A Milestone Celebration!

This week the Etsy Vintage Team reached and surpassed 200 member shops! Drum roll, please...fortuitous #200 is Oh Dear Watson, the shop of Cody and Amanda from North Carolina. They offer vintage home decor and housewares, presented with a delightfully fresh perspective. Who wouldn't love to have this 1930s Hall China mixing bowl set in their vintage kitchen?

After #200, we approved five more shops as our Membership Committee burned the midnight oil to catch up with a long list of requests. Numbers 201-205 are:

Seagull Island
Nostalgia R Us
Reconstitutions
Peacock Gypsy
Peacock Gypsy Vintage

Two hundred members is not a lot in terms of Etsy Teams. Some number in the thousands, but we are smaller for a reason. EVT is a professional association, and for 3+ years both our standards and our loyalty to each other have remained high. Our mission statement:

The Etsy Vintage Team (EVT) is an organization of Etsy sellers who are passionate about vintage and antiques, as well as items handmade with vintage components. Members are certified after undergoing a thorough review process to ensure they maintain high standards of professionalism, integrity and customer service. With an Etsy Vintage Team Certified Shop, you are purchasing authentic vintage goods from a knowledgeable, trustworthy dealer.

We thought it was high time we celebrated EVT certification! Beginning today, members are officially called "Certified Shops," and will display this new badge in their Etsy listings, blogs and more.

Special thanks to Mitzi of Vintage Goodness for creating all our Etsy Vintage Team logos, including this new badge! To see the full listing of Certified Shops, visit our Etsy Team Page.

Promotions, Free Advertising & Building Your Brand

What is your brand? Knowing that is the jumping off point for all future advertising and promotion.

As I've said before, a consistent logo is key to identifying with customers. Something clear to see that somehow ties in with your store or name is ideal. I chose a turquoise teapot because it was one color (easy to view), a color that has strong vintage associations, and photographed cleanly. I don't offer that teapot-but it's similar to what I do offer and customers remember it.

Vintage Mechanical Valentine by Wonderdiva

An unforgettable avatar: she looks like her username!

I consider that teapot my logo. It is THE identity of Nachokitty. In order for it to work as my branding, I need to keep the same across Facebook, Twitter, Etsy, my business cards and the cards I include in every package.

Once you have a clear identity established, be consistent. I don't recommend using one name for your user id and different shop name on your banner. Customers can't search for you under that banner ad name, but it is the largest text on the page in most cases, calling out, Look at Me! Remember Me!

Vintage Enamel Daisy Set by Jenscloset

Her avatar is a small piece of this banner-excellent tie in

Okay, so you know who you are and how you want to be remembered. How will you get your name out there-not just once, but over and over again?  Marketers have studied human behavior for eons and one thing is sure-viral marketing works best. Meaning, word of mouth.

1940's Toy Sewing Machine by tparty

Great logo. Ties into username & matches banner

This is where your single most effective FREE tool comes in. Treasuries. You find things you like, you post them and notify the sellers. What could be easier? Yet it's a free tool most of us aren't paying enough attention to. If people like the treasury, they'll likely check out your store. Now that we have activity feed, I am able to watch activity spike after certain treasuries are created. My New Years business resolution was to make 1-2 a day.

Vintage Tea Length Nightgown by FancyPantsAndMore

Excellent avatar-ties right in with the product line & it's very eye catching

Other forms of free or low cost promotion: Facebook and Twitter. To boost my numbers on Facebook, I paid for an ad. It was cheap. It brought in hundreds of people. Now I have a core audience I can advertise directly to, involve by asking questions, and use as my word of mouth advertisers. You certainly don't need to pay for an ad-I see plenty of Etsy sellers with strong Facebook pages who didn't. It was just a quick way to get where I wanted to be.

There are other ways to promote that we'll discuss another time. Brand your store, use the tools that are free, and promote yourself. You have nothing to lose and much to gain.