Positive Yarn

Thanks to the wonderful Connie Barwick, who is the About.com Cross-stitch Guide and offers lots of great info through her site and weekly e-newsletter, I just learned that The Needlework Show, an online-only trade show for wholesalers, is “opening” April 15.

There is a lot of talk in trade show circles that virtual shows are increasing in popularity — after all, there is no travel or shipping costs involved, and with their username and password in hand, attendees can conceivably browse 24/7. Unlike a traditional trade show, where a misprinted sign or forgotten business card can be a sign of doom for an exhibitor, mistakes can be corrected almost immediately.

I'll be exhibiting again at TNNA in June. Come say hello if you're attending, too!

However, also unlike a traditional show, you do lose some of the spontaneity that comes from a casual conversation at a booth, identifying a visitor’s needs and getting the chance to show him or her how your product fits the bill. In the needlearts industry especially, the inability to touch yarn or see the true color of a canvas can be a hindrance. Plus, unlike the packed schedules of, say, a show from The National NeedleArts Association or the Craft & Hobby Association, this is a market only — no classes or seminars to support it. That’s not to say future events won’t include a live Webinar or YouTube-archived project instruction, though!

Recession conditions and multimedia technologies seemed to have converged at just the right time to make virtual shows viable. For example, according to an October 2009 press release, Middleboro, MA-based Champion Exposition Services did a study that found 28% of associations polled plan on using a digital event platform in 2010. The study also found that 70% of respondents are “actively producing, considering or interested in pursuing virtual events.”

I don’t think virtual shows will replace brick-and-mortar exhibition events, but there is definitely room for them at the table. The Needlework Show is appealing mainly to shop owners, but the site doesn’t neglect needlework enthusiasts (which is Barwick’s target audience). It offers a list of vendors, as well as retailers by state who are signed up for the show and thus would potentially carry the various products. Plus, as Barwick says in today’s newsletter, “Be sure to visit the Fun Page — once the show opens they usually have contests that offer opportunities to win fabulous prizes.” That sure beats trying to discern whether it was your name that was announced over the ancient public address system on the show floor at 1 p.m., 2 p.m. or 4 p.m.!

What I think we’ll see more of is what’s known in the trade show industry as “hybrids” — where a physical event takes place, but there is heavy social media promotion (Facebook fan page, dedicated Twitter account, etc.) and even an online component, where exhibitors are highlighted and videos of seminars are archived, for example. TNNA is already doing this to some extent, particularly with showcasing its popular fashion show events that take place at the Summer and Winter Markets online (TNNA’s Yarn Group has its own YouTube Channel). For that matter, CHA offers a dedicated Web site that offers event-only content, a separate entity from its regular site.

Forbes.com has a great article here that covers the virtual show topic well; while it’s geared to tech shows, the points made could be applied to nearly any industry, including craft and needlearts.

So what’s your take on virtual shows? Are they worth giving a whirl, or do you prefer physically attending a show? Have you participated in one already, and if so, was it a good experience? Please sound off below or drop me a line at positiveyarn@goochandgooch.com.

And if you’re planning to attend the TNNA Summer Market June 12-14 in Columbus, OH, come say hello to me at Booth 1450T!

Everyone (and that includes, me, too!) has been telling you to get a Twitter account, a Facebook page and a LinkedIn presence — plus a Ravelry account if you’re in the yarn arena. So you did, and now you’re stuck thinking “Now what?”

I’ve written about social marketing before, of course, but it’s a topic worth examining again — especially if you’re new to the process or if you haven’t given your accounts attention in a while.

Here are five ways to jumpstart your efforts:

1. Spread the word. The first thing to do is make sure you’ve incorporated your new online presence(s) into your regular marketing. Put a “Follow us on these sites!” blurb on every page of your Web site, with links to your accounts. Also put it on your enewsletter (you do have one, right?) and your blog page (ditto). It should also be a part of every direct-mail piece, even if it’s just in small print at the bottom of your announcement. Post signage all around your shop. Add it to your business card info and product labels when it’s time to replenish your supply (or perhaps sooner).

2. Use it to announce updates. For Twitter in particular, this is a no-brainer use to announce trunk shows, new designs, sales, events, etc. Try to turn them into a call to action whenever you can. Just remodeled the front of the shop? Make sure you also add “Stop by and tell us what you think!”

By the way, March is National Craft Month. That’s a post in itself!

3. Optimize your time. Make sure you take advantage of the “widgets” (applications) that allow you to post efficiently. For example, LinkedIn has a widget that pulls in your latest tweets and blog posts, so your profile is updated there whenever you update either of those accounts. Facebook can show a screen shot and link to your blog, as well as a blog or two that you want to highlight.

In addition, free online software like TweetDeck allows you to post to Twitter and Facebook simultaneously (with the option to choose only one if the occasion calls for it). It also allows you to organize who you follow on Twitter into categories (clients, friends, family, etc.). If your phone allows you to post from it, by all means enable that application. That way, you don’t have to be in front of your computer to keep things going. You can also do a simple update while waiting in the dentist office, hotel lobby, etc.

4. Make it a habit. The experts are advising that you make it part of your routine to get online and monitor how things are going. This week, I’m attending a free Webinar from Hubspot titled “How to monitor your social media presence in 10 minutes a day.” Hubspot has a great article here, taken from its popular seminar, that breaks down five easy ways to accomplish just that.

5. Get help if you need it. Social media can be fun and rewarding, but it can also be a major drag on your time. Remember, you don’t have to do it alone. If one of your employees would like to join in and be your ghostwriter, by all means let him or her try it. If that’s not an option, you can meet a personal quota of a “tweet a week,” for example, without reinventing the wheel. Just try retweeting something insightful said by someone you’re following, or link to a story of interest to you that you think your readers may also find worth reading. Of course, there are professionals (like me, for example!) who can also help you accomplish your goals.

When real life intervenes, the blogging life suffers as a result. Don’t worry, everyone’s (relatively) happy and healthy around here, but the holidays and other factors have prevented me from devoting the scheduled time for online media that I have been trying to preach to you all.

For those of you who subscribe to my Positive Yarn Tips & Tricks enewsletter, rest assured your issue will arrive in your inbox early next week. For those of you who want to subscribe, it’s both free and easy. Just click here. And by all means, please browse the archives here.

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with four interesting articles I’ve collected recently as they relate to needlework and its positive impact on so many different communities. The best thing is that I know these are just representative of all the good stuff going on out there — the creativity unleashed among people who didn’t think they had it in them; the bonding that occurs in a group setting; the good will brought about by doing something for others; the feelings of satisfaction, contentedness, relaxation that occur with needle in hand. I could go on, but you get the picture:

Akron Beacon Journal: “Grant helps teacher sew up knitting program”

Times Online: “A stitch in time helps mend prisoners’ lives with Fine Cell Work”

The New York Times: “Artistic program provides therapy for mentally ill”

KTKA.com: “Ben’s People: Topeka Crochet Guild”

It does indeed make me thankful that in an age of blogs and pings and all sorts of faceless interaction on a daily basis, that so many people see the value in something as old-fashioned as needlework.

I recently came across an article whose headline alone — “Social media is like a gym membership” — reeled me in. It’s an apt metaphor for many small-business owners, including myself. After all, you may notice (or you may not) that this column is being posted on Friday, after several weeks of “training” my readers to look for updates on Thursday.

I can only offer up the same excuse that I give for why my gym bag is allll the way back in my closet, neat and undisturbed: Life intervened. There was no family emergency or crazy project deadline; it was just the everyday routines that I happened to not work my blog update into this week.

I suspect that many of you fall into this trap, too. You’re so busy with the day-to-day dealings of your professional and personal responsibilities that things like regularly logging into Twitter, Facebook and other technology wonders is pushed down to the bottom of the priority list.

The article’s author, marketing expert Paula Pollock, explores the similarities between the gym and social media further by profiling three archetypes: “Chatty Cathy,” “Pushy Pete” and “Multitask Mary.”

She ends by applying the 80/20 rule: “At the gym it means you can chat and socialize 20% of the time, but you better be working out the other 80% or you will not get results. Online, you should be engaging others, offering information and building relationships 80% of the time. If you do that, 20% of your participation can warrant invitations to your events or to check out your new offer.”

Less talking, more doing
Unlike the typical “I’ll hit the gym more” pledge solemnly sworn on New Year’s Eve, now’s the time to hit your online marketing resources, especially with the upcoming holiday season:

• Blog, tweet and otherwise tell about not only your sales, but your current charity projects, too. Encourage your online audience to participate. (For the record, mine is Jen Funk Weber’s Needle & ThREAD program, which actually continues through National Children’s Book Week May 10-16, 2010.)
• If you’re planning to raise prices soon, send out an email reminding customers that’s now the time to make purchases at the 2009 prices — and to take advantage of all your clearance items you offering to make room for inventory in the new year.
• Make friends and network online. My personal online hero is one Jenna Magee, owner of One Star’s Light Needlework Supplies and author of a pretty fabulous blog. My chapter-level EGA teaching debut this week wasn’t perfect by any means, but the fact that Jenna gave me permission to adapt her detailed photos and instructions for finishing a biscornu project into a handout made everything go much more smoothly. A week ago I didn’t know anything about her; a Google search and a couple emails later and I feel blessed to have made her online acquaintance.

How are you making online marketing work for you? I want to know! Share below or drop me a line at positiveyarn@goochandgooch.com.

If you’re already blogging about your business, kudos to you. Speaking from experience, I can sympathize that it takes some investment in time and effort. However, I recently came across a study that supports the idea that all the hard work is worth it — especially for a female-dominated industry like needlework.

The 2009 Women in Social Media study (download the PDF here) was released in late April by BlogHer, iVillage and Compass Partners. It found that women are nearly twice as likely to use blogs than social networking sites as a source of information (64%), advice and recommendations (43%) and opinion-sharing (55%), while they are 50% more likely to turn to social networking sites (Twitter, MySpace and Facebook, to name just three) as a means of keeping in touch with friends and family (75%).

Because blogs are regarded as trusted sources of information, the study found, they now have a considerable influence on consumers’ purchasing habits: 45% of survey respondents stated that they decided to purchase an item after reading about it on a blog, for example. For the record, the study reviews and compares data from two user sample sets: a general population sample of more than 2,000 U.S. women aged 18-77 years against a BlogHer Network sample of more than 1,000 women.

What does this mean to you and your current online presence? If you’re not blogging, you could be missing out on an opportunity to establish yourself among customers (and potential customers) as an expert in your category, and sharing your knowledge of product and technique in ways that bring more traffic to your site and to your register. If you are blogging, it’s a wake-up call to examine your habits — updating on a regular basis, for example — to see whether you’re getting the most out of what you’re doing.

While the survey underscores the idea of readers looking to blogs for product endorsement, not every post needs to be an infomercial for your business. By sharing a personal story now and then, you’re letting your readers build up a rapport with you. In turn, their comments shed some light as to their values and priorities, and can even help you tailor future marketing efforts. For example, if you have a wry, witty gang of usual commenters, you can likely predict that using a dry humor will go farther in your next promotion than if your feedback took more of a serious tone.

Another important finding from the study is that women are spending approximately 39% less time reading newspapers, 36% less time reading magazines and 30% less time watching TV.

A generation ago, customers may have swapped “What’s new with you?” stories as you stood behind the counter and rang up their purchase; these days they’re more likely to be learning about your latest anecdote as they sit at their laptops in their pajamas at a decidedly non-business hour. But they’re still just as interested in the tidbit now as they were back then — they’re just receiving it in a different way. Even better, your blog and Web site are reaching potential customers around the world.

For an even more in-depth look at the results of this survey, I defer to a post authored by the wonderful Anita Campbell, editor of Small Business Trends, an online publication for everything small business. But I’m also interested to hear your take on blogging for business as well. Are your customers getting out of your posts what you intended? Are you? Share your thoughts below, or email me at positiveyarn@goochandgooch.com.

It’s been a busy week already, and it’s only Tuesday! I just wanted to publicly thank Mike Hartnett over at Creative Leisure News for publishing my musings about using social media in the craft and needle arts industries. He turned it into two separate technology columns in the January 19 and February 2 editions. When I first retired from my job as managing editor of a business-to-business magazine, I wanted to jump right into doing writing, editing and marketing for things that I loved, like scrapbooking and the fiber arts. Mike’s bi-weekly e-newsletter was one of the first things I signed up for, to educate myself about the business side of the craft and hobby field. Mike himself has always lent a listening ear and a bit of advice along the way, and for that I’m truly grateful!

I still drop everything when I see CLN hit my in-box.

On another note, I just saw the weather forecast here in Northeast Ohio, and tomorrow is bringing more snow. I just can’t believe I look forward to this stuff when I’m sweltering hot in July. I guess I have a short memory.

I’ll leave you with this shot of a “tagged” tree outside Studio Knit in Medina, OH. (By the way, Owner Anita Byrd sent her latest e-newsletter today, which touts that the shop is going green with logoed canvas bags. As an incentive to buy one for $5, she’s offering 5% off future purchases when you use the bag. Kudos, Anita!)

Now this is the kind of snow I like all year long: