Moderator: Welcome to tonight's special event: "Home to Store Front Business/Marketing- Part 3" with Lisa Kirchner
Alan: Welcome to tonight's special event
Alan: Tonight's special event will start with a 30 minute interview, then we will open it up for questions from the audience for the second half.
Alan: Throughout the event all questions submitted to the stage, will go to an off screen moderator, to allow for grouping of questions.
Alan: Our guest tonight Lisa Kirchner with Thread Tech Embroidery
Alan: Tonight we are going to discuss:
"From Home to Store Front Business/Marketing - Part 3"
Alan: Welcome Lisa,
Lisa: thank you alan, it is a pleasure to be here
Lisa: Tonight we're going to jump directly into marketing from a store front
Lisa: The most important factor in your marketing program is commitment. Many embroiderers say that advertising doesn't work. Why? Because they didn't get instant results they considered the money spent on advertising as wasted.
Lisa: Well, let me say that they were right and they were wrong. Advertising doesn't work... Instantly. At least not very often anyway. So what is missing?
Lisa: You have to be patient. It is important to understand that your marketing plan should include several different aspects to have a great impact and produce lasting and consistent results.
Lisa: When you invest in marketing, you have to think of a total package. Even if a customer says he/she heard about you from a friend, the fact is, they may have heard about you on the radio, or read about you in the newspaper.
Lisa: When I opened my store front business, I advertised on the radio, and had a nice write up in the marketing section of the newspaper, and a specialty monthly paper. What was really amazing was when a new customer told me they saw my ad in a newspaper
Lisa: I don't advertise in. Did I argue? No, I just smiled and made note of the paper as another venue when funds allow.
Lisa: Where else can you apply your marketing? Do you have display windows? These are an excellent avenue for your marketing. What is the key? COLOR. You need your window to make them want to look again when they go by.
Lisa: I now get customers that when I ask, "how did you hear about us?" they respond with, "I drive by here all the time and when I saw (whichever display struck them), I decided to come in."
Lisa: So what's in my window now? I have little crates right now in one window filled with items I sell. Scattered on the floor around them is Easter grass and plastic eggs from the Dollar Store
Lisa: I also have a metal garden ornament (I don't sell it, it's just intriguing), along with a floor screen that I have filled the photo openings with customers' embroidered logos (all with their prior consent).
Lisa: I also make use of vinyl lettering. I use static cling to adhere it to the window and it has generated about 3 orders ranging from $330 to $800 in 3 or 4 weeks. This is from a t-shirt special I'm offering.
Lisa: . The best part about these orders is that I do not do the work myself. This is for a service that I offer but don't personally provide.
Lisa: . I'm making 40 to 50% profit for very little effort on my part subbing out the work to someone whose work I am confident in. Now that I have seen the effectiveness of the vinyl lettering,
Lisa: I'm about to use it for an embroidery special in the other display window.
Lisa: How do you know if you are marketing enough? I get people that come in the store and say, how long have you been here? I never knew you were here.
Lisa: As long as I hear that, I know I have more work to do. My current marketing plan makes use of newspaper, radio, yellow pages, display windows, mailings, and follow up phone calls to existing
Lisa: customers. As I get each piece in place, I'm working toward setting up the next piece of marketing.
Lisa: All the different pieces of marketing help to imprint your name into your prospective and current customers' minds. Part of the variety of your marketing avenues helps to get people thinking, there's that ad again.
Lisa: Oh look they are in this paper, too. Before you know it, people that were thinking about the services or product that you provide, are suddenly confident enough in your stability
Lisa: (after all they advertise in all these places, they must be successful, right?) to be willing to risk calling or coming in for more information.
Lisa: What should be in your marketing plan? Well aside from where your customer is and how you plan to get your message to them, you need to spend a great deal of time on your message.
Lisa: Your message is what you want your customer to get from the ad. What action do you want them to take? Why should they take it?
Lisa: Of course, do not neglect to offer consistent quality and excellent customer service after the order is placed, or your marketing will be a waste of time. Your new customer is taking a risk with you.
Lisa: If you reward that trust with more than they expect, they will likely return. If you reward that trust with problems and don't make them right, they will almost certainly not return, and worse still will tell even more people how unhappy they are with
Lisa: your company and why.
Lisa: So how can you get current happy customers to provide you with word of mouth? Ask them. There is absolutely nothing wrong with saying, "if you were happy with our service, please tell your friends about us." You can always bribe them.
Lisa: "If a new customer mentions your name when they place their first order, you will receive 10% off your order the next time you shop with us."
Lisa: Or you can offer them a thank you gift. Whatever you are comfortable with.
Lisa: The appearance of the inside of your shop is very important. I confess I have been lax in this area and with every improvement I make to the interior, the better it seems to reflect on my business.
Lisa: Of course, I spend about 72 hours a week here, and I'm currently doing it all without employees. So I tend to run out of day.
Lisa: . My plan is to cover the white walls with color above all the clothing displays. I will be putting embroidered designs all along the walls.
Lisa: Also bright signs and posters with information my customers should know about my business will be included.
Lisa: I currently have a bragging wall that I post testimonials on. One is a thank you note and a photo from a prominent cultural attraction, and people are ALWAYS impressed when they see and read it.
Lisa: The main idea in the "bragging wall" is to instill confidence in the prospective customer
Lisa: At the end of my day, I go home and read marketing books, scribbling ideas and inspirations in a notebook for future reference. It has taken me two years to develop my marketing message to a point where I'm happy with my message and feel it conveys what
Lisa: I've been hoping it would. It is a theme that I can use in all my mediums, providing consistency in my message, while conforming to the specific medium I'm using.
Lisa: I don't believe that I will ever be done with marketing. I think it is a vital part of the life cycle of any business and is an investment that pays dividends to your profit margin. But it is a long term moderate risk investment and needs to be treated
Lisa: as such.
Lisa: Next week I hope to wrap this up with a checklist of homework for your marketing plans and perhaps a list of things you could try.
Alan: Homework!!!!
Alan: and you thought I wasn't paying attention
Lisa: lol
Lisa: this turned out to be a little quicker than I anticipated tonight, so I guess I am ready for questions
Alan: Okay.... audience that's your que!
Lisa: if that is alright with everyone...
Moderator: Audience member says: "is marketing different being in a store front, versus from a home based business?"
Lisa: Yes I believe it is... there is a great deal of overlap, but being homebased keeps you somewhat limited in what you can do marketing wise
Lisa: so you have to be more creative
Lisa: however, it can be done quite effectively from either locale, and just needs your focus on who your customer is, and what your message is.
Moderator: Audience member says: "Limited in what way"
Lisa: Well, I was afraid I chose the wrong word... just that when I was homebased
Lisa: I couldn't use signage, or use my address
Lisa: or have a display window
Moderator: Audience member says: "Did you find that it was easier to market once you got into a storefront?"
Lisa: you need to get the word out a little differently... but I covered that the last two weeks
Lisa: Easier? Not really... make no mistake, marketing is work.
Lisa: It's just that the results have been a little quicker having a very accessible location
Lisa: okay, a LOT quicker
Moderator: Audience member says: "Yes, I realize it is work. But did you seem to get new customers easier with the storefront?"
Lisa: Well, yes... I would have to say. The reason being is it is now more convenient for my customers to do business with me
Lisa: if you are homebased, you need to do everything in your power to make it as easy as possible for your customers to do business with you.
Lisa: Convenience is a HUGE factor.
Moderator: Audience member says: "When you look at how business picked up with the home based business after marketing, how long did it take vs the storefront business?"
Lisa: The networking was the quickest way while homebased
Lisa: now that I'm in a store front, I have less time to network
Lisa: so I use the media... I have my logo on my van... I park it in a prominent place in the parking lot so I get a lot of notice from passers by
Lisa: my location as a store front is a big factor
Lisa: I'm located in a busy intersection
Lisa: so at every red light, I have a captive audience with nothing to do but look in the shop windows
Lisa: so it's like an advertisement everyday everytime they stop at that light
Moderator: Audience member says: "what percent of your budget is spent on marketing?"
Lisa: Well, it's about 10% right now of gross sales... but I'm increasing it to 10% of the gross sales that I WANT to be earning
Alan: important difference
Lisa: how much advertising does the competition do?
Lisa: that's what you should be looking at
Lisa: you should do at least as much as they are
Lisa: preferably a LOT more if you want more of the market share
Alan: but your competition is not just other embroiderers, but anyone who decorates garments... correct?
Lisa: yes, that is absolutely correct
Lisa: but if you create good positioning for yourself, you can effectively "eliminate" the competition
Lisa: If you look at toothpaste
Lisa: Crest and Colgate had the lion's share of the market
Lisa: Tom's toothpaste of Maine, came in and positioned themselves as a "natural" product
Lisa: and initially, was only available in health food stores
Lisa: they created a whole NEW market segment
Lisa: and went largely unchallenged for quite some time
Lisa: any other questions?
Alan: Since the audience is star-struck, why don't we retire for the evening, and head on back to Latte's for a general discussion
Alan: If you would like to contact Lisa,
her email is: lisa@ud.net
Lisa: okay...
Alan: Lisa, thanks for being with us tonight.
Lisa: alan, thanks for having me here
Alan: A transcript will be posted to the Embroidery Industry Calendar within the hour.
Lisa: this couch is comfy!
Alan: Thank you for your support of the EmbroideryMall.
Alan: Now everyone back to Latte's
The PalacePresents event "Home to Store Front Business/Marketing- Part 3" is over.
Thank you for attending.

Closing Log (March 30, 2004 10:24:46PM)

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