Today...is a great day!

Today...I interviewed Sherry Diccion of Great Scrapbook Events on the Scrapbooking Matters BlogTalkRadio Show. Sherry's a long-time Service Provider member of the NSA and is hosting this year's Harvesting Memories Crop & Shop in Mt. Clemens, MI.



Harvesting Memories is the NSA-sponsored fundraising event supporting Trees for Troops, the program to provide live Christmas tress to our military serving overseas and their families. Last year Trees for Troops delivered over 11,000 trees, including 400 to Iraq and Afghanistan. This year's goal is 12,000.

In addition to the Mt. Clemens event, I'll be hosting a four-hour online crop on Saturday, November 10. A $15 donation to Trees for Troops gets you a chance to participate in games, challenges, give aways and more!

Details are pending, but more info is posted on the Harvesting Memories web site.

ETP!

Labels: Harvesting Memories, pudding

Today...I visited the press room to get a preview of what's in store for us when the show opens on Friday.

Exhibitors and other CHA members provide press kits to announce new releases, entice with sample products, and provide catalogs and digital images for print. This is an excellent way for editors to find the info they need - and bring it home - to do their job, which is ultimately to spread information.

As a Service Provider, I find the press room an invaluable benefit and ultimately a huge time saver. In one room I can gather a significant amount of information that helps me to plan my show schedule and identify the must-see exhibits. Even if it's just an updated catalogue provided, having it in hand is so much easier - and appreciated - than if I had to hunt down my prospects for information.

I also get a glimpse of what the other categories are working on, such as Pentel's Fabric Fun Dye Sticks. Their press kit included a small canvas bag and encouraged creative time with their new product. Talk about make-n-take!

NSA members Cindy Bisson and Becky Chabot submitted press kits in the designer section, and they were on hand to preview the kits from the exhibitors. This video is just a sample of what we discovered on the show floor:



(Disclaimer: this is my first video post, so please forgive the lack of editing and the burst of exuberance at the end!)

ETP!

Manufacturer's mentioned

Bright blues:
me and my big ideas
Stemma

Skulls & Pirates:
Collected Memories Bad to the Bone albums
Rusty Pickle's Cap'n Jack and Pirate Princess Collections
Karen Foster Design's Pirate Collection
2 Daisies Designs' Heads of the Family

Celebrations:
AdornIt Halloween Collection

Labels: industry insights, Latest and Greatest, pudding, trade magazines

Today...I received the July/August issue of Scrapbook Business. I went straight to page 8 for Kevin Nelson's note from the editor. In his letter, he highlights the NSA's retail directory. The NSA Store Locator is like nothing else in the scrapbooking industry. Nowhere can you find a comprehensive list of retailers that specialize in scrapbooking but on the NSA site. Other lists are too expensive to join, tied to a product manufacturer, or terribly out-dated. And forget about functionality!

Thing is, we're hard at work creating a better retail directory and locator, and it's scheduled to launch very soon! So if you like the NSA Store Locator now, wait until you see what's in store next!

ETP!

Remember...the NSA lists all brick & mortar stores for free. Stores receive an enhanced listing -- with phone numbers, directions, maps, store hours, photos and more -- as a retail member of the NSA. You also will receive a monthly reminder to update your listing information.

Labels: pudding, retail tips, trade magazines

Today...I responded to a question posed by retail consultants Kizer & Bender about honoring competitors' coupons. It goes a little something like this:

There needs to be a way for the independent retailer to stand apart from the larger box stores, in pricing and not just product selection and customer service. It should be something that consistently pulls the consumer into the store and rewards them for being there, not because they have a coupon, from a competitor or otherwise. Additionally, the whole notion of "couponing" cheapens he image of the category.

The National Scrapbooking Association offers a creative solution that is super simple for retailers. Every consumer member of the NSA can download and print their membership card, which shows their name, address and expiration date. The consumer presents their membership card to participating retailers for a discount of what they purchase. The retailer sets the discount (generally a percentage of 5-10%) and can adjust it to maximize marketing opportunities. For example, offering 15% off on special days like National Scrapbooking Day.

The benefits for the retailer are numerous: it's a program they don't have to manage, initiate, mantain, print, distribute, punch, etc.; there is no cost and very little risk; the responsibility is placed on the customer to keep their membership up to date and to present their card; the discount is customizable and controlled by the retailer; the discount is tied to cash flow, not dictated by the competition.

The benefits for the customer are plenty, too: there's only one card to keep up with! and additional cards can be printed if one is lost (the retailer may ask for ID to verify the cardholder); the discount applies just for walking into the store, not accumulating punch cards - which are usually lost; and there is immediate satisfaction, not guilt for spending so much money.

Best of all it allows the independent retailer to compete on a more level playing field: against other independents on the merits of service and selection, not with the box stores where there is neither.

Veronica Hugger
National Scrapbooking Association

ETP!

Labels: pudding, retail tips

Today...I posted a challenge of sorts on the NSA forums. I encourage participation from every market segment!

Let's create the ultimate scrapbooking web site!

It would have a community organized by...
It would have valuable resources like...a comprehensive, accurate LSS locator and mapping function!
It would be highly functional and do the most amazing things, like...tell me when a certain product has arrived at my LSS

It would be pretty to look at, and in the most appealing color combinations like...Scott would not dare change
I would visit it every day because...I could cutomize it to display everything I needed to know about scrapbooking in one place
and it would provide the latest information about...what's in the magazines

It would network me with...manufacturers who need local representatives, demonstrators and instructors
and feed me information about...money-making opportunities

and it would not...spam me with offers or announcements I really don't care about
and would never...insult the way I scrap

but most of all,
it would move me to...scrap and scrap often and openly
and make me feel...satisfied

I would love to hear what you want!

ETP!

Labels: IMHO, matchmaking, pudding

Today...the industry prepares for National Scrapbooking Day. Craftrends noted NSD in their news headlines. CNA provided a press release template for retailers. Here are more tips to make the most of our special day:

• Send press releases to local media, especially television network affiliates, and add the words "photo opportunity" or "remote feature" to the release. This will alert them to a visual event that they can cover instead of just a news event. Follow up with a phone call.

• Contact local community calendars, usually in suburban weekly newspapers, for free mention of your NSD event.

• Have a tool-focused, round-robin make-n-take project for your NSD crop. For example, build a one-page layout documenting the NSD event. For the first make-n-take, use the Crop-A-Dile to punch a hole in plastic drinking cups. Create a name tag (again, use the Crop-A-Dile to punch the hole and set the eyelet) and tie to the drinking cup. Continue with the second make-in-take by using a die cutting machine to cut a title for a layout. For the third make-n-take, break for a group photo. Demonstrate a compact photo printer and print copies of the group photo for each participant. For the fourth make-n-take session, demonstrate a technique that's new to the group, like machine stitching. Pass around pieces of cardstock for participants to sign as journaling to mark who was there. For the final make-n-take, assemble the layout and add the tag.

• Take pre-orders of the tools used in the make-n-takes. Alert customers that certain products will be highlighted at your NSD event. Have them stop by to try out the tools. Offer a discount on pre-orders (or pre-pays) and have the tools on hand for sale.

• If customers can't come for an all-day crop, invite them to an open house. Schedule make-n-takes for croppers and visitors, so everyone has the chance to do the projects.

• Make sure your event is posted on the NSA calendar! It's free, and the calendar is one of the most viewed pages of the NSA site. Scrappers are looking for crops to attend. Let them know how your store supports NSD.

Today...I got a call from a newspaperin Illinois wanting to know more about NSD, the NSA and if there were any NSD events in her area. Guess where I looked for that information!

ETP!

Labels: NSD, pudding, retail tips, trade magazines

Today...I received a call from NSA Sponsor, C & T Publishing, looking for a way to distribute 2,000 of their catalogs. They had already sent catalogs to all distributors and retailers; and they didn't want to throw away their over-runs.

Here's the cool part...the first source they thought of was the NSA! And the first thought I had was: which NSA service provider member is having an upcoming crop? That's easy -- I just had to check the Events Calendar. But wait! It's one thing to make the match; it's another to foster the relationship so it lasts.

In this case, it would be frustrating to croppers if they received the C & T catalog but couldn't buy or play with C & T products at the crop. There should be a vendor at the event with C & T products for sale, or there should be a class or make-&-take using C & T products. Making the most of the match!

So I checked the Events Calendar and saw that Sherry Diccion of Great Scrapbook Events was having a show in Mt. Clemens, Michigan, on March 31...plenty of time to ship the catalogs by media mail and for a vendor to order and receive C & T products to sell at the crop. Sherry's event would be a perfect match!

Sherry joined the NSA in November of 2005 when she launched her scrapbooking business, Great Scrapbook Events. Her goal was to start with bi-monthly crops then grow steadily to eventually launch area trade shows in three years. She had a solid business plan and realistic business model. Plus, she actively sought advice and took advantage of what made sense to her. She'll be the first to tell you that her NSA membership has more than paid for itself. Today, not only is she realizing her goals, she's ahead of schedule. The Mt. Clemens event is her second trade show this year!

I can't tell you how excited I am to connect NSA members with each other, especially when the match would never have happened if not for the NSA. The NSA is so much more than a scrapbooking community...it's a network. And it's days like today when I love my job: playing the role of matchmaker!

ETP!

Labels: matchmaking, pudding