When it comes to digital communication we find many different forms we can communicate through. One of those is, for instance, social networks. They all let you publish information about yourself, but also communicate through messages or chats with other contacts.

If we apply the concept ‘communication’ to our business implies the use of communication to address to our potential clients. The very first way to let our clients know us is through our web page. Nowadays it is essential to have a portal on the internet where we present ourselves and our product or service. We give you some tips about how your web page should be:

•    The content and structure must be based on three basic criteria: usability, user-friendliness and accessibility.
•    Your website must reflect your brand image, and should use good and appealing photos and videos of your daily life activities.
•    You need to define clearly your services/products, messages and targets.
•    Contact details (email, phone numbers/whatsapp, fax, address, skype, facebook, youtube, etc.) and navigating menus, must be easily accessible.
•    Make sure that your website is constantly updated and lively; otherwise people will think that you are not really “active”.
•    Content is fundamental for any website and for its position. All the information you include in your site must be coherent with your mission and values as a brand.

As we have mentioned social networks have become really important for current communication. They offer updated, fast, free information and allow us to connect to millions of people without moving from our own place. As necessary to have different profiles on these networks it’s also to be active on them. Our customers must see that we are giving updated information and that we are always improving our business.

Nowadays there is a wide variety of them with different functionalities but we recommend you to have a profile on the main ones:

o    Facebook: it is the oldest social network internet has had. It is essential to have an account for our company so we can publish on our walls new products with their descriptions. We can also join groups devoted to arts and crafts or artisans and get to know people and share experiences/advices.

o    Instagram: this social network is an app for smartphone and it has thousands of users. It works in a similar way as Facebook, at least with regard to what we need from it. If we add hash tags to the description, people will be able to find our products through them.

o    Twitter: it allows you to publish short messages (280 characters) with a picture/video so we can also use it to show our products.

o    Pinterest: allows users to share, and discover new things by posting (known as "pinning" in this social network) images or videos to their own or others boards (i.e. a collection of pins, usually with a common theme) and browsing what other users have pinned.

Apart from social networks there are other formats to engage our potential clients:

•    Advertisements: through adverts on the web you can let people know what you have to offer. This is called ‘digital advertising’. The most popular forms of display ads are banners, landing pages and popups. Google offers the option of paying for their banners so you can advert yourself in these spaces. Landing pages are those pages where visitors “land” when they click on a Google AdWords advert or similar.
It is a type of online paid advertising, but it is worthy if we want to give a boost to our business.

•    Newsletters: is a digital informative publication delivered frequently through email. We can invite our clients to subscribe to our newsletter in order to send them information about our products or any news. It is important that we are active and maybe establish a day to send the newsletter every week/month. There is a platform which provides email delivery service. Through it we can send email campaigns from our site and lets users view a history of emails they have been sent from Mailchimp (https://mailchimp.com/).

We consider that ‘collaboration’ should be one of the bases for any business nowadays as we can make our companies advance if we have many contacts. It is important then to find other professionals of our sector so we can work along with them.

•    Groups Subscription: a good way to get to know people who belong to our sector is by subscribing to a professional group where other artisans share their opinions or other issues that might be more people’s interest. It can also be a good idea in terms of being up-to-date about new trends of our speciality.

•    Blogs: if we decide to create our own blog we can write our products or anything related to our business and share it with other users. Moreover people can post comments to our publications so we can receive feedback or even advice.

•    Forum: this is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. If you access to forums about craft or artisan jobs, you can chat with other professionals of your sector and share your views.

Crowdfunding has become a popular tendency to get funding for a new project or startup business. This way you can offer the possibility to other people to take part in your business. There are many crowdfunding platforms but each one has a different purpose. 

We present here below some of the most popular ones:

o    Kickstarter
It is the most popular crowdfunding site on the Internet, devoted to funding inventions and creative works. Moreover you do not have the commitment of returning the money if the goal is not reached.

o    Indiegogo
Although it is not as well known as Kickstarter it presents some advantages that the first one doesn’t have. Indiegogo has flexible funding that lets you keep the funds you have raised, even when you havent been able to reach your goal.
It also lets you buy funded products in the platform´s marketplace, so successful projects have another potential source of income.

o    Patreon
Another popular crowdfunding platform is Patreon which works through subscriptions. It doesn’t work for straight-up campaigns, but for providing on-going financial support for a creative artist.
There is also the option to provide content exclusive to patrons who are subscribed to your Patreon through the site itself.

o    GoFundMe
This one is more popular for individuals who need money right away. It’s common to see people here asking for crowdfunding for short-term projects or medical emergencies. 

There are different options and we highly recommend you to check them in case you need financial support. Bear in mind that through these platforms you are receiving money from people who will not benefit from your business, they are doing it for supporting your cause.