Are Enamel Pins a Good Business to Get Into?

October 16, 2023

With all the things that are currently going around in the world, you're probably looking at various business opportunities to explore. An enamel pin is, without a doubt, a great choice.

Enamel pins are having a comeback moment. They're exploding into the fashion world and many entrepreneurs are now looking for ways to hop on the movement and make a business out of it. Enamels are tiny metallic pins that are customizable and can feature various designs. Whether you want to create enamel pins with branded logos, off-the-wall illustrations, or anything else, there are endless ideas of making enamel pins and creating a business out of them.

And because enamel pins are a superb way of showing people's personalities, they offer an excellent opportunity to start and build a successful online business. Through enamel pins, you can customize and accessorize various clothes, hats, backpacks, and many more. In other words, starting an enamel business is a great way of transforming unique designs and ideas into a worldwide trend while generating profits.

In this article, we'll show you how to design, manufacture, and sell enamel pins. This guide we'll help you start a brilliant enamel pins business and thrive in such a competitive market.

Table of Contents

How to Make Enamel Pins

If you've never made enamel pins before, you're probably wondering how to design them, where to get them made, and how to sell them. Even though custom pins are an exciting and fulfilling way to transform your designs, making them can seem daunting and out of reach if you don't know where to start. Let's walk you through what to do.

Where to Start

When building a new business or product, it's always a great idea to start by doing some research. You should get to know the resources that you need to get the job done. By doing proper research, you'll know what you require to start.

The best place to start is to look at what other enamel makers are doing. This can help you get a sense of the overall market, the market niche they're targeting, and how they are selling their products. This can help you come up with a unique few words that can help differentiate your business from competitors.

Identify a Unique Niche that will Make Your Enamel Business Stand Out

It's a known fact that enamel pins are quite popular right now. This, however, doesn't mean that you can't find a unique market niche for your enamels. Finding the right market niche is not only important in the enamel business but also in any business. It's important to come up with an innovative and unprecedented idea that can withstand strong competition in the industry.

By narrowing down on a unique niche, the rest of the process will be a lot easier. This is because you'll have a great understanding of your audience and how to create enamel pins that can be sellable to that particular audience or niche market. And it should not be just about finding a niche market. Take it a step further by making sure that you're passionate about the niche market that you choose.

You certainly do not want to make enamel pins that do not excite you. So when it comes to finding the right niche market look at what you're interested in. You should draw inspiration from your passion. Whether it's your favorite food, favorite sports, music genre, or a hobby that you enjoy, find something that's unique and tickles your creative side.

Normally, your work will feel energizing and not draining if you're passionate about it. After all, it won't feel like work when you're passionate about it. Even though it will still require time and effort, you'll truly care about it and you'll enjoy every part of the process.

The best way to find the right niche is, therefore, by choosing a niche that you truly care about or find a niche that you already understand or can easily understand. If you're already a member of a given niche community, this can be a good place to start. And even if you're not a member of a particular niche community, just carry out a little market research, find your passion, and you'll find an engaged customer base that's perfect for your enamel brand.

Here are some methods of engaging a niche market.

KW Finder - You can evaluate demand and interest in your enamel pins through this platform. It's a great way of finding out how often people are googling the term related to your market niche.

Reddit - This is a great meeting place, message board, and one of the largest subcultures in the world. It's quite easy to discover an active niche on Reddit as the audiences are generally more engaged and active.

Google Trends - This is a great platform for getting a more general outline of the global search and is a great way of quickly getting the viability of your targeted niche.

What's the Right Budget?

You probably have a business plan for your enamel pins business. But before the excitement that comes with launching a business sets in, you should create an appropriate budget. This is a vital part of starting and running a profitable and successful business.

Although the capital required when starting an enamel pins business isn't too high, you have to consider other additional expenses, especially those revolving around marketing. Well, it wouldn't make sense to open a business, sit back, and wait for customers to come to you. You should set a platform and reach out to them. When coming up with a budget, just be realistic and do not go over the top. Start small and go with a budget that you can afford. Do not be afraid of lowering the budget if it seems excessive.

Choose Your Target Market and Analyze Competition

You've found the right niche market. But is that enough? We don't think so. It's important to know the exact portion of the market that your enamel pins are aimed for. Are you creating the enamel pins for a high-end market? Are they cheap and cheerful? Are you planning to make disposable pins?

Whatever your target market is, it's important to remember that trends tend to fluctuate within a particular target market and this can affect your business either positively or negatively from time to time. You should, therefore, be flexible enough to modify your pins to appeal to your targeted customers and their preferences but this may depend on ongoing trends.

Marketing is Fundamental to Your Business

When starting an enamel pins business, you certainly do not target just your family members and a few friends. Instead, you're targeting a larger audience and this requires a proper marketing strategy. And given that you're probably starting small, you should look for a perfect way(s) of gaining visibility without hiring those expensive marketing agencies. In today's technological world, it would make a lot of sense to use the right tech.

Here's how to do it.

Have a Website for Your Business

Creating a website is a great way of having an online shop for your business. You can hire someone to design a simple website for your business or start with a simple design. You'll, of course, require high-quality images of the enamel pins that you're selling. These images must be attractive and showcase a wide range of options to give your customers the option of choosing something appropriate for them.

Keep in mind that having a website is a lot cheaper than owning a physical shop. A website also gives you the advantage of reaching and engaging a larger audience. If you choose this route, you'll have to constantly update the website and consistently showcase both new and old products.

Have a Social Media Presence

Social media is probably one of the most important ways of marketing any business in today's digital world. With that in mind, you must have various social media platforms if you're going to have a shot at success with your enamel pins business. You should have a social media presence on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and more. You can create these pages and share them through friends, relatives, acquaintances, and colleagues. You should also be active on these platforms by posting regularly and keeping the audience engaged.

Use Engaging Promotions to Find and Retain Customers

It's important to promote your products just before or after launching the business. A great way of luring and retaining customers is by offering promotions and discounts. For example, you can offer customers free new products as this is a great way of letting them appreciate your enamel pins and probably return for more enamel pins.

With promotions, you'll create superb brand awareness within your targeted market. It will also create increased brand visibility and customer traffic. Again, retaining a customer base is of great importance for a small business. You can offer promotions in exchange for customers' contact details. This is essential if you want to get in touch with your customers and maybe offer them personalized products.

Have Plans for Scalability

Even though you'll most likely start small and offer limited products, it's of great importance to put plans in place that allow your business to grow. If you do everything right, your online shop will start growing and the brand will make a name for itself. As the business expands, you should consider other products that may go hand-in-hand with your enamel pins. There is an endless list of complementary items that you can offer. From water bottles, key rings to reusable bags, the list is limitless.

Create Your Designs

If you've determined who you're going to sell the enamel pins to and how you'll market your products, it's now the right time to figure out how you want your pins to look like. Whether or not you have design skills, it's very possible to create gorgeous pins; products that will be attractive to your customers.

You can create trial enamel pins using illustrator or Photoshop. There are also various alternatives such as SumoPaint, Pixlr, Paint.NET, GIMP, and many more that you can use to create your lapel pins. If you aren't so sure about your design skills, you might consider hiring a designer to do it for you. You can connect with talented artists through various platforms to help you make physical products based on your original design ideas.

Manufacturing the Lapel Pins

Once you have the designs in place, you'll have to contact a manufacturer to help you transform your design ideas into real products. When hiring a manufacturer, it's important to seek out various manufacturers and compare what they bring to the table.

You can look for things such as the type of materials they'll use in creating your enamel pins. Do you want soft or hard enamels? Well, this may depend on your preference and those of your customers. More importantly, you should try as much as possible to lower your manufacturing costs without compromising the quality of your enamel pins.

Some of the factors that may influence your manufacturing cost include:

  • ‍The complexity of your design
  • The number of colors you want to use in your products
  • The size of your products, and
  • The quantity of your order

There are also other factors to consider when choosing a manufacturer. Go for a manufacturer that allows you to customize the products not just the way you want them but also to suit your clients' preferences. It's important to look for the available options and ensure that the enamel pins can be manufactured with the required specifications.

A good manufacturer should also validate your design ideas by sending you a sample pin or proof before manufacturing the actual products. You have to thoroughly examine the sample to ensure that the product is up to your required standards. Make sure that the pins are of the required shapes and sizes, design, and the right packaging. Ensure that the manufacturer can produce packaging that you need, especially if you do not want to waste a lot of time and money working with multiple manufacturers.

Selling Your Enamel Pins

In terms of selling your enamel pins, you can use several online platforms including Etsy, Amazon, ArtFire, Shopify, Big Cartel, Handmade, and many more. Consider using multiple selling platforms if you are looking for maximum exposure. You shouldn't forget the power of using your friends, relatives, colleagues, and business networks. You can also pitch your story to various media outlets.

Over to You

Just like when starting a business, starting an enamel pins business requires you to be aware of the business environment, identify your market and competition, and choose the right niche market. The enamel pins market offers superb opportunities, so it's important to start your enamel pins business and make it successful and profitable!

After all, making enamel pins is easy so it's time to showcase your creativity to the world and get selling.

Explore Custom Products

Ready to Order? Let’s Chat!

large-grid-of-squares-blue-orange-yellow