A Very Retail Halloween 2015

                                Halloween is upon us!
As all you ghastly ghouls and ghosts prepare for these festive nights it is quite clear that the pumpkin spirit is already heavily in the  autumn air. We know that spending all day indoors in order to pay those bills that just never seem to end, can sometimes be a drag on your holiday spirit, but here at One Step we encourage the Halloween spirit and festivities in our office!  We found some ways for you to celebrate a retail-tastic Halloween with some spooky retail displays, a classy pumpkin or two, and some of our favorite, yet appropriate costumes for work.

Photo from horchow.com

Stained floors, ruined clothes, flies as pumpkins begin to rot are all pretty good reasons to keep your home and retail store pumpkin free, yet no October display is complete without one. By painting and simply decorating your pumpkin you branch into the inspiring world of crafting and refrain from pumpkin disembowelment. With a little white paint, some black rhinestones, and your handy glue gun you can transform your lumpy orange pumpkin into a beautiful, sophisticated, and overall tasteful centerpiece to your retail store.

Photo from bhg.com

If the white and black rhinestone beauty just doesn't fit into your style, try this one on for size. By pulling any loose strands of fabric you may have laying around and your ever so useful glue gun in hand you can create a unique pumpkin of your very own. One that is silly, crafty, and expels an air of individuality that simply must find its way into every retail store. Dress not only your mannequins up, but get some of your favorite fabric on this iconic autumn centerpiece as well.

Photo from blog.mannequinmadness.com

 

 

 

Spooktacular
Retail Displays 

What we believe here at One Step is that fun never has to be hard. With a simple trip to your neighborhood market, you can leave with some masks, candies,  holiday bags, cobwebs, and toys and you got yourself the makings of a great retail display for the holiday season. The best displays are not those where cobwebs and red food coloring are just thrown into the mix, but rather it is when you learn to create a unique definition of Halloween that applies solely to your store and what you are selling. Engulf a mannequin in candies and you will have drooling and excited children bringing their parents in to your store. If energized 8 year olds are just not your target market, take it from Bergdorf Goodman's crystalized spider web below and attract only those with an eye for high fashion and a Halloween spirit.

 

Photo from blog.mannequinmadness.com

              Need some costume inspiration? Look no further!

Photo from costume-works.com

While at work it goes without saying that professionalism in your attire is just a must, but what about on the one day of the year where the work space and your creativity should be intertwined? Dressing up can be work appropriate too if you plan just right. For instance these couples dressed as America's favorite and most iconic dolls while not infringing on any of their abilities to get their work done.

Photo from popsugar.com

Have you been called super because your sales are just off the roof? Or is it because you're customer reviews have just been nothing short of excellence? How about you give them two reasons to call you super on Halloween with this simple look underneath your attire. Keeping it work appropriate with a little holiday spirit just a button away.





Better yet, let's make this Halloween a group effort just like these folks. With some easy correspondence you can have your entire team of workers dressed in one appropriate theme and let the creativity flow. Nothing exemplifies a retail company with a family vibe like dressing up together. 


Photo from popsugar.com

So there you have it folks, from dressing up your store to dressing yourself, One Step wants you to make the most of this Halloween season. Most importantly, remember that you can make work fun for you and your company, a happy atmosphere brings in a happy customer.

                       Don't forget to make this Halloween a fright you won't forget!

10 Small Business Marketing Lessons You Need Regardless of Size

by Heidi Cohen in Small Business

 

How To Market Your Small Business With Limited Resources

Are you certain you’re taking advantage of every aspect of your marketing to get the maximum results possible given your limited resources?

 

Don’t think that this doesn’t apply to your business because it’s larger and has greater resources.

 

The reality is that the more resources you have the more complex your marketing is and the more likely it is that you’re not getting the biggest bang for your marketing buck.

 

Small businesses by their nature must ensure that every aspect of their company supports their revenue generation and growth.

 

10 Small business marketing lessons you need regardless of size

Here are the 10 small business marketing lessons I learned.

  

 

1. Take the time to get to know your customers.

Many owners jump into their business without examining and understanding their target audience.

 

Actionable Small Business Marketing Lesson: Create a marketing persona to get insights into your buyers and their purchase needs. This will save you time and money since you’ll know what your potential buyers are looking for.

 

2. Distinguish your offering from your competition.

Assess what your competitors (and close substitutes) are doing from your customers’ perspective. Then map out where there’s a gap in the offering you can fill.

 

For example, in a sea of sheep wool offerings, Bijou Basin offered yak yarn and blends. It stood out from many different types of sheep yarn.

 

By contrast, Tess Yarns provides color, color and more color. Unlike any other yarn vendor, Tess Yarns organizes their offering not by yarn size or type, but by color.

 

Actionable Small Business Marketing Lesson: Stake out an unserved or underserved segment in your market. Before you start, assess the size of your potential audience to ensure it’s big enough for you to attract sufficient prospects (Bear in mind that you’ll only convert a very small percentage of them.)

To this end, create your small business brand to distinguish your firm.

 

3. Promote your business.

You must get the word out about your business whether it’s via word of mouth or advertising. Marketing is necessary.

 

A leather craftsman named Lanny had a booth where he sold his handmade wares such as high quality belts that he sized to order while you waited. Unfortunately, he had no signage to attract shoppers or helper to handle the sales.

 

Actionable Small Business Marketing Lesson: Publicize your firm using the best methods you can afford to effectively reach your customers. Maximize every business element and interaction by incorporating your message in contextually relevant ways.

Don’t put all of your effort into doing your business to the exclusion of letting people know that it exists. (BTW—Peter Shankman wrote a great post on this: Are You a Shoemaker’s Kid?)

 

4. Choose your location with care.

Think beyond the rental cost since location, location, location matters! Sales depend on being where your audience is.

 

On digital and social media engage and provide content where your target audience spends their time. Also, choose your URL or digital address with care for memorability and ease of spelling.

 

At one point, I worked for a well-known clothing brand whose management chose its retail locations based on the cheapest price. Lower rental prices translated to lower sales.

 

Actionable Small Business Marketing Lesson: Choose to establish your business where people normally spend their time, both in the physical and the online worlds.

 

5. Appreciate that product presentation matters.

Show your product in a setting that makes people want to own it. This is why you need to provide the 5 basic content types including styling.

 

An auctioneer sold wooden thread bobbins with remnants of thread and yarn on them for $0.50 each. These spools were thrown into a box on an out of sight lower shelf.

 

While I wondered if the yarn was knitable, two women wondered how many they could get into their suitcases. When I ask what they intended to use them for, they responded that planned to sell them for $15 a piece as a home décor item. Some markup!

 

Actionable Small Business Marketing Lesson: Invest time and resources in presenting your product to attract the optimal price. You must balance the cost of your time and resources to improve your product presentation with the net increase in price. Don’t spend more than you’ll recoup in profits.

 

6. Use packaging to distinguish your offering.

Astute yarn vendors like Miss Babs monitor which patterns are popular with knitters on Ravelry, a knitting, crocheting, and spinning social media community.

 

Based on these trends, Miss Babs creates coordinated multi-color packages of pre-measured yarn that sell at a premium for the amount of yardage. Buyers are willing to pay a bit extra rather than buying larger amounts of each color.

 

Actionable Small Business Marketing Lesson: Take advantage of current trends to create more tailored offerings for which your audience will pay more. This has broad applicability for small businesses seeking to exploit opportunities such as larger quantities and home delivery.

Not sure what your audience wants? Ask them.

 

7. Underestimate customers’ desire for quality at your peril.

All else being equal customers seek superior products. In fact, many customers will pay extra to get better products.

 

With products that include an element of craftsmanship like specially produced or dyed yarn, customers choose to pay more and perceive the investment to be worth it. As a result, you make higher margins.

 

For example, no knitter wants to invest time in making an item only to have the color bleed onto their hands and clothes.

 

Actionable Small Business Marketing Lesson: Provide customers with the best quality product you can afford to keep them coming back for more.

At the Sheep and Wool Festival, knitters rush to shop at the top quality vendors and wait in long lines to purchase.

 

8. Low price always attracts buyers.

There were several examples of vendors offering bargain basement prices for odd lots of mass produced yarn. They continually attracted lines of buyers.

 

Understand that once you start competing on price, it’s a slippery slope that only leads in one direction (and that’s down.)

 

Actionable Small Business Marketing Lesson: Leverage opportunities to provide more custom, quality products where you can charge a higher price.

Have a sales bin or rack where you offer older or last season’s product at a greatly discounted price. It’s a great way to move excess inventory for your cost.

 

9. Build personal relationships.

There’s truth to the adage: people buy from people.

 

I bought a hank of fine white lace wool from Wales to make a wedding shawl because Polly, the owner, and I spent time talking about her country. She then showed me the difference in the various weights of yarn and how it knit up into shawls. I was sold.

 

Actionable Small Business Marketing Lesson: Invest your time in interacting and engaging with your prospects and customers. It will come back to you in repeat business and word of mouth reviews.

 

10. Don’t do everything yourself.

Most business owners and executives need help, especially in today’s world of vanishing support staff. Consider the value of your time and lost business if you do everything yourself. You’ll be like the leather craftsman mentioned above.

 

Actionable Small Business Marketing Lesson: Determine what tasks you can give to someone else. If you don’t have the resources to invest in hiring people, get creative about how you pay and use your time.

 

Determine if there’s some way you can exchange services or use your time to create more sales. Still need help, try your family and friends.

 

 

The bottom line: Check every element of your marketing to ensure that it’s pulling its weight in terms of yielding the highest return possible. Use these 10 small business marketing tips as a checklist.

 

What other small business marketing lessons are needed regardless of size

 

To view the original article please visit: http://heidicohen.com/small-business-marketing-lessons-you-need/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed&utm_reader=feedly

Happy Valentines Day Retailers!

These Valentines Day displays were a *hit*

 

 

 

 

 

Check out some more fun holiday display ideas on Mannequin Madness' Pinterest

 

XO,

Your Friends at One Step Retail Solutions