Same Tricks, Different Industry....

I was watching Restaurant: Impossible last night.  If you haven't seen it, it's like Kitchen Nightmares that Gordon Ramsey does on BBC.  I love that show, too, and have used it in this blog.  Chef Robert Irvine goes into a failing restaurant and tries to turn it around.  The restaurant last night was a diner in San Diego called TRAILS.  It could have as well been a scrapbook store because I heard pretty much what I listened to for nearly a decade in the scrapbook industry.

Trails had an owner who had worked in a corporate restaurant and therefore decided she was qualified to run her own.  Lacking funds, she got her dad to finance it.  Lacking profit, they later decided expanding it out be the way to increase the cash flow so her dad took out a second mortgage and now he is $600,000 in debt.  

Reminds me of those who think that liking to scrapbook qualified them to run a scrapbook store.  So, they take out a second mortgage on their home to open one without any idea how to.  They think their "passion" will be enough to carry them.  

The decor was cute and the food wasn't bad - something Chef Irvine rarely encounters in these failing restaurants.  But, they will still losing money hand-over-fist so he set about the find out why.  

First, they bought the restaurant from the previous owner at the "Emotional Price".  Dave Ramsey would call that a "Stupid Tax".  Saw it all the time in the scrapbook industry.  An owner, having put all their blood, sweat and tears into their business, believes it is worth MUCH MORE than the sum total of the inventory and  fixtures.  They believe they have a loyal customer base and that their own sweat equity is valuable.  Financials don't matter or aren't offered up or requested.  A buyer, not getting proper advice about how a business is priced, buys into the "this is my baby, take care of it" line and just wants what they want so bad they agree to the ethereal and baseless price.  The owner of Trails paid $240,000 for about $20,000 worth of restaurant equipment in a leased building.  She claimed to have gotten a "customer base" for that price, but how many of us eat at the same restaurant all the time?  As Robert Irvine pointed out, Doctors and Lawyers have valuable customer bases, restaurants don't.  

I consulted with quite a few people who would come to me wanting to buy a scrapbook business.  They most always had the "emotional price".  And, most of the time, the current owner didn't want to release financials to them. I usually said either they didn't have a clue if their business was making money or they were lying to them that it was.  If they based even part of the price on ANYTHING, they usually started with the cost of inventory and fixtures.  How much of that inventory was outdated, though?  You can't expect to recoup 100% of your investment of inventory that no one wants anymore.  I was always surprised at what people thought their little scrapbook business was worth.  I usually told people it would be cheaper just to start their own and build their own reputation.  Sometimes, you're buying a business no one wants to come to anyway.  I cringe when I see "UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT" signs.  To me, that is announcing to the public that, yes, we were awful but come try us now!  It's hard to undo customer attitudes toward a business.   So, unless the business is making the big bucks with a loyal customer base, it's probably better to build your own than buy someone else's albatross that they are eager to get rid of at your expense.  Most of these owners rarely took home a penny while they owned the place, but now will attempt to extract their profit in the sale of it.  I usually told people to walk away.  

Their second mistake for the restaurant was pricing.  They wanted good food at a great price so they priced food based on the cost of the food and nothing else.  The owner had no idea what her daily operating costs were.  She had never calculated them.  She just said, "Let's set our prices at 3 times the cost of food" or some other "sounds like a good idea" strategy.  "Hope" is not a good strategy for a business.  She was shocked to learn that her daily expenses above the cost of the food were $900 - before she even took home a penny for herself or started paying her Dad back.   Her cheap breakfasts meant her core customers were geriatric and on "fixed incomes" so she kept her prices low for them and they sang her praises - right into the poor house.  

I saw poor pricing strategies way too often.  The challenge of the scrapbook industry is that everyone is selling pretty much the same stuff.  So, some would try to be the cheapest by shaving a few cents off the price.  Then, they might heavily discount their shipping if they were online.  Or, they would succumb to customer complaints about the cost of scrapbook products and try to lighten the financial burden in hopes they would sell more.  Rarely did anyone run the math or do any research about the demographics.  

Her third problem was that as a mom, she didn't want to do dinner service - she wanted to be home with her kids.  They had tried dinner service for a while but were losing about $500 a day on it because no one was coming.  Her Chef had the same attitude - she wanted to be home with her kids, too.  So, they were trying to run a restaurant on the two cheapest meals of the day.  

If I had a dollar for every scrapbook store owner who didn't want to work too many hours because they needed/wanted to be home with children, I'd be rich.  A business is the most demanding, needy and naughty child you'll ever have.  It will over-shadow and eclipse all other children until you can afford to pay someone to manage it for you.  Even then, when there is a problem, it's YOU that has to take care of it most of the time.  As one owner who closed her store told me, "When my alarm goes off at 3 am for the third time in a week and I have to get dressed and go down to the store to take care of it, I wonder how much longer I want to work for free."  

A few years ago, Dr. Phil gave some business dreaming moms a reality check on his SHOW.  Basically, if you have kids at home, don't start a business that needs a lot of your time.  Think smaller or go get a job with regular hours.  But, the idea that you can be successful only being open when the kids are at school is unrealistic.  Your customers are probably not available during those hours.  They want to come after work and on weekends - the exact times YOU want to be home with your kids.  

Digital Scrapping and the Traditional Retailer

Recently, I did an informal survey about scrapping habits.  It consisted of one question and I posted it on both traditional and digital scrapbooking message boards.

 

The results, as informal as the survey was, should be noted by every traditional scrapbook retailer who has felt a downturn in business and a loss of customers in the past 3-5 years.  Then, those same retailers should think about how to win back the hearts of those customers.

The question was this:  Choose the one statement that best describes your scrapbooking RIGHT NOW.

The options were:

• I have only scrapped traditionally
• I have only scrapped digitally
  
• I was a traditional scrapper but now do only digital
• I am a traditional scrapper who dabbles in digital
• I am a traditional scrapper who is thinking about digital
• I am a hybrid scrapper who scraps both traditionally and digitally
• I started out digitally but moved to paper scrapping

 Of the 100 answers I got, 51% said "I have only scrapped traditionally".  Okay, that's good.  But, that still leaves 49% of the respondents.  

 

4% said they have only ever scrapped digitally and another 4% said they converted completely from traditional to digital, but then the water gets muddy.

 

The remaining 41% said that they were either a traditional scrapper who dabbles in digital or a traditional scrapper who is THINKING about digital. or a hybrid scrapper who regularly does both.  That's the area that every traditional retailer should be concerned with.  Forty-one percent of your customers are on the verge of moving to digital and never looking back.  AT MINIMUM, you have lost some revenue there because that 41% is buying or going to be buying LESS from you over time since part of their scrapping is digital.  

 

So, your job is to capture some value from the shift in scrapping activities among your customers.

 

Figure out how to incorporate digital scrapbook products.  Set up a section of "digital scrapbook products" that includes albums, slick writers, mugs and frames to alter, rub-ons to embellish, software, etc.  

 

Add a photobook component to your store through PhotoBookBiz.  Many use the big names like Shutterfly, but they don't necessarily have the best quality, lowest prices or coolest software!  

 

Scan photos for those wanting to go digital.  Scanning is time consuming and there are some really fast scanners out there that most customers won't put the money out to buy.  

 

Most of all - tell your customers (the 41% who are flirting with digi) that you are DIGI-FRIENDLY so that they won't feel the need to leave you.  

The bottom line here is to pull your head out of the Bazzill and understand that nearly 50% of scrappers are wandering down the digital path.  They may not convert completely, but they will buy fewer traditional supplies from traditional retailers just by the mere fact that they are dabbling in it. 

 

I *heart* PagePlus X4 by Serif

For years I have used Microsoft Publisher to make all my business brochures, cards, etc.  Well, after discovering Digital Scrapbook Artist by Serif (check out the free version at DaisyTrail.com), I was invited to try out PagePlus X4.  It has many of the same cool features of Digital Scrapbook Artist so I decided to take a crack at it. 

Shortly after I got it, I had to make a flyer for an activity at church.  I started making it in MS Publisher but then remembered I could use Page Plus.  So, I started it over in that program.

When I was done, I printed them both out and asked my husband which one he liked better.  He chose the PagePlus one.  It was SO MUCH COOLER!  Instead of flat fonts on the page, I had a custom shadow under my font.  Instead of a flat arrow graphic, I had one that looked like an epoxy dimensional sticker.  Everything just *popped* off the page and the flyer was more visually interesting than the Publisher one.  It really appealed to the digi scrapper in me!

I also used it to make my son's birthday party invitation and add dimension to some graphics for my new PhotoBookBiz website. 

While I have yet to scratch the surface of this gem of a program as far as understanding and using the many features, it was easy to figure out and when you start clicking around, there are so many cool ways you can create with it!  If  you're looking for some great business desktop publishing software that allows more creativity than most out there, I highly recommend Page Plus X4 by Serif. 

Are You Using Socialnomics?

You can't deny these stats. If you aren't using social media to communicate your business message, you are missing the boat! Scrapbookers are using social media - are you there to join in the conversation?

The Custom Photo Book Solution for your Scrapbook Store!

My newsletter for people interested in the PhotoBookBiz part of ScrapBiz went out today. I thought I'd share it here, too. There are five ways you can turn our PhotoBookBiz program into a custom digital scrapbook business for your site or store. It's really one of the best programs out there!

Click HERE to see the newsletter

I Can't Be the Only Traditional Turned Digital Scrapper Who Wants This

I'll admit that much of my scrapping is now digital. I make cards and once in a while, I'll scrap an actual page to frame or put in an older album.

But, I still love to go into scrapbook stores and I still love the pretty papers there. Unfortunately, when I see something, I don't buy it because I know I likely won't ever use it.

I am sure I'm not the only one who finds traditional products delicious but scraps digitally due to lack of time. I can't tell you how many times I have seen a paper in a scrapbook store that I wanted but in digital form.

I don't know why - wait, actually I do know why and I'll address that in a minute - that traditional scrapbook manufacturers don't capitalize on people like me who started out with the hands-on approach, still goes into scrapbook stores, but scraps mostly digitally now. I know very few of the digital scrapbook "brands". I love Shabby Princess and will look at Scrap Girls or A Cherry On Top when I need something specific. But, I still love Bo-Bunny (Shabby Princess look!), Karen Foster, Little Yellow Bicycle, Flair Designs, etc. I want those - in digital form.

It would so very easy for the traditional manufacturers to offer their traditional paper designs on CD for digital scrappers. And, it would be a brilliant idea to sell those CD's ONLY through traditional retailers who also sold the traditional papers (that's the KEY here - don't cut the traditional retailer out by selling the download at your own site). I would be all over those to get the look of my favorite traditional companies that I have loved for years in my digital scrapbooks!

Now, I'm sure someone has thought about this. I even have a friend who talked to some companies at CHA a few years ago about digitizing their older discontinued lines. Most of them were interested in doing that but it didn't go any farther than that. Why hasn't anyone actually done it, though?

Fear.

The fear of digital scrapping.
The fear that customers will print off your designs at home and never buy the traditional paper
The fear that your designs will end up shared with other users.
The fear of all things digital... period.

It's totally irrational. You are either digital or you aren't. You either have a way to print digital pages or you don't. Like anything - some might abuse the CD. But, most will buy it because they want that traditional brand look in their digital scrapbooks.

I can find "Bo-Bunny-esque" stuff (Shabby Princess). I can find Karen Foster-esque stuff or any other "similar" products. But, I keep shopping the traditional stores and coming out empty handed. Wouldn't this be a good way to make sure I didn't?

I see the pretties. I want the pretties. Sell me the pretties in a format I will use them in and I will cease to leave empty handed.

Learning From Donut Wars!

Recently, a new shop was opening near me. They had painted a website on the paper-covered windows intended to create an air of mystery. They had a big contest at their site about "what are we?" To me, the website totally sounded like a cupcake shop. They had a Facebook page with the same contest and to many others, it sounded like a cupcake shop. In fact, the hints they were giving made it sound like it was a cupcake shop where you could go in, choose your cupcake flavor and have it custom-frosted for you. It would have been a FABULOUS idea for two reasons:

1. There are no cupcake shops in this whole area. Cupcakes are HOT right now, but few places are selling them here beyond what you can get in a plastic clamshell with nasty Crisco frosting.
   
2. This is an upscale upper-middle class shopping area and people would have totally bought into the upscale idea of serving cupcakes at Birthday parties, showers, etc.
   

But, alas, the place turned out to be a DONUT shop. Which, did not fit the website name in my opinion. The URL sounded like more cake than donut.

So, my kids and I decided to check it out and see if the donuts lived up to the hype so we wandered over there the first day of their Grand Opening. We showed up in the afternoon - wondering if there would be any donuts left. But, given the fact that they stay open until 10pm, I assumed they would be making donuts all day long. There was not much of a line if you don't count the busload of elderly people who arrived just 30 second before us and took most of the afternoon to order.

I bought 4 donuts - two chocolate frosted custard filled, one german chocolate with coconut-pecan frosting and one Maple Bar. My total for 4 very average donuts was over $8. They put them in a brown box with a cutesty label on it that was sort of meant to be "signature" packaging since pink and brown are their signature colors. I think I paid $4 just for the packaging alone because what we got was 4 donuts I could have bought across the street at the grocery store for less than $4. And, to top it all off, my kids didn't get any custard in their donuts until the last 2 bites. They had skimped on the filling.

The next day was the annual 5K Race and festival in this area. We happened to park near this donut shop when we arrived about 7:45 am for the race. This was the second day of this shop being open and I kept an eye on the foot traffic as I sat in the car waiting about 90 minutes for the race to start. I didn't notice a lot of people going in and out. It was surprising given all the hype.

My husband went to warm up for the race and came back with a postcard he handed to me. Apparently, the book store at the other end of the parking lot just opened a branch of a very famous donut shop from Seattle where they had previously had a coffee shop. They were handing out postcards for free donuts. So, after the race, we went and got 4 donuts. We didn't use our postcard and paid $6 for 4 donuts. Still too high in my opinion, but they were much better than the other place and they had the "brand name" behind them as well as features on the Travel Channel and the Food Network. I immediately thought, DONUT WAR!!! You can't tell me that the legendary donut shop isn't going to throw their name and reputation around against this upstart across the parking lot. It will be interesting to watch.

So, what's the lesson here? First, if I was doing a big "what are we?" promotion and everyone kept guessing I was a cupcake shop and they were EXCITED about the fact that a cupcake shop MIGHT be opening in our area - I honestly might have taken a step back and thought about changing my plans. Listen to your customers! People were THRILLED with the idea that it might be a cupcake shop. How many, including myself, were disappointed to find out it wasn't?

Second, I can get donuts at 5 grocery stores and this other new "legendary" Seattle-based donut place all within about a 10-15 minute walk from this donut shop. And, none of them are going to charge me $2 for a custard filled donut. Actually, this new shop sits in the middle of a parking lot between the high-end (similar to Whole Foods) market with lots of donut and pastry choices and the legendary donut place in the bookstore. So, it's literally one of three choices from one parking lot.

How many places can I get cupcakes? ZERO. Okay, I can get them at the grocery store, but they are prepackaged - nothing custom. How many times will I pay over $2 for a donut? Never again. I can't believe that I'm alone in that thought, either. The donuts weren't bad, but they weren't the best I've ever had, either. Perhaps they will develop their donut menu over time to include outrageous things like a bacon-maple bar you can get at VooDoo Donuts in Portland. But for now, they are just a cute donut place selling donuts and I hope they can stand out in the crowd enough to make people want to pay the high price of their donuts.

The scrapbook industry lesson is similar. You need to really evaluate how many other places around you are selling what you sell and try to figure out something of value to the customer that sets you apart from the others. Cute packaging isn't enough anymore. People want VALUE and UNIQUENESS. If you find yourself among lots of others doing the same as you, find that thing that makes you unique! Do you provide better customer service? Have unusually themed crops? Have custom papers for the local area? Stay open later? Can provide lots of "fan comments" about your store that will make others want to come check it out? What's your "hook" that will make people choose you over someone else? It's got to be more than cute colors and decent donuts - especially decent donuts that are higher priced than other decent donuts in the area.

Scrapbook Fever - A 21st Century Scrapbook Retailer

I told Shelly Izen, the owner of Scrapbook Fever in Salem, OR that I was going to blog about how smart she and her husband, Bud, are.

They are a scrapbook retailer who "gets it" when it comes to thinking outside the box and looking for opportunities outside the normal "make and take" or technique classes for their store.

Scrapbooking without photos is really just a paper craft. And, GREAT photos inspire us to scrap. I can't tell you how many "so-so" photos don't get scrapped at my house. It's only the great ones that make me feel like scrapping.

Could scrapbookers use digital photography tips? You bet they could! And Scrapbook Fever has responded to that need and is now offering digital photography classes in their store.

Read their class description - makes me want to drive to Salem:

Digital Photography Class 101 series with Canon Rep – Our fabulously successful Digital Photography 101 series is brought to you by Canon! This is a course for beginners who need some assistance in understanding their digital camera and its functions! If you take the majority of your pictures using the Auto function on your camera, this course is for you!

This is a series of four (4) two-hour classes designed to help you understand the functions on your digital camera, show you some cool Canon products to print your pictures on, and finish up completing a project using the pictures taken and printed during these classes! Everyone will complete a very cool 8x8 mini album (designed by us of course)

Now, if they added custom photo books and gifts (also a great series of classes to offer) with something like our PhotoBookBiz option, they will have propelled themselves completely into the 21st Century of Scrapbooking.

I applaud their willingness to offer a class like this and think they are very smart scrapbook retailers!

"I'll Be There For You..."

Remember the theme song to the show FRIENDS by The Rembrandts? What's funny about starting your own business is that usually, as you start talking about it, your friends are SO SUPPORTIVE of the idea. They'll say, "Go for it!" or "I'll support you 100%!". They will cheer you along and tell you that you've got the talent to do whatever you're thinking of doing.

But, you know what happens when you finally open that business? Your friends are often nowhere to be found. There is an old saying that comes from the bible that roughly says, "No man is a prophet in his own country". That is true at times. I often find that those who were your biggest supporter during the planning stages of your business, don't take you seriously when you actually launch the business. They will often treat your business lightly and sometimes even expect a "friend discount" (translation - WHOLESALE PRICE).

It's sad, really, because you would hope that those closest to you would be your best customers if they are interested in whatever you're selling or doing. You would also hope that they would be your best customer advocates and tell others about your new business.

So, the lesson for today is that if you have a friend who owns a business - be it a scrapbook business or a plumbing business - use them. Put your money where you mouth is and show them that you really DO support them 100% by becoming one of their customers.

Are you a Scrapping "Foreverist"?

Nicole Amsler of Keylocke Services posted a great thought today at ScrapBiz. She posted a blog article about Foreverism. It sparked a good conversation among ScrapBiz members. Really, Scrapbooking or "Memory Preservation" as I prefer to call it, is not a hobby with a deadline. It goes on forever - as long as you have photos, you have memories to preserve.

Of course, some of us look at our photos and think, "Yeah, it will take me FOREVER to scrap all these photos." But, where is it written that you must scrap ALL of them? That's not what we mean by "foreverism". To me, it means that if there is more to the photo than just a photo, that you will want to always be telling the story of your best photos and moments SOMEHOW. That "somehow" can be in the form of traditional scrapbooking, digital scrapbooking, photo books, etc.

The June 2009 PMA Magazine has a GREAT article on Story Telling. You can read it HERE. I think every retailer who has face to face contact with customers should read and incorporate some of their suggestions. We need to teach classes on story telling and encourage customers to not just decorate the page, but tell the story. THAT'S what makes the photo meaningful and helps them capture the importance of their scrapbooking.

For far too long, we have concentrated on embellishing the photos and, frankly, crafts have a short life cycle. We have lost a lot of customers who got burned out on the craft part of scrapbooking. They still have photos. They are still taking photos. And, they still have stories to go with those photos.

I've suggested this approach before and often, retailers will call me a "heretic" because I'm trying to suggest that products aren't important. Actually, the opposite is true. The more we can get people to scrap and the longer we can hold their attention, the better it is for retailers. Customers might not over embellish each page as many have in the past. But, they will be lifelong customers who understand the true reasons they do what they do. THOSE are the people the industry should be looking for and catering to. Short term customers = short term retailers and I don't know any retailer who goes into this thinking, "I'll ride the wave for a couple of years and then close".

We've also had conversations at ScrapBiz recently about theme scrapping. One member said the local scrapbook store she was recently associated with is struggling BECAUSE they chose to follow industry fads when their customers wanted themes. Fads create supply collectors who often become buried in a stash that they will never use. They buy the latest pink flower paper even though they really need to be scrapping choir concerts, track meets and birthday parties. Themes matter. I will scrap Christmas photos 18+ times in my children's lives. I will scrap Halloween costume photos a dozen times. Many of those photos and poses will nearly be identical. I need new products along those themes to keep it fresh each year.

Yet, themes = boring according to many magazines and online communities. Yet, when the black/white/lime green flourishes are long-gone as trends, themes will still be around. Themes are forever.

Memory Preservation is forever. Only when the scrapbook industry catches that idea and opens up their minds to what it means (that it means MORE than just the products we sell) will we ever create an industry that grows and is healthy. We MUST take the longer or "foreverist" view of memory preservation or we become a cyclical craft that ends up as not much more than another aisle at the big-box craft store.

What the Kindle DX Can Teach Scrapbook Retailers

A couple of months ago, I bought my husband the Kindle 2. We love that thing! It's so convenient! The other day, Amazon announced the coming of the Kindle DX - with a screen 2.5 times larger than the Kindle 2.

Welcome to the future of reading. My kids will probably have all their text books on a Kindle-type device at college. No more standing in line to purchase $200 text books you have to lug around and no more standing in a longer line at the end of the semester to sell back your $200 book for $25.

Already, several text book publishers are working with Amazon to digitize their books for the Kindle. Other book publishers should be taking notice. This IS the future of reading. Will regular books ever completely go away? I don't think so. But, the Kindle and the devices that will follow it will do to books what the iPod did to music. It will change the way many of us read and change the way book publishers make their money. My husband has essentially stopped buying physical books. He is now buying his business and political books for his Kindle. We are STILL Amazon customers (okay, we are Amazon junkies), but we are just getting our books differently from them now.

How many book publishers will now just throw in the towel and say, "We're dead"? Probably a few. But, most will look at digitizing their books to work on these devices. A few will ignore the technology believing that there will always be people who buy real books and will slowly, over time, give in to the trend. While others will stick their heads in the sand and say, "we'll never digitize" and then moan and groan about their drop-off in sales.

Kudos to the early adopters of Kindle technology. They aren't acting threatened by it - they are embracing it and figuring out how they can get on board with it.

There is a lesson here for scrapbook stores. Our industry has experienced a large shift to digital scrapbooking. We now have digital photos, custom photo books, digital scrapbook paper and embellishments and large format home printers. The digital age has done to our industry what the Kindle is doing to the book publishing industry.

Most of us have acted threatened by the technology and chosen to ignore it rather than embracing and adapting to it. Many retailers pretend that digital scrapbooking has had NOTHING to do with our decline in sales. We blame drop-outs. We blame the economy. We blame our competitors. Fact of the matter is that many, many traditional scrapbookers are now digital scrapbookers and we didn't even TRY to keep them from leaving us. In fact, most of us were so busy actively ignoring digital scrapbooking that we didn't even see them leave.

A few retailers have jumped on board with digital scrapbooking and have looked for ways to keep those people who have converted to digital coming back into their stores. They are offering custom photo book classes. They are teaching photography classes. They are selling digital scrapbook software and scanning photos or printing out digital pages. They have set up special sections in their store where they offer "Digital Scrapbook Products". They have basically said, "We're not giving you up just because you went digital."

Kudos to those scrapbook retailers who embraced digital in some small way. I believe they will be among the survivors.

There Is No Free Lunch (at least at KFC)

I had heard today that there was some promotion for a free sample of the new KFC grilled chicken that Oprah had promoted. You could use a coupon to get free chicken and two sides. So, guess where America headed to eat today?

Apparently, there really is NO FREE LUNCH. KFC blew it in a big way when many of their franchisees refused to honor the coupons or played games in honoring them or just plain closed up shop for the day.

So many lessons in running a business here... LINK to just one site full of complaints.

I can't wait to see who gets blamed. If you give something away for free and score a big name to promote it, why wouldn't you prepare appropriately? That's Business 101.

How many people will never go there again? Probably a lot. Colonel Sanders would be so disappointed...

And, yes, this IS related to scrapbook businesses. Learn from other's mistakes. If you make a promise, keep your promise. Otherwise, you lose customers and none of us can afford to do that!

Just in Time for National Scrapbook Day!

News reports today indicate that consumer confidence is edging up. Retailers are reporting that while consumers aren't making more shopping trips, they are buying MORE each time they shop. Receipts are getting larger.

So, how do you respond to that? BUNDLE! With National Scrapbook Day coming up, now might be the time to encourage consumers to buy more by putting together some great bundles of products they use the most.

Adhesives, cardstock, pens, and albums are things scrappers buy over and over. Give them a great price on a great pack of products to celebrate a special day!

One Day Retailer Event

The Creative Leisure News had a bit yesterday about a great opportunity for retailers who are in the area of GASC. I knew this was being planned and I'm glad it came together.

If you are a retailer in the Arlington area and plan on attendting GASC, you can't go wrong by attending this one day special event just for you! Tamara and Beth will surely have some fabulous classes to share with you!

SEMINARS. F+W Publications is sponsoring the Great American Retail Conference in Arlington, TX on June 3, the day before the Great American Scrapbook Convention. The one-day seminar will be presented by Beth Mauro, former editor of Scrapbook Retailer and CNA, and author/retail consultant Tamara Lipori. Sessions will address trends and strategies for generating store traffic during a tough economy. For info, email Beth at beth.mauro@fwmedia.com. For info on the Convention, visit www.greatamericanscrapbook.com.

PMA 2009 Attendance was UP!

Wow! Check out this news about PMA 2009 from PMA Newsline:

The PMA 09 International Convention and Trade Show recently held in Las Vegas, Nev., drew more than 40 percent increase in attendance from both the pro photographer and specialty retail photo store segments compared to PMA 08. Attendance from both the mass merchandising store and internet/online retailer categories also increased by approximately 20 percent.

That's interesting given that many trade shows, including CHA, are reporting a decline in attendance. That says something about the photo industry - they get it. They get that when the chips are down, you don't run and hide, you come together to network and figure it out.

We (the scrapbook industry) could learn from that. So many people say, "I don't need a group" (like ScrapBiz and PSRO), but honestly, you DO! This is a time to come together with like-minded people and talk about the issues the scrapbook industry is facing. You almost can't afford to NOT be part of these think-tanks and networking groups.

My hat is off to PMA for a wonderful show. The educational programs at PMA are fantastic - the best I've ever attended. It's worth going to PMA for those alone. Just insert "scrapbook retailer" whenever someone says, "Photography studio" and you'll be well-fed.

Marketing Moments

It's a sad fact that many stores in the scrapbook industry have closed this year. I keep hearing about more and more. Many of them were operating at the edge of their income even in the best of times and had no room in their bottom line for any sort of bump in the road.

There are probably many factors beyond just finances that have contributed to this. Marketing your business in the best of times is so important, but marketing it at times like this is vital. Actually, marketing your business ALL THE TIME is what helps you through thick and thin.

A smaller store near my house just quietly closed up. Aside from a plain quarterly email (which really isn't enough contact), I never heard anything FROM them or ABOUT them - yet, they were just 2 miles from my house. I suspect that being tucked back off the road in a strip mall blocked from view by other stores and next to a barber shop was part of their problem. No one knew they were there and they didn't go out of their way to tell people they were.

Marketing is tricky for most people because it takes more time than money. Time and money are two things that many small business owners lack. So, advertising, which takes more money than time is just as unlikely to happen as marketing is.

Small businesses need marketing ideas that are uncomplicated and easy to find. One good new source for these is the new PMA Marketing Moments website. This idea was actually my brainchild and PMA has taken it on and created a site for the entire photo and memory industry. These little sound bites take less than 90 seconds to listen to and they will hopefully spark some ideas in you to help you market your business. Many times, marketing is merely an off-shoot of something you're already doing in your business. You just need to aim at a different crowd (potential customers) instead of aiming your effort at current customers.

Another good place to gather marketing ideas is ScrapBiz. We talk about marketing a lot because it's the life-blood of our business members. For instance, National Scrapbook Day is coming up May 2. At ScrapBiz, the theme we suggest for our members for that day is "Sweet Memories" - a day of chocolate and scrapping. Along with that comes ideas for games, treats and activities. Most business owners want that - a plan that is ready-made that they can draw on so they don't have to invent the wheel themselves.

Find other businesses that you can network with to create marketing ideas and plans. There aren't very many resources left directly targeted at our industry. Interestingly, many retailers I have spoken to say that the biggest loss for our industry when Scrapbook Retailer magazine ceased publication was the 2 month marketing idea calendar they had in every issue.

Marketing - it's something we all know we must do but that time and money thing gets in the way. Yet, it can be our very downfall in the end.

Business is business until it gets personal

I have an RSS feed coming into the ScrapBiz members-only site from Seth Godin's blog. He's one of my favorite business guru's. His post the other day really made a good point (although I missed it the first read-through) LINK. We have a very personal business as scrapbook retailers. Most of us are also friends or at least very friendly with our customers if we have face to face contact with them. It IS true that those who know you best will protect you and do much for you vs. the casual, anonymous person who doesn't know you. It's much easier to rant against Micheal's than it is your local scrapbook store if you frequently shop there and know the owner. We tend to give people we know personally a "pass" at times when it comes to their foibles (to a point).

But, I also maintain that you can take the personal relationship a bit to far and it can come back and bite you as many "scrap celebrities" in our industry have found out. There are people and groups willing to use any bit of information against you if they get something in their craw about you.

Therefore, here is my cardinal rule of getting personal in business. Never say anything that would emotionally wound you if it got thrown back in your face in a mocking or "mean girl" kind of way. That means, it's okay to talk about how lame your computer or gardening skills are. Or, how you don't like cats or can't stand pizza. If someone mocked you for those "qualities", who cares? But, what if you dump your soul about your fertility problems or weight issues? If people turned on you about those topics, it would cut like a knife and hurt very bad. There are plenty of people ready and willing to do that - especially on the internet where anonymity is acceptable.

Therefore, be careful about what you tell people - especially in blog posts or on message boards. "Copy and paste" can spread your information and the attending "mean girl" comments far and wide. A friend of mine has a 6th grade daughter who learned this the hard way - she dumped about a friend in a text message and guess where it ended up? And guess what happened to her? She ended up crying in her room for days over what happened. It was a very hard lesson.

Be friends with your customers and share with them, but also, be careful about WHAT you share. Some will care and want to help, some won't care and be turned off by your personal information and a small percentage will "file" it away and use it against you in the future.

My second rule is to grow a tough skin because no matter what you do, there will always be people who disagree - and that's okay.

Social Media: Business or Personal?

I have been discovering social media this year. I joined Facebook and reconnected with a lot of former and current friends and then I joined Twitter (@KimGuymon). I'm no expert on social media but I really feel like it's the year of Social Media Marketing and that businesses should decide if it's for them or not. Blogs, Facebook and Twitter all have their virtues when it comes to keeping in contact with friends and customers. You just need to clearly define your goals before you start so that you can stay on track.

When I joined Facebook, I decided that most of my friends there will be personal friends so my Facebook updates are almost all personal thoughts, activities and feelings. I have some business friends, too, but Facebook is more personal than business.

When I joined Twitter, I decided to make it more business than personal. The people I follow and those following me are more in it for the business side of my life than the personal one. Consequently, my tweets are nearly 100% about what I'm doing with my business life. Now, my tweets feed into my Facebook page so my FB friends get a mix, but I know they'll forgive me.

This blog works on the same principle. This blog is all business. If I post something personal, I tie it in with my business most of the time.

Clearly defining what you're doing where is important in social media. I honestly don't appreciate following a business at Twitter only to have them continually tweet about their personal lives. I have actually un-followed people because they were doing that. I don't mind the occasional personal tweet, but what you had for lunch, how high your child's fever is or what color your new shoes are isn't why I'm following you - especially if your Twitter name is your business name.

There are advantages to tweeting business stuff - a tweet is short. You can tweet out what's new in your online store, a coupon, or what you're currently working on in your business.

Facebook gives you more opportunity to express yourself with longer posts. And, you can set up a page for your business and invite your customers who are also your FB friends to become fans. Then their friends see that they've become fans of your business and will hopefully come check you out.

BUT, because of the short nature of the posts you can do at both Twitter and Facebook, you don't have much room to mix business and personal messages together.

A blog gives you a longer format to express your opinion. You can mix a personal story in a post about your new page kit and have it be totally relevant to your business blog. Our industry is very personal and our customers want to know more about us. But, you still need to be conservative in what you post - don't air your dirty laundry and think it won't potentially come back to bite you. Many in our industry have said too much at times and sometimes their fan base turned on them and used some of their personal lives for public ridicule.

So, if you're participating in social media, evaluate your goals for each form and then be mindful of those goals as you post.

PhotoBiz

Since many scrappers have now gone BEYOND the point and shoot digital camera and moved on to the DSLR's, I am seeing what seems to be an epidemic of photography business owners among scrapbookers. It reminds me a bit of the scrapbook industry 10 years ago - everyone who liked to scrap wanted to open a store.

I really kind of cringe a little when I see messages like I saw on a forum last week that said (and I'm paraphrasing), "Hey, my husband ordered me my first DSLR and I'm ready to open my photography business! Where would I take classes to learn how to use my camera?" YIKES! Those messages scare me. Just because you have a DSLR - even a killer one - doesn't mean you're ready to open a business. It's sort of like the woman who loves to cook and cooks well thinking that's all the skill she needs to run a restaurant. Not to mention you seriously need to be able to use more than your auto settings on your camera to take good photos. And, Photoshop can't perform miracles.

So, before you run off and start posing teens by dumpsters in alleys (seriously, what's up with that?), here are some things to consider:

• Do you have a business plan?
  
• How much will you charge for what kind of sessions?
• What's your specialty or niche
• Do you have the other equipment that other pros have? Lights? Backdrops? Lenses?
• Where will you consult with clients? Your home? Starbucks? Their home?
  
• Do you have a portfolio with a good variety of photos you have taken?
  
• Do you have a professional website that has REAL information on it? I hate websites full of pretty photos but not one indication of hours or package prices.
  
• Do you have a nice place to have prints made that DOESN'T have "-mart" in it's name?
• Do you have the correct business licenses? You need to be legal - collect taxes, etc.
  
• Can you deal with a bride who hates every photo you took of her big day? This isn't always a glamorous industry - sometimes people FREAK OUT at you because they were thinking "traditional" and you were thinking "edgy" and you can never recreate the day. For every happy client there will be 3 willing to string you up for being the worst photographer ever (in their minds). Can you take the criticism?
  
• Do you have the correct insurance? There is liability here that you may not think about - see the tip before this if you need an example. People love to sue!
• Do you have a contract to sign that is clear and legally binding/protecting?

Owning ANY business is more than just the fun, artistic, creative side you see. Behind that is hours of work and months or years of marketing. Those types of things are what I call the "un-fun" parts of being a business owner - but they are the MOST IMPORTANT parts that will make or break your business.

I haven't read this book, but I would suggest you get something like the Fab Job Guide to Opening your Own Photography Business for starters. It seems like it's very elementary and if you've never owned a business before, it's probably what you need.

Hi, I'm a customer...

I should wear a label when I shop - a full disclosure kind of thing. It should read, "I will critically evaluate your customer service because that's part of my job so be nice to me." Actually, I don't want extra special treatment, I just want, like all customers, to be treated like I matter.

That didn't happen in one shop I went into just before Christmas. And, honestly, this little shop-keeper is probably not in the position to pretend like customers are invisible.

This is one of those shops full of the cute but useless stuff. The shopkeeper has a really good eye for products so I like to go in and see what's new. I went in that day to see what she had in for Christmas. It matters that it was sunny that day and they were exposed to the sun through their front glass windows and door.

LITERALLY, as I went to grab the bar of the clear glass door and push it in, she was rushing the CLEAR GLASS door from the other side to push it out. She got there first and pushed it open, headed out with it and proceeded to prop it open to let air in the store. At some point during that maneuver, I managed to actually get through the door myself and into the store. It was so strange, it was as if I was COMPLETELY invisible. There was no, "Oh, excuse me" or "Hi" or any other acknowledgement that I was in the same county at all. She just rushed out while I was trying to enter. Even when I got IN the store, her husband - standing behind the counter - never said a word. But the very next person who walked in about 15 seconds later got a "Hello! How are you?!" My thought was, "They must matter and I must not today".

Honestly, I was so distracted by the little experience that I sort of lost my desire to shop and left after doing a quick sweep of the store.

What if you treated every customer like they were going to be hyper-critical of their experience with you? What if every customer who walked in the door could potentially be a "secret shopper" who would be evaluating your business. Think of it sort of like the restaurant owner who should assume that everyone who comes to dine is a food-critic who will be writing a review for a local paper. Customer service is what could set this little store in the expensive place apart from, say, the Pier One half a block away.

If you want to survive, you've got to treat every customer like they matter - because they do!