What A Difference A Year Makes

It has been a long year filled with tons of learning, development and gaining of experience. This past weekend’s show went very well and I’m very pleased in booth display. In looking at the booth photos, it made me stop and think how far we’ve come in booth display at shows.

I found this early picture (above) from the same show a year ago; notice how cluttered and disorganized the tables look. The booth is in a “U” shape allowing customers to come into the booth; however there is no real flow among the jewelry for customers. This picture almost makes me cry to think it was so unprofessional, cluttered and in such disarray. There is almost no space for customers and us to walk within the booth; thinking back it was like everyone was bumping into each other!

A year later……
The booth is now inverted so that customer’s walk along the outside of the tables. We’ve found that displaying this way the customer’s don’t feel trapped or pushed into any sells and can look at the jewelry in a leisure fashion. There is an even flow of the jewelry from table to table and everything is displayed in a professional and organized manner. This week we received the final piece to our booth display, professional display table clothes in a natural complementing color. We can’t wait to use them this weekend, along with the new neutral colored necklace busts. With the holidays approaching, this weekend we are going to try something a little different and add touches of Fall or Holidays around the tables. The two pictures here show the booth before the jewelry was placed and the finished booth after placing all the jewelry.


I'm sure there are a few things we will continue to 'tweak' as time goes on, but for now, I think we have finally found our 'booth'!!

Business Series - Marketing

Disclaimer: Please note that I am not an expert in owning a Business. This series is meant to solely provide information to the reader.

Business’s today face major challenges and opportunities in marketing, such as globalization and advances in technology. These both play major parts in the marketing strategy of a business. Marketing is not only a social process of how to get your products and services to the consumer, but it is also the process of planning and executing the concepts, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals.

To look at marketing strategies for your business, ask yourself the following questions, keeping in mind the 4 major pieces of marketing: Product, Price, Place and Promotion.

1) How can you spot and chose the right target markets?
2) How can you differentiate your products and services from the competition?
3) How far do you go to customize your products and services for each customer?
4) What are the major ways you can grow your business or company?
5) How can you build stronger brands in order to continue to grow your business or company?
6) How do you keep your customers loyal to you, just beyond the first few purchases?
7) How do you measure the payback from advertising, sales promotions, and public relations?

Just thinking about these questions gets the ball rolling about your businesses marketing strategy. It is one of the main reasons a company will ‘make or brake’ it in their industry. Most businesses, unless they are very large, don’t usually consider marketing. But it is one of the most important ‘hats’ a business person will wear. Marketing your products or services just right will bring back customers and keep your business in front of the consumer. Keep in mind though; too much exposure could ruin your business or product, so try to keep an even marketing plan. Learn about your competition, their target markets and pricing strategies and capitalize on feeding what works into your business.
Develop a marketing plan that works for you; set marketing objectives, determine what avenues and how you are going to market your product or service, set marketing budgets, check the competition and then develop and deliver your marketing message to your target market.

Marketing is a challenging concept in any business…from print ads, to internet, to direct-mailings. Just keep in mind the 4 major pieces of marketing: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.