Some history:
I opened my first online shop in late November 2008. I have struggled with the brand, ever since, knowing that I needed to narrow my line of products. I tried opening two more offshoot shops, to separate my products. This worked for my PruittSupply shop, as it holds its own in the marketplace. But the initial offshoot, PruittDesign, a shop for my jewelry sales, failed. Granting that I did have sales, they were not enough to sustain the shop's place in an already overcrowded jewelry market. So, in 2012, I changed the emphasis of that shop from jewelry to textile art, another of my interests. Although that has opened new doors for me, I still struggled with my online brand in the first shop, it was still too diversified. While all this was happening, I started selling aprons in the wholesale market, and after a slow start, it has taken off! I think that my brand is becoming significantly narrowed to "The Apron Lady!" **smiley face**
Thus, for this reason I am expanding my wholesale business and paring down my online Etsy presence. So, how am I going to accomplish these transitions?
Some of the business plans are now shaping up as follows:
1) I reopened my Creations shop for a temporary time, as a bargain basement type of shop, to clear out all my inventory that will not be moved elsewhere. Because much of the inventory in Pruitt Creations is also my craft show inventory, I will not be doing as many craft shows this year. I will do only a few shows with specific products, instead of a table full of various fabric items, as I have in the past. This period of creating small fabric items is closed--a decision that was very hard for me. I will stick to my art and aprons.
2) My Pruitthandcrafts blog, that has been on a hiatus, is getting a makeover with a new URL, a new purpose and a new look! I will be using it for my wholesale business, exclusively. When it is ready, I will blog about it here.
3) The rest of my art and crafty endeavors (Abigail Jayne Art), my writing, and my Etsy team posts will appear in my other blog:
Abigail's Attic: Reflections in thoughts and art, from Abby's attic.
Of course, I have a few more specific plans for my business, but this is the gist of it, for now.
Anyone else ever had trouble narrowing their brand presence?
Linda, I have struggled with narrowing my focus, too. When I first joined Etsy with my crocheted items, I did a combination of household items and wearables. A little of everything sold, but the shop felt as if it lacked focus. So, I narrowed things to women's wearables. It's still mostly a seasonal shop, though--wish I could figure out that snarl! The paper crafts shops, though, had a focus right from the start: handmade books and altered clipboards. I wish you good luck in finding your own focus!
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