Sunday, December 19, 2010

Tourism and the small business,,,

Greetings!

I have been fortunate enough to have had two teaching ceramic studios over the years and learned many valuable lessons.  A teaching studio offers classes to those wanting to learn the wonderful hobby of making ceramics.  It mostly caters to local business and does not encourage tourist trade.  It can often take several weekly classes for a student to complete one piece so therefore would not work for tourists who might be here one week but not the next.  Classes are usually held once a week.

Living in a large community or city, this principle works quite well as there are a lot of people to draw your business from.  However, if you are like me, in a small town, drawing enough business from the locals might not fare too well.  Even during the height of the "hobby ceramics" boom, there truly was not enough local business.  If I had to rely on the business to be my sole source of income, to not only pay my business over head but personal overhead I would have wound up in bankruptcy court in a hurry.

Well, I still live in that same small town.  So now that I want to get back into the ceramics business again.  I have had to change how I do things.  I will no longer give classes as my primary business.  I will be making and selling finished wares.

In this small town I cannot rely solely on locals for the bulk of my business, if I do, it will surely fail.  I must market my items to other areas.  Tourists that might come through the area once or twice a year, or even just once.  With a web site up and running, even if the tourist never returns to this area they still might become a repeat customer.

Many people do not like a bunch of tourists coming into their towns causing the congestion, extra traffic and all the negative things that can pop up with tourists flooding the town.  However, as a business owner, I have to look at the positive side of tourists.  Tourists do create revenue.  The general public often does not see this but business owners do.  Most small town business owners will tell you, without tourists or outsiders their business would not survive.

But having a tourist come into town and buy from you once is also not a sound business plan.  You must have a way to keep in touch with that tourist and keep them as a customer even after they have gone back home, whether it be to another town in the same state, across the country or around the world.  Today, the Internet is the best tool we can use for that purpose.  Emails announcing special sales, new items, etc.  Web sites featuring your items.  And of course networking on places like facebook.  Blogging keeps you and your products in front of interested customers.

Web sites like eBay and etsy can also be useful tools.  I would suggest however, if you are an individual making items to sell such as ceramics or crafts that you do not over extend yourself on your Internet activity.  Focus on one or two things.  After all, you still have to have time to make your product.

Trying to determine which you will focus on depends on your personality. If you like writing then perhaps blogging would suit you more than eBay or etsy.  If you would rather put a picture up with the information of the item for sale and move on to the next thing, go for eBay or etsy.  Maybe you can't do a web site yourself.  You could always pay someone to set it up for you.  I do believe having a web site for this particular type of business is essential, whether you blog, network or sell on eBay.  Have a web site for the customers to go and look at other items you have available.

Whatever you choose to do, don't count out the tourist.  They can become repeat customers with a little nurturing and communication.

Until next time,,,,,, blessings!

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