Do What Works – 5 Essentials For Successful Print On Demand Artists

1. Make what you love
So your art does not fit exactly into the current trend. You have a choice to make, create something that you think will fit in, or showcase your unique voice. Please, dear artists, remember that people love your uniqueness and recognize a truth within the representation of your vision, that you created. A well-designed piece of art can become more popular than the one fitting into the masses

2. Pay attention to details
Of course, you pay attention to details when it comes to creating your unique piece of art, but are you also paying attention to how each individual application fits with your art? Some art pieces are just not made for cell phone cases while others will showcase their entire beauty on any application. Choose where you put your creative piece as thoroughly as you do during your creative process.

3. Connect with other artists
When I first started out on RedBubble, I thought of it as a lonely place, until I began connecting with other artists, by commenting on each others projects, or participating in the forums. The exchange of energy with like-minded individuals is very inspiring, as well as a learning experience. Take also advantage of the groups and forums out there outside of your platform, with Facebook groups being one example.

4. Connect with your audience
Reach out to your potential audience by learning how to maneuver throughout the various social media outlets. Learn proper etiquette, by not spamming your followers, and really engage. With the right techniques, you can gather a substantial amount of attention if you learn the tricks of the individual platforms. Marketing your products is just as important as creating them.

5. Be specific in your listings and product description
Write the description as if the customer would have no picture available and you would have to describe your creation to them. Use keywords that are related to your products (watch out for spamming keywords – only use those actually related to what you have done. Platforms like Zazzle frown upon the overuse of misguided keywords), and be specific about mentioning your targeted audience.

Please share your favorite tips and tricks in the comment section. We can all learn from each other!

Blessings

Claudia

P.S. Check out the free Aloha Snack Box Trial – who does not love free!

Wanelo For Print-On-Demand (POD) Creators

This post may contain affiliate links – see disclosure page for details

If you are a print-on-demand creator on Zazzle, RedBubble, Society 6 and the like, you should utilize Wanelo to market your products.
Wanelo stands for “want – need – love” and is simplistically stated a version of Pinterest that specializes purely in sales. so for any e-commerce business that focuses on clothing, shoes, jewelry, handmade items or home decor, this is the place to be.

You can create boards, similar to Pinterest, but your products are not competing with infographics and other non-product related pins,  follow other people, share your own products and those of others (but not as an affiliate, more about that later), and create “stories” around your products.

Stories are not as fancy as they sound, there are more a commentary or thought you have about a group of your products, which you attach to your written words, and you created somewhat of a collection (see an example in the image above).

As you can see, this platform makes it easy for you to get directly in front of consumers, even though the main customer base is still a younger crowd – which is most likely to expand over time, as it has with many social media platforms. The downfall to the younger age of the people on Wanelo is that they tend to not have as much money they can spend freely  while at the same time this demographic does make more impulse purchases, than an older crowd would.

What Wanelo is not, is a way to make money as an affiliate. They do not allow the affiliate links because that is how they make their money. Every time you post something they get a commission, which is only fair for creating the site, but a downfall for anyone who seeks to make an affiliate income. We have to look for revenue elsewhere.

Four quick tips on how to make the most out of Wanelo:

1. Post often – Top Contributors get featured, and that means you have to post a large volume of content to take advantage of that aspect. Do not just share your own things, create boards for other items as well that might be related but do not compete with your product line. That way you are not limited to posting only the amount of items you have created.

2. Be active – interact with other contributors, just like you would, to gain followers on other social media platforms. Comment on other people’s posts, share their stuff, and follow others.

3. Connect with people that buy in your niche – the best way to do that is to check out your competitors and follow their followers. Those are people who have already saved items that are similar to yours, so you know they are interested in your types of products. Many will follow you back, and you will relatively quickly grow a following of niche-related people.

4. Use hashtags – you can add up to five hashtags to each of your products. Use all of them, and use them wisely. Hashtags make it easier for your products to be found, just like it makes it easier for your content to be found on twitter. Because you are limited to five, you should be very careful about which ones you use.

That’s it for now. I will be posting more tips on how to get noticed as a POD artist.

Find out more about marketing for artists here

Blessings and happy creating!

Claudia