Guide to Marketing on Etsy in 2021

It’s never been easier to start an online store for your creativity & turn a profit. Platforms like Etsy make it easy to get your store up & running in minutes. Etsy also attracts over 60.27 million buyers, and sales spiked a staggering 146% during 2020. 
But what’s next? With millions of buyers comes competition to stand-out from the crowd. Learn how to market your Etsy shop in 2021 & build your empire to the next success story.

1) Focus on Essential Keywords

Your Etsy SEO strategy includes focusing on essential keywords people are looking for. Start by checking out what your competition is already doing well & how they structure their listings & keywords. Your title is also crucial to attracting eager shoppers looking for your products. Make sure the keywords appear as quickly as possible in your title & your listing to draw people into your shop immediately. 
Your tags should also zero in on your target audience. If your shop caters to wanderlust travelers, make sure your tags reflect their passions. Whether you cater to pregnant parents or busy entrepreneurs, your tags, listing, and overall keyword strategy should reflect your customers’ lifestyle & what they’re looking for.

2) Create a Customer Portal

Give your customers a place to get all of the tutorials, updates, and tips they need with their own portal. Once they buy your product, send them a link to helpful resources that also allows you to keep in touch. 
Although you can’t add a hyperlink to your customer resource within your Etsy listing, you can reference it. “After purchase, you’ll receive a link to a customer portal with video tutorials, tips, and tricks to make the most of your product, plus 30-days of customer support.” Ensure your target audience knows you’ll be there to help build peace of mind and trust.

3) Create More Videos

Videos can give your sales a boost & create a more engaging experience for your customers. You can add videos directly to your Etsy listings, although the platform will not play audio. Take videos of your products in action, or a behind-the-scenes sneak peek of your creativity at work.
Launching a YouTube channel with crafting tutorials, customer explainer videos, and product close-ups can also bolster your sales. Make sure to use relevant keywords on YouTube & direct viewers back to your Etsy shop to raise brand awareness.

4) Engage on Instagram

Add product photos, use hashtags & write engaging comments to start building up your audience. Commenting on other people’s content is also an effective way to get seen. Remember to focus on offering value to your audience. Whether you’re showing how a product works or calling out another well-deserving Etsy shop, give graciously.
Consistency is also crucial in marketing your Etsy store on Instagram. Use a social media scheduler like HootSuite, Planonly, or Buffer to post regular content on Instagram. Once your shop grows & revenue increases, you can even hire a Virtual Assistant to help you curate your social media channel.

5) Get Visual with Pinterest

Pinterest was practically made for Etsy marketing. Curate gorgeous Pinterest boards for your products, as well as the work you admire of others. Like Instagram, you can use keywords & relevant titles to help drive traffic to your pins. Sharing other pins of work you admire is also an excellent way to build good-faith with other Pinterest account holders. 
Pinterest needs a consistent strategy to build-up your presence. Use a tool like Tailwind to pin & schedule your content on an ongoing business automatically.

6) Focus on Email Marketing

Stay connected to your previous customers with an email marketing strategy. Include a prompt to sign-up for your email list in your own customer portal, social media channels, and your shipped product. Entice customers to sign-up with an offer for a discount code, digital download product, or free gift to get your email list started.
Tools like MailChimp & ConvertKit can help automate your email marketing with templates & tools to stay organized. Send out regular updates with news about your products, promotions, and sneak peeks to drum up more sales.

7) Generate Buzz

Free publicity generates buzz for your shop with the investment of your time. Pitch your brand story to podcasts, blogs, and media outlets with an exciting hook. What led you to Etsy? Why do you love making your products? What’s unique about your story and shop?
The idea is to put your story & name behind your Etsy brand. Show people why they should care about you and your shop, and you’ll end up with a loyal following that outlets love to promote.

8) Sell in Bulk

Selling in bulk can bolster your sales & revenue. Wedding favors, customized B2B swag, and amateur sports team merch are all ways to sell more to individual sellers. Price your products to make them enticing enough for customers to want to buy but still turn a profit for your Etsy store at the same time.
Wholesalers also come to Etsy looking for great products to sell in their brick and mortar boutique shops. Consider white-labeling your lotions, soaps, bags, and mugs and selling in bulk to drum up more orders.

9) Look to Etsy Advertising

Invest a little money into marketing & advertising your shop with Etsy Ads. When you use Ety Ads, your products are more visible in search results & on category pages. They’ll also pop up at the bottom of other product pages. Even sellers with robust natural search often invest in Etsy Ads for increased reach. Sellers also swear that once you start investing in Etsy ads, they seem to favor your listings as well organically. 
Carefully set a daily budget that works for you & test or tweak your ads to ensure the best results possible. With a consistent strategy in place, your Etsy ads can yield a positive ROI & increased sales. 

10) Use Production Partners

Producing & fulfilling all of your own orders can slow the growth of your Etsy store. The customer journey is also compromised when shipping is delayed. One solution is partnering with a production partner. 
CustomCat makes it easy to connect to your shop & automatically sync your orders with us to be decorated & fulfilled. Orders are batched into our system every two hours. We white label the package with your business displayed on the shipping label, and you get paid for selling your products. You can learn more about Etsy’s expectations of production partners here.
Ready to grow your marketing on Etsy in 2021? Learn more about CustomCat’s seller friendly print-on-demand services to help grow your ecommerce ambitions.