You can have the best idea or service in the world and not have a single customer if you have not advertised. Before you decide to open a business in any area of the scrapbooking industry, determine your advertising budget and whether you will be able to effectively promote your work. The old saying, “It takes money to make money,” is very true. Don’t skimp on your marketing if you can help it. We’ll cover many avenues for getting your name out there in this chapter, but first, ask yourself this question:
If we were in a seminar right now and I asked the audience what exactly they would be selling to their customers, the hands would go up and I would receive answers such as: “Albums!” . . . “Fancy papers!” . . . “Embellishments!” . . . “Stickers!” Finally, one hesitant hand way in the back would flutter up, and that person would shyly say, “Memories.” Bingo!
Someone selling sprinkler parts is not offering his client just some metal heads that squirt water. Without a doubt, the impetus for that customer buying sprinkler heads would include many reasons:
The pragmatic reason of watering to keep his new sod from dying
The neighborhood covenants for his new house request a sprinkler system
He sees how beautiful and lush his neighbors’ yards are and he wants a beautiful lawn as well
In my opinion, the final reason is the most important. You are not selling this man irrigation parts, you are selling him his dream of a manicured, perfect lawn that is the envy of all his neighbors.
When bidding on murals and faux painting projects for clients’ homes, I realized early on that I was not selling them paint. They were buying elegant walls, a home reflecting their personality, and something that would make their neighbors and friends jealous. Many were buying fantasies for their children in the guise of wall murals and 3-D cutouts.
Look behind the sale: What exactly are they hoping for when they purchase the item?
In the scrapbooking business, you are selling something very personal and dear—a customer’s cherished memories and family genealogy. Whether opening a store or acting as a personal consultant, never forget that.
While formulating your business plan, look carefully at what avenues you wish to pursue to effectively promote your business. Would direct mail be the most expedient source to reach your customers, or will you need to spend more money on radio spots or print ads for local magazines? If your focus is on an online presence, do you need to create a website and invest in a graphic designer, web host, merchant account, legal help, accountant, or software?
Set up a budget you can realistically work inside of for the first year. As your business grows, your budget can escalate and incorporate new advertising outlets. Price out the cost of business cards (a must), brochures, flyers, direct mail, etc. The area of scrapbooking you go into will determine your needs.
For instance:
Beginning Budget: business cards, website, flyers, invoices
Intermediary Budget: business cards, website, invoices, print ads, Yellow Pages
Advanced Budget: business cards, website, invoices, print ads, Yellow Pages, vehicle lettering, direct mail, flyers
Call around for estimates and get good value for your money. We’ll cover each area of advertising below with an example of cost.
Getting your foot in the door with a professional in good standing in your community is a huge advantage when promoting your new business. Do you know an owner or several owners of scrapbook or craft and hobby stores? Would they be willing to let you post a flyer announcing your new venture? How about a small business card holder with your cards next to the cash register? Could you offer a free demonstration class for their customers, thus promoting your business and increasing their sales?
Contact all craft stores within a thirty-mile radius or more and tell them you are starting a new business as a teacher or consultant and would like to work out an arrangement with them that would be beneficial to both of you. In exchange for letting you advertise in their store, you promise to use their products for your classes or send your students to them. You could offer a class gratis in exchange for the exposure.
Whenever you are pitching an idea to an established business, always look at it from their point of view. “What’s in it for me?” will be uppermost in their minds. What can you offer them that will enhance what they already have, thus making you a desirable “add-on”?
Other contacts will be in-home scrapbookers who hold classes and crops. They would be an excellent source to advertise your new home party line or specialty designs you’ve come up with.
Approach libraries, colleges, and assisted living facilities to offer classes and promote your products or consulting business. Have plenty of cards to pass around. Assisted living facilities would be a good source for advertising your nostalgic albums to visiting relatives.
Daycares would be another great source, as parents pass through those doors each day and would love an album about little Davey or Sarah. Ask the director about hosting a class for the little ones that will inspire their moms and dads to hire you for a professional book.
If you are pursuing the trade show or expo circuit, you’ll want to get in good with the area promoters. Look in the Yellow Pages under entertainment and party planning, or type "event planning" or "entertainment agencies" into a web search engine for your area. Contact these people and let them know you organize special scrapbooking events. Sell them on how big the scrapbooking trend has become, and ask if a section of their next show would benefit from offering a new “draw” for their attendees.
Other professional contacts would be children’s clothing stores, gymnastic centers, health spas parents frequent, hair salons, pet stores and veterinary clinics, bridal shops, photographers, framing and matting businesses, and possibly the pediatrics and newborn units of your local hospitals. Anywhere parents, children, and pets are served is a good source for your advertising in the scrapbooking arena.
Kick it up a notch and leave cards at scuba instruction stores, golf shops, camping stores, etc., where people shop for their vacations. Vacation albums are huge, and I guarantee your scrapbooking cards will be the only ones on display in these stores. Think big!
The Yellow Pages ad could be a hit or miss at this juncture of setting up a new business. For one, the scrapbooking industry is still so new that many people don’t think to look in the Yellow Pages. Look in your area’s phone book and see how many others in your area of scrapbooking are advertising.
A bold-print single line in the Yellow Pages will run you about $40 a month. All you’ll receive is the name of your business, address (if desired), and a phone number.
An eighth-of-a-page box ad will cost about $280 and allow you to post your logo, about three to four lines of advertising copy, and your phone number. This allows you to list all that you offer in precise bullet point form, along with a small statement such as “Free estimates.” You must say a lot in a little space, so choose your words wisely.
Additional perks such as an additional color to make your ad “pop,” a larger ad, or more prominent placement will cost you extra.
Unless you are offering something that you will want to reach a large audience, the expense of a magazine display advertisement will probably be prohibitive. If, for instance, you are offering your services as a consultant or creating one album at a time for clients, you won’t need a magazine ad. Your money and efforts would be better spent in hand-delivered marketing or direct mail.
If you have designed a product or offer your services as an event planner, a magazine ad would be a wonderful venue for you. You will be reaching thousands of scrapbook customers. Make sure you have ducks lined up before you advertise however. Nothing will kill a business like late shipments and unfulfilled promises. If your ad says you ship your product in forty-eight hours, you had better ship your product in forty-eight hours. Have plenty of inventory ready to go.
You will need to offer credit card services if you are dealing with buyers from across the country. Professional shipping materials, invoicing, and tracking methods will also be necessary. You are in the big leagues now.
Advertising in trade journals and magazines can be expensive. Some full-color ads can run you $1,300 on up. The classified section at the back of most magazines is more cost-effective. Check with your chosen magazine for pricing.
Don’t limit yourself to scrapbooking magazines. As mentioned earlier, you should consider women’s magazines such as Good Housekeeping and craft publications such as Crafts ’n Things and Michaels Create! magazine (www.mondotimes.com).
Print ads are any ads run in newspapers, magazines, newsletters, catalogues, etc. They are usually boxed and placed strategically within the publication. For instance, you would find a section of the newspaper where your particular talent would be well represented. The entertainment section or local lifestyle section would probably be your best bet. These ads can run into the hundreds of dollars, so assess them carefully.
Newspapers are not high on my list for advertising venues, as they cost a lot and offer a small rate of return. Unless your ad is big enough or really “pops,” it may get scanned over by a hurried reader. The rule of thumb for advertisements is that a customer usually has to be exposed to the ad at least three times for it to sink in. This holds true in radio and television, as well as print. That’s why it’s important to have a budget adequate to do follow-up ads and repeat ads.
“It is true—repetition is the only way,” says Penny McDaniel of Legacies. “I used to sell advertising for magazines, and if the client was only going to run an ad once, I would tell them no. You should have a three-time minimum for magazines. Magazines have a long shelf life, and you can get by with a minimal number of ads. Newspapers, however, are a different thing; you need to get to a point of brand recognition which means running the same ad over and over and over. You will get tired of it long before the public will.”
Local or area magazines are a good go-between, as they are delivered within a certain demographical area. Many of these publications are open to bartering, and may be willing to run your ad in exchange for a family album.
Contact retailers who sell scrapbook, craft, and hobby supplies, and see about advertising in their newsletter. This should be pretty cost-effective and go straight to your customer target market.
Check with catalogue companies that mail out seasonal publications replete with merchandise for the hungry holiday crafts person. Do you have product you could sell through their mailings? For example, Lillian Vernon is a huge seller and offers a variety of products. Pay attention to the catalogues and mailers that hit your mailbox. Is their audience one that would be receptive to what you are selling?
In order to utilize advertising through direct mail distribution, you will first need to compile a database of customers. If you are just starting out, you will need to be creative in finding names for your mailers.
Start with friends, family, church members, daycare acquaintances, health club buddies, your hairstylist, etc. Compile a list of names, addresses, and phone numbers. You can visit local crops and scrapbook websites selling supplies to see if you can utilize the chat rooms or message boards to acquire new names. Whether websites will welcome you will depend on what service you are advertising. If you are competing in their arena, odds are they will tell you to take your albums and hit the road.
Once you have a list of names compiled, design a postcard or flyer to be mailed out. Most direct mail companies in your Yellow Pages will be happy to tell you their mailing restrictions, size of the mailer, postal regulations, etc. Your design should be simple, with bold letters announcing the topic to make it stand out from other mailers. The competition to get noticed is high here. The direct mail companies can consult with you on how to achieve impact, and many offer design services. Look under Mailing Services in your Yellow Pages or search online for those that offer full service design and delivering. Ask your local graphic designer for a few clues, or study the mailers that come in your mail. Which ones jump out at you and which are lost in the bulk? Visuals always add punch, and most people will notice a picture before they read the print.
If you want to blanket a certain geographical area, you can look up mailing list companies in the Yellow Pages or online, and they will sell you mailing lists for a specified demographic area. You can choose the income level of homeowners you are looking for, specific subdivision, or any number of combinations. A typical fee for 5,000 mailing labels is around $185. These lists are updated periodically to ensure you have an accurate mailing.
It will be up to you to update your own lists. As customers move or are no longer interested in receiving mail, make the appropriate changes. Add new clients as they appear, and always ask if they have a friend or relative who might be interested in receiving scrapbooking news.
“We sign customers up when they check out at the register,” Penny McDaniel told me when I asked her about her mailing list ideas. “Their names go directly in my database. We also have a drawing, etc. and get names and numbers that way. I do a bi-monthly newsletter (about six to eight pages) with our calendar of events for the next two months. It’s another thing I think is interesting in this industry: store owners started the whole newsletter thing, and now it is not a value-added service for the customer—it is expected! I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.”
Your local chamber of commerce has listings of every organization that meets on a regular basis in your town. This list is free for the asking and is updated regularly. Here you will find women’s groups, men’s groups, senior citizens, equestrians, butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers.
Call the contact person listed with the group you would like to target and tell her you would be interested in offering a free class or seminar to the group to demonstrate the incredible world of scrapbooking. These groups are always looking for fun things to do to entice their members to come out regularly to meetings. Once you’re before the group, you can hand out cards and flyers, or even sell products if the committee agrees to that.
Don’t limit yourself to women’s groups. Contact agencies that work with teens and children. Crafts are often offered in rehabilitation settings or to help troubled adolescents. Try your local Boy and Girl Scout dens and offer to teach a class.
Men’s groups would be interested in an album showing their sporting achievements, hunting expeditions, company awards, etc. If Valentine’s is near, offer to help them make something sentimental and special for their sweethearts.
Professional organizations could be a gold mine of customers. Your local Home Builders Association would welcome an album of their custom homes to show prospective clients. Hair salon and beauty clinics all show albums, as do pet organizations and such specialty areas as equestrian shows.
The holidays are full of craft and hobby shows. Get permission to hand out cards or flyers at these functions. You may be charged a small fee or required to have a permit (usually a $10 cost) to offer any type of advertisement at these types of promotions. Concerts, sporting events, carnivals, and any large-scale event being offered in your area are bonanzas for being able to reach a vast number of people.
You may want to set up a simple booth displaying your albums or merchandise with your business cards and brochures prominently displayed. Check with the event organizer and ask about fees and visibility. You will be wasting your money if they stick you off in some corner.
The Internet places your wares and services before the world. The number of people you can reach via a website is mindboggling. Chances are, your website, outfitted with the right keywords and metatags, will show up every time a happy scrapper types “scrapbooking” into her favorite search engine.
You can decide whether to have your own website touting your services as a consultant, commissioned album artist, brick-and-mortar or home-based business owner, event planner, or open a store offering the latest in merchandise and layouts. You might want to show off your newly patented creations and open your doors to orders.
Advertising is not what it was twenty years ago. Your main considerations then were how your Yellow Page ad would look; how many business cards to buy; whether you should hand out flyers, order vehicle lettering, or run an ad in the newspaper. Internet businesses were in their infancy and being run mainly by the corporate giants.
Today, your advertising options are spread before you like a virtual smorgasbord. It can be overwhelming. It is like the computer: a blessing and a curse all at the same time. We are inundated with selections and features. The following are examples of the most popular and far-reaching vehicles for advertising your business, be it online, home-based, or brick-and-mortar. The following examples all have to do with Internet advising.
Banner ads will either generate a growl or a smile, depending on whom you talk to. They are those blinking boxes at the top of websites designed to catch your attention.
“Banners were once a cost-effective way of advertising,” according to David Kovanen, “but today we find that they are not. Above all else, use tracking codes in your banner ads. Unless you track the cost-effectiveness of your banner ads, you will be wasting your money. You should absolutely be able to measure how many sales you get from each banner ad. Look at what percentage of sales the banner ads are costing you. If you cannot measure the effectiveness, then do not do them. It’s just that simple.
“Also, a simple change of banner can up its effectiveness by a factor of five. (I’m not kidding!) Just changing a background color can alter the effectiveness. So, run several banner ads and measure the response. You will be surprised. The ad you like best will probably do the worst. I cannot predict which ad will work best, so we measure every one and let our customers decide. Absolutely monitor your banners with a click-through rate to equate the cost of the banner ad to the revenues it generates. If you don’t do that, you will waste your money. Remember, you are designing the banner ads to generate sales, not creating museum art. Do what works.”
Whether you are looking at Google AdWord or Google AdSense, PPCs on Facebook ads, or other ad options on the Internet, it is an area that needs careful consideration to see if spending your advertising dollar here is the right decision.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads are those little ads to the right and at the top of search engine pages, and in the right-hand column on Facebook. On Google search pages they relate to the subject matter displayed on the subject page: if someone has typed in “scrapbooking products” in their web browser, PPC ads for scrapbooking-related topics will appear to the right and at the top of that page, beckoning visitors to click on them. The advertiser is then charged a certain amount for that ad being clicked. The fact that someone did click on the ad and the ad has now taken the customer to your website to look at your merchandise is called the Click-Through-Rate (CTR), meaning how many people actually clicked on the ad and showed up at your doorstep. The ads themselves are called “impressions.” They may be good for branding purposes to keep your name in front of your targeted audience, but their purpose is to get the visitor to click on them and come to your site. So, the cost of your PPC is determined on how many click-throughs you receive, not how often your ad appears on a page. You can find more information on PPCs and CTRs simply by typing these terms in your web browser. I highly recommend reading Web Marketing for Dummies. It is worth its weight in gold in helping you navigate the often-complicated Internet highway.
You can also place PPC ads on Facebook. The principle is the same. You agree with Facebook on a price for each time someone clicks on your ad. It may, or may not result in a purchase at your website, but you have captured someone’s attention and brought them to see you. Facebook will help you find compatible Facebook pages to advertise on, based on demographics. You can try it for $100 and see if it is worth your advertising budget.
Google AdWord is the name for PPC ads that appear on relevant Google search results pages and its network of partner sites. You can learn more about Google AdWords by going to www.google.com/adwords.
Google’s AdSense is handled differently. It delivers Google AdWord ads to websites that have something in common with what you are selling. Hence, you might want to place an AdSense ad on an affiliate scrapbooking site or scrapbooking magazine website. Each time someone clicks on your ad, the website hosting your ad gets paid by Google. You pay Google an agreed-upon sum for each click (CTR).
Social Media is the equivalent of your grandmother talking over the back fence to her neighbor about all the goings-on in the neighborhood and town. Today, Granny would have millions of “neighbors” if she had a Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Google+ account. Social media gives us today’s news, business, and gossip in faster-than-light speeds. It has brought the world into our laptops, desktops, and smartphones, and has given us the keys to the advertising kingdom.
You don’t have to spend a dime to open a Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Google+ account. You can create a Facebook business page in less than thirty minutes, attach your contacts from your email account and your personal Facebook page, and you are in business. Your new business page will now appear on your personal Facebook page (if you so desire) and for all your friends and family to see. It does so much more than that, however. People you have never met will now find you by entering scrapbooking keywords or referrals. Twitter is notorious for everybody and their dog adding you to their Twitter list of acquaintances. It is mass marketing at its best and cheapest. You can create a Google profile page, put up your work on Pinterest, sign up on LinkedIn, or any number of wonderful social media options. The problem is keeping up with all of it and adding new content to keep your page fresh and interesting. I hire a marketing firm called Townsquare Interactive at $197 a month to keep my business Facebook and Twitter accounts current and exciting. They are amazing at adding new content, uploading photos, and interacting with my virtual customers. I saw my website visits double after hiring them to take over this very time-consuming part of social media. You can find Townsquare Interactive at www.townsquareinteractive.com.
*A word of caution about Facebook and Twitter: be selective about whom you “friend.” You are in business now and your “friend” list should be carefully honed. Twitter is especially bad for illicit invites from people you would rather not know, wanting you to add them as your acquaintance. Your personal page is one thing, but once you have created a professional account in social media, the world is watching how you conduct business.
While on that note, please be careful about your postings on Facebook and Twitter. It is easy to slip into your personal account comfort zone and post jokes, gossip, your opinion on a political gaffe, and a myriad other ramblings that have nothing to do with business. People are looking at your Tweets and postings to get a feel for your business. If they see someone unprofessional who is bashing the latest Kardasian mishap, it will not look polished or business-worthy. Keep in mind that as your business grows, so will your spotlight. Who knows what will happen in the future? You may become an expert in your field. Do you want posterity to look back at some of your postings and see the one that says, “Danggit! The Ravens beat the Broncos! Are you flippin’ kiddin me?” or, “My date last night was lame. Who goes out to dinner in a turtleneck in the middle of June?” Save the personal interjections for your social media venues that are not your business pages and profiles.
Watch your slang and use of today’s terms that may sound cute but do not translate into a business persona.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a fancy term that simply means you have to do certain things to make Google, Bing, and Yahoo! happy with you so that you rise in the ranks on search pages. By using keywords in your website content, people searching for those keywords will find you. If you have the words “scrapbooking papers” listed enough times on one page in your website (ideally it should be 3 percent of the page’s word content), then people will find you when they type “scrapbooking papers” into their web browser, and find you on the first page that pops up on Google or Yahoo. Sounds simple, right? Uh . . . NO! SEO requires a lot of time and commitment. Maximum use of keywords is one thing. Google also likes you to have outside links to your website, footers, site maps, XML feeds, and more. You can see their preferences at www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769&hl=en-1.
Again, books like Web Marketing for Dummies, The Zen of Social Media Marketing, and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Social Media Marketing are must-haves. You can have the most amazing website out there, but if no one knows you are there, what’s the point?
These group-buying businesses need no introduction. You have only to open your email and see one or both of these advertising giants waving their wares beneath your eyes. The popularity of group-buying advertising is enormous. How enormous? Try 85 million potential customers! Now that I have your attention, here’s how they work.
You provide a photo—either your logo or a nice photo that depicts what you are offering. If you don’t have one, they will provide one for your approval. You now decide what you want to offer. Let us assume you want to offer merchandise from your store or website. If the product typically sells for $25, you would offer it at a discounted rate, usually 50 percent off. You can negotiate the discount with the service. You now decide how many people you will open this offer up to: five, ten, fifty, or more? You set the terms. The site, let us say Groupon, will help you in your decisions. You must have a minimum number of buyers. If that number is not reached, the deal does not go through, and you are not out-of-pocket for any money. The number of people buying the deal is recorded and everyone can see the tally. If the deal is about to close (usually within two to five days of the listing) the website may encourage people to grab their friends to get in on the deal. The merchandise is purchased through Groupon (or Living Social, etc.) and you are given the agreed-upon profit.
The benefits of these group-buying services are pretty substantial. Whether anyone buys your deal or not, you have exposure for your website or store to over 85 million customers. Many people will scroll down the ad description and find out where your store or site is and come to see you. You don’t pay a dime of your own money. You merely split the profits with the online service, based on your agreed-upon percentage. This has become big for business, not only for name recognition, but also for generating business with a public that may have been shopping elsewhere. Go to www.Groupon.com, or www.LivingSocial.com for more information or to sign-up.
Another innovative forum utilizing this same group-buying idea arranges for you to advertise your services or products with a local radio station in exchange for airtime. Seize the Deal is an advertising package being offered by a local radio station in northern Colorado where you offer a service or product at a discounted rate. Your ad is advertised on the radio and listeners are encouraged to go to the radio website to see full details about your business and offer. Again, you select a product or service, set a discounted price, and wait for the orders to roll in. The ads run for a short time, usually five days. The radio takes the agreed-upon percentage of any sales you may garner from advertising your business and product. You get free airtime, name recognition, and potential orders. You might ask your area radio stations if they are offering these group-buying deals.
These discount advertising programs are here to stay, so take advantage of a no-money-down venue that could bring you traffic and brand recognition.
Driving people to your site is the name of the game in Internet marketing. They need to know you are there. Google likes to see a website with a lot of traffic. Having other website businesses provide a link to your website is one thing Google factors in. Another way to boost your online reputation is to offer free advice on other sites. Write for online article services such as www.EzineArticles.com. Here you can post articles about the scrapbooking industry you are most familiar with. Others access your article and post it on their own websites or blogs. You now have links to your site as well as recognition, as most people reading the article will be likely to check you out. If you do write an article, make sure you post your store’s website address. Write blogs, advertise contests, and hire a PR person to get you a write-up in industry magazines or interviews on TV and radio shows. When I launched Troubleshooting Men: What in the WORLD do they want? the local and national television stations heard our radio ads and came running. Within four days of the launch Fox 31 News did an interview with us, and national talk shows invited us to come on as a guest. The hits to our website went sky-high after Fox 31 aired. All it takes is a phone call to your local radio and TV affiliates describing something innovative you are doing and you just might get free TV or radio time. It is certainly worth a shot! Timing is everything. Keep an eye on trends in the scrapbooking industry and hit while it’s hot. Be the expert and offer your advice. Local TV morning shows are perfect for spotlighting your genre. They are always looking for a new craft or art project to show their viewers.
The Yellow Pages and flyers would not pertain to your website store unless the webpage is a companion to a brick-and-mortar or home-based business. If you have a street address that will allow foot traffic, by all means list your name or ad in the phone book. Many die-hards still go there for information, especially the generations who are still wondering why their grandson can’t just talk to them face-to-face without sending a text . . . especially when he is seated across the table from them.
If posting your offerings on site message boards is more your speed, those opportunities abound. Most scrapbook retail sites offer message boards and chats. Take advantage of them. Many of these stores also offer email setups and group links. Scrapping4others at groups.yahoo.com is a great site for hooking up with others and learning marketing strategies and many other informative tips of the trade.
Let’s face it—word of mouth is always the best advertising. You have satisfied customers out there bragging about you and “selling” you to their friends. No job is too insignificant not to do your best. Often it is those small jobs that sing your praises the loudest: “She took so much time on this when it was such a small commission. That says a lot about someone, when most people only want the big jobs.”
Offer a referral program at every opportunity. If you are commissioned to create an album for a client, offer her 10 percent off her next purchase or some free pages for each customer she sends you. It only takes a moment of her time to tell someone about you, and she reaps the rewards.
Obviously, the scrapbook party line is all about generating referrals and picking up new customers at the party. Send them forth with your handcrafted banner flying to proclaim your worth to the world . . . or at least the neighborhood block.
If you’ve planned an especially successful event, ask the vendors to spread your name or use you for upcoming shows.
“You’re only as good as your last job” is a saying to think about. Make sure the word circulating about you is a good one . . . or on second thought, a great one!
Promotional materials are anything you leave or pass out to advertise your business. The more cleverly constructed they are, the more they are used, kept, and remembered.
Creative packages of your specialty designer paper and stickers can be left with retail stores to show customers and take orders. Your sample album, spread out on a table at a bridal salon with brochures next to it, makes a great promotional item.
Flyers pinned to the library bulletin board or delivered to craft shows and scrapbooking workshops are a great marketing tool. Refrigerator magnets listing your skills, workshop dates, and phone number are always kept, and they are in front of your customer, reminding her about you on a daily basis.
Do the unexpected. Copying someone else’s design or concept will only make you a “cookie-cutter” duplicate. Blow their minds, and you’ll capture their attention and their business. If you are trying to land a corporation’s business, don’t just show up with a generic flyer or brochure and say, “Would you please make sure Mrs. Carlson gets this?”
Instead, bring in a clear inflated Mylar balloon with your flyer rolled up inside. Fill it with tiny punch-outs or scrapbook confetti and tape a pin to the outside. Believe me, when the person in charge pops that balloon to get your missive, she will remember you and be impressed with your ingenuity.
Make your business cards clever and memorable. People tend to hold on to a great card whether they think they’ll need it or not.
We have covered trade shows and expos in some detail in Chapter 10, “The BIG Picture!” as one of the many career fields under the scrapbooking umbrella. Here we address it as a means of advertising your business.
Obtaining a booth at one of these conventions is a surefire way to get your name, product, or service out there. Most booths will run anywhere from $150 on up, with about $380 to $400 being a common fee. For that amount, you will receive a basic table and chair, an electrical outlet, and possibly a partition. Anything extra, such as easels, additional tables and chairs, etc., will cost you. You are expected to bring your own banners, signs, and sometimes table draping if not included in the price of the booth.
Most trade shows are very explicit about what constitutes your “area.” You are not allowed to walk but a few feet from your booth to hand out flyers to the passing masses, and any extra attractions, such as putting greens or costumed characters, must stay within the prescribed perimeters. You must be in attendance at your booth at all times, and if you have items like scissors, you are responsible for the safety of your booth guests.
Any items that might damage the conference setting floor will have to pass scrutiny. Water features, adhesives, sharp corners on your furnishings or props, etc., are open to a judgment call. Since others at these shows are all required to pay for their booths, it is illegal for you to just show up and hand out promotional materials to attendees. You can ask whether the show will allow you to do that for a fee, but don’t try to do it otherwise. Slipping flyers under vehicle windshields at these expos is also iffy, so you should check with the show coordinator.
Attending organization meetings and fundraisers is a great way to drum up business. The time-honored “passing of the cards” is always prevalent at these get-togethers. “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” is still in good standing.
Take plenty of cards and listen attentively to what others there are offering. It’s common courtesy and can often lead to opportunities you had not thought of.
Find out where crafters and hobbyists meet; check your list from the chamber of commerce and ask around at the applicable stores.
Your letterhead stationery, business cards, invoices, flyers, and brochures will all shout bundles of information about who you are and what you are. What you want to be is professional.
Spend a few extra dollars to have your letterhead printed at the top of your invoices instead of just penned in one at a time. Have your contracts professionally printed unless you have a good software program with graphic and font capabilities. Today’s computer packages can produce some pretty amazing results for as little as $19.99.
Your business card should be well thought out and professionally done. Print shops such as Kinko’s offer a graphic artist who will help you with the layout of your cards, flyers, brochures, etc. and print them out. A box of 500 cards can run as little as $150 for a two-color layout. Embossing, fancier card stock, or additional colors will elevate the price.
Kinko’s and other copiers also offer a wonderful array of specialty border papers that you may purchase, adding to them your advertising copy. For $4.95, you can buy twenty-five sheets; some are laid out two sections to a sheet, giving you fifty. For under $5, you will have twenty-five to fifty flyers with beautiful borders and backgrounds to hand out, instead of spending hundreds on a full-color press setup.
With your letterhead stationery, use matching envelopes. If you’re using white paper, don’t slip it into a beige envelope. Professionally printed thank-you cards are also nice to add to your office supplies.