This information in this article is predicated on 2 guesses: That you have a number of beading projects you would like to make profitable, and that you\’ve some level of inventory at the prepared for when sales start coming in. If that\’s you, then this article will outline a few avenues open to you for \”passively marketing\” your beading projects.

Note that passive marketing doesn\’t mean \”no work required,\” or \”you do not have to talk to anybody.\” Rather, it means that the greater bulk of the work occurs on the \”front end\” and that when the work is concluded, your passive promoting efforts will continue more or less on their own, indefinitely, with only least added effort on your part.

This is significant for you as a bead crafter because it frees up more of your time, which you can dedicate to your present beading projects, or, if you feel you\’re ready for it, develop wholly new beading projects to enlarge your line.

We will cover two examples of passive marketing. One, advertising your finished beading projects locally, and the other, advertising them worldwide.

Among the very finest ways to market your beading projects locally is via consignment. Here, your goal is to show your line to people with reputable business and ask if they will display and sell your products in exchange for a portion of the profits. This works to your advantage on a many levels. First, the well-known business already has regular clients you can make sales from. Additionally, most will allow you to display your business cards next to your wares, so if a customer likes your product, their next purchase may be made direct from you. Also, once you have an existing relationship of this sort, it is normally easy to introduce new products to your display as you develop the number of beading projects in your line.

The key here is not to limit yourself to just one or two such relationships, but to try to engage as many sources as you can keep supplied. Not just does this increase your exposure, but it also lets you to see how various shops handle your products, and you can use this information to see where your products sell the most, then attempt to gain a similar in-store position at other shops carrying your line. If your beading projects are focused on necklaces/bracelets, you may obviously be drawn to locally owned jewelry stores in your town, but I encourage you to think outside the box here! Hospital gift stores, gift shops in retirement homes and old fashioned country stores are all great pleases to inquire, as are normal gift stores and specialty shops such as Hallmark, and any place that caters to local artists!

Thinking of the international market, the very best thing you can do to advertise your projects is niche online marketing. There are dozens of books on this topic, and it is beyond the scope of this article to fully explore the process, but in broad strokes, what you need to do in order to market your beading projects in this form are:

1) Identify keywords describing your beading projects that get some daily searches (10-30+ per day) and have minimal competition (under 50k).

2) Design a niche site around these keywords to drive traffic to your page

3) Describe what you\’re offering. These descriptions should be mixed in with original content on your site

4) Offer would be clients a means of contacting you

5) Offer them a means to purchase from you online

Again, the great thing about passive marketing is that once the primary work is done, your beading projects get exposure day in, and day out with very little effort on your part.