The Real Thing Is TaDa! Greeting Cards

Feature

Thank Yous, Greeting Cards, and Networking

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I spent years in the retail industry. During that time, I marketed my own stores among about a thousand other things. Thus, when I read anything about retailing, I prick up my ears. It is an especially important topic these days because retail reflects the economy (and for authors, the economy reflects how well our books will sell).

Anyway, the LA Times (Nov. 24^th, Business Section) ran an article cleverly titled “An Industry in Need of Sympathy.” They were talking about greeting cards, of course! And paper thank you notes. They attribute their slide in sales to electronic greetings, but note that American Greetings reported an uptick after a long period of poorer and poorer sales.

I’ve been recommending cards and thank you notes for authors (and general marketing/networking) for a long, long time. Maybe someone has been listening. Don’t get me wrong. I do a lot of gratitude messages and thank yous on the Internet, too, but there is nothing like a real paper card with a real personal message and a real handwritten signature. If you want your thoughtfulness to be remembered, send something made of paper. Use a stamp. And, yeah, a little ink.

That principle was what guided Magdalena Ball and I when we decided to publish our Celebration Series of chapbooks, too. We figured that cards could be given an upward nudge in terms of quality by including real poetry, not the sugary stuff that sometimes doesn’t suit the occasion and never appeals to literary types, in any case. We designed our chapbooks in a size that would fit into greeting-card size envelopes you can buy at Staples and priced them in the greeting card price range of $6.95. A different book celebrates different gift-giving (and card-giving!) holidays like Valentines, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Christmas, even one that celebrates women that could be given to them on their birthdays. Those who would like to know more about our concept can learn more at www.howtodoitfrugally.com/poetry_books.htm.

By the way, our chapbooks use artwork by Vicki Thomas, Jacquie Schmall and May Lattanzio that is just as beautiful (and quite a bit artier!) than your run-of-the-mill greeting card!

In The Frugal Book Promoter I advise authors to keep a top 50 list of their most treasured contacts. To keep in touch with them throughout the year. So what would be wrong with supporting two declining industries (greeting cards and publishing!) and sending them a real thank you note occasionally, or a real book. Maybe even a real book of poetry!

A final note to retailers: Hallmark recently did a study. They learned that 20 paper cards are sent for every e-card. I often don’t open e-cards because I fear viruses or phishing scams (they have been perpetrated on us that way, you know!). So, retailers, don’t give up on your card lines yet! In fact, for real value you might consider a very nice line of poetry chapbooks at a $7.00 pricepoint.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson's FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques launched at the National Stationery Show at Javits Center. Because she is the author of the multi award-winning how-to books for writers,The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, retailers will also find essentials of writing for blogs, Web sites, and newsletters on this blog. She is the author of an award-winning novel, This Is the Place; and other fiction and poetry. She blogs on better writing at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog. Find her tweeting for retailers at @frugalretailing . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use this little green widget to let them know about it:

The Trader Joe's Dilemma: Branding in Batches

Branding Is Never Easy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Trader Joe’s in my hometown is having growing pains. They have closed down one of their stores in a kind of nondescript strip mall and opening another with a lot of pizzazz. And they’re hoping that we won’t notice too much. Ahem.

The LA Times business page explains: “…after decades cultivating an image as the cozy neighborhood grocer, the 14,670 square-foot store …highlights the conundrum facing the Monrovia company: how to maintain the eclectic, friendly vibe that has garnered it legions of faithful shoppers, while expanding at a brisk pace.”

Mmm. This sounds like a problem that used to face retailers and other business people in the fast-growing 90s. But it happens now, too. In fact, I’d bet that most anyone in business (and that includes authors, whether we like the idea or not!), will face it at some time. I remember when my husband and I moved one of our retail stores from one end of the mall to another because we were out of space. Some of our customers thought we were getting too fancy.

I remember the day I decided to write a series of retail books (http://budurl.com/RetailersGuide and http://budurl.com/Blogging4Retailers) 

 to give retailers the benefit of my many decades of retailing 

experience.  That’s a far cry from running five stores. They were great for selling (or giving away) at the back of the room when I spoke at national retail tradeshows, but I hadn't given my marketing plan much consideration beyond that.

As you can tell, I believe in taking opportunity when it steps up and plops itself in my lap. Having said that, once we’ve made the momentous decision to veer from our intended path or to grow, we need to immediately think about branding.

Here are some of the things that I think can help people or business in situations like this. Mind you, these are not the result of huge marketing studies. They’re all just seat-of-the-pants lessons learned from trial and error—though some are based on tried-and-true marketing principles.

1. Drag out your mission statement and paste it to your bulletin board (or make computer wallpaper out of it). You do have a mission statement don’t you? If not, write down the goals you’ve had since you started in your career path and use it instead (until you get your mission statement written.)

2.      Look at your idea for your new project. Write down the reasons you want to do it. Then write down the pluses and minuses—and weight them. This list will help you make better decisions for the entire project as well as the marketing of it.

3.      Now make a list of how you think your present customers  will view these changes.

4.      Using the benefits you found for your present customers in the above list, plan a marketing/promotion campaign around those benefits.

5.      Now make a list of the benefits you see for the new customers your upcoming project will attract. Draw up a marketing campaign for these folks, too. I know it looks like double work but…well, you’ll see why.

6.      Now see if you can find similarities between the two lists. That’s where you start. You can branch out to target the fringes of the two groups later.

These are general planning aids, but here is a Web site tip specifically for you. Think very hard before you open a completely new Web site for your new project. Consider instead using one site with different sections for your projects. Think how there might be crossover between customers. Keep your branding similar (maybe colors from a similar palette), but not necessarily identical. Don’t expect too much in crossover sales, but don’t discard the possibility. New efforts need support from whatever quarter we can find them. If you decide against that, at least make links from one site to the other plentiful and obvious. And make sure you’ve given your visitor reasons (benefits) they will find when they click to the new section—or the new Web site.

Note: If you'd like to learn more about my HowToDoItFrugally series books for retailers go to:  www.howtodoitfrugally.com/retailers_books.htm

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 Carolyn Howard-Johnson's FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques launched at the National Stationery Show at Javits Center. Because she is the author of the multi award-winning how-to books for writers,The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, retailers will also find essentials of writing for blogs, Web sites, and newsletters on this blog. She is the author of an award-winning novel, This Is the Place; and other fiction and poetry. She blogs on better writing at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog. Find her tweeting for retailers at @frugalretailing . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use this little green widget to let them know about it:

Growing Retail: Branding Is Never Easy

The Trader Joe’s in my hometown is having growing pains. They have closed down one of their stores in a kind of nondescript strip mall and opening another with a lot of pizzazz. And they’re hoping that we won’t notice too much. Ahem.

The LA Times business page explains this: “…after decades cultivating an image as the cozy neighborhood grocer, the 14,670 square-foot store …highlights the conundrum facing the Monrovia company: how to maintain the eclectic, friendly vibe that has garnered it legions of faithful shoppers, while expanding at a brisk pace.”

Mmm. This sounds like a problem facing retailers and other business people in the 90s. But it happens now, too. In fact, I’d bet that most anyone in business will face it at some time. I remember when my husband and I moved one of our retail stores from one end of the mall to another because we were out of space. Some of our customers thought we were getting too fancy.

I remember the day I decided to write a little e-book for my UCLA students that turned out to be The Frugal Book Promoter (http://budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo ), now in its second edition. That’s a far cry from novelist and poet.

I remember when, after the success of the HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers, I decided to do a HowToDoItFrugally series of books for retailers (www.howtodoitfrugally.com/retailers_books.htm) because I had started speaking at national retail tradeshows and, heck, I needed handouts anyway, right?

As you can tell, I believe in taking opportunity when it steps up and plops itself in our laps. Having said that, once we’ve made the momentous decision to veer from our intended path or to grow, we need to immediately think about branding.

Here are some of the things that I think can help people or business in situations like this. Mind you, these are not the result of huge marketing studies. They’re all just seat-of-the-pants lessons learned from trial and error—though some are based on tried-and-true marketing principles.

1. Drag out your mission statement and paste it to your bulletin board (or make computer wallpaper out of it). You do have a mission statement don’t you? If not, write down the goals you’ve had since you started in your career path and use it instead (until you get your mission statement written.)

2.      Look at your idea for your new project. Write down the reasons you want to do it. Then write down the pluses and minuses—and weight them. This list will help you make better decisions for the entire project as well as the marketing of it.

3.      Now make a list of how you think your present customers (yes, readers, too!) will view these changes.

4.      Using the benefits you found for your present customers in the above list, plan a marketing/promotion campaign.

5.      Now make a list of the benefits you see for new customers your upcoming project will attract. Draw up a marketing campaign for these folks, too. I know it looks like double work but…

6.      Now see if you can find similarities between the two. That’s where you start. You can branch out to target the fringes of the two groups later.

These are general planning aids, but here is a Web site specific for you. Think very hard before you open a completely new Web site for your new project. Consider instead using one site with different sections for your projects. Think how there might be crossover between customers. Keep your branding similar (maybe colors from a similar palette), but not necessarily identical. Don’t expect too much in crossover sales, but don’t discard the possibility. New efforts need support from whatever quarter we can find them. If you decide against that, at least make links from one site to the other plentiful and obvious and give benefits (reasons) why customers on one site should click to another.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson's FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques launched at the National Stationery Show at Javits Center. Because she is the author of the multi award-winning how-to books for writers,The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, retailers will also find essentials of writing for blogs, Web sites, and newsletters on this blog. She is the author of an award-winning novel, This Is the Place; and other fiction and poetry. She blogs on better writing at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog. Find her tweeting for retailers at @frugalretailing . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use this little green widget to let them know about it:

"Trading down is the new trading up?"

Time magazine (Oct. 10 edition, p. 39)  reports on retailing. They say, "Trading down is the new trading up."  They call the new retail outlook the "Hourglass Economy."

They list Target as a middle classes retail outlet that is doing only marginally well. And Kohl's the same way. And Gap. OK. I get Gap but Target and Kohl's are middle class shopping havens?  Really?

OK. Maybe they didn't used to be.  But now they are because the middle class has dropped to the lower half of that hourglass and they're swelling the retail figures at Costco, Dollar Tree, Dollar General, the TJX companies, and Family Dollar.
Sigh!!

Of course, the wealthy always have money. So you should see the top half of that hourglass!  Ralph Lauren, Tiffy & Co., Estee Lauder, Whole Foods, Coach. No surprises there!

So, what can the rest of the middle part of that hourglass do to survive other than tighten our belts and make matters worse by offering less than stellar service?  We can event like crazy. We can examine our in-store services like our rewards program. We can partner like crazy. Learn how to do this and dozens of other things frugally in A Retailer's Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotion (www.budurl.com/RetailersGuide).

And offer some bargains so that when those middle-of-the-roaders slide back into middle-class shoppers, you'll still be on their radar!


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Carolyn Howard-Johnson's FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques launched at the National Stationery Show at Javits Center. Because she is the author of the multi award-winning how-to books for writers,The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, retailers will also find essentials of writing for blogs, Web sites, and newsletters on this blog. She is the author of an award-winning novel, This Is the Place; and other fiction and poetry. She blogs on better writing at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog. Find her tweeting for retailers at @frugalretailing . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use this little green widget to let them know about it:

The Public Is Ready to Buy at Specialty Stores--Online or Off

The LA Times reports that chain stores' sales jumed 5.1 % in what they call year-over-year rise for September. Small retailers could easily accomplish this!

• With events.
• By partnering with authors who supply their contact lists (read that future customer list!). 
• By tailoring their in-store promotions to better entice customers to their stores. 

A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques  will give you ideas or remind you of things you did once but have let slip.  I know. It's easy to get discouraged, but we can do it. The public is ready to buy. We just have to let them know it!

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson's FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques launched at the National Stationery Show at Javits Center. Because she is the author of the multi award-winning how-to books for writers,The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, retailers will also find essentials of writing for blogs, Web sites, and newsletters on this blog. She is the author of an award-winning novel, This Is the Place; and other fiction and poetry. She blogs on better writing at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog. Find her tweeting for retailers at @frugalretailing . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use this little green widget to let them know about it:

Joan Stewart Guest Blogs: When Not to Follow Your Lawyer's Advice

I am very proud to have Joan Stewart as guest blogger today on Survive and Thrive for Retailers.  She is a marketing guru and her advice works well across industry borders.  Today she's addressing my retail friends, with my thanks!  Be sure to connect with her. Check her credits at the end of this article.

What do you do when faced with a lawsuit?

By Joan Stewart

While you're at lunch today, a reporter leaves you a voicemail message telling you that one of your customers has filed a lawsuit against your store for shoddy business practices.

The lawsuit claims your cash register charges more for certain items than what's listed on the pricetags. The reporter has called because he wants a comment.

You know nothing about the lawsuit. Your first inclination may be to call your lawyer.

Clarence Jones, a media trainer and former award-winning investigative reporter, is betting that your lawyer's advice will be wrong.

In almost every instance, Jones says, the lawyer will tell you not to comment, which is the same as screaming, "I'm guilty!"

Think about it. You've read dozens of news stories about companies being sued, and the CEO or store manager says, "We can't comment on this because it's in litigation."

Your attorney's Number One job is to cover your butt in a court of law.  Problem is, most attorneys don't know anything about covering your butt in the court of public opinion.

By the time a lawsuit winds its way through the courts, and you win, your reputation could be tarnished, your store closed, and your business in ruins.

Jones says your company--and even you, if you're a sole proprietor--must know how to respond in bad-news situations so you can put your best foot forward and take control of the story.  If you find yourself in a PR crisis, weigh your lawyer’s advice along with the advice of others such as a good crisis counselor.

~ Publicity expert Joan Stewart, aka The Publicity Hound, shares tips like these in her ebook, "How to be a Kick-butt Publicity Hound." It's a one-stop-shop on how to generate publicity for your retail outlet using traditional and social media. And it includes a handy glossary of terms at the end so you aren't confused by media lingo. Read more about what the book will teach store owners and managers at http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity/publicityhound.htm. Joan also does private consulting. Contact her at JStewart@PublicityHound.com or at JStewart@PublicityHound.com. Sign up for her free weekly email newsletter chock full of publicity tips at http://www.PublicityHound.com.  

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson's FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques launched at the National Stationery Show at Javits Center. Because she is the author of the multi award-winning how-to books for writers,The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, retailers will also find essentials of writing for blogs, Web sites, and newsletters on this blog. She is the author of an award-winning novel, This Is the Place; and other fiction and poetry. She blogs on better writing at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog. Find her tweeting for retailers at @frugalretailing . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use this little green widget to let them know about it:

You, Your Hiring Trends and Huge Retail Heists

It used to be that the really huge shoplifting heists for retailers were internal. We once lost $30,000 in Swarovski jewelry (at wholesale value) that way.

Now the LA Times reports that new bigtime gangs are targeting big chains and small with all kinds of tactics. They use all kinds of tactics including using booster bags that deactivate anti-theft devices and a technique they call "Box stuffers" where they remove cheap items from boxes and replace them with pricier goods and then check out. 

In the Phoenix area alone 36 people were indicted this year. They are allegedly are members of  vast retail crime syndicates. 

Some "CSI Units" are using forensics to catch them.

Still, retailers need to continue their vigilance, let their people know what to watch for--and certainly have enough people on the floor to combat this scourge.  It may very well be false thriftiness to cut back on employees when crooks like this know very well how to divert the attention of members of your staff.

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 Carolyn Howard-Johnson's FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques launched at the National Stationery Show at Javits Center. Because she is the author of the multi award-winning how-to books for writers,The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, retailers will also find essentials of writing for blogs, Web sites, and newsletters on this blog. She is the author of an award-winning novel, This Is the Place; and other fiction and poetry. She blogs on better writing at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog. Find her tweeting for retailers at @frugalretailing . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use this little green widget to let them know about it:

Joyce White Reviews New Social Marketing Book for Retailers

Frugal and Focused Tweeting for Retailers:

Tweaking Your Tweets and Other Tips for Integrating Your Social Media
By Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Paperback: 130 pages Publisher: CreateSpace (April 1, 2010) Language: English ISBN-10: 1451546149 ISBN-13: 978-1451546149 Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches Available as paperback, e-book, and for Kindle This Book Is Sponsored by Gift Shop Magazine Blurb: "It's entirely possible that three or four years from now, we'll have moved on [to something new on the Web]. But the key elements of the Twitter platform will persevere. Every major channel of information will be Twitterfied." ~ Time Magazine

Reviewed by Joyce White originally for Amazon and Sculpting the Heart Reviews--Five Stars

“When business is slow,” says Carolyn, “the last budget one should trim is advertising.” Up until now Tweeting cost us nothing unless we become addicted. In that case, I suggest you stop tweeting if it hurts.Carolyn writes that tweeting helps us connect with our target audience in a way that delights them, builds relationships, and creates a sense of community with people of like interest.

Since I am a new author myself, and Yes, I tweet; but, after reading this book, I realize I haven‘t been appreciating what an exciting and versatile tool Twitter can be in promoting my books and myself over the internet. Carolyn reinforces the ideas that tweeting will help you not only drive new traffic to your site, but it will also help you create a loyal following of repeat clients . . .even help you make new friends. I like this idea. There are several books out there on tweeting but Carolyn Howard-Johnson's "Frugal and Focused Tweeting for Retailers" should be the one considered mandatory reading.For all who want to successfully compete in the marketplace regardless of the services or products being offered to a consuming public, her books are like a  congenial roadmap with all the shortcuts and detours to your future prosperity.

Twitter is about making new connections, says Carolyn.For retailers that means, it’s a customer-building process. We aren’t fussy about who comes into our store as long as they are reasonably well behaved. It’s the same with Twitter.

FIVE STARS FOR AMAZON

~Reviewer Joyce White writes Sculpting the Heart Book Reviews at www.wingedforhealing.com.

Joyce White
Author
Sculpting the Heart with Art Therapy
Read Now - http://bit.ly/d1jGLN
Twitter - @wjoycewhite

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 Carolyn Howard-Johnson's FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques launched at the National Stationery Show at Javits Center. Because she is the author of the multi award-winning how-to books for writers,The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, retailers will also find essentials of writing for blogs, Web sites, and newsletters on this blog. She is the author of an award-winning novel, This Is the Place; and other fiction and poetry. She blogs on better writing at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog. Find her tweeting for retailers at @frugalretailing . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use this little green widget to let them know about it:

Salt, Taco Bell, Reverse Marketing, and YOU

On Marketing

In the world of marketing there is something called “Reverse PR.” It’s used by companies that are doing something that would benefit their public in the long run.

This kind of marketing has a moniker of its own because it's a special case where businesses don’t want their public to know what they are doing--no matter how admirable their actions may be. They fear that if the public noticed what they’re doing the placebo effect would kick in and their public  would disrespect what they did before or judge the new effort more harshly.

That is such a difficult concept to explain it needs an example. So here it is from a recent case published in the LA Times.

The example comes from the fast food industry: Taco Bell cut 20% of the sodium from its menu across the board. Good for its customers’ health, right? But if you knew would get real picky? Taste each item? Savor them? And declare them not as tasty as they were before—even if it is better for you?

It’s not quite a parallel example but a self-published author might decide to pull their book off the market because of faulty editing and then republish with fewer typos and maybe better formatting. But if readers know about this effort, would they watch the new book even more closely to catch that author in some kind of error? Would it negatively color the great opinion they had of that author’s work before? Some things are best not marketed, just done.

Greg Drescher, executive director of strategic initiatives for the Culinary Institute of America says, “This is one of those reverse PR deals. You don’t want people to notice what you’re doing.”

The trouble is, it’s hard to keep some things a secret. The LA Times reported on a bunch of good guys in the food industry reducing salt. Among them Carl’s Jr, El Torito. And here’s the downside. Sometimes when something like this does get reported, the company in question is left with little or no control over the information that goes out. In this case, the Times highlighted the fact that these chains are only doing it because they are threatened with legislation that will restrict salt—not because they give a hoot about the health of their customers.

So, the more you know about marketing, the more you control you have over how you handle the marketing of your own business right? Have you done something recently that should--by all rights--be great news that you're better off not telling your customers about at all...or better of telling them the way you want the story told?

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson's FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques launched at the National Stationery Show at Javits Center. Because she is the author of the multi award-winning how-to books for writers,The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, retailers will also find essentials of writing for blogs, Web sites, and newsletters on this blog. She is the author of an award-winning novel, This Is the Place; and other fiction and poetry. She blogs on better writing at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog. Find her tweeting for retailers at @frugalretailing . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use this little green widget to let them know about it:

Learning from Borders' Closing

The big news among publishers, authors and retailers last month was the closing of Borders bookstores. They will be missed.

The truth is, this has little if anything to do with the economy. It has to do with innovation, the cycling of an industry—in this case the publishing industry—into something new. It also has to do with the tendency for most bookstores not to adapt. In fact, the tendency of much of the retailing industry not to adapt...or at least not recognize opportunity when it comes up and stares us in the face, nose to nose.

I bring something unique to the publishing industry. Well, if not unique then rare. I am a writer with retail experience as owner of my own chain of retail stores. Nearly three decades of it. And this is how successful small and large retailers adapt to changing times.

1. They get local. In the case of bookstores, they could featuring local writers to increase their profitability. I worked with Borders as an author a couple times. It wasn’t easy going!
2. They partner. In the case of bookstores, they can partner with local authors, combine contact lists and promotion power to get more customers in for special events and to increase loyalty. Retailers of most any ilk could easily boost their net income on any given day from  2 to 20%.
3. They listen to their customers. That might mean narrowing their focus to reach niche markets. Unfortunately large chains either refuse to do this pleading expense, but the successful large ones do. As an example, Walmarts buys different kinds of merchandise for stores in areas that have different interests and different needs.

The question for authors and retailers is, can they learn to use one another's power to benefit both.  

See my comment on this article put out by Wharton’s school of business.http://knowledgetoday.wharton.upenn.edu/2011/07/bad-news-for-borders-and-for-publishing/.

For retailer who isn't yet convinced, I've written a book that addresses the benefits of these kinds of partnerships and a lot of other ways to increase bottom lines, too. The book is . A Retailer's Guide To Frugal In-Store Promotions: How-To Increase Profits And Spit In The Eyes Of Economic Downturns Using Thrifty Events And Sales Techniques. In it is a chapter on how retailers can benefit from partnering with authors for events. Authors, too, could learn something from it. The more we know about retailing, the easier it is for them to help retailers see the benefits of working with them.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson's FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques launched at the National Stationery Show at Javits Center. Because she is the author of the multi award-winning how-to books for writers,The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, retailers will also find essentials of writing for blogs, Web sites, and newsletters on this blog. She is the author of an award-winning novel, This Is the Place; and other fiction and poetry. She blogs on better writing at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog. Find her tweeting for retailers at @frugalretailing . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use this little green widget to let them know about it:

Learning What Not To Do From Other Retailers

I thought I’d post this letter I wrote to LA Times columnist David Lazarus to get a conversation rolling on the truly stupid things that retailers do.  I remember how hard it was to explain to my staff that rules were made to be broken at appropriate times, that we were, as an example, giving events to make friends and that if a rule got in the way and sent someone away mad, we had not met our goal.

If you have made a stupid marketing mistake (in retrospect) or know some retailer who has, send me up to 500 words telling me about them. Include a nice 50-word credit line that includes your name, your store's name and your Web site link. I’ll post it here.  Send to HoJoNews  (at) AOL (dot) com.

Anyway, here's the letter I sent to David regarding the CVS reward policy that he (and I!) hate!

Dear David:

It seems to me that in this time of recession-produced attitudes. businesses are getting less and less marketing oriented or they're missing the point altogether. I read your column as I was waiting to be served a very early bird dinner at Fratelli's in Montrose. I had a coupon I had collected using one of the techy QR codes they had displayed on their table a few days ago, obviously designed to get new customers, repeat customers, loyal customers. There was no expiration on the coupon I downloaded but it was refused with a simple, "We no longer accept these." I respect their right to discontinue a promotion that is not working for them, but would it be so wrong to accept those coupons they had already disseminated? We won't storm off never to return, but maybe we should.

That brings me to CVS, the topic of your column. We shopped at our local CVS almost exclusively when it was SavOn. When it became CVS, we only put up with their lack of service for so long before we did disappear into the sunset. Forty-five minute waits to pick up prescriptions seemed to be the official policy. (Lesson one here: Many customers don't complain. They just leave.)

We shop Rite-Aid now and they credit our reward cards--no fuss, no muss. Occasionally they also dispense a coupon on our cash register receipt so we "know we are being rewarded," and I do use most of them. (I use a similar system to one the woman you interviewed who wraps her receipt around her credit card.) I get the best of both worlds. So does Rite-Aid. And believe me, I know that I'm getting my reward benefits when the associate at the cash register sweetly informs me, "You saved $2.19 cents with your rewards card today." I can also read. It's tallied right there on that receipt they hand me.

I am a marketing expert (author of several marketing books--a series for the publishing industry and one for the retail industry), and I have to tell you, there are inexpensive ways for big businesses and small to get great marketing advice--like books and your column. One of them (see the widget at the left) actually talks about reward cards. (http://www.amazon.com/Retailers-Guide-Frugal-Store-Promotions/dp/1441467246).   But mostly, it seems like common sense.

Down economy. Need business? Treat your customers like gold.

Keep up the good work!

Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Instructor for the renowned UCLA Extension Writers' Program
Author of the multi award-winning series of HowToDoItFrugally books--one series for retailers and one for writers and publishers.
Web site: http://www.howtodoitfrugally.com




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Carolyn Howard-Johnson's FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques launched at the National Stationery Show at Javits Center. Because she is the author of the multi award-winning how-to books for writers,The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, retailers will also find essentials of writing for blogs, Web sites, and newsletters on this blog. She is the author of an award-winning novel, This Is the Place; and other fiction and poetry. She blogs on better writing at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog. Find her tweeting for retailers at @frugalretailing . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use this little green widget to let them know about it:

Sheriffs, Slurpees and Your Store!

I just can't help myself. I read something--anything--and I think how it can relate to marketing. Any kind of marketing. But especially retailing.

So, in our little local Glendale News-Press (front page, color photo!) is an article on how the sheriff department has partnered with 7-Eleven to give out free coupons for Slurpees to kids who...er...transgress by letting their dogs poo in the gutter without picking it up or ride their skateboards in forbidden places. That's in place of a ticket mind you.  Ever making friends.

What a change from the days when that same sheriff's department seemed to relish making enemies of the La Canada High and private school kids in the area.  Oh, trust me. I have stories!

But back to retailing/marketing.  I got to thinking how a little honey is better than vinegar for changing behavior and how this works for employees--and yes, for customers, too. And, a really original scheme works for getting free publicity in the local press, too.  This article is proof of that!

Don't forget to associate your new scheme (you ARE going to do it, aren't you?) with another business in your area or on the Web or a charity. That's part of the fun. As an example a free Slurpee captures the imagination better than a nondescript coupon. And it's something I talk about in my A Retailer's Guide To Frugal In-Store Promotions: How-To Increase Profits And Spit In The Eyes Of Economic Downturns Using Thrifty Events And Sales Techniques...in connection with events, of course!

And isn't 7-Eleven smart! Think of all the additional traffic they'll get when these young offenders start traipsing into their store for their freebies. Bet they'll want a hotdog, too!

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson's FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques launched at the National Stationery Show at Javits Center. Because she is the author of the multi award-winning how-to books for writers,The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, retailers will also find essentials of writing for blogs, Web sites, and newsletters on this blog. She is the author of an award-winning novel, This Is the Place; and other fiction and poetry. She blogs on better writing at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog. Find her tweeting for retailers at @frugalretailing . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use this little green widget to let them know about it:

Ahhh, what we can learn from other industries...

Holy moley. Talk about a smart marketing move. In The Frugal Book Promoter (www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo), I advocated watching current events and hooking them to anything in one’s book that might relate to one of them. In A Retailer's Guide (www.budurl.com/RetailersGuide) I talk about ways to promote that use charities.  

Kentucky Fried Chicken just showed us how to do both! They paid attention to one of Wade Dwyane’s tweets asking if anyone was hiring after the NBA lockout. Dwyane used to work for KFC, so they offered him his old job back. If he’d lead a team filling KFC buckets fast (instead of NBA baskets), they’d donate $250,000 to charity. This is real "In-Store Promotion!"

Geesh! That is cheap advertising when they figure how much publicity they’ll get with this masterstroke of publicity-getting! Here is the link to read more: http://aol.sportingnews.com/nba/story/2011-07-11/kfc-offers-dwyane-wade-a-job-during-lockout?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl10%7Csec1_lnk3%7C218968 .

So you don’t have $250,000 to do something similar? You don’t need to. You just need to keep your marketing bonnet on so that when the opportunity arises, you will be there. Maybe it will cost you $5. Maybe it will be free. But when it comes, you don’t want to miss it!

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson's FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques launched at the National Stationery Show at Javits Center. Because she is the author of the multi award-winning how-to books for writers,The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, retailers will also find essentials of writing for blogs, Web sites, and newsletters on this blog. She is the author of an award-winning novel, This Is the Place; and other fiction and poetry. She blogs on better writing at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog. Find her tweeting for retailers at @frugalretailing . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use this little green widget to let them know about it:

Review of Your Blog, Your Business

Other Retail Books in the Survive and Thrive Series of Books for Retailers
~A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques
~Frugal and Focused Tweeting for Retailers: Tweaking Your Tweets and Other Tips

Reviewed by Joyce White

Carolyn Howard-Johnson's nearly three decades experience as founder and manager of her own chain of stores, a stint as a New York publicist, and as a retail consultant and journalist has laid the ground work for her award-winning, How To Do It Frugally Series; as well as this gem of a study guide, Your Blog, Your Business.

No matter whether you are an independent entrepreneur working out of a store or writer managing your own website, social networking and blogging can leave your competitors in the dust. We are no longer depending on money exchanging hand-by-hand; and even big business is now participating in networking, which is one of the most effective means of communicating with large numbers of eager customers.

Besides tips on retailing and getting and keeping customers, Carolyn hits on spicy bits about Google’s free blog, Blogger. Like people, Blogger has as many voices as there are brands of commodities needing to be sold and bought. But, if you’re new to blogging and worried about writer’s block, don’t be. Blogging is just like journaling. Journaling is like talking without being interrupted. If you can journal, you can blog. If you blog, you are a writer. You don’t have to carry the conversation all by yourself. Try some of the ideas below:

· Use guest bloggers with similar focus

· Get partners for your blog, try out permission gadgets on Blogger to let others post at their convenience

· Recycle old articles, bits and pieces, into new docs

· Use the carnival concept – of providing live links for your readers to visit  (Only get the best with the same focus as yours!)

· Outsource your blogging – trade off with other bloggers

· Suggest readers Subscribe, teasing them with whitepapers and regular gratuities

It helps businesses large or small, online or off, to set up a blog, integrate it with their other social networks like your own website, Twitter and/or Facebook. I think her most important lesson is to keep your focus on what you can do for others. Offer incentives for subscribing like white papers or eBooks, present or old.

Recycle the past into the present and give your readers a taste of what it is your selling. Even though it is human nature to want free stuff, it is important to remember, free is the gift that keeps giving back. I highly recommend this book for store retailers, beginning or experienced bloggers and anyone interested in becoming their own boss.

Five Stars for Amazon.com

~By Joyce White, Sculpting the Heart Book Reviews (www.wingedforhealing.com).

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson's FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques launched at the National Stationery Show at Javits Center. Because she is the author of the multi award-winning how-to books for writers,The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, retailers will also find essentials of writing for blogs, Web sites, and newsletters on this blog. She is the author of an award-winning novel, This Is the Place; and other fiction and poetry. She blogs on better writing at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog. Find her tweeting for retailers at @frugalretailing . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use this little green widget to let them know about it: