How to Grow Your Etsy Business With Advertising
If you're an Etsy seller, you've probably spent a lot of time thinking about how to grow your business. In particular, you might be wondering, “How do I get customers to my Etsy shop?”
Advertising your Etsy products can help you get the word out about your products and services, which will bring in more customers and increase sales. It also allows your Etsy products to appear in front of people who are already interested in what you have to offer.
With millions of buyers on the platform, it’s critical to use a mix of advertising efforts to make your presence known. If you don’t know where to begin though, don’t fret. In this guide, we share the best tips for getting found on Etsy – from using SEO to creating incredible social media graphics with BeFunky’s Graphic Designer, and everything in between!
How Do I Advertise My Products on Etsy?
If you’re wondering “how do I advertise for free on Etsy?”, then you’re in luck. In this section, we’ve rounded up the top ways to advertise your products on Etsy for free, as well as a popular paid promotional method that can really boost your product views and potential sales.
1. Title Your Listings With SEO In Mind
Using SEO (search engine optimization) when naming your listings is one of the best strategies to get your products in an Etsy customer's search results. Start by doing some keyword research in your niche to ensure your SEO is on track for each listing. What exactly are buyers looking for?
Instead of a broad title like "handbag," consider something more specific and relevant, such as "large brown leather handbag tote." These phrases are more likely to be what a consumer is typing into the Etsy search bar, thus increasing your product's chances of being found.
2. Re-List Your Items Frequently
Etsy also prioritizes the most recently listed products at the top of search results pages. That means that each time you list an item, it has a strong chance of ranking on the first page in a customer search. As other businesses list items with the same tags, however, it begins to get pushed back further down into the search results.
Using Etsy's Auto-Renew feature is an effective approach to ensure your listing consistently remains at the top of the search results. You can use this feature to select items you wish to re-list, as well as the frequency in which you wish to do so. This then helps to regularly bring your item to the top of the search results each time.
3. Try Promoted Listings
One of the most frequently asked questions among Etsy shop owners is, “Is it worth promoting on Etsy?” Promoted listings let you make use of Etsy’s paid advertising opportunities to become more prominent in a customer’s search.
You can pay-per-click to maintain your item at the top of the search results. Your Promoted Listing will have the term 'ad' in it to show that it is a sponsored campaign, but it will be tailored to the target demographic and search tags you've chosen.
4. Encourage Product Reviews
When you start making sales, you can start asking your customers for reviews to increase the exposure of your listings even more. There are two main ways you can do this. Firstly, you can send a message after their purchase asking for a review. You can set this up in your store's settings, so it will automatically send this message when someone buys something from you.
Secondly, you should offer customers a discount for leaving a review. This is the most common way people solicit reviews. It's simple and effective; just make sure that your discount applies for at least a week, so customers have time to return to your store and leave their reviews.
How to Gain Word-of-Mouth Advertising for Your Etsy Store
Along with promoting your shop on social media and Etsy itself, you should also make use of word-of-mouth advertising.
There are two ways you can gain word-of-mouth advertising for your Etsy shop: make great products that people can’t help but recommend to their own circle of influence, and be vocal about what you do and sell in everyday life. Some great tools to have on hand when telling people about your Etsy shop are promotional materials such as business cards, flyers, postcards, posters, and brochures.
Thankfully, BeFunky’s Designer offers a wide range of Business Marketing templates you can use to design your very own.
How to Here’s how to customize a template of your choosing. For this tutorial, we’re using one of our pre-designed Flyer templates.
Step 1: Choose a Flyer Template
Navigate to the Business Marketing category of the Templates Library within the Designer. Choose a flyer design that takes your fancy, then just click Use This Template to begin.
Step 2: Replace the Existing Images
You’ll want to swap out the flyer template’s existing images for ones representing your Etsy products or branding. To do this, click on any existing photo and an Image Properties panel appears. Click Replace, then select your desired photo from your computer. Repeat this process for every photo you wish to swap.
Step 3: Edit the Existing Text
Next, it’s time to edit the existing text on the template to reflect your Etsy store’s important details. Simply double-click on a text box and begin typing whatever you want it to say. When you click on a text box, a Text Properties panel also appears. From here, you can adjust elements such as font, size, text color, spacing, and more.
Step 4: Save Your Flyer
Once you’re happy with your flyer design, it’s time to save it. Click on Save at the top of the screen, then select your desired save location. We recommend saving your flyer as a PDF file in Print quality so it’s the highest quality possible for printing. Additionally, you should consider the Save as Project feature to save your flyer as an editable file that you can adjust in the future.
How to Promote Your Etsy Shop on Social Media
Social media is a great tool you can use to your marketing advantage. You should begin by creating multiple social media accounts specifically for your Etsy store. Platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest are great places to start. Additionally, you should aim to keep the same name across each of these platforms, ensuring that it remains identical (or close to) your Etsy shop name.
Then, by including a link to your Etsy shop in each of your profiles, you’ll be providing your audience with extra ways to connect with your products.
1. Post on Social Media Frequently
Consider your target audience’s schedules and when they’re most likely to see your posts. The analytics tool within each social media platform is a great place to help you determine this. Just pay close attention to what times of the day or week you receive the most engagement on your posts.
You can use a social media scheduling site like Hootsuite to ensure that your posts go out at ideal times. That way, you’re not entirely tied to your phone and have to manually post on each channel.
2. Gain Followers and Drive Interest With Giveaways
Giveaways are a fantastic way to increase your following and promote your Etsy shop. It's as easy as posting one of your products as a giveaway with a few simple entry requirements. These conditions might include having to follow your account, tag two friends in the comments, and/or like the post, for example.
Use one of BeFunky's social media templates to create a stunning graphic to promote your giveaway. All you need is a great photograph of the item you're giving away and the term "Giveaway" featured on the image, along with any other text you want to include.
3. Create Social Media Ads
In addition to posting often, it's also a good idea to consider social media ads. On social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter, you can purchase advertising and select the main demographic you're aiming for to guarantee it shows up in their feed.
There are several perfectly sized templates for online advertising in the Small Business category of the Designer that you can edit to perfection. You can create something professional and eye-catching that will encourage potential customers to click through to your products from the social media platform you're advertising on.
How to Create Your Own Eye-Catching Social Media Ads
The easiest thing about marketing on social media platforms is that you should already have plenty of great imagery to use from your own product photoshoots.
BeFunky’s Graphic Designer also has plenty of professionally designed social media templates (including free ones) to create graphics for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and even YouTube if you find filming beneficial for what you’re selling.
The best part is you can even use BeFunky’s Smart Resize tool to use your desired template across several different platforms.
To help you create your own graphics using BeFunky’s social media templates, we’ve included the step-by-step guide to customizing an Instagram template below. This process remains exactly the same for any type of template you choose, however, whether for Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, or more!
Step 1: Select Your Instagram Template
Head to the Graphic Designer to view the wide range of social media templates available. You can also filter these templates by platform by using the menu on the left. Click on the template that takes your fancy, then select Use This Template to begin editing it.
Step 2: Swap Out the Existing Image
If you want to change your template’s existing photo, you can do so in two ways. You can either click on the photo you wish to change, then click Replace from the Image Properties panel. This allows you to open a new photo directly from your computer’s files.
Alternatively, you can navigate to the Image Manager in the main menu on the left. From here, you have the option to also upload a file from your computer, as well as your BeFunky account, Facebook, or Google Photos (when you click the three dots “…”). Alternatively, you can click Search Stock Images to access BeFunky’s huge stock photo library.
Step 3: Edit the Existing Text
If you want to change the template’s existing text, you can do this by clicking on any text box on your template twice and then typing what you want it to say. When you select a text box, a Text Properties panel appears where you can also adjust things such as the font, size, color, spacing, and more.
You can also add a new text box by navigating to the Text tab in the main menu on the left and then clicking Add Text.
Step 4: Change the Color Palette
If you want to make your social media graphic even more on-brand, you can also change its background color to match your own desired palette. To do this, navigate to Customize in the main menu on the left. Then, select a preset color swatch, or click on the first color swatch to choose your own specific color.
Step 5: Save Your Social Media Template
Once you’ve finished customizing your social media template, it’s time to save it. Click Save at the top of the screen, then select your desired save location and format. You can also select More from the dropdown menu if you wish to upload your design directly to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and more. And if you finish your design with our mobile app, you can post directly from there too!
Master Your Etsy Advertising
Now that you have a beautifully branded shop, excellent product photography, and a good mix of promotional tactics to spread the word about your Etsy shop, you're well on your way to success!
Remember that growing any business takes time. Thankfully, BeFunky's Graphic Designer is here to assist you for each and every step of the journey; from creating your Etsy banner to successfully advertising your shop.
Head to the Graphic Designer to start producing all of the visual assets you need to get customers to your Etsy shop!
