Marketing Ideas: What has Worked for Me

Over the past several months I have been racking my brain trying to think of ways to increase both my retail and wholesale sales. I thought about some of the more obvious methods: reps, trade shows and cold calling. Since I have no reps, trade shows only occur a few times a year and are expensive and I dislike cold calling, I had to find new ways. Here are some ideas that have worked for me.

1. Join networking groups or attend networking events. This has been the number one reason for my significant increase in sales. There are many groups out there, both national groups and local groups. I joined eWomenNetwork and attend meetings and seminars offered by other groups. The reason I find these groups to be effective is that everyone who attends understands that everyone is there is get business. So for me the angst associated with “cold calling” disappears. In fact, in many cases, I am asked about my business even before I have to mention it.

2. Open Houses. From the time that I first started this business I have found the Open House to be a great way to jump start sales, especially during the holiday season (September – December). This year I am partnering with 4-5 other businesses to host 3 Open Houses this fall. By partnering, each Open House will have more guests than would attend if I were to just use my mailing list. This is a great way to put my products in front of a group of new potential clients.

3. Unlikely retailers. More by accident than by design, I have found myself talking to retailers that I would not typically approach. For example, my cards are now in a few beauty salons, a baby clothing store, a florist, a photo studio and a day care center. And in the course of my travels I have seen cards in wineries, restaurants and yoga studios. So now I am trying to remain open-minded about businesses that are potential customers.

4. Working Vacations. As a small business owner, I am learning to take advantage of every opportunity. This summer my family traveled out of town 3 times. Each time I tried to make appointments in advance to see retailers. It only took a couple hours out of our vacation schedule, but was well worth it, as I got a few sales.

5. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. I tweet and have a FB Fan Page for Stacey M Design. I have received business from both. I recently participated in a webinar that focused on LinkedIn. I do not yet have a LinkedIn account that focuses on my design capabilities, but it is definitely on my “to do” list. You will be surprised as to who else uses these resources: retailers, buyers, editors, art directors, etc. If you are not sure how to use the various social networking sites, or fear that you do not have the time, or you just do not know which one is best for you, there are many resources online that will help.

6. Good 'ol Snail Mail. It is funny that we are purveyors of paper, cards, invitations and other products that are snail mailed. But many of us do not use mail as a means of marketing. I still strongly believe that paper is a powerful way to send a message. So, in my business, I decided that I need to show it! For the past few years I have used Constant Contact to keep in touch with my clients. I used to send out an enewsletter once a month or so. It was relatively effective in that each time I sent out a newsletter I got a small spike in sales. However, I also looked at my stats and found that the percentage of people clicking on the links was not that high. And I regularly got bounces because of bad email addresses. So this summer I started to send out monthly postcard mailings. They were small mailings, targeted mailings—no more than about 25-150 a month, depending on my target audience. For one 25 postcard mailing that cost me about $20, one person placed 2 orders totaling over $200. I am not totally eliminating email as a means to stay in touch, but I am definitely going to continue to use postcards. Think about it. Look in your email box. How many “unopened” emails are there? I currently have 700 unopened emails in one account. I know people that have thousands of unopened email. But I always at least glance at each piece of snail mail that comes in my box. And if it is a postcard—a quick read—I read it.

7. Cold calling. I know, I know…this method has been used by most of us. But, is it working for you? Are you going about it in the best way for you? I am terrible at cold calling. I am not exaggerating. I am not talking about showing up at a store without an appointment. I am talking about picking up the phone to make an appointment, even after sending samples or a catalog in the mail. No matter how much I know I need to do it, meditate, and do whatever I can do to get in the frame of mind to pick up the phone, I just cannot do it. So I now pay someone to do it, plus enlist the services of my sister and a good friend who is very, very familiar with my business. The result: several new retail accounts over the summer. One thing that many business gurus urge small business owners to do is to focus on what we do best and outsource what we do not do well.

8. What about traditional methods: reps? Reps are part of my plan. (Yes, I have a detailed, typed marketing plan.) I have had reps in the past and I have attended trade shows in the past. My first rep group covered a huge part of the south. It was a large, well- respected group and I was happy and shocked that they approached me about carrying my line. But it did not work out well, basically because back then, I was not ready. My current plan is to start approaching reps early next year. We will see how that goes.

9. What about traditional methods: trade shows? Trade shows are part of my plan. I have exhibited at the National Stationery Show multiple times and have done fairly well each time. My problem is that I did not do a great job with following up with new clients. For example, I rarely called about reorders. I also did not do great follow up with those that stopped at my booth, but did not buy. I am now doing a lot better at that. Now that I have more and more retailer clients, I am doing a better job at maintaining these relationships. So, in 2010, if all goes as planned, I will exhibit at 2 trade shows- the National Stationery Show and the Chicago Gift Show.

I decided that since I live in the suburbs of Chicago and have walked the Chicago Gift Show 2-3 times, I am going to try to exhibit in 2010. I will not have to pay airfare or hotel and the booth fee is relatively low. The primary reason that I decided to do this is because this summer when I visited retailers, I always asked if they go to the National Stationery Show or the Chicago Gift Show. All said that they go to the Chicago Gift Show; about half said that they go to the National Stationery Show. I think it is worth a try so that I can get my products in front of local and regional buyers.

This is what has worked for me, or where my experiences will take me in the future. I know that these ideas will not work for all. While I did have an increase in sales, I still have a long way to go. So I am still very open to new ideas and learning what has worked for others. Please share your ideas for marketing.

Thanks!

Stacey Montgomery
Stacey M Design