Artists Can Flourish Online
Imagine running a business with no marketing costs. A few years ago it would have sounded too good to be true, but in the millenium of social media, anything is possible. That’s just what Mary Moody realized when starting her jewelry business two years ago.
After attending a seminar with keynote speaker Susan Petersen of Freshly Picked, a Provo resident whose business was picked up on the hit show Shark Tank, Moody learned to never underestimate the power of free marketing through Instagram.
“I just had my first son and wanted to contribute to our family financially,” she says. “I’d received a hand-stamped necklace from my husband and became obsessed with it.”
But her focus wasn’t just a hobby she could sell on the side–Moody wanted to have an enterprise model. To learn the craft of hand-stamped jewelry, she took tutorials on YouTube. When she began, she knew nothing about chain types, metals, gauges, etc. But after months of research and training, she finally launched her business on Etsy, followed by an Instagram push a few months later. In less than a year, she now has over 13 thousand followers and two employees.
“Starting is the hardest part,” she says, noting how she first used giveaways to make a name for herself. She also reached out to lifestyle and fashion bloggers, sending free samples and asking them to post about it.
Her jewelry is made of either sterling silver or gold fill. Stamps range from names, dates, or personal sayings. Always staying on trend, her best-selling item is the bar necklace.
At only 25, she now has two children and devotes over 40 hours a week to her home business. Customers come from a worldwide scale; her products are especially popular in Australia.
With every purchase, Mary sends a card with her Instagram information to encourage positive word of mouth. She’s currently working on branching out to Pinterest.
“Growth is scary. I didn’t expect it to grow as quickly as it did. I keep hitting my goals and keep thinking it should have taken longer.”
But in today’s world of social media, anything is possible.
IG: @madebymarywithlove
madebymaryshop.etsy.com
