The Stationers Guild

One of the more useful benefits of attending the National Stationery Show (“NSS”) is the opportunity to attend highly targeted seminars that fill our impressionable minds with the many things we can do with our store and provide a context for identifying new products and trends.  The 2010 NSS was no exception with daily “How-to” exhibits  ranging from making wedding favors to holiday wrap and tying bows.  In addition, there were educational seminars ranging from stationery trends to how to use social media tools to market your bricks-and-mortar store.

Being the geek that I am, I attended two social media seminars brilliantly hosted by Patricia Norins, of Specialty Retail Expert from Gift Shop Magazine and the enthusiastic and engaging Carolyn Howard-Johnson from How to do it Frugally Publishing.  Both seminars were targeted at those who wanted to find out more about Twitter, Facebook and Blogging or those that were sceptical and wanted to see what the fuss was all about.  Judging from some of the questions that were asked, I suspect that most people who attended were novices.

Personally, I think both speakers made a convincing case as to the merits of engaging in social media marketing.  Carolyn stressed the importance of connecting with your clients in this new digital medium in an open-handed and friendly manner that was less about promoting your business than being a part of your community.   Both speakers made the point that Facebook is a more relevant social platform for exchanging information with family and friends, while Twitter has become far more commercial and “immediate.”  I certainly agree with them on this point, but feel that both platforms should be used to creatively engage, build and sustain a loyal following of customers.  The idea is to befriend your digital audience and come across as a “real” human being with a sense of humor and personal  interests rather than the proverbial one-dimensional used car salesperson.

It is difficult to judge how many attendees will heed Carolyn’s and Patricia’s advice.  I suspect that the digital revolution remains an anathema  to most storefront retailers.   While many have gotten over the hurdle of having a website, this is not a medium where they feel comfortable  and most appear unwilling to make the effort to do more.  It is not difficult to get started as Carolyn and Patricia demonstrated, but it does take time and effort to build new skills and engage in the online debate. Frankly, it is fun and interesting once you get the hang of it. 

We all know that the Yellow Pages (“YP”) brings in little or no business, but many stationers continue to pay ridiculous fees to YP to highlight their store rather than spend the time using free social media tools to market their business.  Hard to understand, but sadly true.  For those out there who want to know if your store can be found online (no, you do not have to have a website!), please visit getlisted.org to see if you are on the right track.  A listing below 50% means you have some work to do.  This is a good litmus test to join the 21st century. 

Richard W. May
Thérèse Saint Clair

As reported earlier, Google is aggressively reaching out to local businesses to improve search results for people who place a local qualifier in a search.  Google Places is certain to overhaul the search dynamics and improve search results for those seeking “wedding invitations Greenwich, CT” or “wedding invitations 06830″.  The natural or organic search results will return a stationery store -hopefully yours – in local search results for “wedding invitations” in your town or zip code.

Clearly, mobile search has been driving Google’s effort to improve the search experience for a growing number of consumers using mobile devices.  This is a tremendous opportunity for mom and pop stores and smaller businesses to effectively position their store for mobile search.  To determine how effective your online marketing is working for you, visit getlisted.org to see how well your store stacks up for local search in the four key search engines. 

Twitter is also beginning to make “big” noise on the local search front.  While I have reluctant to recommend Twitter and other social media tools, the local search component has caused me to reassess my position.  With technology, it is difficult to forecast what is coming next, but clearly the time of Twitter and Facebook has arrived.  If you value your business and want to help tech savvy consumers find your business, it is about time to reallocate your Yellow Pages advertising budget to online search.  You will be glad you did and so will your new customers.

This is also the death knell for wedding portals who have so corrupted the local search component.  If you are paying for advertising on The Knot, Martha Stewart Wedding or other wedding portals, this money should now be reallocated to local search.  It’s a heck of a lot cheaper and far more effective.  Why pay for advertising to compete with the likes of weddingpaperdivas.com who are paying close to $50 for each sale in your local space?  Makes no sense.

Richard W. May
Therese Saint Clair

As readers of this column are well aware, I have long been preaching that local stationers need to take a far more active role at promoting their store online. Whether one has a website or not, it is absolutely critical that your store be found when people are searching for products and services you sell.  

I have recently come across a useful and easy way to determine how well your store is positioned for online search.  Simply go to getlisted.org and type in the name of your business and zip code to see how well you rank.  GetListed.org quickly determines how well your store ranks on five prominent search sites (Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yelp and Best of the Web) and, most importantly, provides you with the essential hyperlinks to claim your business, update your existing listing and add photographs and reviews.  This is by far the most effective tool that I have seen to determine how well positioned your store is for Internet search inquiries.   Find out now!

What do GetListed.org search results mean for my store?    If your listing score is below 25%, I would drop eveything and take action now!  Just follow the useful hyperlinks on the website and create a unique identity for your store in cyberspace.  If your listing score is above 50%, give youself a pat on the back, and take action over the weekend to get your listing to the next level.  Please note that getting a listing score above 50% is almost free and may require about an hour of work on your computer.    If your listing score is above 85%, treat yourself to a glass of champagne and then do what is necessary to get to 100%. 

With the easy roadmap provided to you by GetListed.org  your local store will certainly rank in the top 5% percentile of all local listings (probably closer to 1%) for small business.  Furthermore this can be done for a total cost of under $200 a year (only Best of the Web is a tad expensive).  For those on a famine diet, Google and Bing are free.

Over the next several weeks, I will be unveiling a new strategy for Guild members to radically transform your store and online presence by opting into some of the new technologies that are reshapping the ways local businesses market themselves.    As I wrote recently, I believe that our industry (which I broadly define as personalized stationery and custom invitations) has reached a crossroads. Vendors and dealers can follow the path of least resistance and chase Internet price points down to levels which either puts them out of business or permanently compromises the integrity of their brand and/or the reputation of their business.

Experienced stationers operating through legitimate storefronts continue to be the most effective resource to promote brand awareness. Unfortunately, most of these stationers do not recognize the threat posed by the Internet and/or lack the skills or interest to promote their business effectively in this new medium.   As such, I have decided to reorient the focus of the StationersGuild to help dealers optimize their web presence within their local community so that they will have the best listing in targeted local “search space” for keywords like “wedding invitations,” “business cards,” or “stationery.”

Participation in this program is strictly voluntary, but best results and best pricing will be achieved if we act together.  Many of the programs (like getlisted.org ) are free and I will be assembling information from credible resources on the internet if you wish to implement these programs yourself.  For those who prefer to let the “pros” do it for you, I am in the process of putting together an outstanding talent pool to get the job done at rates that are probably far less than what you are currently paying for Yellow Page Advertising. 

I would love to hear from you and will be sending out a newsletter and survey shortly which goes into the program in more detail.  Ask yourself:  Are you equipped to handle mobile search?  Are those affiliate programs working for you?  Are you updating your site regularly and employing proper Search Engine Optimization strategies?  If you answered no to one or more of these questions, the new StationersGuild strategy could be right for you.

Richard W. May
Founding Member Stationers Guild