Blue Elephants

My friend Shelly and I are planning to participate in our first craft show September 26 in Camden, Tennessee. I've been working on some baby-themed thank you notes. I think these are really cute. I love the blue elephant. I am excited about the show.

Flat Note Design

Here's a new flat note design I've been working on. I love the lime and blue color combo. Any personalization can be done on these, but I'm thinking a simple initial would look perfect.

Word of Mouth WORKS!

I've long known that word of mouth advertising works. In fact, in my small town, word of mouth can be the difference between success and failure. Simply put - word of mouth can make or break a business. That's why it is so vital that the word be good. I've seen what happens when it's bad. And it doesn't necessarily have to be bad customer service or inferior products, it can be as simple as the business owner was seen at the wrong place at the wrong time. I know, silly. But it happens and the gossip that ensues can be detrimental to a business.

A local restaurant owner made a rude comment to several organizers of a big community event last year and that poor choice of words has caused them to loose considerable business. Another business owner made a poor personal choice and is now out of business. Even after public apologies and numerous marketing attempts, word of mouth was too strong to overcome.

When I saw the book "Word of Mouth Marketing" by Andy Sernovitz, I was immediately interested. Word of mouth works, so why not try to facilitate and control it as a marketing tool. Of course, as in anything it has to be sincere and honest. And I especially like the idea that you become a part of it and join the conversations instead of sitting back and hoping for the best.

In his book, Sernovitz talks about the Five Ts: talkers, topics, tools, taking part and tracking. Imagine actually getting the conversations going by identifying your talkers, giving them something to talk about (something of your choosing, instead of random bits), remaining an active part of the scenario and actually tracking the results.

Word of mouth works! If you're in business, I hope you'll visit the word of mouth website and see what all the "talk" is about for yourself.

Whittling Down the To Do List

I’m not a big reader. Normally the extent of my reading includes instruction manuals and research. But, since one of my goals for this year is to find time for things I haven’t been able to do lately, I went looking for inspiration to get them done.

I was intrigued by the title of a book called “The Power of Less” by Leo Babauta. So, I bought it and have tried to read a few pages everyday. Along the way, I’ve begun to follow and implement some of its suggestions.

One of the suggestions is about making lists. I’ve always been a list maker, more out of necessity than anything else. (I have a terrible memory.) But Babauta is correct in that it helps to keep you focused on what is important. He suggests a daily list of MIT (most important tasks), but a daily list for my projects wasn’t really feasible. So I modified this idea a little.

First I listed everything I had been putting off and every project (commitment) I had started but hadn’t managed to compete. I ended up with 20 items. Then I prioritized these 20 and went to work getting them done. That was six weeks ago. I am happy to say this list now has only one item left.

Another point in the book is to celebrate the small accomplishments. I plan to do that this weekend by making a gallon of homemade ice cream and garnishing it with lots of M&Ms.

I can finally visualize more time for doing the things I love … like making homemade ice cream.

Happy Easter, Everyone!

First Marketing Seminar

I conducted my first marketing seminar this past weekend - "12 Easy Marketing Tools for Small Business." And I have to admit that I loved it. I had hoped for lots of interaction and purposely kept the class size small. I was so pleasantly surprised when I found that the participants spared no time in beginning to talk about their business, their marketing dilemmas and their expectations. They totally got that marketing is not just about advertising, but a collection of all the activities they do to promote and interact with customers.

The networking was awesome and so many creative - outside the box - ideas were discussed. I can't wait to get together with this group again.

Thanks guys, for a memorable day.