Every day I check out the 100s of subscriptions in my RSS feed about marketing, PR, advertising, branding, social media, and a host of other topics of interest to small businesses that sell online. Most of what gets posted isn’t earth shattering but I reserve Fridays for the best reads of the week. So here you have it, the most valuable things I read in the business blogosphere this week:
Did Your Efforts to “Help” Haiti Come Off as Sleazy?
This article does a really good job of outlining how not to incorporate charitable efforts into your advertising. Last fall I wrote an article on the right way to do this, because I’m a big believer in making social responsibility part of your brand. I think the key is to make your charitable efforts consistent so you do not come off as opportunistic.
How to Make a Line Sheet
Line sheets are an essential tool for building your wholesale business. If you’re wondering what they’re supposed to look like, this is a good article to check out. (More articles about wholesale.)
Quick SEO Improvements Conversation Marketing presents 9 quick and easy ways you can improve your search engine optimization.
When you’re trying to get publicity for your brand, having a good press kit is a necessary tool. This is where press contacts can turn to find out everything they need to know about your business. Here are some things your online press kit should include:
1. An Introduction
This page tells your press contacts who you are and what you’re about. Be sure to use the juiciest and most relevant information about the people who run the company, the company history, the company’s mission, etc. Make it interesting, relatively brief and compelling.
2. High Resolution Product Photos A collection of ready to use, high resolution photos of your products can be an invaluable resource for a last minute story. This means images that are set at 300dpi or higher and in JPG format.
Such photos take a long time to load, so it’s a good idea to have low resolution thumbnails on your press kit page that link to the higher resolution version.
3. Past Press Publishers will probably want to see what else has been said about your brand and who said it. A list of past press is a nice-to-have to a reporter can determine the kind of company they’ll be in if they write about you.
4. Fact Sheet A quick read that lists of pertinent or interesting facts about your brand. Examples of what one might see on a fact sheet:
- Eco-friendly collection made using 100% recycled materials
- Collection premiered at Fashion Week New York in 2009
- Product called an “indispensable time-saver” by Parents Magazine
- Product available in over 25 different colors
Your fact sheet should highlight any product details not mentioned in your introduction. The format should be easily skimmed so reporters can digest your information as quickly as possible. The fact sheet should point out what makes your products and brand unique, special, interesting and newsworthy.
In all likelihood, there are other retailers that sell pretty much the same kind of thing that you sell. There are a zillion artisans selling handbags, jewelry, soap, clothing, etc. So how do you make yourself stand out from the pack? What you need is a unique selling position (USP as it’s called in marketing speak). Here are a few examples of differentiators to consider:
1. Niche
If you’re a regular reader, you may have noticed I didn’t update this blog last Thursday. It’s because my indie retail biz was having an exceptionally busy day and I just didn’t have time. What led to such a spike in sales? A press hit on a pet website. My retail site sells t-shirts, and as you can imagine, it’s a pretty saturated market. Our product is not what makes us interesting. However, we do sell some particularly unique pet-related tees, and that’s what sets us apart from a lot of other t-shirt designers. As a result, the pet owner niche brought us a boost in sales.
If you know there are a million companies selling the kind of product you sell, it’s helpful to find a specific audience within your market that may be under-served. This can help you stand out from competitors and attract business from people who might not be looking for the kind of items you sell in general.
2. Manufacturing Process or Materials
Sometimes the most interesting thing about a product is how it’s made or what it’s made of. If your product is made in collaboration with other established artisans, that makes for a more interesting back story. Eco-friendly is also hot right now, so a product made from re-purposed or recycled materials is automatically more interesting than one made from traditional materials.
Positioning your products as part of the green movement, or presenting them along with a unique creative process, can generate more buzz for your brand than the final product might generate without those details.
3. Image
In the branding game, imaging is everything. Take for example Nestle and Godiva, they both make delicious chocolate, but their images are quite different. From package design to where the products are sold, they couldn’t be more different and still sell the same item. The same can be said about different companies that sell cosmetics, clothing, handbags and more. Establishing a brand persona is an important way to break away from the competition.
Is your brand funny? Is your brand luxurious? Is your brand affordable? Is your brand edgy? Is your brand socially conscious? It’s important to breathe personality into your brand, and determine how you’ll go about expressing that personality to the world. This helps your brand resonate with customers, and encourages them to choose you over the competition.
Selling clothing and footwear online is challenging. Customers can’t try things on, so they may be wary of spending $50 on a dress, plus shipping, only to find the fit isn’t for them. Now they the hassle of packing up the item, shipping it back and paying for return shipping. With that in mind, who wouldn’t just hit the mall?
Sure, you’re selling something cooler than what the mall has to offer, but if you’re not selling consumer confidence and convenience, you’re still at a disadvantage. Fear not, however; there are some ways to overcome this problem. Truth be told, my favorite place to shop is zappos.com and here’s why: I know I wear between a size 5 and 6 in shoes. Which size I need depends on the shoe. When I shop with Zappos I know I can order one pair of shoes in two or three sizes, try them all on, keep what fits and return the rest. All the shipping and returns are free, all the packing material and shipping labels come right along with the shoes. It’s no hassle and no risk to shop there.
So with customers like me running up their shipping bill, how is Zappos making money? They’re charging premium prices for their shoes. I realize I’m going to pay $100 for a pair of sneakers on that site, and I might get the same shoes for $60 at a mall. Zappos is selling me convenience. I don’t have to get in the car, deal with parking, flag down a sales person to get my size, or trek from shop to shop in search or something to even try on.
While I realize Zappos’ model may be tougher for a smaller retailer to mimic, you can employ many of the same tactics they use to gain consumer confidence. While free shipping and free returns is a big part of their appeal, there are lots of other things that they do well. If you can’t raise your prices enough to cover the cost of a free shipping, free returns deal, try a few of their other tactics.
Make your return policy very easy to find. Make mention of your return policy on your product pages and in your shopping cart. Even if you can’t offer free shipping and/or free returns, just knowing a return is possible is still better than nothing.
Always post detailed fit and sizing information on anything that has a specific size, including belts, apparel, shoes, etc. Do not just say “small, medium or large.” Tell the customer if something runs small or has a snug fit. Tell the customer how many inches long or wide the item is. Include a sizing chart on every single product page so the customer can always find it.
Show the item on a model. For example, sometimes if you see a shoe without a foot it’s hard to tell how low cut the front of the shoe is.
If you are selling a unisex item like a t-shirt, show the product on both male and female models. Sometimes a screen printed pattern looks one way on a flat male chest and another on a curvier female chest.
Shoot your product photos in clear lighting and retouch them in a program like Adobe Photoshop, so colors of the items are as accurately represented as possible. I’ve seen websites that describe a shirt as “white” even though the shirt appears to be light pink in the photograph because of a bad lighting setup. This kind of mistake makes shoppers unsure if you even know what you’re selling and does not instill confidence.
Shoot your product photos from every possible angle. Customers want to know how items look from the back and the side, not just the front. This may not always be necessary if you’re selling a plain old t-shirt, but it’s essential for things like dresses and footwear. Also, display close up shots of the detail on an item. If a shirt has beading or other embellishments, get a close enough shot that the customer can really see what he or she is going to get.
If you’re selling a product that is for a certain kind of customer, like petite or plus sized for example, use an appropriate model. You probably won’t sell a mid-calf length dress to a petite woman just because the dress looked wonderful on a 5’10″ model. Likewise, a plus size customer isn’t going to be able to imagine how your product fits her if she sees it modeled on a size 4 model.
Every day I check out the 100s of subscriptions in my RSS feed about marketing, PR, advertising, branding, social media, and a host of other topics of interest to small businesses that sell online. Most of what gets posted isn’t earth shattering but I reserve Fridays for the best reads of the week. So here you have it, the most valuable things I read in the business blogosphere this week:
Youtube is a terrific free way to market your brand. It’s inherently social and potentially viral, so why not give it a try? Chances are you already have tools at your disposal to film a short video. Many digital cameras now have video capability, but if yours does not, you may be able to borrow a video enabled device from a friend. One of the biggest hurdles in getting started with Youtube for business is what to film, so here are a few ideas:
1. Behind the Scenes Invite your fans on a tour of your studio or show them how your products are made. Make sure you keep your audience in mind, and edit together a video that’s both entertaining and informative. For an example of this done well, see Spreadshirt’s video on how their products are made (below).
2. Your products in use If you’re lucky enough to have your products placed in a movie or on a TV show, you should definitely have a clip featuring your item up on Youtube. Here’s a great example of a dance shoe retailer that uses video to show their products in action (see video below)
If you’re not fortunate enough to have product placements, don’t worry. You can film your friends out on the town in your products or ask your customers to film themselves using your products (you can tie this in with a contest to encourage customer participation).
3. Something silly Sometimes all it takes is something silly to get attention. The clever folks at Agency Fusion (a web development firm) enjoyed quite a bit of viral success with this silly viral video (see below).
Your silly video does not even need to be related to your brand necessarily. You can make a silly video with your pets or yourself dressed in a gorilla costume (that’s what we did over at my t-shirt company Ex-Boyfriend, see below). The goal is just to entertain people and give them something to share with others.
Whichever route you go with your video, make sure you do the following things:
Create a channel on Youtube and link your website to it
Put your business URL in the video, so people associate your brand with your video
Share your videos via your website, newsletter and social media accounts so you have an army of fans distributing the video
While trademarks, patents and copyrights are the strongest form of protection that you can get for your original work, sometimes it’s not practical to do this for every single piece. If you’re an illustrator, you may be drawing something new every day and it just may not be practical to register a copyright every day.
So what do you do when someone is making unauthorized use of your original work? How can you prove it belongs to you? One service that aims to help with this issue is MyOws. This free site allows you to upload and date stamp original works. They act as an independent 3rd party that can verify that you created and uploaded a piece on a specific date in history. This protection might not be a as strong as a registered copyright or trademark but it may still help you in resolving an issue around unauthorized use of your work.
Hiring a PR professional can be a great way to kick start some publicity for your brand but with so many options to choose from, how do you know you’re hiring the right person of agency? Here are a few things to ask any agency you’re considering hiring.
1. How will you determine which press outlets to pitch for me? Some agencies or PR people have a pre-made list of press they like to deal with. They use the same list for all their clients. This might be okay’ish if your target audience is the same as their other clients. It’s not ideal. The best option is a PR agency or person that will build a custom press list for your business.
2. Describe your process for pitching editorial contacts. Many agencies send a blanket pitch to all of their press contacts. They create a pitch for your brand and fire up an email program that sends this pitch to every contact on the press list. It’s kind of like throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. You’re better off working with a PR person that will tailor pitches to the individual contacts on your press list. You certainly do not want the same pitch going to a parenting magazine and a mens’ fashion blog, even if you sell products for both men and babies.
3. Tell me about the types of clients you’ve done work for in the past. Hire an agency or professional that has experience working with companies like your own. If you sell fitness clothing, you probably don’t want to work with an agency or professional who mainly works with home decor clients.
With anyone you’re thinking about hiring, ask them what types of clients they’ve done work for in the past. Ask what results they were able to get that client and ask how long they’ve been in their line of work.
4. Do you have an area of focus in the publicity arena? Some agencies or PR pros focus primarily on print media, others are more focused on celebrity product placement or online PR. There isn’t really a right or wrong answer to this question, but it’s one you’ll want to ask up front.
Since selling to retail is a common interest among artisans, I’ve compiled a collection of links that you may find useful that cover this topic (some I’ve shared in past newsletters, some are new)
*I am not endorsing the services above. I am just sharing these sites as a resource, but can’t speak to their effectiveness since I have never used them personally. If any of you have tried the services above and want to share your experience with them, please feel free to do so in the comments.
I am not a seamstress. I am not a metal smith. I am not an electrical engineer. I like clothes and earrings and gadgets but that doesn’t mean I care how they’re made or who makes them. This is why I don’t want to read your blog. The vast majority of the blogs I’ve seen that belong to artisans or indie businesses are all about them and not enough about their target audience.
If you sell crafting supplies, by all means talk about new crafting techniques; your customers make stuff. If your goal is to sell a finished product, talk about stuff that interests your customers.
This isn’t to say a customer won’t enjoy the occasional peak behind the scenes. You can also argue that some customers do find your creative process interesting. Generally speaking, however, most people don’t care that you just got a bunch of new fabrics or that you’re too swamped with shipping chores to eat dinner. These boring personal details will not bring customers to your blog, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr or Youtube.
Think about all the stuff you read each day. You probably read those things for entertainment or information. If your communications to your customers offer neither they’re going to lose interest, no matter how much they may like your products.
So what should you communicate to your customers about?
1. Product news (sparingly)
If you’ve released a new fall collection it certainly makes sense to tell customers. However, do not make all of your communicaitons about product releases. People don’t want to feel like you do nothing but sell to them. Most of the Twitter feeds I see from Etsy shop owners look like this:
Did I put you to sleep yet? If you want customers to follow you, you have to give them a reason to do so. If you really want to post lots of mundane personal details to your blog or social media accounts set up separate accounts for business and personal use. Keep your business accounts focused on your customers’ interests.
2. Behind the Scenes (sparingly) If you have a particularly funny anecdote about how you came up with a product name, share it. If your product is now available nation-wide at Whole Foods, tell people. Just make sure your communication isn’t all about you. Constant and uninteresting updates about your life will not keep anyone coming back.
3. Their Ideas (sometimes) People like to be asked their opinions. It’s totally fine to ask customers to participate in your creative process. Ask them to suggest a concept for a new product. Ask them which color fabric they prefer for your new line of dresses.
You can even turn this kind of thing into a marketing effort. Tell your customers to suggest names for your newest product and let them know you’ll have a vote to see which name is most popular, with the winner getting a free gift. This gets your customers engaged in the process and encourages them to ask their friends to engage (i.e. vote for their ideas)
4. Information (often) Giving customers useful information is a great way to keep them coming back to you. If you sell kids clothing why not blog about how to cope with colic or post a list of great craft projects to enjoy with the kids? Your target audience is parents, so give parents a reason to follow your brand and share it with their friends.
Providing useful information isn’t just a great way to keep existing customers coming back, it’s also a good way to improve your search engine optimization so new customers can find you.
5. Entertainment (often) Everyone loves to be amused; my RSS feed is about 50% entertainment and 50% informative. If a website or twitter account makes me laugh I add them to my list of daily reads. This is why sites like Cuteoverload and Perez Hilton are so popular.
At Ex-Boyfriend, we aim to share one entertaining thing via our blog every week day. We have regular features like WTF Wednesday where we discuss news of the weird, and Fuzzy Friday where we share the cutest and funniest animal pictures and videos. We throw in the occasional tidbit about a new product or something funny that happened in our personal lives, but we try very hard to keep our focus on what will amuse our audience.
When you entertain people they tend to share your content with their friends. Providing entertainment is a great way to introduce some viral marketing to your mix while keeping current customers interested in what you’re up to.
