Blog 3: My brand “The Sith Crafter”
The Sith Crafter… What does it mean? Where does it originate from? Why choose such a name? Well basically the word “Sith” is a term used to describe the evil side in the Star Wars Universe. Why choose the bad guys and not choose the good side? Simple, cause the bad guys are way cooler! Anyway, the sith crafter has been transformed into the meaning that there is an individual who creates such bad guys. And that guy is me. It is a very catchy name and serves well as a marketing tool within my target audience.
“The Sith Crafter” started 7 years ago and was born as a Facebook Page. Today we have reached over 3080 likes and followers and have sails shipping out to all over the world.
Link to Page: https://www.facebook.com/thesithcrafter/
It is important that I describe the brand first and its mission objective though before we go into the logistics of the social media and content marketing aspects. Our Mission is to provide services such as 3D modelling, 3D Printing and Prop making. This is to satisfy multiple industries such as product design, game design, prototyping and more. Our objective is to offer competitive prices and services and choose us over others for our standards. Our vision is to grow and be able to satisfy a wider audience of individuals as we expand. This will only come with more experience and hard work. Besides seeing the brands mission, vision and objectives, it is very important to also analyse the brands market and competitor analysis. These markets are 3D printing, 3D design, concept design, product design and 3D modelling. These markets are highly competitive due to the fact that as technology advances and becomes more available to the world, more entrepreneurs are taking these career paths. Not only this but this is an international market thus, competition is coming from all over the world. This is highly competitive as countries with lower economies and lower salaries are able to charge lower prices and thus present a competitive advantage to the market. When doing a SWOT analysis our brand, one can verify the following;
Strengths;
- Customer Loyalty due to an emotional connection to Star Wars
- Huge fan base of Star Wars fans giving rise to a large portion of the market
- Competitive prices and great customer service
- Great amount of content allowing diverse product creation
- Ships its products internationally
- Uses an international and safe selling platform (Etsy)
- All transactions are made safely through Paypal
- High international demand in products and services
Weaknesses;
- Competitive Markets
- May be subject to copyright infringement
- Very limited local support
- Expensive shipping costs due to country positioning
- High tax rate on selling platforms (Etsy)
- Limited local supplies (3D Printers, filament etc)
Opportunities;
- Better market research to develop more demanded products
- Better customer services by extending available hours
- Creating an agreement with a supplier to supply filament locally
- Expanding my product selection
Threats;
- High international competition
- Low local competition
- Supplier competitors
- Work copyright infringement
The SWOT analysis is crucial to understanding the brands threats and opportunities in order to regulate how it is to expand. In fact the SWOT analysis will also be helpful when reflecting the media we will put forward on our mediums such as Facebook and Instagram. Tools such as Content Marketing and Social Media will be tested and this is what we will be seeing in the following blogs in this project.
