Web site for Giftware Seeks Exposure Via Blogs

Trunkt.org, a collective of small giftware designers, is hoping a new blog-based advertising campaign will draw attention from the wholesale buyers it’s trying to attract.

The organization started in 2004 as a means to give small entrepreneurial designers exposure, says Dev Tandon, marketing strategist and co-founder of the organization.

“Independent designers don’t have a lot of leverage in the giftware market. The idea was to basically create a site where they would to be able to connect with wholesale buyers from boutiques and galleries and gift shops and hotels and museums and such,” he says. “Nothing like that currently exists — at least not in an efficient and well presented manner.”

The organization originated as a retail outlet in New York City’s Tribeca neighborhood to showcase the works of these designers. “But the real opportunity for growth is in the wholesale market, so we created a direct marketing Web site,” he says.

For an annual $99 fee, individual designers can join trunkt.org and have their works showcased on the site, which currently has more then 200 designer members. Tandon hopes to have more than 1,000 by the end of the year, a significant increase from the 11 the site had at launch. Individual designers who typically manufacture in small lots could conceivably get several thousand dollars worth of wholesale contracts through the site.

To find wholesaler clients in the beginning, Trunkt.org used postcard mailings and e-mail blasts, employing lists from industry magazines and trade shows. And names of interesting-sounding boutiques were researched online and mailed to directly, adds Tandon.

“It’s been more manual in the past few months than it probably should be but we’re launching a much more robust and professional campaign,” he says, noting that blogs “are by far the most efficient way to reach those people.”

From all these efforts, the firm looks to increase its annual revenue from about $1 million to maybe $1.5 or $1.6 million this year, he says.

Trunkt.org banners will appear on five blogs that report and comment on a wide range of art, crafts and design topics. D