It’s a problem a lot of handmade sellers encounter as they begin to focus on growing their business … How do I grow a big business with just a small audience? And, is it even possible? We’ll be tackling this question and brainstorming some ideas of how to grow your crochet (or knitwear) business online. Ultimately, getting your business in front of more eyes means you make more sales!
Our guest is Megan Gonzalez of Nurture Knitwear. Megan is a talented knitwear designer, who had just started her brand-new blog when we had this conversation in January 2023. She was seeking ways to grow her online audience. I spoke with Megan back in January 2023. 18 months later, her blog, Nurture Knitwear, is still alive and well and has grown significantly!
5 Ideas to Grow Your Crochet Business Online
Here’s a detailed look into my advice to Megan. Although she is a knitwear designer and Crochetpreneur tends to focus on crochet business, these strategies can help any fiber business owner achieve their goals!
1. Creating Engaging Content
Creating valuable and relevant content is crucial for attracting and engaging your target audience. For Megan, this means producing content that resonates with her audience’s needs and interests. This could include new knitwear designs, tutorials, tips for finding time to knit, and creating a peaceful creative space at home.
Consistent content creation not only helps in building a loyal audience but also improves search engine visibility, making it easier for potential customers to find her blog.
2. Leveraging Pinterest
Pinterest is a powerful platform for knitwear and crochet designers. Unlike other social media platforms, Pinterest functions more like a search engine, where content can be discovered long after it has been posted.
By creating and sharing pins related to her blog content, Megan can drive traffic to her site. Developing a Pinterest strategy, with regular pinning and engaging visuals, will help her content reach a wider audience over time.
3. Getting in Front of Other People’s Audiences
Another effective way to grow your crochet or other handmade business online is by collaborating with others in the industry. This can include guest blogging, appearing on podcasts, participating in Instagram live videos, and joining blog hops or bundle events.
These collaborations not only introduce Megan’s work to new audiences but also build relationships with other creators, which can lead to further opportunities.
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4. Advocating for Your Work
One of the biggest challenges for many creators is promoting their own work confidently. That’s why it’s essential to believe in the value of your designs and communicate this effectively to your audience.
Megan needs to highlight why her patterns are beautiful, easy to follow, and error-free. By advocating for her products, she can build trust with her audience and encourage them to make a purchase.
5. Continuing the Conversation with Your Audience
Your customers aren’t just purchasing your design. They’re supporting a person that they’ve come to care about and enjoy. So having a direct line of communication with your audience is invaluable. That could look like inviting people into your DMs or getting people to sign up for your email list—any way you can continue to nurture relationships with your customers.
How do you get people on your email list in the first place? You can read more about how to build a targeted email list here. But in short, you offer irresistible opt-ins, such as free patterns or exclusive content.
Seasonal Strategies
Different phases of a business require different strategies. Initially, Megan’s focus should be on growing her audience and email list. This might involve offering more free content and participating in collaborations to increase visibility. Once she has a solid audience base, she can shift to a more profitable phase, focusing on nurturing relationships and selling her premium patterns.
Monitoring and Adjusting
It’s crucial to monitor the effectiveness of these strategies and be willing to adjust as needed. Megan should track her website traffic, email list growth, and sales to understand what’s working and what needs improvement. This data-driven approach will help her make informed decisions and optimize her efforts for better results.
Wrapping Up
Growing a big business with a small audience is not only possible but can also be incredibly rewarding. By understanding her audience, creating valuable content, leveraging platforms like Pinterest, collaborating with others, advocating for her work, building an email list, and being flexible with her strategies, Megan can achieve significant growth.
Meet Megan from Nurture Knitwear
As the knitter behind Nurture Knitwear, I love empowering women to carve out a little creative space for themselves to learn, to find peace and satisfaction, and to refill so that we can keep pouring out into the lives of those we love.
At Nurture Knitwear, I strive to create stylish knitting patterns tailored to your body. My patterns aim to create a relaxing and enjoyable knitting experience for knitters of all levels.
In addition to 60+ knitting patterns on Ravelry and Etsy, I have designs in Vogue Knitting, Wool Studio and 60 Quick Knits Baby Gifts, upcoming designs with Knit Picks and Blue Sky Fibers as well as current and upcoming collaborations with Magpie Fibers, Spincycle Yarns, MadTosh, and more!