Positive Yarn

A Groupon offer nudged us into having our ductwork cleaned. After all, we’ve lived in the house 10 years, own two very sheddy pets and don’t dust nearly as much as my mother-in-law thinks we should. Ignoring the data the Environmental Protection Agency puts out saying that the results are more anecdotal than concrete, we took the plunge.

Yesterday, a pair of Sears technicians came to the house around 12:30, a perfectly acceptable time within the “noon to 3″ window we were promised. They did their job professionally for the most part, although I was a little uncomfortable that one decided to use our upstairs master bathroom without asking (we have a guest bath on the first floor). My husband maintains the tech probably did not ask because our office door was closed and he didn’t want to disturb us further.

This morning, Sears sent an email survey.  I have always been partial to this retailer, despite all its bumblings over the years, because I was a Sears Associate from age 17 to 21. In the late 1980s, at least, it had been a great employer for a teenager who liked to spend her days at the mall anyway.

But I have to say I was amused by the way the survey was presented. It had all the standard questions — “Did the technicians conduct themselves professionally,” etc. — but rather than having me choose a response to each question, all the responses were defaulted to “extremely satisfied.” I only had to click a button if I was anything less than amazed, evidently.

I can’t decide whether I like this approach. On one hand, I was giving mostly fives (“extremely satisfied”) anyway, so it was kind of nice to scan the question and know I literally didn’t have to lift a finger. On the other hand (no pun intended), it means that had I missed a question, Sears would still take it as a win — “Ah, she hates us on every level but question No. 6, in which she was extremely satisfied!” In the end, I left the majority of responses as they were and dropped a couple down to fours as I deemed appropriate.

Still, it got me to thinking. I have created my fair share of online surveys for clients over the years, and was unaware that providing a default response was even an option. Maybe I’d better brush up on technique there. Or maybe it’s a shade of gray in ethics that I shouldn’t go near.

Now it’s your turn: In your business surveys, do you have a default response on? Or do you think that brings in some murky ethics? Sound off below or drop me a line at heather at goochandgooch.com.

In the last 48 hours, I’ve done two things I’m not at all comfortable doing: public speaking and flying. Those of you who have spoken to me personally know that I have no problem being a complete chatterbox one-on-one or in small groups. Large groups, on the other hand, especially those expecting words of wisdom, can be terrifying.

Thankfully, I had Moderator Gwen Bortner and a wonderful group of fellow panelists — Robin King, Erin Slonaker and Emily Van — who were absolutely knowledgeable, professional and (probably without realizing it) put me at ease. My hope is that we answered a lot of questions and concerns about how to market one’s business with social media, and perhaps provided a spark for future discussions as well.

To get out to California from Ohio to speak, of course, I had to hop on a couple airplanes. I have not done so since 2005, but the cattle prodding process quickly came back to me. Luckily, I had plenty to keep me busy. I downloaded several CraftLit podcasts so that I’m nearly up-to-date on the reading and commentary of Jane Eyre. I also had games on my smartphone, work on my laptop, and a lot of napping to do.

On the Phoenix-Long Beach leg, I also had a great conversation with Kate Gagnon Osborn, so the flight was over before I knew it.

The upshot: After weeks of worrying about flying and speaking, I was able to face both my fears head-on. Interacting with people who love the same things I do — fiber, stitching, technology, helping one another — has made all the difference.

So if you’re also at the TNNA Long Beach conference, please stop me and say hello. I’m always looking for new ideas to share. In fact, I learned of two fantastic in-shop events from retailers during our pre-panel Retailers Luncheon:

1. Did you know today was Wear Red Day, the awareness day from the American Heart Association about women and heart disease? While all of February is National Heart Month, Vivian Zagar, owner of Tangled Purls, Salem, OR, notes that every year on Feb. 1, if a customer wears red into the shop, he or she gets a raffle ticket. If said person is wearing something he or she knit or crocheted, that’s worth two raffle tickets. At the end of the day, a name is drawn for a fabulous gift basket. She also passes out “Go Red for Women” pins — and notes that the event is one everyone looks forward to each year. Vivian told me tonight that it’s a cause that’s close to her heart, literally: She had a heart attack 16 years ago.

2. Another retailer at my table, Pat Clark of By Hand Yarn in Sonora, CA, hosts a “Customer Trunk Show” every June. All month long, customers’ handiwork is on display. Not only is it a morale boost for customers (especially in classes, when they get the “Get it done by June, so we can put it in the show!” kick they need to stay on top of a project), it’s a great time for the shop to take stock of their everyday samples they’ve had on display previously, cleaning or swapping them out as needed. Pat noted that even if they finish it mid-month, up on the wall or in the window it goes.

Naturally, both shops talk up these projects on their Facebook pages and enewsletters.

So now it’s your turn: Got a great customer-centric tip to share? Sound off below or drop me a line. Meanwhile, I’m loving the warm weather and gearing up to see everyone at the SampleIT event, Fashion Show and other festivities tonight. I’m still “flying high” from conquering my fears — and can’t wait to see what’s in store for the rest of my stay here.

My fall edition of Positive Yarn’s Tips & Tricks will mail later today. Yep, it’s still fall until Friday, so I’m just squeaking in.

If you want to sign up to receive this free quarterly enewsletter, shoot me an email at positiveyarn@goochandgooch.com. I wish all my readers a safe, festive, happy, healthy and successful holiday season!

I’ll be attending the Council of Smaller Enterprises’ annual Small Business Conference later this week, and I just received an email from them titled “Things to Know Before You Go.” I assumed it would include tips for wearing sensible shoes and drinking plenty of water, so imagine my surprise when the first bulleted item in the email was actually this:

• The Brand New Small Business Convention Mobile Application: For the first time ever, the Small Business Convention features a mobile application! Available through either the Apple or Android markets, this app is customized to each individual attendee. Simply visit your marketplace and search for 2012 COSE SBC. Once you have the app, enter the email address you used to sign up for the Convention. Once logged in you’ll have access to your own personal schedule, information on all speakers and workshops, near-me attractions in the Sandusky area, and a GPS enabled “you are here” icon so that you will never get lost.

Naturally, I grabbed my phone and downloaded this free app. It’s pretty cool – everything is pretty much as described in their copy above. 

COSE has sweetened the “download it!” deal by offering $50 gas cards to two lucky attendees who use the app. Of course, another item they slipped in, while you’re presumably still psyched about a new app to play with on your way to Sandusky, OH, is that they are not providing any handout materials this year for their seminars — rather, attendees are instructed to visit a web page to print handouts out on their own time and paper. It’s a bit of an odd cost-cutting (excuse me, “green”) measure to make, but on the other hand I can see at a glance ALL the materials of sessions running concurrently with the ones I’ve signed up for, so in that respect I’m getting bonus info.

I think this is a taste of the future — that eventually, every industry event will have a helpful app and web page to guide attendees through their FAQs, hotel directions, dining options and more. It could be a good thing, but on the other hand, the added frustration of attendees who can’t get it to work or who perhaps just would like to talk to a real person instead of reading through blocks of text on an itty-bitty screen might outweigh the benefits. What do you think, dear readers — have you experienced an event via app already? Or does this all sound like smoke and mirrors? Sound off below or drop me a line at positiveyarn@goochandgooch.com.

Josie and Joey are the ambassadors for Chris de Longpré’s upcoming book, 52 Timeless Toys to Knit. According to a press release that Chris recently sent out to the media (including me!), they are packed and ready to embark on a 5-week tour of New Zealand and Australia. Departing on Oct. 24, they will be returning to the U.S. on Nov. 30.

Now, if that wasn’t cool enough, this owner of Knitting at KNoon has put an interactive spin on things: You can follow their adventures on Facebook.com/KnittingAtKNoonDesigns and on Twitter @KnittingAtKnoon. Vacation photos of Josie and Joey will contain “clues” for a contest to be announced in early December. Fifteen lucky followers will win an advance pattern to make Josie and Joey. Because the book isn’t expected to publish until the fourth quarter of 2013, the winners are truly getting an early treat.

Kudos to Chris for such a creative contest — and for being brave enough to promise to make social media updates for her business while enjoying her personal travel time!

Photo credit: slideshow bob on Flickr.

The aptly named Warm n’ Fuzzy yarn shop opened on Aug. 1 in Cary, NC. According to a writeup in the Raleigh News & Observer, owner Rebecca Hart is focusing on the therapeutic and stress-busting aspects of knitting and crochet, as well as a sense of community.

After teaching at a local shop, Hart decided to open her own. As she states on her site, “For many years, I had this crazy idea of running a yarn-café. I pictured people sitting, sipping, stitching, and sharing.”

She has made her idea a reality, selling coffee and baked goods from La Farm, a local bakery. From the photos I’ve seen online, the shop looks gorgeous (I only wish I lived closer!). And judging from the positive response on Warm n’ Fuzzy’s Facebook page, it’s already building a loyal following in its first week of business. I wish her much success.

But I was curious as to whether having food and drink in a retail environment helps or hinders business. My own LYS is situated on a town square where local eatery options are just steps away, so it probably doesn’t make sense for them to offer customers more than a cup of tea or coffee.

Looking at random reviews on Yelp.com, which admittedly is a forum for just as many Grumpy Guses as it is Positive Paulettes, yarn cafes in general are a mixed bag. Some customers are not sure what to make of their local destination (not enough room for yarn selection, not enough food selection, depending on the point of view); others are delighted that theirs offers so much in one space. Nearly all of their happiness levels hinged upon how friendly the staff was. And the ability to have a glass of wine next to your needles seems to be a definite plus!

So, my question to readers today is, have you dabbled in dining options with your shop? What have been the benefits? Have there been drawbacks? Any best practice tips? Please sound off below or email me directly.

Credit: www.istockphoto.com

Recent reports indicate that if you came to this blog post from my enewsletter, you’re part of the 77% who like to receive marketing information by email. If you came to it from my Facebook post, you’re one of the 4%(!) who want to be marketed to that way. If you came to it by my tweet about it, well, you’re a one percenter. And my link from my LinkedIn account doesn’t even register, from the survey’s point of view.

What survey is claiming all this? ExactTarget’s 2012 Channel Preference Survey, which this spring “asked almost 1,500 US online consumers (age 15 and up) about how they prefer to get permission-based marketing messages.” Email was the preference by a landslide; the second preference, direct mail, was at 9%. Text messaging took third place at 5%. Marketland.com does a nice analysis of the survey here.

The survey also found that 66% of respondents made a purchase as a result of the marketing message in their email, followed closely by 65% from direct mail (which for the record, lumps letters, catalogs and postcards as one and the same). A distant third place was by phone, at 24%. Facebook took fourth place (20%), followed by text messaging by cell phone (16%), a mobile app (10%), Twitter (6%) and LinkedIn (4%). Interesting, another new study detailed on Marketland.com, this time by marketing agency Knotice, finds that 27% of emails are opened on a phone, and rising. So while emails are king, they should be optimized to be seen on the little bitty cell phone screen.

Now, before you start wondering why the heck you’re allotting time and money to a Facebook and Twitter presence, let me point out that consumers do like to follow brands on these platforms (see analysis of recent studies here and here). The ExactTarget study also found out that respondents aged 15 to 34 were more likely to prefer text and social media than email, so the current popularity of email may dwindle as that generation influences the generation of buyers behind it.

And whether it’s in an email or on a social media platform, how do you nudge the contact from mere reader to purchaser? Again I turn to Marketland.com, which details a 2011 study from Constant Contact and Chadwick Martin Bailey: “Fifty-eight percent of respondents said they subscribe to a company mailing list to get discounts and special offers, while 41% said that’s why they ‘like’ a company’s Facebook page. In both cases, it was the No. 1 reason consumers take those actions.” That study found that “too much contact” — too many emails or irrelevant content — drives them away. The old “quality over quantity” adage definitely applies.

Marketland.com is my hero this week, because the results it reports from yet another study (from marketing software provider Silverpop) talks about how email “open rates are falling, but click-through rates are on the rise.” In other words, the people who are reading your emails are responding, even if there aren’t as many of them. And it just serves to underscore what a mixed bag online marketing of all stripes can be.

Keeping in mind that the needlearts and crafts industries tend to skew older and more social (especially on platforms like Ravelry and Etsy, which the surveys obviously cannot consider with these general-population respondents), I suggest you take a look at your marketing program and see whether you’re meeting your readers’ needs:

1. Look at the open rate of newsletters and the activity of your social media pages. Are your numbers closely resembling the results of the study? Chances are good that they are.
2. Include a call to action as often as possible in your communications. It’s true that readers will get sales fatigue if every Facebook post is telling them what’s being discounted daily, but slipping those kinds of posts in as warranted does make sense. (Don’t forget to track the response — see No. 3.) In the newsletter or information blast, give them a reason to read. I offer as an example my client Barbara Grossman, who runs the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival. Because the Festival is a spring event, there isn’t as much incentive for her enewsletter readers to open up an email from her in, say, mid-summer (well, the fall Knittreat is a good reason, but I digress!). Barb does pull in the readership by including special sweepstakes offers, book reviews and free patterns from partnering vendors and designers each issue. Feedback indicates that readers look forward to these exclusive goodies (and get updated info on the Festival as it draws ever-closer), while vendor partners look forward to the extra exposure it gives them.
3. Think before you act. As the Constant Contact/Chadwick Martin Bailey study underscores, emailing or posting incessently or with worthless content is a turn-off on any platform.
4. Track all leads. Is there a true spike in orders a day or two after a postcard mailing, eblast or Facebook announcement goes out? Are you adding to your order form page a field that says “How did you hear about us?” — or better yet, “Would you like to be notified about upcoming sales and announcements? How would you like to be notified?” and offer several options? Are you asking it on the phone, or making it part of your email signature to “sign up for our enewsletter, follow us on Facebook,” etc.?
5. Don’t stay complacent. These studies that are true today might yield different answers a few months from now. We must also keep in mind that they are pulling a fairly generic audience, not a more niche one like that on your mailing list. But just as you do in person or over the phone, keep a rapport with your current (and potential) customers, and you’ll go far.

Now, it’s your turn: Share your insights, agreement, arguments and opinions by sounding off below, or emailing me feedback. And oh yeah, I still answer the phone, too.

As a marketing professional, realizing that 13 weeks have past since my last blog is a bit awkward, to say the least. But this summer has flown by, and each time I think “Hmm, that would make a great blog post,” life intervenes:

Helping Hannah make and frost her first cake from start to finish:

Traveling cross-country from Ohio to Colorado, with a stop along the way to see the World’s Largest Prairie Dog (Mr. Farmer sold us our tickets himself) in Oakley, KS:

Attending TNNA’s Summer Market, and catching up with friends old and new (including the lovely Beth Brown-Reinsel, taking a quick pause for the camera during the Meet the Teacher event):

Making a bit of progress on my cross-stitch project (I love it, but I can’t wait to be done with it, as there’s an impatient Jenna with an afghan request put in!):

So now you’re all caught up, almost as though I have blogged these past 13 weeks. OK, not really — I didn’t address the hubbub over the “Ravelympics” trademark infringement controversy; a copyright-ignoring pattern-sharing website that has designers and retailers rightfully steaming (read this very good take on it by Lori Brechlin, Not Forgotten Farm); this awesome wedding dress, and others I’m certain I’m forgetting. But there’s plenty more to talk about, and I’ll get to it on a more regular basis.

Maybe even with pictures.

The following is a press release from Interweave I received today. Copyright has been the topic of several conversations I’ve been having with colleagues lately, so I’m sure I’ll be revisiting the topic in a future blog post soon. In the meantime, kudos to Interweave for tackling the subject in this manner:

Loveland, Colo., April 27, 2012: Yesterday was World Intellectual Property Day, and Interweave celebrated the day along with the U.S. Copyright Office, American Chamber of Commerce, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and others around the world to give credit to the talented writers, designers, artists, photographers, and innovators who work with us to share with readers and customers their products and ideas.

To mark the occasion, Interweave released a new eBook for artists and crafters, Know Your Rights: Copyright 101, to raise awareness for the issues surrounding copyright and the problems with copyright infringement that are currently impacting our industry.

The 10-page eBook is available for free download in each of Interweave’s 10 online communities for artists and crafters:

• Know Your Rights: Copyright 101 for Artists 
• Know Your Rights: Copyright 101 for Knitters
• Know Your Rights: Copyright 101 for Crocheters
• Know Your Rights: Copyright 101 for Spinners
• Know Your Rights: Copyright 101 for Weavers
• Know Your Rights: Copyright 101 for Beaders
• Know Your Rights: Copyright 101 for Jewelry Artists
• Know Your Rights: Copyright 101 for Sewists
• Know Your Rights: Copyright 101 for Art Quilters
• Know Your Rights: Copyright 101 for Mixed Media Artists

“Most people think of pirated movies or music when they hear about copyright violations,” says Eunny Jang, editor of Interweave Knits magazine. “But we answer questions about copyright for crafters, artists, designers, and authors every day—copyright and other intellectual property issues are a big deal in the DIY marketplace, where the “I can do that!” spirit and respect for original, independent design and authorship need to coexist peacefully.”

Questions around copyright can range from simple queries, like “Can I make a copy of a pattern?” (Answer: For your own use, yes; to give to a friend, no) to more complex issues, like “How can I be inspired by other artists without infringing on their intellectual property rights?” (Answer: By executing your vision independently, and asking permission where necessary).

“Ultimately, copyright is about protecting the creative process, ensuring that the creator of a work can benefit from that work,” adds Jang. “Our goal at Interweave is to educate our consumers about what copyright is, and why it matters—and to give authors, artists, and designers everywhere the tools they need to protect their own rights so they can continue to create new works and share them with the public.”