6-28-18 Emotions and outrage can generate a lot of response

I usually write in my Blog about business items, but something happened recently relating to my Moveonwhidbey Facebook page that really grabbed my attention.

I told the story of how Melania Trump's jacket she wore on the way to see the immigrant children - "I don't really care, do U" really sparked a lot of responses, include considerable outrage by many.

The response that New York illustrator Justin Teodoro's drawing created really demonstrated the feelings of many who saw the photos of the first lady.

As of today, 265 people have seen this on my Moveonwhidbey Facebook page........more than anything I have ever posted there.  Seems like outrage is a very powerful motivator for many people.

6-21-18 Obtaining a zip code is an important marketing tool

One of the most basic pieces of information that can help you make better decisions about where to place your marketing efforts is knowing where your customers live.

A simple method to answer this question is to create a system where you get the zip code of every person who comes into your business or contacts you to make a purchase. This can be done on a computer or by doing listings and hatch marks on a piece of paper near your register (OK, I know this doesn’t sound very high-tech, but it works).

You can keep track of these zip code tabulations by the month or season, or after you have done an advertisement or a special promotion.

Once you see the patterns, it can provide you with valuable information about where, geographically, to focus your energies and your advertising dollars.

6-14-18 It’s the beginning of tourist season, and a retail business owner’s most important job is making a person feel welcome coming into your store

I wrote about this a year ago. I believe it still contains an important message for any retail business on Whidbey.

My husband and I were in San Mateo last year.  It’s a charming small city in the Bay Area. We went into a store that was selling a variety of gift items.  We walked in and after a few minutes, we realized that no one greeted us, or even looked at us.

We waited for someone to notice us....and none of the staff looked up from what they were doing; no one made eye contact or said “Hello” or “We’ll be with you in just a minute.”  We waited.  Finally, my husband said, “Let’s go somewhere else.”  And, we did.

I can imagine the young staff had had a long day, or some cranky customers, or were just anxious to be done with their work day and head home.  

But, as the customer, my only concern was being waited on, or at least having someone greet me and say they would be helping me soon.  I wanted to feel welcome.

As we move into the tourist season on Whidbey, it’s important for a retail store to make every customer feel welcome as soon as they walk into the store. This  is always important, but especially true when many strangers may be stopping by your business.

Anyone who is meeting the public in a business must always be aware of the power of that first moment when a potential customer walks through the door.  More than anything else, a customer must be noticed and made to feel welcomed.

6-7-18 Doughnut House in Bayview Corner shows that “fixing a problem” is good marketing

Every Friday I have breakfast with six to eight people who have been doing this little gathering for several years.  We usually go to the same restaurant, but many of my friends had read my story about the Doughnut House and wanted to go there for a change.

At 8:30 last Friday, 10 of us showed up to try breakfast at Whidbey Doughnuts.  We first noticed that our orders were taking a long time to be filled.  Then we noticed that there were several mix-ups with the orders. By 9:30, when we all had to leave, some orders had not been delivered and there were mistakes in some of the orders that weren’t corrected.

I came home and immediately sent an email to Scott Parks, one of the owners, describing our experience.  In less than 10 minutes, he sent back a response:

“I’m so glad you took the time to write.  I was told immediately by both servers all the problems we created for your table.  Of course, I’m incredibly sorry and will do what I can to make it right. I have at least 4 excuses I could make for some of the issues you encountered, but let’s be honest, “who cares what happened, just fix it.”

Scott showed up at my house the next day with 10 gift cards, one for each of the people at my table (I would have been happy just stopping by his restaurant and picking up the cards). I, of course, immediately told all of my breakfast friends. Since then, I have shared this story with many people.

Our breakfast group is already planning to go back and give the Doughnut House another try. I’m guessing that many who have heard this story are also interested in paying a visit for breakfast, lunch or….doughnuts.

5-31-18 Social media adds to the impact of a good business story

Every week, I write a story for the Business Spotlight in www.whidbeylocal.com.

The stories evolve from personal contacts, observing new or existing businesses or having someone ask me to do a story. These stories cover a broad array of Whidbey Island businesses; many are sole proprietorships or small businesses and some are more extensive business ventures that employ a significant number of people.

Every few weeks, my editor sends me the numbers for how many people have viewed each of the stories. What has surprised me is the wide variations in these numbers.  Some stories will only have 20 or 30 openings, and some, like the stories I did for Comfort’s Winery on 4/20/18, Michael Corradini on 5/21/18 and Whidbey Doughnuts on 5/28/18 have hundreds of views.

The differences, apparently, relate to how many connections, especially social media connections, used by the business.  Some business owners have large business and personal email lists. The owners of Whidbey Doughnuts used emails, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media connections.

Many in my generation (OK, I admit to being a senior, senior citizen) are still learning about these new marketing tools. It seems to me that social media provides some great communication sources for building a business.