Naa Ardua Flohic has embraced the use of video as part of her business.
She creates videos to help her customers & she runs Facebook live videos – she’s also using YouTube as part of her business strategy!
Today she shares how – and why – video has become such a part of her business strategy. We also dive into talking about one of her other business passions – Pinterest – and how she uses it to drive traffic to her website and Etsy shop.
You can listen to this episode below, or on your fave podcasting app!
Join me for live monthly workshops - online!
Each month I host a live, work-while-you’re-there, workshop for makers in business.
These workshops are on all aspects of handmade business – and are also available to re-watch after the workshop has completed.
These are available exclusively to members of the Thriver Circle.
Support the show
You can make a secure donation (of the amount of your choice) via the Paypal button below.
Each donation helps cover the cost of hosting, show-note writing, research, interviewing, recording, editing, etc. etc.
In short – it helps to cover the time and financial costs of putting together a free weekly show to help you grow your handmade business.
You can also:
- Leave a review on the C&T FB page.
- Leave a review on Apple Podcasts.
- Join the Thriver Circle – without the members of the Circle, this podcast would not be possible.
Highlights from this episode:
- Inspired by the lack of superhero representation for her son, Naa Ardua specialises in multicultural digital drawings and illustrations.
- Jess and Naa Ardua are both part of this year’s cohort of Etsy U.
- Naa Ardua is a huge fan of video and uses it to reply to customer enquiries. The response from customers has been overwhelmingly positive.
- Naa Ardua and Jess have both used Loom to make videos. Loom can screen capture, record audio and video.
- Videos can make explaining technical information and providing support to customers simple.
- “You send instructions with your products but people don’t like to read so much” {Naa Ardua}
- “Use your photos as much as possible to tell customers really important information even if it means putting a picture with words on it that explains something.” {Jess}
- Naa Ardua and Jess both support a simple tech set up for videos. They use their phones for shorter videos and for longer videos use their webcams and an external microphone.
- For times when natural lighting is hard to come by Naa Ardua uses a small ring light and Jess uses a lighting box. You don’t need a lot of technology to start making videos.
- Naa Ardua was super nervous the first time she recorded a live video on Facebook and worried about what could happen.
- “The more you make the easier it gets. You stop getting self-conscious in front of the camera and it just feels more natural” {Naa Ardua}
- If you are really worried about videos try making pre-recorded videos first where you can do several takes or edit.
- To stream her videos to You Tube and Facebook at the same time, Naa Ardua uses StreamYard.
- Naa Ardua dedicates time to building her Pinterest account and it acts as a significant driver to her blog, courses and Etsy store.
- Be consistent with pinning on Pinterest to build momentum. Focus on good quality, vertical images.
- Naa Ardua breaks down her larger jobs into smaller tasks and puts reminders in her phone to complete them. She also uses post-it notes on a dry erase calendar board to help allocate time for tasks.
- The State of Handmade survey results show 80% of makers in their first year made less than $1000.
- The first few years of setting up a business is a large learning curve and consistent work will pay off over time.
- Check out Naa Ardua’s work at Paper Flo Design.
