Last week I did an online course about Google, SEO’s and blogging with Maddy Shine Maddy Shine SEO Queen & Visibility Coach. Besides her disco vibe and great taste in wake up music (the course started at half past nine, I think there were quite a few people attending in pyjamas), she had some really interesting tips and made me think a lot, and differently, about being visible online and creating the content that people (and Goggle) want to see.
The most motivating thing for me was that Maddy started with going back to why you do what you do and what you talk about when you talk about your product or service. There was so much passion in the responses, and I love that in the end, when you’re a small business, that is what you’re selling – a little bit of what you love. It was also good to be reminded that people need to know what you know: not everybody is an expert, and you (as the maker) are the expert on your product.
One of the questions I get most at craft fairs or out and about is: why is this soap better than soap I can buy in a shop? And the answer is not, ‘actually, you can buy this in a shop’, because people are actually asking why should I choose handmade soap over a soap this is commercially made?
5 reasons to choose handmade over shop bought or commercially made soap:
1. You care about your skin and what you put on it: small batch, artisan soaps are made
without artificial fragrances, colours or preservatives – the chemical ‘nasties’ that form the
basic recipe for commercial soaps. The majority of commercial soap is not in fact soap at all,
but a ‘syndet’ or synthetic detergent bar.
2. You want the benefits of quality, natural ingredients: the ingredients used in handmade
soaps retain their nourishing and moisturising qualities during the soap making process, and
you’ll feel this in your skin.
3. You care about the environment and reducing your carbon footprint and use of plastic
packaging: all the packaging on my soaps is 100% compostable and the other packaging is
either reusable or recyclable. The majority of it is sourced in the UK. If you ask a soap maker
about their packaging, they’ll be able to tell you where it comes from – and it’ll probably be
somewhere local.
4. You are interested in supporting small businesses: and like to support a real person, who in
turn is supporting their local economy. Small businesses boost tourism and rural economies
and by supporting them you can help keep these places alive and thriving.
5. You care about creativity and enjoy using one-of-a-kind products. When you buy a product that is handmade, it takes on the spirit of the person and the place that made it – and when you use natural ingredients, no two products are the same, but they are beautiful.
So this is what I talk about when I talk about my products, I talk about the pleasure it brings me to make them and to the people who use them; I talk about how changing the world is possible through our everyday choices – through William Blake’s minute particulars.
I would recommend the course and Maddy’s podcast, The High Vis podcast, for some motivation to put yourself out there and to keep doing what you love to do.
And if you’re not in the business of running a business but in the business of changing the world, why don’t you start by trying a bar of lovely handmade soap, like my Rose Clay Soap bar, enriched with rose hip oil and French Pink clay? See, I learnt a lot this week ��
