What's The Point(e)? Crafty Ideas Closer To Home

MountainMade.com MountainMade maintains three retail galleries in West Virginia designed to generate revenue for the foundation through the retail sales of handcrafted wares produced by juried artisans. They also have a website, MountainMade.com. Much to their dismay, after six years and hundreds of thousands of dollars dedicated to developing and marketing their retail efforts, they fell exponentially short of their retail goals. MountainMade was competing directly with larger national retail outlets that sold like products. In order to compete, an Artisan Postcard Program was developed as a relationship building advantage. Artisan postcards were mailed to consumers as a "thank you" from the individual artisans expressing gratitude for the consumer’s support of their craft. This personal touch differentiated their product from larger impersonal manufacturers and retailers of like products. MountainMade was marketing their retail galleries as travel destinations and not seizing the opportunity to market their retail website. This web address was the only call to action used to increase internet commerce. Having never participated in an internet marketing campaign, MountainMade employed internet advertising on a popular website, MarthaStewart.com. Banner advertisements were purchased to run immediately following the launch of her new show. MountainMade saw an increase in internet sales of well over 200% from the previous year while introducing their brand to a broader national and international audience.
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