Where to go after your pottery business is off the ground

My website is all about getting people to come to it. Want a Long Island bachelorette pottery party? Great! Hopefully my SEO will lead you here.

This specific post isn’t about me. Well, I do talk about myself a lot, but my goal is for the SEO-gods find other ceramicists struggling to find the same answers I’ve been looking for. The “me” is introspection that I’m guessing a lot of people also think about.

So you started your pottery business. If you found this post and you haven’t yet, there’s plenty of articles on the interwebs that would be helpful. You have your kiln or a place to fire your pieces, your pottery-making skills are at a place where you’re happy, and you have determination to make sales. Maybe you’ve made a few sales already! Yay!

I’m at a happy place with all of those things myself. This summer I started selling my wares at art markets, putting them for consignment at local businesses, and took a couple commissions.

The question that haunts me: where do I go from here? What’s the next step to bring my pottery business to a new level?

I did a lot of Youtube rabbit-holing the past few days. I realized that while my social media is gaining traction and I’m getting a handful of followers a day (which I’m thankful for!) most of them are other ceramicists. That’s not to say they’re not going to buy anything from my online shop or DM for a commission, but I've been waiting for non-pottery people to follow me aside from friends and family and the occasional person I meet at a cigar lounge I give my business card to.

Maybe social media just isn’t for me in the way I want it to be. I started thinking of ways I could make sales away from my tiny phone. My rabbit hole led me to a few ways to “get out there.” This advice really would work for any type of art, but I’m focusing on ceramics here. This was the biggest takeaway for me:

Offer free/sample products to people/businesses who can showcase your pottery and purchase it from you directly and upfront

At first when I saw this advice it was mostly about reaching out to influencers. I thought — I’m trying to stay off social media, how can I do this without influencers? I found this Youtube channel that offers tons of advice about marketing your art without social media (not sponsored, just love the channel). She recommends reaching out to magazine editors and other people/places where your art would fit for a shout out.

So I started thinking to myself—who could I reach out to. Well, I know one editor for a big local newspaper. I could reach out to her, right? But then I thought more about how I would pitch my pottery to her. Why would she be interested in it other than for my desire for a “shout out?” Then I remembered what section she edits for.

Real estate. Bingo.

I needed to think beyond a magazine (which of course will help and is 100% a viable route to get your work out there). I started to think deeper. What could I offer a real estate “person?” Interior decorations. Duh.

I spent a lot of the day researching local interior designers/decorators who I thought would match the vibe of my pottery. I reached out to a few to offer free pottery and see if it would fit their interior decoration needs. Who knows, maybe one will be interested and end up putting my pottery on display in someone’s home.

Since I just sent the emails out I haven’t gotten any responses yet. My point of this story is that there are options out there for something bigger than just selling at markets, consignment, occasional commissions, etc. I want sales that are upfront, even if they cost me a free piece of pottery here and there.

Hopefully seeing this line of thinking will get you (or anyone else) down the same rabbit hole as me. I’ve spent all morning pondering, “well, if I make this or that, who would it appeal to?” I think it’s also a good exercise to push yourself to make things out of your comfort zone.

Let me know if this was helpful! I personally keep a pottery journal where I jot down all my stressors when it comes to the creation process. Sometimes I just need get it all out on paper and also finish it out with something positive I can look back on.