The DIYers Guide To Looking Legit

The last few years, there’s been a huge surge of people turning their dreams into businesses. Etsy alone has over two million sellers, many of whom do it full time. 

And if you have aspirations of doing the same, you’re gonna have to look the part. You’ll be competing with big companies, all employing dozens of designers and marketeers making sure that their brand is well represented. 

If your own work isn’t up to the same caliber, it could look sloppy and amateurish, and some potential customers might decide to go with someone else. 

Luckily, there are many ways you can look professional without hiring an entire marketing department. 

Here are some tips.

Proofread 
Few things look as unprofessional as a typo. A grammatical error might not be a big deal in a text message, but coming from your personal brand, it can make you look bad.

These small errors communicate carelessness. It looks like you can’t be bothered to pay attention to details. 

Viewers might see these errors and think you treat your own work with the same carelessness. If you don’t pay enough attention to notice typos, how can they trust that you’ll pay enough attention to your work?

Before hitting “print” or “publish” on anything, give it a once over to make sure it’s free of any errors. If that’s not your forte, send it to a friend or run it through a tool like Grammarly. 

Build a Strong Brand 
Big corporations pour millions of dollars into building a strong brand for their business. This is essentially the sum of the company’s entire presence: their logos, colors, the fonts on their websites, and even the voice they use in their advertising. 

You don’t need to spend a lot of money yourself, but you do need to build a brand that boosts recognition and allows customers to remember you. 

Use a consistent color palette across all of your media: your website, packaging, designs, etc. Choose a couple typefaces that you use consistently. 

Identify a few core values to drive the way you present your brand to the world. Take Dove for instance. Ever since launching their Real Beauty campaign, all of their marketing has come from a place of helping their customers feel comfortable in their own skin. Find a similar value and use that as a guideline for all of your marketing.

Once you develop a strong brand, stick to it. 

Be Consistent
If you go to buy an iPhone, you’ll find very little variation between individual models. An iPhone is an iPhone, and they are mass produced in such a way that they seem perfectly replicated.

But in the handmade, DIY market, consistency is a little less common. 

Which is why if you are consistent between items, it will make you stand out.

If your goods vary greatly in look and quality, you’re going to have a hard time convincing customers to stick around. An unpredictable product is a one way ticket to unproductible cashflow.

Work hard to nail down your process so you can pump out consistent products. This will keep your customers happy and make you look like a bonafide pro.

Need Help Stepping Up Your Game?
Luckily, looking like a legit business doesn’t mean you have to spend as much money as the big boys. With a little focus and attention to detail, you can compete at a fraction of the cost.

But, if you need some help getting there, we’re here to give you a boost. Come into the shop and use our resources to help you take your DIY brand to the next level.


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