Finding Customers for Your Scrap for Hire (S4H) Business

Taking people’s photos and stories and designing a finished product they love is a rewarding experience for a digital scrapbook artist. I have been scrapping for others since 2008. I’ll share with you how my approach to getting customers has evolved over the years.

To attract customers at Treasured Albums, my partner and I offered classes at community senior centers and libraries. The goal was to promote our custom photobook service that captured people’s family heritage memories. We handed out marketing material such as business cards, tri-fold brochures, and flyers on our custom and standard photobook service. We shared examples of photobooks, greeting cards, and scrapbook pages. Libraries posted our classes in their quarterly newsletters that were mailed to the community. Once we got established with the library network, we got paid to host the classes. Libraries set up a display of our products behind the front desk to advertise our upcoming classes. We built relationships with customers and gained revenue through repeat business and referrals.

Treasured Albums had a website so people could download flyers about our services. We also had a Facebook page to post our upcoming classes and examples of photobook pages and layouts using only our personal family pictures. We never posted photos of customers on the Internet or even shared their photos with anyone. We signed a confidentiality agreement to give our customers the peace of mind that their information would not be shared. (This is why you don’t see any of my S4H work in the Scrap Girls Gallery.)

Earlier this year, I decided to start a different kind of digital scrapbooking business. This time, I am commanding a higher price for my S4H services. One of the reasons I can do this is because I am using the beautiful S4H kits from Scrap Girls that allow me to to quickly design beautiful layouts. I browse the Scrap Girls Gallery for inspiration.

When I designed a layout and ordered a “plopper” ornate metal print from Pro Digital Photos, my sister showed it to Zorka Pondell, owner of The Classic Horse. Zorka invited me to set up a table at her fine equestrian jewelry studio.

The agreement I have with the studio is that I work directly with customers and send a commission check when I get paid. I’ll set up a metal ornament display in the fall. I’m hoping every horse owner or rider who walks into the shop will want one for their Christmas tree! I am also working with another shop owner who specializes in shabby décor because I want to start a line of shabby metal signs. I never thought in a million years that I would be promoting my digital scrapbooking business in brick-and-mortar shops!

I look forward to opening up an Etsy shop soon and taking advantage of the instant download capability the platform offers. If you already have an Etsy shop, then you know that you have to differentiate yourself from the thousands of other sellers. In order to get followers on Etsy, I plan on designing products using the S4H Basics available in the Scrap Girls Boutique. I also want to reuse the layouts that I have designed over the years by making sure each layer is S4H-friendly.

I named this business Vintage Scrapbooks and was lucky enough to buy the domain name. The motto is “digital scrapbooking with vintage elegance.” Once I get ready to market products, I’ll use social media to advertise and build marketing networks. My approach to making money in digital scrapbooking is a lot different than how I operated Treasured Albums. This time, I’m focusing on designing products to sell instead of working with individual customers and relying on referrals for future business.

Before you get started with your scrapbooking business, I recommend that you study the S4H/S4O/Craft Use License agreement that can be found here: http://scrapgirls.com/L2/terms-of-use-commercial-license.php#s4h-s4o-craft-license-terms.

Good luck scrapping for others!