May 2009

Positively Heather

By Heather Gooch

Because your profile and a link to your blog and/or Web site link will be archived to my site, you can help your search engine recognition of your company and thus help you build your brand. It's also great practice for being interviewed by a media professional. Even if you've participated in interviews before, it certainly never hurts to hone how you want your story and message to be portrayed.

So don't be shy. Email me if you're interested!

Spin Room

Marketing in May: 5 Ways to Connect with Customers

After a long winter that provided your customers ample opportunity to curl up with that favorite project or play with the goodies they bought with their Christmas gift card (to your store, of course!), warm weather is finally upon us. Unfortunately, that also means customers may be thinking more about their gardens than their craft rooms. Let's look at 5 ways to get them back to thinking about your business all summer long. (More...)

Links I Love

Marketing Specialist Dave Loomis' daily blog, "a word on marketing." He takes a word ("Sweep," for example, since I'm in a spring cleaning kind of mood), starts with the dictionary definition and works his way toward a related marketing meaning that is meant to inspire us all to go get 'em.

Got a link you love? Tell me!

The Knitty Gritty

X Have you registered yet for The National NeedleArts Association's (TNNA's) Summer Market? It's taking place June 13-15 at the Greater Columbus (OH) Convention Center, and I can tell you firsthand that hotel rooms are selling out fast.

X Fiber farming in the news: The Poughkeepsie (NY) Journal recently did a great article on a local business, the Hudson Valley Fiber Farm in nearby Hortontown. My favorite part? The fact that the reporter decided to include this little, but telling paragraph: "Young women are the secret spark that's fueling knitting and crochet yarn sales across the country, according to the (Craft Yarn Council of America). Since 2002, participation in these crafts increased more than 150 percent in the 25-34 age category."

Tip: Monitor the comments when you're profiled in the media. I believe the comments at the end of an article are an important component of reading online — because while some might use a comments forum as a way to be snarky or ignorant, if you look past those posts you often find it's a good way to take the pulse of the local market. I commend Susan Gibbs, co-owner of the farm, for keeping an eye on the comments section of the article and posting a calm, reasonable response to someone who shared an opinion that was based on incorrect information.

X CPSIA update: HR 4040, also known as the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, or CPSIA, has extended its compliance deadline until Feb. 10, 2010. After this date, the law makes it "illegal to manufacture, distribute, import or sell any children's products containing more than 600 parts per million of lead in the substrate of any component part of the product." This includes dyes in your fibers, your beads, your embellishments — and non-compliance can mean a $100,000 per-violation fine and up to five years in prison. The initial compliance date was supposed to have been February 2009, but requests from industry associations like TNNA and the Craft & Hobby Association (CHA) asking that some of the requirements be looked at for more realistic compliance pushed the deadline back.

Tip: Stay aware of any updates. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has published an online guide to clear up some confusion for compliance, and CHA itself has a special page devoted to CPSIA. We all want our children to be protected from an atrocity like lead poisoning, of course, but I think a recent email bulletin from TNNA put it best: "This law is like cleaning up a mosquito-infested pond with an atomic bomb."