Celebrating National Small Business Week

It's National Small Business Week, the time of year when the U.S. Small Business Administration shines a spotlight on the 30 million small businesses all across the United States.

Small businesses turn to Pinterest to reach new customers since Pinners often come to the platform when they are actively considering what to do or buy next. This means they are open to seeing new and engaging ideas from businesses. To honor this week's celebration, we are highlighting nine stories of small businesses that have been successful on Pinterest. From seed growers to wallpaper makers, here's why these local businesses chose Pinterest to help them grow.

Holtz Leather Co.

Holtz Leather Co. is an Alabama family-owned leather goods company that creates quality handcrafted wares. They use Pinterest to reach new customers, find inspiration for new products and get design ideas for their retail spaces. Currently, 11% of purchases on their website come from Pinterest₁. As a result of the growth they’ve experienced on Pinterest, they’ve been able to move from their basement into a production facility that houses over 30 employees.

“Pinterest has helped our business grow. It is one of the early platforms we started advertising on when we launched the brand. It allowed us to use very targeted ads and we didn’t have to pay a lot for extra traffic.” - Becka Christian, Marketing Director, Holtz Leather Co.

Desert Steel

Eric Carroll and his father-in-law Richard Turner create bird feeders, garden torches and landscape sculptures inspired by nature. After touring the country for 10 years selling their wares at craft shows, they took a leap and moved their business, Desert Steel, online. Within 30 days of running their first ad on Pinterest, they had sold out of their inventory. Pinterest is helping their business grow and is currently driving the most traffic to their website₂.

“The other thing that was successful was capturing emails from new customers. We put a pop up on our website for a Pinterest discount and we immediately started getting email subscriptions. Within three weeks, we had collected 2000 emails!” - Jason McClintock, General Manager, Desert Steel Company

Gardenuity

Donna Letier and Julie Eggers, two friends from Texas, started Gardenuity with the goal of making the gardening experience possible for everyone, everywhere. They had the idea of creating a box delivery service that sends customers the right seeds to plant in their area code and all the tools they need to succeed. Pinterest has allowed the company to reach new customers, while also helping them get discovered by growers and local farmers.

“For us, Pinterest is an inspiration tool. As a brand entering a category that has not changed much over the years, telling our story from various perspectives is important and Pinterest gives us the opportunity to do that visually. It allows us to author a customer journey of discovery, awareness, inspiration, evaluation and finally acquisition.” - Donna Letier, Co-Founder, Gardenuity

Jess Lea Boutique

Started in 2014 as a passion project, Jess Lea Boutique is an online shop based in Texas that offers affordable women's clothing, shoes and accessories. Owner Jessica Bridges uses organic content on Pinterest to help grow her audience, and in the past year she has been able to grow her sales from Pinterest by 124%₃! By reaching new audiences on Pinterest, she has been able to earn enough to move into a bigger office and warehouse.

“Every single international order we receive comes from Pinterest. The platform has opened my business to the world. It is such a huge opportunity for us. The key is really being consistent with your Pins. We pin seven days a week and I use the right keywords in all of my descriptions. Whatever my customers could possibly type when looking for a product, I use those words.” - Jessica Bridges, Founder, Jess Lea Boutique

Raddish

Samantha Barnes, a former teacher and a mother of 2, and her husband Seth, created Raddish, a monthly thematic kit designed to make learning to cook educational, delicious and fun for kids age 4-14. Each month's kit centers around a theme and features illustrated recipe guides, an apron patch, a kitchen tool, and more that inspires kids to find confidence in the kitchen and beyond. Pinterest has allowed Raddish to grow, reach new customers, get insights into food trends and find inspiration for their next products while also being an excellent resource for their customer base.

“Actalike targeting has proven a great prospecting tool as it allows us to target an audience that matches about 90% of our key customers' demographics and interests. Pinterest is also a great way to engage with our existing customers. People love to come to our boards because they know our recipes and content are focused around their interest in kids and cooking. Pinterest is a place where people feel like they are part of our community and where we can be even more of a resource to them.” - Seth Barnes, Co-Founder, Raddish

Hygge & West

Christiana Coop and Aimee Lagos, two best friends and former lawyers are the cofounders of Hygge & West, a popular design company that specializes in wallpaper. They started their careers in the corporate legal world in Chicago until they realized they had creative passions they couldn’t sit on any longer. Pinterest has revolutionized their business, they have seen significant increases in traffic, sales and new customer acquisition since they have been leveraging Pinterest.

“Wallpaper is a highly researched, planned purchase. Pinterest allows people to easily find our product and then create boards to get a sense for how the wallpaper will work within their design scheme.” - Aimee Lagos and Christiana Coop, Founders, Hygge & West

AphroChic

Jeanine Hays was working as a policy attorney and her husband Bryan Mason was a Ph.D. candidate when they turned to interior design as a way to escape the stresses of work and share their passion for culture and design. They began AphroChic, a website to browse and shop for home decor items inspired by African culture. They joined Pinterest to more effectively communicate with their clients. Using Pinterest boards, clients and AphroChic are easily able to see the vision for the space and better understand the design needs. Pinterest is now the primary traffic referrer to their website.

“With millions of views of our Pins each month, Pinterest is one of the top places on the web where people can see what AphroChic offers in terms of products and design. We love Pinterest because it inspires us, but we also love how much our Pins inspire others.” - Jeanine Hays, Founder, AphroChic

Ansel & Ivy

Ansel & Ivy was launched last February by Anum Tariq and Hiraa Khan, two friends living in San Francisco. They quit their full time job to start their plants delivery company. They ship plants already potted straight to customers’ doors with instructions on how to style them and care for them. Their organic presence on Pinterest drives 17% of the total traffic to their website.₄

“We want to demystify houseplants and Pinterest is a key platform for sharing content about plants care and education. Users that come to our site via Pinterest spend twice the amount of time on our site as compared to those originating from Instagram.” - Hiraa Khan, Co-Founder, Ansel & Ivy

Domestica

Domestica is a gift shop located in the heart of Des Moines selling an array of modern handmade home and personal accessories. The owner, Chrissy Jensen, has been an active user of Pinterest since the early days of the platform in 2010 and has over 300 boards on her account. The majority of the sales she makes online come from Pinterest and the platform allows her shop to be discovered by new customers.₅

“Very often, when people come to our store, they tell us that they found us on Pinterest. The other thing I like about boards is that we are able to reach people as far as Australia, but also in our own state of Iowa. I have met some really great people through Pinterest.” - Chrissy Jensen, Founder, Domestica

We’d love to hear how Pinterest has helped you grow your business, no matter what you do or where you are.

Share it with us!