lazy sunday evening meets the retail drones

i really can’t stand just sitting around the house doing nothing. so sunday evening i begged my husband to take a trip into the great wide world with me. we targeted at target: razors were a necessity. then we proceeded to barnes & noble as i have no company loyalty anymore!

mike watched lola run around the children’s department like a crazy person (i hear they call them toddlers now…) and i picked out a couple new board books. when we were tired of chasing the toddler, we high-tailed it to the check out line where about 5 people stood in line. luckily, the line moved quickly and we heard the requisite “i can help the next customer in line here,” we approached the desk.

i placed the books on the counter and reached for my debit card. the bookseller – that’s the proper term! – said hello, told me my total, and asked if i had a member card. no. would you like to hear more about the member card. no. would you like to hear more about non-member email coupons. no. okay thanks have a nice day.

seriously?

this is how you’re going to woo me away from your competitors and amazon? i don’t think so. of course, this scenario isn’t isolated to mega-chain bookstores. each retail company has a gimmick, a script, a sure-fire-something-or-other to get you to “engage” their brand. who are these marketing people?? it doesn’t work. in fact, it makes me a bit nauseous.

a little deep rewiring

chris brogan just wrote a piece where he described employees as needing a shift in “deep wiring” and, if i understand him correctly, he means that this robotic retail speak isn’t going to cut it. whether it’s live and in person or tweeted from corporate headquarters. what does work is having company values drive every customer interaction, it means being invested in the brand & the products you sell, it means engaging customers around the brand not against it.

instead of facing a barrage of questions about services i don’t want, barnes & noble should teach their employees to have actual conversations with me about the products i’m purchasing, give recommendations, and then approach me about a service i might be interested in.

3 things you can learn from retail drones

1. use short form social media (facebook, twitter, and the like) to help share your story and engage potential customers. offer insight into your creative process, your creative psyche, and your all-round creative life. provide information & address people’s problems, whether directly related to your business or not.
2. use long form social media (your blog, email newsletters) to share how your personal story informs the products you create. the hard sell becomes a lot softer when your focus is on the back-and-forth of natural conversation over your brand.
3. don’t be afraid to cut it short. sometimes you just need to shut up! sometimes, your customer is more interested in making a purchase than listening to your script. make sure that your blog, your twitter account, your facebook page, and any other web interface your customers might use gives them the opportunity to say, “i like what i see – here’s my credit card.”

what pet peeves do you have when you’re out in the retail world? what can you learn from it and how can you apply it to your own business?

need help engaging your customers & readers? no problem. you should definitely check out my ecourse, between the lines, where i’ll teach you to tell your story in a variety of ways! class starts may 1 and registration is limited!

{image credit: tucker reece}

if you blog, you probably know the feeling that comes from participating in an activity only to think, “this will make a great blog post!”

i was struck by this new york times article about people who photograph everything they eat. not all are bloggers, but the idea is the same. documenting life has become completely pervasive in our digital society. every moment is something to be captured and considered.

and then shared with thousands – or millions – of people.

sometimes i feel like i live for the sake of my blog instead of blogging for my own sake. when you’re constantly behind the camera so that you can document special events for your readers or considering how you might make a profound point out of a humorous situation, life is exhausting. of course, there are many many more ways that life could be exhausting and i’m glad i’ve chosen this one.

on the flip side of making life exhausting, blogging has also forced me to do things i would have never considered before. things like offering consulting & brainstorming, venturing to major craft shows and actually introducing myself, creating a personal brand, attending networking events, and building a successful business. in order to appear more authentic on my blog, i’ve actually had to broaden my horizons – what a great trade-off!

i’m also struck by how many people are interested in the daily routines of people like me – and not at all life me, of course. not only has documenting life become pervasive in the digital society, but the need to connect with people on the most fundamental levels – the things we eat, the things we buy, the way we raise our children, etc… – has become a visceral urge. my blogs have duel purposes, to document my life & thoughts and to share information of value, but other blogs that i read on a daily basis – mackin ink, a beautiful mess, and smile & wave – are almost purely personal. i love it too! i’m so inspired by their lives and their point of view!

so – when you blog, do you think back on the things you’ve done & the way you live?

or do you live to blog?

{image credit: look at my party dress by kilsook}

Great question! It comes back to my whole theory on using social media (that includes blogging): for it to work, you have to be you! And you define who you are by what you choose to share with your audience.

If you faith is important to you & inspires your work, you owe it to your audience to share it with them. You don’t have to do it in a pushy way or even blatantly, but you should definitely share it.

The same goes for political or social convictions that may be controversial. If you present your views as a part of your art & a part of who you are, few people will argue with you. You can probably even advocate for your own views & beliefs in you are careful to do so respectfully and with passion.

I think I do this on a daily basis – but you probably don’t even realize it! I’m pretty liberal politically – okay, really liberal – and I feel that that informs my conviction to buy & support handmade/independent business. It also informs my desire to buy “green” whenever possible and encourage others to do so, as well.

But I have no misconceptions that you have to be a flaming liberal to hold those opinions.

So I might use that as a barometer for your own faith. Please tell people what informs & inspires your work – but accept – and love! – that others may appreciate your work & ideals without holding the same beliefs.

this week was a complete whirlwind on scoutie girl. at the beginning of the year, i implemented a new editorial style to guide the direction of the blog & aid in my mission to tell the stories of crafters & artists and not just show pretty stuff. each week, i select theme and weave in & out of that theme with stories, art, and opinion. the first three weeks were pretty straightforward.

then, i got brave (or stupid).

this week, i selected the theme of “success.” i asked for people’s opinions, definitions, or measurements. at first, interest in sharing was hard to come by.

then one or two… then three or four. then i asked the fabulous – successful – and oh-so-insightful scoutie girl contributors to lend their personal take on success to the week’s posts. wow.

good stuff.

and what it made me realize was how much more there is to say. and i want to be at the nexus between creative people, beautiful stuff, and innovative thought. as much as scoutie girl is the perfect place to begin exploring that nexus, i want to include more people than artists, crafters, & designers.

so i’m creating something new. because ultimately, and i can tell you this because i trust you, my goal is to write & think for a living. it pretty much always has been. except for that time, in kindgergarten, that i told a lady i wanted to be a ballerina.

this something new will be a community-focused, user-driven blogging experience. i want to challenge people to rethink what society tells them about work, life, and play. i want to provide a place to talk it out, bounce ideas from one medium to another, and then receive feedback & support in a community of open minds.

i have more thoughts on the response from this week at scoutie girl – but they’ll wait til tomorrow. i’m just too excited to tell you about indieThink – because groupthink is so last decade. have a great weekend!

{print by linocutboy}

Are you cheap? There’s a difference between being broke and being cheap.

Are you cheap? There’s a difference between being thrifty and being cheap.

Are you cheap? My answer is yes, we all are.

And it’s killing our society.

You may have great taste, understand the value of a dollar, even know the worth of an hour’s work – but you’ve been programmed to be cheap. American culture dictates that spending less is better – that getting a “thing” is better than getting what you pay for. And American business knows it – they source inferior supplies, they outsource their labor, and they decrease the bottomline.

And we’re left with junk.

Luckily, the handmade movement, the slow food movement, and a general backlash against consumerism is starting to turn the tide. But it’s pretty ingrained in our collective psyche. And so those movements – perhaps without even realizing it – adopt the same philosophies. Bigger is better, less $ is more $.

I don’t have any answers but what I do have is a strong desire to change this cultural instinct. I’m trying to start with me but I need others to come along for the ride so that I can lean on you for support (heck, I never said I wasn’t a bit selfish!).

If you want to start to change this as well, think about this one thing when you go to the store. How long would it take you to produce something similar to what you’re about to buy? An hour – 2? 5? Sure – it doesn’t work across the board but think about it. Now take that amount of time and multiply it by what you get paid hourly. Look again at the price tag – anywhere close? No? You’re being had, my friend. There’s something wrong in that supply chain.

This post isn’t meant to be a downer – and it’s certainly not going to dramatically change the way you shop. It can’t. But, it was inspired by a fabulous discussion going on at Crafting an MBA, a blog written by my friend Megan Auman who is not only a phenomenal craftswoman and designer but a pretty savvy businesswoman, too. Please check out the conversation and add your two cents – or whatever you’re worth.

{image credit: sharon montrose via etsy}