Knowledge is power

I sing to you print by FreyaArt on Etsy

I’ll let you into a little secret. I didn’t do traditional market research before starting Noisette Marketing. I didn’t write a business plan either. I do have a marketing plan (of course!) and I have a growth plan but that’s it. As a creative person the thought of bashing out numbers, projections and forecasts makes me want to go hide in a corner somewhere, so I didn’t do one. I’m also dyslexic and have a tendency to reverse numbers- whoops!

Instead of traditional market research, I lived and breathed handmade businesses for years. 4 years to be exact. I discovered Etsy shortly after they launched in 2005. At the time I was in an office job I despised (although looking back it was not that bad) and I fell in love with this new community of makers. I discovered bloggers, namely Amanda Soule and  Amy Karol. A new world had opened up to me and without even realising, I was doing market research for a business I had no plans at this point, of even starting.

A few years passed and I spent hours and hours reading blogs, looking at craft sites, teaching myself to sew and collating information about running a handmade business. My office job was unchallenging which meant I could complete all my work (and more) whilst still leaving hours free to browse the Internet.

At that point I thought my destiny was to move to the countryside and run a handmade business making things whilst tending to my chickens.

What I didn’t know, was that all this was market research. I analysed successful shops, I Googled them, read their blogs, noticed the progression of their photos, saw what worked and what didn’t. I saw how they connected with their customers and readers long before Facebook or Twitter became widely used by small businesses.

Over the years I’ve seen many businesses I’ve loved come and go. The product may not have been right at that time or they didn’t sell much because no-one knew they existed. It was sad to see so many people give up their dream and go back to traditional jobs. I wanted to do something to help people earn a living doing what they love so the idea for Noisette Marketing was born.

Embroidered wall art by polkadots & blooms on Etsy

Bringing together my professional experience of marketing and PR for corporate brands (which try as I might, I just could not enjoy) and pairing it with all the background research I had done unknowingly for years, I was able to use my knowledge to start my own business.

If I didn’t have this knowledge, I wouldn’t have a business. If you don’t know your target market and the problems that your product or service solves for them, you don’t have a business either. Immerse yourself in all areas surrounding your business, the people, the market, your product and more. You can do it the traditional way or live it and breathe it like I did. Either way, get that knowledge and then see where it takes you.

-Isa Maria.