Scrappy Marketing Solutions Blog

Does Your Business Help Your Customer Tell Their (Status) Story?

Recently seen at TrendWatching.com: From status symbols to STATUS STORIES.

STATUS STORIES: As more brands (have to) go niche and therefore tell stories that aren't known to the masses, and as experiences and non-consumption-related expenditures take over from physical (and more visible) status symbols, consumers will increasingly have to tell each other stories to achieve a status dividend from their purchases. Expect a shift from brands telling a story, to brands helping consumers tell status-yielding stories to other consumers.

[Angie's note: emphasis mine]

Huh.  How do you suppose this will translate in the scrapbooking industry/community?  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Networking Tips: Your Personal Know, Like, & Trust Factor

Via Ilise Benun's Quick Tips from Marketing Mentor newsletter, a link to an article by Social Media Marketing Coach, Zita Gustin on one's "Know, Like, & Trust Factor".  Basically it offers thoughts on two styles of networking - the hunter and the gardener.

The hunter approaches networking (meeting/collaborating/referring people for mutually beneficial business alliances) as "going in the for kill (the sale)".  Gustin doesn't think of that approach as networking, but rather "salesmaking".

So what is networking?  It's about establishing a relationship with others based on your/their Know, Like, and Trust Factor - the idea that people do business with people they know, like & trust.  Gustin has this to say on that topic:

And yet, so many people want to skip past the parts about the knowing and liking ... they want to go straight to the part about getting referrals or sales without building to and through the trusting part.

She suggests that to earn trust in a relationship (networking or otherwise), "you must show your character, your integrity, your ability, and your kindness and concern for others."  Then she offers 12 thought-provoking tips on how to inspire trust by revealing your character.  Worth a read.

30-Minute Marketing

by Sara Pedersen

Marketing your small business takes tons of time, years of experience, and lots of money, right? Wrong! Anyone can learn effective marketing techniques that are simple, inexpensive, and best of all, quick! Get in the habit of REGULARLY marketing your biz! The following are some marketing techniques that you can accomplish in 30 minutes or less. Pick a few that appeal to your style. Then, write down each one on your calendar on a specific day you so you WILL accomplish this task.

BE AN EXPERT

Type up a list of your top five favorite seasonal TIPS related to your business and send it to your local paper. Invite the news editor to run the tips along with your contact information in an upcoming issue.

GET IN TOUCH

The next week, follow up that letter with a phone CALL to that editor. Make it short, sweet, and to-the-point. Tell her what you do for a living and what you can contribute to the paper. Offer to be a resource in the future.

BECOME A JOINER

Spend 30 minutes online researching local NETWORKING groups. Make a list of those that interest you. Next week, spend 30 more minutes contacting those you might consider joining.

MAKE CONNECTIONS

Scan your Yellow Pages for companies that might be sources of REFERRALS. Make a list. Another day, spend 30 minutes contacting some of these professionals via phone or e-mail to see if informal, mutually beneficial partnerships or cross-referral programs could be formed.

YOUR ELEVATOR SPEECH

Write your 60-second commercial so, when introduced to people, you can easily and articulately EXPLAIN what you do for a living.

A QUICKIE NEWSLETTER

Send your top five favorite tips (make them season specific) via e-mail to your DATABASE. Don't forget to include your contact info and a "call to action." Try, "Call me today to schedule a hands-on consultation," or "Call today to take advantage of my summer special."

ASK FOR REFERRALS

Develop a simple INCENTIVE program for current clients, encouraging them to refer their family and friends to you. Draft a note and send via e-mail or create a postcard to send via postal mail.

COLLABORATE

Contact another small business owner in the SAME line of work in your area that offers a service that you don't. Agree to send business to each other whenever possible.

THANK YOUR BEST CUSTOMERS

Send a thank-you card to past clients. Include a COUPON for 10% off or a free gift with their next purchase.

Sara Pedersen is a professional organizer who enjoys helping clients organize, simplify, and create time to do the things they love. You may visit her website at www.time2organize.net.

Content provided by OnlineOrganizing.com -- offering "a world of organizing solutions!" Visit www.onlineorganizing.com for organizing products, free tips, a speakers bureau, get a referral for a Professional Organizer near you, or get some help starting and running your own organizing business.

Marketing Idea: Create a Tradition or Ritual

Via Meg Cox's Traditions newsletter, a link to TrashTheDress.com, a rather scandalous yet innovative concept - celebrate your recent marriage by trashing your wedding dress.

Why? … Why not? You’ve made a commitment to your husband. He’s your one and only true love, right? Then you’ll never need the dress again. And no, your daughter won’t wear it in 20-30 years. So you have two choices:

1. Suffocate it in plastic and throw it in a closet
2. Show your husband how committed you are by trashing the dress, and get some great fun pictures while you do it!

Trash the Dress photo sessions have been featured on Good Morning America and in the New York Times.  So this is quite a bit more than just a meme hidden in the underbelly of the Internet.  According to the NYT, "Christa DiPaulo Becker, 31, said that sitting in 2005 for her post-wedding Trash the Dress shoot with John Michael Cooper, the Las Vegas wedding photographer [is] credited with starting the trend..."  Cooper's concept spread to other wedding photographers, and (also according to NYT), "interest in these photos has even led to the creation of a Web site, trashthedress.com, which Mark Eric, a 35-year-old photographer from Alexandria, La., said he started to display his own Trash the Dress images."

A comment in Meg Cox's newsletter got me thinking about the marketing angles of a concept like this:

It appears to have been the brainchild of a photography studio looking for new income streams, and the idea caught fire with some brides.

"...the brainchild of a photography studio looking for new income streams"...  So.  What tantalizing ritual could you help document in your scrapbooking business?  First, take the easy route and check with local photographers, and see if any of them offer Trash the Dress photo sessions.  If so, try pairing up with them to offer Trash the Dress scrapbooking sessions using their photos.

From there, brainstorm other rituals or traditions you could help customers document...

• a Break-up Book of all the losers they dated, or as a post-divorce therapy tool - consider partnering with a local divorce therapist for referrals
• a Letting Go or "Say Good-bye to..." workshop - what dreams or expectations don't "fit" anymore? (also good for purging clutter or extra scrapbooking supplies!)
• Put a positive spin on bittersweet times - kids starting kindergarten or leaving for college?  Offer a class layout project on "Before I Had to vs Now I Get to" (also good for post-divorce)

Scrapbooking is about documenting the events in one's life.  How can you help your customers tell the stories of non-traditional milestones?  Or put a different spin on the traditional ones?  I'd love to hear your ideas - please leave a comment below!

Holiday Marketing: Offer a Gift Guide

Found this great marketing tip on B. Line with Beth Mauro (editor of Scrapbook Retailer magazine):

...There's nothing like the power of suggestion to influence a sale. That is why merchandising, advertisements and project samples are so vital to scrapbook store sales. So this holiday season, why not create your own holiday gift guide?

Select hot items that are especially gifty. Choose things in different price ranges and advertise them as such "Under $5, "Under $25, Under $100 (go for it! there is always a husband who needs something with WOW!) Get employees involved- maybe you want to have "Sandy's Picks" or "Beth's Pick's" to add a personal spin.

Take digital photos or request some from the manufacturers (if you can do it yourself you can probably do it faster- busy time).

She goes on to offer five ideas for using your own Gift Guide, no matter your market or audience. 

Are you planning any special holiday promotions?  How are you rolling them out to your customers/clients?  Please leave a comment and share!

Online Retailers - Will You Offer 'Cyber Monday' Specials?

Via a news story posted by KCTV Kansas City, some information on a trend among online retailers this time of year... Have you heard of "Cyber Monday"?

We've all heard about "Black Friday," the day after Thanksgiving when the malls are packed and some stores open early with big bargains to lure people in.      

A growing number of retailers are using the Monday after Thanksgiving, so-called "Cyber Monday," to promote online sales.

The National Retail Federation said it found that nearly three-quarters of online retailers are planning special promotions that day.

According to Shop.org, an online retailer association, "Cyber Monday is a term coined by Shop.org that represents the Monday after Thanksgiving (November 27), the unofficial kick-off to the online holiday shopping season."

And in the "brilliant marketing idea" corner, the website CyberMonday.com acts as a hub, pointing out to promotions from 550 retailers.  Gathering links to special promotions & great deals, all in one place, is an excellent tactic for driving traffic to your website.

And Shop.org takes it even further.  Study how they did this.

First, they coin the term "Cyber Monday" - based on their knowledge and experience in their own niche, and their recognition of a verifiable trend.

Second, they register the domain CyberMonday.com, and establish it as the hub for the term/phenomenon: "a one-stop shop for consumers looking for the best Cyber Monday promotions."

Then, they register as affiliates of many of the retailers offering said deals.

Then they commit to using those affiliate sales to benefit a charity inspired by one of their association members.

THEN they distribute targeted, informative press releases throughout the holiday season, offering tips and statistics that the media will eat up faster than the Christmas ham.

The really cool thing about this promotion is that it not only brings attention to Shop.org as an association, and their scholarship fund, but it also allows all these online retailers to share in the traffic CyberMonday.com brings in.  Because there is now an "official" name for the day, online retailers can capitalize on it by announcing their "official" Cyber Monday deals.  (They may have offered promotions on the Monday after Thanksgiving anyway, but now there's a NAME for the promotion.  More marketing juice.)

(Hmmm, these steps to publicizing an niche-industry event make me think of another holiday recently celebrated... ;)  )

So now that you know about it, any of you online retailers out there planning any special promotions for a week from today?  A popular promotion for online retailers, and fairly easy to configure in online shopping carts, is free shipping.  Or do you have something more elaborate planned?  Here are some other options being offered, according to a recent press release (emphasis mine):

According to the eHoliday Survey, conducted this fall by BizRate Research, the majority of online retailers will feature special promotions for Cyber Monday this year. Promotions will range from special email campaigns (32.0%) to specific deals (29.9%) to one-day sales (28.9%). Additionally, one-fourth of retailers (24.7%) will offer free shipping on all purchases.

If you're offering any promotions, sales, or deals specifically for Cyber Monday, feel free to leave a comment with a link.

I'd also love to hear from any online retailers to see if the "Cyber Monday" trend applies in the scrapbooking/digital scrapbooking community as well.  Have you seen, or do you expect to see a spike in sales on the Monday after Thanksgiving?  How do you plan to encourage sales that day/weekend?

Newsletter Marketing: Reward Your Ambassadors

I subscribe to lots of e-newsletters, to keep up with industry buzz and happenings, as well as to get promotional ideas.  I noticed a cool promotional technique in the recent e-newsletter from ScrapWords.com.

In her newsletter, owner Leslie Ackman offered incentives to helping her build buzz about her site:

Scrapwords is a very new community on the Web...With that being said, it is TOUGH to get our name out there! So far you can find me in all the major scrap mags and websites but that's not enough!! I need YOU!

Please tell your friends about us and send them our way. For every person that you send to Scrapwords that creates a Blog, posts on the forums, etc. I'll give you $2.00 credit in the Store. Send me 5 people that become active on the site and you'll get $10 bucks to spend...send me 10 people that become active you'll get $20 bucks!!  If you are interested in participating in this program e-mail me.

**An active member create a Blog, posts at least 5 times in that Blog and posts in our Forums at least 25 times.

I like these points about this promotion:

• Leslie recognizes that she needs to build traffic for her site, so she asks her loyal customers for help.
• To encourage her customers to help her, she offers an enticement.
• That enticement comes from her own inventory, minimizing the cost of the promotion, plus there's no initial investment while hoping the promotion produces results.  It's almost like promotion on consignment - you don't pay until you get the results you want.
• She provided tangible measurement of what she is looking for - how many posts a new site member must make to make their "ambassador" eligible for the reward.
• AND she used her e-newsletter to spread the word about the promotion.

A couple of suggestions if you're considering a similar "Be My Ambassador" promotion - definitely announce it in your e-newsletter, as Leslie did, but also post about it on your blog, on your message board (if applicable), and on the homepage of your website.  If you're going to spread the word about something, spread it as far as you can with all the tools that you have!

A Scrappy Marketer's Hat Tip to Leslie!  Way to be an Ambassador-Maker!

Networking with Facebook

So I just joined Facebook.  I feel like such a 'noob' (newbie, or new person).  Do they have Facebook Guides or anything?  OY.

Anyone want to be my friend?  What Groups or Networks do I *have* to join?

Scrapbook Marketing Ideas from the Nail Industry

While at the nail salon over the weekend, I picked up Nails, a nail industry trade magazine.  After years of reading Craftrends, Memorytrends, CNA, and Scrapbook Retailer, it was interesting to page through a trade mag from another industry.  A lot of the same topics - how to get more clients, new product launches, industry trade shows. But the difference in market perspective provided another inspiration source -- I may be picking up trade mags from other industries more often.

In just the first few pages, I got two marketing ideas that I wouldn't have brainstormed on my own, based on two short pieces in the mag.

Using nail acrylic to make custom jewelry sets -- Debbie Wilson, of Simply Debbie's Nails in Cave Junction, OR, has branched out to offer jewelry to her customers as well - made using nail acrylics, then hand-painted and embellished (sorry, couldn't find any links or images to save my life).  Perhaps some of you scrapbooking professionals could branch out into jewelry as well? Think rearview mirror dangles and cell phone charms as well. Just have a nice display stand of impulse purchase items by the register.

Marketing by Customer Review: Scrapbook.com

Another great marketing idea, this one from Scrapbook.com: Review A Product Win $25!

Scrapbook.com is giving away (3) $25 superstore-shopping-sprees to three lucky product reviewers! Here's what you need to do to be eligible to WIN:

1. Choose an E-book or digital product from the superstore that you own (or will soon own)
2. Go to that products page in the Scrapbook.com Superstore
3. Write a 50 word (minimum) review of the product (posted to the product page)

All reviews are eligible provided that they would likely be deemed helpful and informative by a person who does not yet own the product. That's it! Simple, right?

Clever marketing - offer an incentive to get your customers to dish on your products!  Since the contest does not imply the review must be positive, I don't see any ethical problems. Here's what I like about this promotion:

• it will (most likely) provide lots of reviews in their online storefront, which boosts the confidence level of "looky-loo's" - they see lots of reviews, they think a lot of people must shop here, they feel secure doing business with the site.
• they specified that the review must "likely be deemed helpful and informative by a person who does not yet own the product".  That kind of guideline will help someone write a review.
• they asked for reviews on their *digital* products.  What a great way to highlight a specific segment of their business!
• they included this promotion in their e-newsletter, which is also archived online - instant search engine mojo, and easy to pass the word along to friends (viral marketing)!

You could do something similar in your business:

• every other month, solicit reviews/testimonials about a specific type of product or service - paper one month, classes another month
• change up the incentive every so often - store credit one month, personal consulting session another month.
• have customers apply to be on a rotating "Review Board", of say, a three to six-month term.  During that term, they get special goodies for their service.
• definitely post about any kind of contest/promotion on your blog and in your newsletter

A Scrappy Marketer's Hat Tip to Scrapbook.com!