The Art of Pin Point Marketing

I have written a few posts on the subject but needed to actually see the results of this technique before I fully understood why it is a true art in itself.

I know when you think of art the first thing that pops in mind is some sort of unique painting or original sculpture. But art is defined as superior skill that you can learn by study, practice and observation.

To be ahead of your competition and win over the sales you may have lost by not being superior in your skill makes all the difference between a successful and failing business.

Now lets jump right into the nitty gritty of this topic.

Great example of “miss-advertising”:

A few months ago Timothy from TimothyAdamDesigns put out an offer to all his exclusive blog readers. (If you are unsure of who Timothy is, he is a “household” name around etsy with a reputation of being a great source for elaborate information on how to improve your etsy shop with practical techniques such as how to improve your photos and much more.)

Knowing his blog has over 1,000 readers and is nearing 20,000 site visits I thought, "How could I pass up a free advertising opportunity." So for the next week during the open contest time I worked so hard promoting…promoting…promoting!

In the end, my hard work paid off and I won second place landing a free month long add space on his blog. On top of that and the start of HandmadeOlogy Timothy offered me a $40 one month add space on his new, highly anticipated website. He quoted me the numbers expected to visit his website and they were staggering.

Again I though, $40 is hardly anything to pay for the amount of folks that will be seeing my ad and stop by my shop. I paid the $40 and couldn’t wait to see what happened. Was I surprised when I had about 2 extra sales during that month. Not really. In everything I have read about business and marketing I should not have received a sale but I tricked myself at the thought of all those people seeing me.

Yes, my views did go way up. But views are not sales. To no surprise I learned firsthand they weren’t my customers. Most of the folks that visit his blog and website are other possible struggling business owners looking to make either a start for themselves or improve a bit of what they have or need to improve to bring sales in.

My market is mostly brides.

Although my personal style for invitations and other wedding related paper accessories tends to be a bit more modern, I do my best to have lots of different samples to appeal to brides with different tastes. Now that I have a good understanding of who they are now what? How do I draw them in and land the sales I need to succeed?

Great Example of “Perfect” Advertising

I was invited to attend a bridal show on the 1st of this month. The fee for 1 table for 4 hours was $300. Gasp! $300 is a hefty amount to come from my business funds never mind for only 4 hours.

I talked it over extensively with my husband and the point was I had to take the risk since every bride to be I would encounter that day (150 pre-registered) could potentially be a customer. With my husband’s blessing I gave it a shot. I dropped my master card on the $300 and didn’t think about it again. From that moment on my focus was on being as unique and “remember- able” as possible to earn as many sales as my little hands could handle.

The day turned out to be a bit less than desirable(story here) due to the weather but I had to trust the tried and true “marketing” approach. After many shivering conversations with brides, handing out many business “post cards” (tip: they are 4 x 8 and don’t get lost among other business cards) and 32 entries for a drawing I had for $$ of their order, 3 weeks later I have 4 orders that more than pay for the vending expense.

Now to Narrow

With the leads list I received for participating in the show I now have contact information for over 150 brides. I have the opportunity to contact them as much as I want.

Hating “junk” mail myself I have been as practical and as conservative as possible about sending them information.
I started a monthly newsletter through vertical response, which sends me reports with percentages of who opened and clicked to narrow down the “truly” interested out of the 150 brides I emailed.

Out of those 150 there are about 30 seriously interested brides in having me complete their wedding invitations suites. Yesterday I spent the afternoon designing post cards through vista print to mail out to these 30 gals a “special offer” to hopefully seal the deal in their mind by receiving a fantastic deal that my completion, hopefully, can’t compete with.

Although I spend a great deal of time and energy in learning and testing the market in order to have a successful business; I spend just as much energy on leaving my customers more than satisfied! Literally I go above and beyond what any customer would ever expect. That is another secret of success to be shared at a later date so keep your eyes out.

As always- I love to hear your thoughts

What's Old Is New

For the past week we have been moving into our new house, well new to us.

This sixty year old, military, base housing has weathered many a storm in its day. Although they aren’t as aesthetically pleasing as the newly built duplexes, we are quite pleased with our antique while trusted to our care. Of course we will move on from this home and it will become of many pleasant memories while raising our children.
Unlike the new homes ours is a waterfront, rustic, beauty with all the character and charm that could come along with it. Compared to our last house, which is scheduled for demolition next month, in our new home I feel like I can breathe again. I am not much one to complain but with all this extra room I now have an idea why I felt the walls were closing in on me.
The layout here is much of the same as our last home but with about 1/3 more of the square footage in every room. An added bonus that is much to be desired here in sunny FL is our screened porch. YEAH!!! It’s funny sometimes how small of a thing can bring so much joy in our lives. It’s so true God gives us gifts in the smallest of ways.

The first weekend here it seemed everything in the house fell apart and my husband was wondering why in the world we ever choose the old over the new. From backed up toilets, leaky faucets, dead power outlets and squeaky doors I simply pointed out the beautiful sunset so wondrously in our view while comfy on the couch.

A bit about Paper Perfections:
Besides moving my business has really began to pick up. It seems I find myself in the midst of “wedding planning” season. I have learned a few more business secrets that have launched me into the next level of completion that I plan to share with you shortly so please stay tuned.

BullsEye-Targeting Your Market

Know your target market-

It’s easy to get roped into “blanket” advertising opportunities in order to overwhelm as many people as possible.

That, I must admit, has been my biggest mistake since my start back in January of 2008. The money it costs to do so is not worth the type of business you are looking to get.

Owning your own business means you are providing a product or service that has a need to fulfill.

With that being said, there is a precise group of people looking for your particular product and/or service. It cuts into your valuable time and money to throw darts blindly at a target.

So do some research and find your demography.

One of the first things you need to do is to refine your product or service so that you are NOT trying to be 'all things to all people.' Become a specialist!

For the Invitation side of my business my target market is shared with photographers and various wedding boutiques; generally consisting of young woman ages 18-35 looking for a modern flair to accent their wedding. I specialize in offering modern invitations with a stunning quality and personalized accents, which is a niche amongst all the different styles girls are looking for to make their special day perfect.

Next, you need to understand that people purchase products or services for three basic reasons:

· To satisfy basic needs.
· To solve problems.
· To make themselves feel good.

Their need: announce their wedding and celebration. I solve their problem by catering to their taste and style and that makes them feel good. Those women will most likely one day start a family and be in the need of shower invitations, birth announcements and birthday invitations which expands then expands my business.

· You'll need to determine which of those categories your product or service is the solution to, and be prepared to market it accordingly.
· Your product or service may fit more than one category, too
A good place to start is by researching the 'demographics' of your community, and divide it into market segments:

· Age: children, teens, young, middle, elderly
· Gender: male, female
· Education: high school, college, university
· Income: low, medium, high
· Marital status: single, married, divorced
· Ethnic and/or religious background
· Family life cycle: newly married, married for 10 – 20 years, with or without children.

This information should be available to you through your local town , hall, library, or Chamber of Commerce – and the more detail you can get, the better.

There may be a lot of work involved to put your thumb on those that are looking for your particular product and service; but it is work well worth it. You can now stop spinning your wheels and focus on the tactics successful business currently use to break through their completion and stand above the rest.

Specifically, if you are a card maker, with greeting cards steadily inclining from a $7.5 Billion Industry in which 80% Market Share is held by Hallmark/American we can’t afford not to break into the cutting edge of our completion. The average consumer buys 10 cards per year and most often has a need for 70 cards per year. Due to sheer inconvenience they often don't get around to it. Online it’s even harder to compete with the convenience of going to the store.

Make it convenient.

1. Offer free shipping
2. Offer a reminder service
3. Sell “Yearly Survival” Packs

Don’t be scared to get creative; it will pay off by helping you stand out amongst your completion.

ExTra, ExTra Read All About It--------------How I made it into the Paper

So, Mr. Carson, a newspaper editor for our local paper PCNH just made my day!

After a few failed attempts he has graciously chosen to run a story about the “going ons” of my business "Paper Perfections"

My journey to the paper started when I stumbled upon a thread in the etsy business topics forum on the subject of “press release.

Curious to what it even was I read on. I quickly learned that a press release may be used to inform your local community on any fresh news going on with your business and the best part, If your story is accepted, the publishing it of this positive publicity is free!

I began researching all I could on the subject. From tips to standing out amongst other submitted releases to proper sequence in your write up. The best tips were given to me by a fellow etsy shop owner (OzKnits) who currently works for her local newspaper. I have attached her advice below:
A well written release will get looked at. It should be double-spaced, as brief and to the point as possible, and no third person quotes.
Call to get the name of the editor before submitting so that you can address your release to the appropriate person. We have only one person open the snail mail and another open the email. I get only what is addressed to me. Everything else goes to a person whose job is to decipher where all the unaddressed mail goes. She gets buried and behind a lot. Don't email a press release without asking first if it's okay.
To be honest, you have a better shot at having a release run if you mail or drop off a hard copy. We work on priority levels and email is very low priority.
Don't worry about putting a headline on a release. That's the editor's job. And unless it has a timeliness to it, don't expect to see it run right away.
Again, they are page fillers so they really aren't a priority. When we scour which ones to run, we go with short, concise releases (the less time we have to spend editing, the better). Don't send sample products to a newspaper. Most have rules against reporters and editors taking freebies so it's likely to get thrown out. I wish we could keep them because I'd have about 300 music cd's by now!If you need any help, just convo.
Notice that the first sentence of my example covers the who, what, where, when and why. That's what an editor wants to see. Here's an example of a good press release:From: Jane Doe, contact person, 222-222-2222

To: Editor John Doe, The newspaper or magazineDec. 1, 2009Re: Store opening (photos available upon request)For Immediate ReleaseThe Jane Doe shop will be holding a grand opening Jan. 1, 2009 from 9 am through 10 pm at its new location, such and such a street, city and state.The store will feature handmade all-occasion cards made by Jane Doe. Each card is hand-cut with a surgical blade and all designs are created in freehand style. The shop specializes in victorian-themed cards with a multi-dimensional facet.Ms. Doe holds an associate degree in art from the John Doe college in city, state. Previous to opening her shop, Ms. Doe served as the vice-president of the Arty arts council.The store will be open Monday-Saturday from 9 am until 5 pm and will be closed Sunday's.
Fore more information call 33333333. For those unable to attend the grand opening, Ms. Doe's work can be seen at her website store, janedoe.etsy.com. ###

Perhaps it is because I am more of a visual learner or perhaps my timing was off? Whatever the reason, my first attempt was shot down. I then did a bit more research on the subject and found this website:
http://www.prwebdirect.com/pressreleasetips.php

It helped me to see the format all broken down and laid out the way it is. It’s kind of silly, but I went line by line reading over the advice then writing an appropriate sentence or two. At the end I had to go back and touch it up to flow a bit better but I felt confident in the layout in which I described the events happening. Once it was all said and done this is what I ended up with:

Panama City, Florida

Paper Perfections spotlight on local customers

Starting In January 2009 Paper Perfections, a delightful online shop made up of modern greeting cards, invitations and paper accessories, is going local. This unique shop will be concentrating its efforts to provide its services to the Bay County community. Since there are an assortment of individuals intended to benefit from competitive prices on all celebratory trimmings for functions ranging from corporate events to weddings to showers; Paper Perfections has decided to focus the majority of its efforts towards you.
Mrs. Stahl, owner and sole proprietor of Paper Perfections has been promoting and selling custom invitations and the like all over the country as well as internationally for the past twelve months. Since some areas of the country are struggling a bit more than others, during this turbulent time, Paper Perfections wanted to offer an alternative on some of these supplies.
All paper products created are made with high quality cardstock (110lb) often with accents using designer scrapbooking paper. Full printing, designs, embellishments and samples are included in all standard fees, which are a fraction of the cost you will find from most competitors.
As always each design is exclusively handmade by Mrs. Stahl and are customizable to fit your particular taste and need. Feel free to email me for a standard pricing list.
Just imagine what I can create for you.

Mrsdstahl.Etsy.com
http://us.mc541.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Mrsdstahl@yahoo.com
850-624-9849
2912 B Beacon Beach Rd
Tyndall AFB, Fl 32403

Here I find myself, this morning, with a phone call from Mr. Carson not only wanting to publish my press release but do a full blown news story on all aspects of my business. How I make it work, the ways in which I share my learned info and how I have, resourcefully, learned to be successful in the current economy.

It is scheduled to run on this Saturday!

For all of you who try it: I can’t wait to hear how this works for you!

HandmadeOlogy-Your LifeLine to Modern Crafting

It’s funny how a business starts.

A good idea turned into an accidental fan club of individuals who enjoy and appreciate your work. But where do you grow from there?

As your business suddenly booms how do you adjust with it? I am a, simple, uneducated, military spouse and mother of two who has found herself well liked and respected and I'm not the only one.

But now what?

In this day and age of such intense online competition how can you possibly stick out from the crowd as a unique, exquisite and most importantly, trusted, shop over all the rest?

Trust me this is something I am dying to know. Please join me as I anxiously anticipate the unleashing of TimothyAdamDesigns new website

“HandmadeOlogy”.

As a subscriber of his blog I have received several sneak peeks of the “schooling” on how to properly and efficiently succeed as a handmade shop among such concentrated competition.

I’m sure; now, you are asking yourself “why should I trust this bit of advice over all the others”?

TimothyAdamDesigns has become a trustworthy presence among the Etsy community (and beyond) as being a “go to guy” as well as making for himself a gentleman like presence. His advice has proven trustworthy and dependable time and time again. Don’t believe me?

Check out for yourself some of the great advice (put into practice) he has given amongst the Etsy business topic threads:

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5992806
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5876379
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5554499

Join us on the cutting edge of HandmadeOlogy as we learn to thrive and stand out from our ever present competion.
Unveiling: 26 January 2009 HandmdeOlogy.Com

I look forward to hearing your comments on how the advice given helps you in your own business ventures.

See you then, Sarah

Rethink Success

Are you familiar with the Saturn commercial depicting current social stereotypes compared with the purity of well known symbols? Although our society deems certain steps necessary in order to gain success, I would like to share with you that doesn’t always have to be the case. When you hear the term success what do you think about? I’m sure what you have in mind right now isn’t a mom busily tending her family and home during the day, often in pajamas, while juggling a baby on her hip. Perhaps with the exploitation of my experiences…you too, will rethink success.
Yes, that’s right I am a proud military spouse and mother of two with no college education. Hardly your typical example of success but I have found a niche and learned to wisely use resources to become a successful business owner. Although my success factors are no exactly classic they are what I consider success. The chance to help improve our children’s quality of life and to make my husband proud to say “She’s mine” has always been my ideal achievement.
These are turbulent times and the ability to be resourceful is paramount. Resourcefulness is not something inherit it is learned. I hope under this, particular topic, I can help you become as resourceful as needed to be your own “non-traditional” business owner.

1. Familiarize yourself with your public library-Back in January, of this year, when I was searching for a direction to take for business startup, I looked to the library. I scoured for books on business topics and began to read. There I found everything from writing a business plan to 101 ways to advertise on a shoestring budget. Some of the books I continue to use over and over and some I took a bit of advice and moved on to the next. A book in particular that stood out for me was called “The Purple Cow” By Seth Godin. In it he teaches you to transform your business by being remarkable. With his advice I learned to think more creatively. In so, I have learned to stamp my mark on the work I do leaving folks wanting to come back for more. In most cases there are more than one library in any given county. Most libraries carry different books from their neighboring counterparts so visit a few to get some variety. Search for local libraries here. http://www.publiclibraries.com/

2. Create a budget and stick to it- We all have different amounts available to work with. It’s very important to know what they are. Once you know that amount work inside that. It will keep you from going under. You will then be able to spend wisely at startup. It’s ok if you star off small and slow. It will give you the time you need to become more experienced and allow you to work through growing pains. Trust me you will appreciate that in the long run. Get your free excel budget template here to help get you on track. Just plug in your info and see where you stand. http://www.free-financial-advice.net/create-budget.html .


3. Learn from your peers- There have been so many others who have gone before us and most often are honored to share tips, experiences as well as mistakes and lessons learned. Most local business’s contact information is available online. Don’t be scared to call, email, write or even schedule an interview. Contact local businesses in your community by searching the online yellow pages. http://www.yellowpages.com/?From=Branding_ypbrnd_yellow+pages.com

4. Know your target market- It’s easy to get roped into “blanket” advertising opportunities in order to overwhelm as many people as possible. That, I must admit, has been my biggest mistake since my start in January. The money it costs to do so is not worth the type or quality of business you are looking to get. Owning your own business means you are providing a product or service that has a need to fulfill. With that being said, there is a precise group of people looking for your particular product and/or service. It cuts into your valuable time and money to throw darts blindly at a target. So do some research and find your demography. Don’t be scared to get creative. My target market is shared with photographers and various wedding boutiques. In the past I have contacted countless of these businesses and offered them a deal. In exchange for advertising, I would offer them a percentage of my profits per sale. This way I had no upfront cost and would give them a portion after I had been paid. Just be aware you may get 100 “No’s” before you get that 1 “Yes”. But believe me that one yes makes it worth all the while. This article helps explain how to narrow down your target market. http://sbinfocanada.about.com/cs/marketing/a/targetmarket.htm


5. Be Trusted-Start your business off right and give careful consideration to how you treat every person you come in contact with; customers and non customers alike. There is nothing that will hurt you more than negative comments spread around about the quality of your service as well as the value of your words. Yes, I ‘m sure there are a quite a few big businesses you have talked bad about before or even cringe as you pass by. The truth is as a small business you can’t afford to lose customers based on untrustworthy actions. Think of all the ways you would like to have been treated as a customer and surpass those expectations. Here are some basic guidelines to proper business etiquette.
http://www.ravenwerks.com/practices/etiquette.htm

6. Know the Law- When organizing your ideas and directions don’t forget to include educating yourself on the lawful requirements you must fulfill. Check out this small business guide and track down all the information you can on which category you fall into. http://www.business.gov/guides/
Of course it’s not surprise by now my attempt was to change your perspective on how small and nontraditional the scale can be for success to be achieved. In this, particular case; ignorance would certainly not be bliss if it meant the difference between a flourishing business and a failing mess.