09 December 2013

Mad Friday Looms



This week sees the beginning of the fifth month that I have had my keyrings in the country. I have learned and continue to have to learn the process of marketing, promotion and selling.

If anybody could have told me about the huge amount of information that I would have to take in and the different avenues which I would need to address, I probably wouldn't have started! So in some ways ignorance was bliss, but having started I will persevere, learning, failing and re-learning until I achieve what I set out to do. Whether that will involve what I thought it would remains to be seen, as I am quickly learning that in business it is like a moving ocean and you leap aboard and start to navigate the seas, or get buffeted around.

I continue to sell at a steady rate through the selling channels I have previously discussed but I have started to see some online sales activity. I think this is due to marketing i.e. giving out business cards with every sale and at any fairs I have attended, also word of mouth is growing and key to all these I think I am starting to use Twitter and Facebook in a productive way.

I started some Facebook advertising a couple of months ago, not selling adverts but a campaign to increase my Facebook audience. Having spent a huge amount of hours watching what other businesses do, looking at their adverts, looking at their pictures and asking; Are they clear? Are they attractive? How do they write their text? etc. before trawling YouTube and listening to experts talking about how to set up campaigns - I saw that statistics say 0.1% is the average across the board for display and if you had huge budgets for your adverts then you could be achieving 1.5% upwards.

My budget however was about £1.00 per day. I started by experimenting with four adverts, different pictures, different interests, different ages I kept the gender to female. I found a formula that is working well and I am getting between 3.0% and 3.5% click through rate (CTR) rate. I am very pleased with this and it shows that even with small budgets if you research, think about your product, who it is aimed at etc you can achieve a good CTR.

I have had a rejection from a retailer that sells trendy stationery, a little like ‘Paperchase’. These type of businesses seem to be a new trend in the market and quite popular, and are springing up in different cities. The shops are bright, clean, inviting and offer new style products, and also bags and stationery that have always been around but they are displaying them very attractively in a new way - almost like walking through a fashionable clothes shop like Zara.

Following through my rejections from these avenues, their feedback is that they think my Keyrings are not necessarily right for the younger market, and that is their target market in their stores.

My Facebook stats say differently, 25% in the 13-18 group and rising rapidly and 45% in the 18-24 age group.

To prove my theory I have now started a new campaign I have kept the most successful criteria but I am now being far more specific on age and a particular category of people who follow certain interests. I look forward to watching these results and adapting as necessary.

I hope to prove that a well designed product with a unique selling point is attractive to different ages, but different designs will obviously appeal to certain ages. I know personally that I would not buy the same pattern of say a Tangle Teezer (the new hair brush product that de-tangles hair) as my sons girlfriend but we would both purchase one.

I am also trying the new Twitter adverts. I do not have a lot to report as I have only tentatively started to use it, so I can not recommend any actions that bring certain results. I would recommend however that you interact with people on Twitter both in your local community and to a wider audience. I search for criteria such as business, entrepreneur, fashion, accessories, bloggers and people who give out lots of information that is really beneficial both for their business and yours. This week I followed a person called Mark Tillison, MD at a leading UK Digital Marketing Agency. The information given by this company is excellent, you can pick and choose what is beneficial and if you need it you know expert help is at hand. This week I learned the importance of acknowledging people who tweet you, thanking them and interacting with them not just blindly following and following back so thank you Mark! 

In the next few weeks I will be selling at a factory, and attending another gift fair. I still haven't got my video done for YouTube, which is very frustrating but it is always uppermost in my mind. I’m still thinking of the best way to achieve this on my limited budget but with a professional look. I have also decided to take some lifestyle photographs for my Facebook page, to link in with the image I want my brand to project.

This week has seen the campaign #SmallBizSatUk, a day on the 7th December that was promoted to support and champion the UK's 5 million small businesses. It has given me an idea for a project for the New Year involving other small local businesses and I may try and get Tesco on board to support both the local community and themselves (I think business should always be beneficial to all parties involved). Watch this space.... 


Meanwhile the Christmas rush is really starting to take hold and Mad Friday is looming ever nearer (that is when I'll probably get around to doing my shopping!). With Christmas trees to dress, presents to buy, parties and catch ups to arrange and the never ending demands on us all with family commitments I should think we will all be looking forward to our Bank Holidays so bye for now and I hope you all have a relaxing and happy time with the people around you!

11 November 2013

Remember Remember



Sometimes your life appears to run along on a theme, when meetings or events that happen seem to recur as if to serve as a reminder to you, and this week has been just so. When as a litle girl I would sit at the back of the church and listen to the Vicar deliver his sermon, he would talk about the hustle and bustle of everyday life, with a little reminder causing you to stop and think about your actions and interactions with others. With the news headlines this week being about Rememberance and commemorating all those whose lives have been lost in conflict the scene was set.

Earlier in the week, out of the blue I visited an old friend from thirty years ago reminiscing, hearing her achievments and the sadder news of her husband who  had died of illness. Next was a visit to a relative, robbed of his personality and suffering with the dreadful Alzheimer's disease and then a visit to a wonderful old lady who had supported me as a child in care and who is now facing a big operation, which is terrifying for her. I  look forward to her recovery from this.

So when the opportunity to attend a Fashion event for Charity and have a stall for my product presented itself it seemed a good thing to do. My advice for sellers considering attending these types of events would be,

1) do your research well www.stallfinder.com is a great website with all such events in your area.
2) dont travel too far as it adds to your costs.
3) research how many visitors the event expects and how it has done historically. If you can, visit the venue and ask for a good stand position.
3) think about your product and who your customer is? would you be better at school fairs where people go looking for a small inexpensive gift? Or would you be better targetting Ladies days or evenings where people to go to relax, enjoy the occasion, and maybe buy gifts or a treat for themselves to something they wouldn't find elsewhere?
4) when setting up your stall consider how best to display your product and have a test run. I have found it is worth investing in a good black cloth for display as your product stands out.
5) make clear signs of what you are selling, the price and show the customer how they will receive your product ie gift wrapped? or give them a choice.
6) take some food and drink with you then you are not tempted to spend whilst you are there.
7) consider taking a friend with you, it can be a long day and it is good for your moral especially in the beginning.
8) interact with people,try to relax, be friendly and make sure you have business cards to give out, as these could be potential future customers.
9) always look and be professional, this is your shop window.
10) before the event tell people you will be attending on all your social media websites, ask other businees attending to like and share your posts, check to see if there is a local social website and post to that and help to promote the event beforehand.
11) some fair organisers will ask for a raffle prize, but is a nice touch to donate one anyway.


The interaction with other stallholders at the fairs is sometimes more valuable than the money that you make. The information you give and recieve is invaluable, make sure you speak to the other stall holders, I came away with a new social media avenue and a diferent way of using Linked In.

On Twitter there is a 70:20:10 rule 70% of the time sharing information, re-tweeting, establishing relationships, 20% engaging and interacting and 10% to promote and well, sell!
It seems to me that we could apply this rule in life too. 70% living and getting on with the everyday tasks, 20% interacting, remembering and giving something back and 10% yay!, relaxing, taking some reward or just pleasing ouselves. Maybe business rules and life rules are the same after all?

The fair I attended this week was a success, the venue was lovely it was well attended, the stand position was good and it was an enjoyable occasion to be part of.  Raising valuable funds for St Catherine's and Rainbow House here in Lancashire and from a business point of view enough sales, contacts made, information traded, hopefully new customers for the future and a little glass of wine to finish the evening on!  70:20:10 need I say more?

31 October 2013

Blogger Seeking Susan

© Flickr/Jason A.Howie


Hi everyone, glad to say that the storm earlier in the week was not as bad in the North as was predicted, though I feel for anyone who was affected in the rest of the country. There seems to be a quiet calmness here at Kease, which is probably because I am slightly naive about what it actually takes to get a business up and running successfully, as there always seem to be trials and tribulations popping up that I was previously unaware of.

This week I have found some great companies on Twitter that hold a huge amount of information to help small businesses, with ideas to promote your company both within social media and outside of it, with one of them being @ingeneousbrit. There you can find plenty of motivating tips and ideas that you can really try from finding finance, and other topics like management and sales.

However most of the help and advice generally available does seem to be aimed at people a lot further down the line with their businesses and they probably have been through their first initial years of trading.

I have found that you need to keep asking people around you as you never know where help may come from and this week I spoke to someone who may be able to find if I would be entitled to some funding for future Trade Fairs and also website costs. Although funding does seem to be in short supply, it is worth asking around. The two main objectives I need is marketing to distribution and attracting and selling to retailers.

I find the question of whether to attend one of the larger trade shows quite daunting, as although I know that is the best place to find retailers, the costs are so high for a new business that if you dont sell as many products or find leads that will turn into sales the show itself could bankrupt you! I have actually tried to contact businesses that have shown at the trade fairs for their advice via Facebook but to no avail, just another closed door!

On a lighter note sales for this month are excellent and continue to rise but mainly by returning customers and word of mouth, which does show there is interest and a liking for the product. Internet based sales continue to be slow, which also confirms the need to continue allowing costs for marketing and I will continue to use my small budget for that on Google ads.

Another thing I would like to do is approach some Fashion Accessory Bloggers, but I am unsure if there are bloggers dedicated to purely accessories and I have been trawling through various blogs to find the correct type of content my product would best appeal to. I have added some local Manchester fashion bloggers on Twitter and hopefully after some more research I will better understand this. (Or I may email an inspirational role model Julie Deane, The Founder of The Cambridge Satchel Company, as apparently she does take time out to help new start-up businesses and owes much of her initial success to bloggers) 

So the plan for now remains the same.

With Kease, I need to continue to improve my social media avenues, with the hope of opening a Facebook shop when my following becomes high enough. Funds are key and I need to raise more from my sales plan, whilst gift wrapping stock in the run up to Christmas. Finally, I will continue to promote myself, by speaking to all and sundry!

Personally, I need to find time within all of this to attend university open days with my youngest son. He wants to study product design, so at least I will have a top designer in the future! Budgeting needs a serious revamp over the next twelve months, and I may even have to find another job. Amongst this, I need to make sure my friend enjoys her 50th birthday in style and decide whether or not to run away to France over Christmas! On top of all that, I will continue to clean, cook and plan for the fragmented life that seems to have become the norm.

France is definitely looking favourite!









18 October 2013

Making your mind up..

© Flickr/tiffany terry
What makes us pick up a product? Why do we choose a particular brand?

I needed some more bathroom cleaner and as I walked down the cleaning isle, I found myself making my choice based on a few things. I don't pick up the cheapest and think: "what if it doesn't clean well?” I look at the colour of the bottle and consider different aspects; my budget at the time, it's reputation, whether a friend had recommended it and whether I recognised the product from an advert on TV.

With this thought in mind it leads to my foray this week into the world of Google adverts, they are cheap, well within my budget, large audiences, on trend, easy to manipulate (even for me a beginner) and I hope it gives me an insight into the market I want to sell to. Although it's difficult to say that just because you have a positive reaction you will sell to that person, I believe maybe simplistically that if you increase your audience then you potentially have someone to sell to.

Whilst chatting in the pub the other evening I found myself defending this new "social existence" to someone who works in the medium but thinks we may have lost some ability to communicate on a one to one basis and whether we were richer before all of this emerged.

I strongly disagree. In some ways it is romantic to remember times when you had to speak to communicate, when there was only one phone in the house, when people wrote cards and messages and postcards "wish you were here?" - but anybody now; you, me, the person sat at home unable to go out has access to the whole world. I for one would not have been able to come this far with my product.

I have used it for the initial steps, for research and to find ideas. This tool has allowed me to access designers, solicitors and manufacturers that otherwise I would not have found and it even brings me customers now. You still need to be able to communicate personally and I have done so and will continue to do so, but it would not have been possible to be where I am now without the World Wide Web.

My advice to any small business or to anyone who is looking to have an online presence is to seek this personal interaction. Set up Twitter and Facebook accounts. Start small and add to your sites, say who you are, what you do or sell and take the opportunity of speaking to people that otherwise you would not come into contact with.

Anyway my next task is to make a video for YouTube that can be linked to the website and will hopefully drive more traffic to the site. I am very apprehensive about how to go about making it and giving it the professional gloss it requires, but it is definitely a priority on my to-do list and I hope to be able to report back enthusiastically about my next hurdle.

 I feel I must digress a little again as I remember a programme aired on Channel 4 on Tuesday 17th September 2013, called "Fabulous Fashionistas”. If you didn't get chance to watch this I recommend a look, all of the women bar none were inspirational, brave and utterly inspiring in the way they have approached old age - the youngest being Sue at 73! With what these women have and still achieve I'm sure I can manage a video as ever their programme reminds me that I'm only 51 years young, cheers girls!


So I leave you on this rainy week, washed out but not up (and unable to wear my impulse boot buy from the previous blog) - think I'll go and have a look for some new wellies. 

10 October 2013

Autumn Days, Winter Dreams



I always feel a little in limbo at this time of year, summer seems to have sailed by and although I love to see all the new Autumn / Winter ranges in the fashion shops and look forward to wearing winter woollies, there seems to be a hiccup in getting from one season to another - you're not quite able to embrace it properly but you know its around the corner. Halloween pictures start to appear and with that I always feel winter has arrived by bonfire night. By then I am looking forward to the mulled wine at the Manchester Christmas markets and preparations for the family Christmas starts to become a focal point. So with my new favourite boot purchase of the season (although they are open toed and backed, probably not the ideal buy!) I feel a little in limbo with my product as well.

I feel that I am going in a forward direction at the moment, but whether it is the right direction remains to be seen. My keyrings are now online and in some retail outlets, I have booked a christmas fair and "Auntie Dot" is planning on selling each Saturday in an outlet up in Burnley (but I have to investigate and do some research first). Word of mouth still keeps them selling from me personally, however it takes far more effort and tenaciousness to keep the ball rolling. I don't know if its just me, but when you achieve one goal there seems to be a never ending stream ahead. Although each step in itself is some small achievement, you need an inward drive and a determination switch that needs to be permanently on in your head.

So all in all not a lot to report this week. I am still assessing the changes I have made previously to the packaging and look to see whether that turns into positive sales. I continue to buy more business cards and find new ways of both designing and using them - I love the way you can create your own branding on cards etc yourself without the expense of hiring a designer. I also continue to watch YouTube videos and learn how to use software like WordPress (wonderful aid) as well as interacting with the world of Twitter and realising what a powerful tool this can be to marketing and networking.

As a bit of light relief I am visiting Vogue Fashion Evening in Manchester this week with a friend. We are going to support her daughter, who is a fashion designer, and the company she works for are having a stand. It is a highlight for the city of Manchester and there is a bit of a buzz of excitement surrounding the event, so there will definitely be vintage Burberry bag in hand! (and matching Kease keyring obviously!) I am looking forward to seeing the city at its best and opening its arms to all the visitors who like me love to look at all things fashion and meet people with a genuine excitement for what they are doing, not to mention the wonderful array of bars and eating places that we may just have to try!

01 October 2013

Double Discount Week


This week, as a bonus for its employees at Tesco, we receive double discount on purchases and I have been rolling through my mind (as I walk past the technical isle to get to my locker) whether I really need a new laptop, ipad, mini pad, medium tablet, small tablet, notebook etc etc etc. As a child of the sixties, the most I have had to do over the last twenty years was:

a) Log on
b) Remember my password and then  (because I didnt know what else to do)
c) Log off again and feel rather pleased that I managed that! (In fact a long time ago I was the owner of the first home computer - the Amstrad. My dad used to say: "What can it do? Can you watch television on it?" I had to admit you couldn't do anything close and unable to learn the language of BASIC, I couldnt see how it would ever take off. We could never have envisaged how life would be today and the way they are completely integrated in our everyday life and communication). The point of these ramblings is just how much technical knowledge you need to learn these days.

Kease keyrings have been accepted on Bouf.com - yay! It is a lovely, online, design led retailer and I am pleased that my product will be selling with them, but it has highlighted again the need to continue to learn about technology and its part in selling and bringing a new product to market.

Apart from upskilling on my media studies, packaging continues to cause me a headache. Some retail outlets are turning the product down because of this, so now all the keyrings have to be cut out of the clamshell and re-packaged, though it does mean the product is more visible to the customer, who can hold in in their hands.

This week has therefore been about changing the look of Kease keyring, both physically and on all of my social media outlets. I will also be replacing a stand in a retail outlet with new fittings and new signage for marketing, a slight backwards step. However, these are things that you can only learn by experience and so as we hurtle into October we have rewound a little, but I am looking forward to this next month and what it will bring, staying motivated, becoming a technical wiz and planning sales events in the build up to dare I say it? Christmas.

23 September 2013

Monday Monday


The delivery has finally arrived and I now have 6000 keyrings taking up most of any available storage space we have.

I spend time doing the day to day running of the business in my office, which consists of the front room, a laptop, a Roberts digital radio (that I steal whenever I can, even though I actually bought it as a present for my partner!), three in-trays, two pretty coloured filing boxes, an array of pens and a free mouse mat and mug that, sadly, are bright green and were presented to me in a triumphant manner by my son who had got them from a trade fair!

In the hallway I have painted an old dresser in lovely Farrow & Ball colours and have arranged my keyrings in gift bags (which were an expensive mistake, as I forgot to add on P&P when ordering from China, making them no cheaper than the UK at all – lesson learnt!) and various displays. I’m learning lessons all of the time and I've now become obsessed with different types of packaging, in my attempts to make the product appeal to a range of potential audiences. For instance, I feel that gift shop owners prefer the product displayed in an open manner, before being gift wrapped beautifully, something which is difficult on a budget, though I have found that I can use a pillow shaped packaging for the product. The jury is therefore out as to whether the clam shell shape I currently have will be viable for the long term.

 

The company’s expenditure continues to pour out for things such as Intellectual Protection, a Royal Mail PO box and insurance, however I am determined to put every penny earned from sales away so I can attend a Spring Fair in 2014.

Last week I had some great news, I have been accepted on a high end design led online retail site, so I have had some different product photographs taken with a lovely young girl who is starting her own photography business @LDK_Photograpy. She is enthusiastic, turns her work around promptly and professionally and I'm sure she will do well.

Hopefully by the end of the week I will have decided what to upload for the profile area of the retail site and written all the information necessary. I feel it is very important to present yourself well on all forms of social media. Even though I have not found it easy, I believe that it is something you leave at your peril and I will persevere and learn as I go on. It is also a great way of obtaining free advertising so tweet on!

Meanwhile life goes on as normal, I work part time and family tasks never end. I will continue to juggle in order to get my business off the ground. 

20 September 2013

In The Beginning


The big delivery!

My story of the entrepreneurial peg started around 2006. I have always wanted to come up with a new idea for a product and follow that through from initial design to manufacture, marketing and selling.

So when I reached my mid-forties and my sons were growing up I felt that after fifteen years of being a stay at  home mum it was the right time to follow my dream.

I never knew that it would be such a small everyday object or where the journey would lead me. At times it has been complicated, expensive, all consuming and sheer frustrating but this blog charts the beginning of the second part of my journey into the big wide world after receiving my new product in the country, launching my website and social media sites and starting the process of bringing to market and selling Keasekeyring my product.