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Posts Tagged ‘advertising’

Is your dance card empty?

Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , on July 12, 2010| 2 Comments »

Dance cards are those archaic little booklets that were given to a young lady at cotillions and balls. With a teeny pencil tied with a ribbon attached, young men would write in their names on the young lady’s card, claiming her dancing company for each song. Hence the expression “pencil me in.”A popular young lady's dance card, all filled up

Of course, an empty dance card bespeaks a wallflower.

Now I assume you don’t want your consignment or resale or thrift shop to be a wallflower.

So if you use a Google calendar or any calendar on your web site, whatever you do, don’t leave it looking like there’s nothing going on at your shop. You and I known there’s plenty going on…so why not let your adoring public in on it?

This thrift shop's calendar has only 3 entries for the month.

The shop’s calendar only has 3 entries…and all, alas, are negative.

What could this shop have put on their calendar? Well, Happy 4th of July. Fall fashions coming soon. Check out our new book department. And that’s not even counting any promotional events. Or town happenings. Or even inspiring quotes.

Nothing happening at this consignment shop? Hard to believe.

Look at all that image-enhancing space you could use.

Absolutely nothing out-of-the-ordinary happening at your shop? Then list the ordinary things: Come see our new window display or Monday’s a big incoming day…so get on in Tuesday to get first dibs. Or create a promotional event that needs no more than a name and attitude: Wacky Wednesday if every customer wearing a wacky pair of shoes gets a WHACK (Wonderfully Humongously Adorable Consignment Knick-knack, e.g. a pick from your basket full of beribboned little treasures that have been saved from your ODs)

Can’t think of a THING to put on your shop’s calendar? I can think of 229 of them for you…here’s one:

224.    August 19 is Coco Chanel’s birthday. She was the first person to popularize menswear for women and, of course, created the “little black dress.” Use your imagination: what’s the “little black dress” of home decor or kidswear? –Idea #224 from Resale’s BEST Promotions. *

Resale's BEST Promotions from TGtbT.com

* And don’t miss idea #214 in Resale’s BEST Promotions about Encouraging Incoming: #214 is JUST the idea you need in the middle of July, and is the first of FIVE ideas on that topic you can use on your “dance card” calendar and in your shop.

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Haven’t opened your consignment shop yet? Or maybe you just need more fans?* My best advice.

Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , on July 6, 2010|

One of the most common questions I was asked at Conference was actually from those attendees who hadn’t yet opened their shops. “How do I let people know I am opening before I’m open?” Here’s what I replied, which even if your shop’s been open a good long time* might be a brainstorm for business:

Start a blog. As a diary of your opening.

Let others in on your dreams...they'd love to help your consignment shop succeed!

Don’t know where to start with a blog? Here. Advice and a Product for the Professional Resaler!

Let your readers help you choose a font for your shop name, a color for your walls, and anything else you’d like an opinion on.

Post (in-focus, captioned, non-date-stamped) photos of what you’re experiencing. From the bare bones of your new location to your leasing agent toasting you in champagne in the local watering hole. From your nephew lugging in racks to your Grandma polishing the mirrors. The overloaded van and the mess you’ve made of computer cables.

Gain good-wishers before you even open.

Everyone loves to peer in on other people’s lives. Witness the reality TV trend. Build yourself a following, a batch of folk who have a STAKE in your success.

Show yourself as a REAL person. Show your vulnerabilities, your concerns, your goals and ambitions. Let your viewers follow your journey.

Let them HELP you.

Need a French Provincial desk to serve as your sales counter? Let them tell you where you might find one. Ask if anyone knows where you can find some slub-silk drapes for your dressing rooms or which newspapers they read. Wanna fill your under-construction windows with glossy shopping bags from classy stores or need a wing-back for your husband chair? Chances are, your audience can help guide you. Heck, they might even be TICKLED to give you just what you need. I got a 4 x 8 foot Parsons table that way… she was thrilled to be rid of it, I used it for 20 years.

Of course, you’ll print up business cards saying “Follow our journey from dream to the best consignment shop in MyTown” and hand them out all over village/town/city.

That’s a LOT more interesting to the recipients than “Opening Soon.”

And just think. A few weeks after you open, you can have a party for your blog followers, to thank them for their support…and of course, to have yet another occasion to point out the community support your new shop has. And to build a core group of advisers to whom you can go, as the months and years pass, for their opinions and support. All this, just with an online “diary”… AKA blog. You can even set up your blog to post automatically to your social media… and then you can repost and repost until everyone who follows you is drawn into your “journey.”

Your cheering section. Everyone needs one (or more) of those!

* This type of “event” diary on your blog also, natch, works for shops which are open but see the value in bonding, in a conversation, with new, old, “best” customers. Let them follow your progress as you plan an event, train a new staffer, even do what (to you is) a mundane task, like developing and installing a new window display. It doesn’t need to be elaborate…3 to 5 photos with good captions could do it. Be their “reality” show, and you’ll reap enthusiasm and friendship!

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Neutron bomb has fallen.

Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , on June 30, 2010| 9 Comments »

It seems like the neutron bomb has fallen on many consignment, resale, thrift shops…leaving everything intact except for people.

Neat, yes. Appealing, no.

Least, that’s how it looks when I see shop photos many times. Lonesome. Unoccupied. Empty. Deserted. Cheerless. Forlorn. Desolate.

Snooze.

Where’s the subliminal “community acceptance” message? The in-your-face “boy this is a popular shop they must have great stuff”? Or even the “gosh, will I look like THAT if I shop there?” wishful thinking.

People, people. Put people in your photos. Even just one can make all the difference.

Even one person makes a difference

Or failing that, mannequins.

These models won't blink.

Liven it up! Make it look like it’s fun to shop in your store. Befriended. Cheerful. Together. Popular.

Courtesy some newspaper photog.

Make it seem like THE place to BE.

Here’s an idea: invite all your Facebook fans over one evening. (Might as well get SOME use out of them.) Ask them to dress in white tops, black or khaki bottoms (you want your shop to shine; the fans are really only props but we won’t tell them that.) Use them as your models. When you’ve got the shots you want (and only then!), break out the pizza and beer or raspberries and champagne.

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Cut it out: Making better consignment and resale photos

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , on June 18, 2010| 6 Comments »

Sometimes, less is more. You know, when the racks or shelves are too full, you eliminate the clutter.

Well, it’s s good thing to do the same with your photos. Whether you’re posting on your site, your blog, Facebook or Twitpix (more about THAT later…let’s just say right now there are better alternatives that are just as easy) you want people to focus on (more…)

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Consignment / resale shop Weekend Project

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , on June 5, 2010| 3 Comments »

Introduce your staff.

Introduce your staff.

Here’s the perfect weekend project for consignment, resale, and thrift shopkeepers, assuming no one’s graduating or getting married this perfect June day. It’s advertising, it’s PR, it’s a way of pulling your business out of the dreaded Sea of Sameness, and it’s fun as well: create (more…)

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