Tink

PS – One of the major issues I am grappling with is the growing suspician that many of us, myself included, have gone about marketing with Freebies/Complimentary patterns ALL WRONG!

Stay tuned for some new and innovative approaches!