Studio Visit + Finding my audience

Last night I stopped by the South End studio where I used to work for Mod Green Pod to visit Emily and the Elisabeth. I'm always so inspired and jazzed up with new ideas after I see these ladies. They've got years of experience in their respective businesses- Elisabeth doing mostly custom work and Emily doing lots and lots of wholesale to stores- so I'm always so thankful for their words of encouragement and advice. I also just love visiting their studios. Will you look at this amazing space Emily has. And all that inventory!

Emily had some really good advice about finding my audience. I had never really defined for myself who my customer was. I design things that I would buy myself, but the irony is that I actually don't shop much (so I am not my target market)!

Emily recommended I aim for a higher-end, design savvy audience. This makes alot of sense to me, at my most recent craft fair, my table definitely attracted a certain type of person. Matt even commented that everyone coming to my table looked like a designer. Meanwhile the printed t-shirts with animals on them at the booth next to me flew off the racks. It's hard work, figuring out where my work fits in. I'm discovering that I may need to aim a little higher from where I personally would shop and think more about where my customer would shop.

After the studio visit, we went to last night's Design Salon meeting, a Q&A with the owner of two South End Shops on how she became a shop owner. I'm getting a double dose of design divas this week with the upcoming Design Sponge Boston Biz Lady meetup on Thursday. See you there!

Comments

[Yvonne]

I don't see myself as your target either (I'm not high end shopper), but I love your progress and reading your thoughts.
Keep it up.

[Cicada Studio]

I can almost smell the studio-y goodness!

I think their advice is very important- I, myself, am not necessarily my target customer either (are any of us??). It took me a while to realize who that person (people) is. A good book for getting to know your business is The Boss of You (authors' names escape me). Very good for posing questions to yourself about your business.

[Reid]

I read the short article about you this morning in the metro and have been flipping through your blog all day. very cool stuff!

[daisy janie / scoutie girl]

It's very motivating to see up close & personal how other businesses operate and what "success" looks like for them. Those boxes make me swoon!

Target markets are tricky to define b/c there's so much crossover in segmentation and so much that's hazy/ambiguous. Demographics are hard & fast (income, age, education, gender, etc); psychographics (lifestyles and *feelings* about lifestyles) can be hard to pin down! I always think wholesale venues go a long way to facilitating a TM definition almost by default. THEY know who THEIR target market is and, by choosing to stock your items, they think you're a fit with this set of shoppers. Can you visit these stores, can you ask them to describe their customers, where they advertise, types of promos they do, cyclical business, etc. Alllll of these things will tell you about their TM, and in turn, your TM. You can use this info to determine where you will hang best and with whom.

Also, your items may not ALL cater to the same shopper. Do you want them to? Do you not want them to? Does it matter?

A few years ago, I determined my main competition for handmade handbags. Then I went to all of their websites, found their wholesale boutique lists, researched the boutiques online, looked at what other vendors they stocked, where they were located, etc - this info was HUGE in getting my target market honed.

Hope this is a little helpful, Shannon!