Wholesale Matters

15-Minute Marketing Project #4

We're not quite ready yet to pull out those folders with your competitors' information in them, but tackling that project was an important first step in providing you with knowledge to better prepare you to perform a SWOT (Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats) Analysis on your own company.

If you've been to business school, go ahead and proceed with your analysis. The other 99% of you should visit this website for a primer on conducting a SWOT Analysis, along with a free worksheet. Once you're finished, set your completed worksheet aside, right next to that folder.

15-Minute Marketing Project #3

This is really a multi-part project, but each step shouldn't take more than 15 minutes.

Identify your competition -- who are your top three competitors? If you don't know, add an additional 15 minutes to this project and FIND OUT.

Once you've identified the enemies, your mission is to learn as much about them as you can. Google their company name. Google the artist name. Google their phone number. Visit their website. Find out their prices, where they are advertising, what stores their work is in, what shows they exhibit at, what they're doing that you're not, how they make their work... everything you can.

Make a folder for each of your competitors and put all this information in it. We'll open them up again next week.

Make the most of your pre-show direct mail

Include a “Call to Action”

First, determine the goal for your mailing: Is it orders? Getting buyers to your booth? Collecting information from buyers?

Once you’ve decided on a goal, you can then develop an appropriate call to action:

• Bring this card to Booth #1234 for 10% off your order of $500 or more (Goal: Orders)
• Bring this card to Booth #1234 for your FREE gift. No purchase necessary. (Goal: Booth Traffic)
• Visit Booth #1234 and enter to win a free iPod.  (Goal: Collecting information, provided you require the buyer to fill out a small form or submit their business card to enter)

A call to action is a VITAL aspect of your mail piece. Without it, it is impossible to measure the success of your mailing.

Don’t forget the details

Your mailer should always include the following:

-           Company Name

-           Booth Number

-           Show name, dates and location

-           Your phone number

-           Your email address & website

Ensure your piece is mailable

If you are sending postcards, be sure the mailer side has a sufficient amount of white space to affix a 2 5/8” label. Leave at least the entire right half completely blank – postal regulations require no text, graphics or color.

Manage your expectations

Even with daily work on updating and maintaining lists of active and prospective buyers, you can count on a certain number of returned or undeliverable pieces (these will only come back to you if you include your return address).

The average response rate for a direct mail campaign is 1-3 percent. If you send out 1,000 pieces, you should expect to see 10-30 responses if you include an appropriate call to action (if you don’t have a call to action, you’ll never know if you’re getting a response).

15-Minute Marketing Project #2

This week's 15-minute project probably won't even take 15 minutes, but you should commit to doing it everyday.

Right now, make a comment on any one of this blog's posts. Be sure your comment includes your URL (for your website, your blog or both), either in the body or as a link attached to your signature (this is automatic on some blogs). Then tomorrow, do the same thing on another blog. The next day, do it again. And so on.

Continue, and watch the traffic to your website grow.

The Art of Greening Your Business

You're a hard-working artist, just trying to make a living in a challenging economy. You would never tolerate waste. At the same time, you might not consider yourself a tree-hugger. You're all for doing what's right for the environment, but is there a way to do it that's also right for your business?

Find out by reading this month's Market Insider.

Become an award-winning artist

Applications are now being accepted for the 2009 NICHE Awards, celebrating excellence and innovation in American and Canadian craft. Winners are announced at a special ceremony during the February Buyers Market of American Craft in Philadelphia.

Professional entries are due August 30; student deadline is Sept. 30.

Click here to see past winners and download an application.

15-Minute Marketing Project #1

I'll try to post one of these a week -- a very quick marketing project that can be done in 15 or 30 minutes.

This week:

Write hand-written thank you notes to your top three wholesale accounts, letting them know how grateful you are for their partnership with you. No selling, no enclosing show brochures, no mention of new products allowed... just a simple note of thanks.

Free marketing education for exhibitors

NEWS FROM THE BUYERS MARKET:

Buyers Market of American Craft partners with TS2

Exhibitors to benefit from complimentary educational programming, access to tradeshow

BALTIMORE, Md. (May 6, 2008) – The Buyers Market of American Craft, the nation’s largest wholesale tradeshow for products handmade in the United States and Canada, will partner with TS2, the premier conference and expo for exhibit and event marketing professionals.

Buyers Market exhibitors will be able to take advantage of a free two-day (Wednesday-Thursday) conference registration to TS2, taking place July 28-31 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. Exhibitors will also be able to access the expo floor at no charge. Package value is $675.

Among the sessions Buyers Market exhibitors will be able to choose from:

·           Leading with Questions: The Ultimate Key to Successful Trade Show Sales

·           Many Happy Returns: Getting the Highest Return on Your Trade Show Spend

·           Lose Weight (in Your Booth): Creative Ways to Exhibit Light

·           How to Develop and Manage a Budget for Success

·           Trade Show Espionage: What Every Exhibitor Needs to Know About the Spies Among Us

·           Driving a Consistent Brand Image from Start to Finish

·           Marketing 101

·           Strategies to Get Maximum Trade Show PR

·           Big Impact with Small Booths and Small Budgets

“TS2’s co-location in Philadelphia presented an unparalleled opportunity for our exhibitors to learn how to more effectively leverage their tradeshow participation into greater profits,” says Christine Kloostra, Show Director of the Buyers Market. “Conferences like this are often not affordable for the types of small businesses that exhibit at the Buyers Market, so we’re particularly excited to be offering these sessions at no charge to our exhibitors.”

The Philadelphia Buyers Market of American Craft takes place August 2-4 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. It attracts thousands of retail gift shops, museum stores and galleries that sell fine handcrafted jewelry, glass art, furniture, ceramics, art made from recycled goods and more.

For more information on the Buyers Market of American Craft, visit www.americancraft.com. For more information on TS2, visit www.ts2show.com.

How Green are you?

Earth Day is this Saturday... and the green movement is all the rage.

Here at the Buyers Market, we're taking baby steps, but trying to move forward.

We've recycled in our office for several years, and will introduce recycling bins at the show this summer. Last summer, we initiated a plan to put our exhibitor kits online with some success, but had to revert to mailing paper kits for February. We'll make another go of returning to online kits this summer in a manner that works better for our exhibitors AND reduces the amount of paper we produce and send out.

What steps have you taken in the past year to make your business more environmentally-friendly? Can you share these actions with your stores and galleries so they can pass the information onto their customers?

Mother's Day Reminder

It's just a few weeks until one of the year's gift-giving holidays - Mother's Day. If you've got gift-appropriate items in stock, now is a great time to call or email your galleries to see if they need anything.