Watson Gloves

An interesting news clip came on this morning regarding a B.C. based company that was just about put out of business a few years ago, and today thrives.  Imported work gloves can be bought for pennies, and easily undersold the value of Watson product.  As soon as they came to “grips” with the fact that they weren’t going to compete on price with the flood of imported goods, they began to specialize.  They looked to the energy sector and created designs that took into account their unique needs.  They listened to other clients and found where certain designs were wearing quickly and tailored their gloves to provide significant advantages to mass-produced general purpose ones.

Consumers can purchase mass-produced general purpose jewellery from chain stores or online merchants and enjoy low pricing.  There are significant advantages bricks-and-mortar jewellers can offer through personalization and custom design.

What says “I love you” better? 

 - “I got a great deal on-line on this million-of-a-kind diamond cluster for you, honey!”

OR…

- “I remember how much you admired that design we saw on vacation, so I worked with the jeweller downtown to create a similar look featuring your birthstone, and I hand-picked a Canadian diamond to go with it!”

I happen to think that the shine’s off the apple of Chinese imported goods.  I recently saw a Facebook post that put the fear of God in me to eat anything produced in China, and to never allow my nephews to play with toys made there.  Consumers are increasingly open to stories of local product and higher quality.  If I’ve been remiss in telling you the story of any of the domestic companies I represent, please let me know and I’ll be happy to fill you in!

Just ASK!!!

No, I’m not talking about closing, but always ask for the sale too!

Marketing is a big catch-all term which can include advertising, networking, social media, events and publicity.  Publicity is out there for the asking.  Just ask.

Imagine Todd sitting in his Easy-Boy trying to think about what to write about for his next blog.  He’s written over 300 articles and hasn’t fully explored the collective wisdom of an entire industry yet, but it’s still a challenge to decide what to write about.  Then I get an email from a jeweller who has a fund-raising promotion having to do with jewellery, or who has discovered a great training pamphlet for watch-battery servicing.  Well, bingo!  Now I know what to write about, and I know that at least one of my readers care about this issue.

It’s the same with your local radio news director or journalist.  They’re sitting there not knowing what to write about next.  If you hand them something interesting and give them a leg-up on writing the piece, you’re doing them a huge favor! 

Here’s a few rules to follow for the do-it-yourself publicist:

·      Call it a “news release”.  News is what they seek.  Press is what other people want from them.

·      Start-out with “For Immediate Relase” or “For Release February 12th” so they know when the news piece would be relevant

·      Make sure your announcement is interesting, and newsworthy or at the very least timely (relating to a current trend, event or occasion)

·      Always make the W5s easy to spot (who, what, when, where and why.)

·      For the body of your news release take one of two approaches

o   Write a fully developed news-piece as you would wish it to be published – and then invite the writer to edit and make it their own

o   Write a compelling introduction and then give a list of bullet-point facts; drawing them to ask more questions and create their own “angle.”

·      End the text of your news release with “-30-“ centered below the last line to indicate that anything following is not meant for publication

·      Supply all contact information

·      Cut and paste it into the body of an email and also attach a PDF of the nicely formatted document.  Some media outlets have such high-security firewalls that attachments are problematic.

Most media outlets have a spot on their website for “news ideas” or “submit a community event.”  Wherever possible identify the writer, editor or news director who is likely to write or assign the piece and give them a call; asking who to send your news release to.

Hospitality

Everybody wants to make huge sales to the rich and famous in your marketplace.  “It’s not fair” is a common complaint against locals who buy big expensive pieces of jewellery elsewhere.  But ask yourself two questions. 

• ·      Do you have the ability to show them a selection of designs in their price range?
• ·      Do you have a facility that caters to the added comfort that “carriage trade” clients are fond of?

I got a two-bit tour of a jewellery store the other day that knocked my socks off.  Get a load of the first thing clients see as they walk-in.  Even if you don’t have professional-grade fridges, granite counter-tops, leather couches and wide selection of beverages, you might want to think about doing something.

The name of the game is to have a level of hospitality that caters to the kinds of clients you’d like to serve.  If you want to serve the masses, make shopping simple, quick and convenient.  If you want to serve high-end clients, make shopping relaxed and comfortable.  In order to move from the former to the latter, you might have to sacrifice some of your square footage (which makes shopping simple quick and convenient) to create a space where you can take the time to entertain, and build relationships with your higher-end clients while selling them fabulous designs.  It’s always a treat for a valued client to be invited into some sort of “inner sanctum” from which the riff-raff are excluded.  

Your New Blog?

After over 230 blog posts (out of the 300 I decided to do in 2012) and over 70,000 words, I’m starting to look ahead to 2013.  My feeling is that The Toddwaz Report might go to a weekly format.  I also have a desire to offer consumer-friendly blogs for you to publish to your clients. 

Blogging is a numbers-game.  Some people are devoted to reading everything on your social network campaign.  Others read various percentages of what you send them, and some never read them, but are always reminded that you’re there.  Now THAT’S top-of-mind awareness!  I’ve been deleting emails from one real estate investment trainer for five years and I’ve never requested “unsubscribe” because I occasionally read something interesting.

By starting your own blog-campaign, you can achieve top-of-mind awareness that would be completely unaffordable any other way.  The newspaper and radio ad guys want you to pay thousands of dollars to be front-and-centre with their audience so that on the exact day that an audience member decides to buy jewellery, you’ll just happen to have an ad running.  Why not generate that sort of awareness among the people that are already familiar with you? 

Then you can spend your advertising budget targeting new customers and building your client-list.  It may sound silly, but think about it… when you advertise, you’re targeting a group that includes your clientele.  If your best clients are being directly contacted several times per month, you can explore new markets.  You can target a young hipsters, the older restyle crowd, anniversaries and men; without fear that you’re missing your current customers.

Let me know if (for a fee) you would be interested in having weekly or biweekly content supplied to you for your very own blog from the Toddster.

Are there any Others Here Like Me?

Despite my article yesterday about electronic amusement marketing, I’m not really a “gamer.”  My son Kieran is.  I was in Vancouver last night to celebrate his 19^th birthday with him.  Kieran is attending the Vancouver Film School, in their video game design course.  So, where do a bunch of gaming students go for drinks to celebrate a 19^th birthday?  To Malone’s Pub?  Earls?  Joey’s Global?

Nope, they go to EXP.  “EXP – Experience” is a bar that targets gamers.  As you progress through many games, you gain “EXP-points,” thus the name.  Video screens featured the animations you might be rewarded with by completing all levels of a video game.  The drinks and food are all named after gaming characters like “Hadouken” and catch-phrases like “arrow to the knee.”  These guys had to explain a lot to me. 

What they didn’t have to explain is that they were in their element.  No matter what your passion is, you want to seek validation from people like you.  Validation that your chosen career-path or hobby isn’t just some weird thing you do.  I think that’s why jewellery shows are so much fun.  Some of us wear ties in towns where most of our clients wear blue jeans.  Some of us talk about fashion when many of our friends and neighbors talk about hockey, investments and travel.

Remember that when someone enters your store.  If they’re like most people they enjoy a little validation.  They’re looking for more people like them to prove that they’re not too “out there.”  If you engage someone in a conversation, make it about them and their interests.  Unless they’re into something totally freaky and/or illegal, help them celebrate their passions.  While doing so, you’ll either learn something that will help you sell to them, or you might just make a friend.  If you don’t know anything about what they’re into, ask questions to learn, but make sure you ask about all of the other people who are involved.  Are there clubs, themed pubs, conventions or competitions?

This is not just a way to manipulate yourself into a sale.  This is how you win your way into people’s hearts.  It’s how you make friends.  It’s much easier to sell to someone you’re friendly with.

Anyone else out there into 10-pin bowling?

ENTERTAIN ME!!!

As a proud new owner of an iPhone, I’ve discovered that most of those “free” apps aren’t so free.  Most apps have been monetized in one way or another.  Either you’re subjected to ads, or you’re given an abbreviated functioning but urged to pay for the “full version” of the app.  Or in one case, a game urges you to pay money to buy extra features and functions to make your progress easier.

In a world where 300 television channels aren’t enough to entertain us, computers and smart-phones are jumping in to fill our lives with more hollow promises of adventure and joy.  With highly sophisticated marketers creating more and more amusements to earn our attention (and an audience with our wallet), consumers are being conditioned.  Consumers are now used to receiving something amusing or useful for free in exchange for a chance to sell to them. 

The free “something” often has an extremely low entry barrier; in other words you don’t have to jump through a lot of hoops and you don’t need to give a lot of personal information to get it.  In our case, a free something might be a polishing cloth, jewellery care brochure, product flier or jewellery cleaner.  Electronically, we might create an engaging website with links to product knowledge and/or product photos.

Now I’m not sure what your budget would have to be, but imagine you had an addictive puzzle game app featuring gemstones, product placements, store advertisements and links to your website.  Imagine you had an easy to use 3-D jewellery design function on your website that allowed clients to create designs that they would pay you to create.  Imagine if by walking near your store, shoppers’ smart-phones would automatically ask them to connect with your social media site.  What if your kiddie area had enchanting video-games that allowed kids to find treasures of gold and gemstones.

Now, consider doing none of those things.  Continue to earn business through conventional advertising, relationship building and word-of-mouth.  Pay attention to your feelings on this next question… Imagine that you avoid electronic media, but your competition invests heavily in it: would you fear that competitor in a long-term battle for market-share? 

There’s your little gut-check for the week on how you truly feel about the current state of electronic amusement marketing.  I hope it helps you with your future strategies.