Over my years as the editor of a national knitting magazine, I ran a wide range of campaigns – from celebrating the best crafters to raising money for good causes. Here’s some of the biggest things I learned.
Celebrate Your Community
I launched The CraftWorld Awards in 2021 as a way to boost the profile of the website. At the time, CraftWorld was a content-driven site for crafters, with a modest but growing membership. By focusing on the people who make the crafting community great, we created lots of feel-good buzz, and new member sign-ups to the site jumped. When we took to social media to announce the shortlist, everyone wanted to celebrate their friends, congratulating them and sharing their nominations.
Find the Perfect Partner
The Big Woolly Weekend was a collaborative project between Knit Now and Crochet Now magazines and the wonderful French yarn company, Bergere de France. We always had a brilliant relationship with the team at Bergere, and it was a joy to work with them on this fun weekend packed with events which drove knitters into their yarn stores. With their local connections and our national reach, the campaign was an absolute joy.
Spark Joy
This subscription marketing campaign was one of our best ever – and it wasn’t a particularly high-value or hard-to-get gift. It was just brilliant photography which sold the dream of a nice little treat! It’s a brilliant reminder that when you’re selling something, you really need to tap into the buyer’s emotions.
Every Problem is an Opportunity
I’m going to let you in on a secret. Sometimes when you’re working on a magazine, something will go wrong. Very wrong. In the case of this issue, our planned free gift was seriously delayed, and wasn’t going to arrive before we went to print. This was happening at a vitally important time of year, when we would usually be getting some of our biggest sales. There wasn’t any time for a physical replacement, so how was I still going to appeal to readers on the shelf, offering the best value in the market? My idea was to print a “gift card” on the front of the magazine (using fancy gold foiling), with a value of £10. I reached out to a few of my favourite retailers to ask them to create offers worth at least £10, in exchange for a half page feature about their business. This issue ended up being our biggest-selling issue of the year!
Kate Heppell 