Retail is Change. I say it all the time.
And oh MY is change upon us, my friends...
Check out what the NY Times is reporting now,
and get yourselves dialed in.
StoryTelling
In March, 2009, I wrote a guest post for design*sponge.
As part of their BizWomen series, my article offered advice on building your brand image to maximize your visual impact. Since I am preparing to speak about this subject in a few short weeks, I thought I'd share the information again. Here's a taste {and you can read the whole post on design*sponge}
‘Tell Your Own Story’ in all visual communications.
Make your brand an expression of your business’ individual mission, purpose, style, and products or services – and then leverage that brand by using it in every visual medium at your disposal. This is the main opportunity for you to show your potential customers why YOU are different than others - be proud of your individuality and build on it.
1. Be Consistent
Plan the components of your design and utilize them across all mediums. From your business card to your web site to your store or office, the same visual elements should appear - color, logos, fonts, taglines, etc. should all flow seamlessly. There should be no question that they all reflect the best things about your business.
Think of it this way: When a potential customer sees your ad, finds your blog online, or is handed your business card, what is the next step for them? Probably to check out your web site and get more info on you. Then they’ll come to your place of business. Will they see the same business image in all of those mediums? Does your image engender confidence?
When I work with clients to build their brand image visually, I help them choose elements that can be used in many mediums and materials to express a consistent image. We create a ‘brand palette’ that incorporates all of those elements to use in their brand expression. From the paint on the walls to the fixtures holding merchandise to the sign outside, it all plays off of their logo and business attributes. It’s experiential marketing because it immerses the customer into the brand – quite literally: When they walk into your place of business, your brand image surrounds them.
To read the other four things you can do, go here...
content of this post copyright DWK 2009; all rights reserved
no reproduction permitted - used by permision on design*sponge March 2009
{'Tell Your Own Story' is a DWK tagline}
image credit: www.bmpl.lib.me.us
In the Pink
Are you a blogger, a reader, or a lurker?
Are you just about ready to dip a toe into the water and try it yourself?
Or, are you still wondering why anyone has one?
No matter where you are with blogging, you'll find some great advice about using blogs to help promote your business in this article, from little pink book and pink magazine. {Make sure you sign up for their daily email newsletter - TONS of great advice, tips, & offers for women in business.}
Image Credit: little pink book
Deb's Video Series
Are you a retailer who sells product at home shows?
A wholesaler who sells products at gift shows?
A dealer of handmade, vintage, or antique goods
who sells at antique & vintage barn shows?
Are you a first-time Farm Chicks Show vendor,
wondering what you've signed on for?!
I have a great resource to share with you:
In 2008, I filmed six videos at the Farm Chicks show,
to be broadcast on the Gift & Home Channel (now defunct) for retailers.
The videos contain information about successful visual merchandising,
combined with interviews of some creative women
who are very experienced and successful in this area of business:
Serena Thompson and Teri Edwards, The Farm Chicks
Heather Bullard, of Present Past Collection
Bari J. Ackerman, of BariJ Designs
Tammy Gilley, of Tammy Gilley Studios
and me!
Oh, and I was a blonde back then ;)
Image Credit: DWK images 2007;
Thank you to the Emmy-award winning video crew from Peak Video Productions in Spokane, Wa.
Giveaway Winners!
... and the winners are:
Heidi of HiHo and Robin King
Girls, send me an email with your shipping address in it
and I'll get your book sent off to you this week.
By the way, I said THREE best answers in my original post about this giveaway.
The third winner is Linda Olsen of Portland. I didn't want her to know that she was chosen until she received her copy of the book in the mail. ;0)
By the way, I said THREE best answers in my original post about this giveaway.
The third winner is Linda Olsen of Portland. I didn't want her to know that she was chosen until she received her copy of the book in the mail. ;0)
Thank you to everyone who participated!
Q&A: Color 2
Margaret from the blog Eclectic Design Source commented on my "Q and A: Color" post with her question:
"I'm curious what you think about deep, rich tones for retail? I love dark, dramatic walls -like black, eggplant, deep navy, espresso- but I'm not sure how it would translate into selling space.
Thoughts?"
To be honest, Margaret, it's not about what I think. ;0)
It's about the science of selling.
In his groundbreaking book 'Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping', self-titled 'Retail Anthropologist' Paco Underhill discusses his research and findings on what creates the greatest impetus for a shopper to to enter, browse, choose, and purchase from a store. Many factors are presented, and color is one of them. It is not a choice to be taken lightly or made simply by personal preference, as it is a tool used to project an image, a brand, a mood, and tell a story to the customer. As an interior designer, I'm sure you practice a similar philosophy when helping your residential clients choose colors for their rooms. However, while a personal preference tends to weigh heavily in a residential color decision, it is a very different situation with retail spaces.
Generally speaking, dark colors depress people and they suck up all of the light in a space. {Meaning it takes more light fixtures, bulbs, and electricity costs to recapture the light that you lose}. Using them in large quantity can defeat your purpose of selling. Light colors are not only uplifting to mood & spirit, affecting your customers in a positive way, but they also allow the colors and details of products to be shown more effectively. Obviously this is of importance when selling: Pink t shirts need to look pink, not some bizarre shade of peuse because they are surrounded by eggplant walls.
Dark, dramatic colors are excellent when used as 'punctuation marks' in retail settings - whether as part of the permanent decor or in product displays. A very neutral store setting benefits from judicious use of black accents, and a crisp clean modern all-white space would be energized by the use of navy blue. We've all seen the fresh contemporary pairing of espresso with pale robins-egg blue grow in popularity over the past few years - a perfect example of how dark and light compliment one another and create a mood. And eggplant is a wonderful accent to a palette of warm old world hues in a winery or gourmet food store. Much as in fashion, jolts of dramatic color like this add vitality and personality to a palette. The point is to use them thoughtfully and deliberately.
We have all seen the 'chalkboard wall' done to great effect. Ditto the 'focal wall' of color in many design shows. If you are going to use a dark or very vibrant color on a large wall in your retail space, you have to do two things:
1. Make sure it is a high quality paint and an excellent paint job.
Nothing ruins the effect like a shoddy thin streaky wall. Use a primer, then two coats of color - and apply the paint in both up/down and left/right roller applications to cover every area completely.
2. Use the same color in other locations in your space, on a smaller scale.
If a dark color is on the rear wall of your shop {the best place for it}, then paint the base of your cash wrap {located elsewhere} the same color. And paint a chair or table that color, to use in your entry zone or window display. Make it a 'signature color' as part of your brand palette, and use it purposefully.
I've only seen two stores in my lifetime that have broken the rules of color use and succeeded: one is the chain store 'Illuminations'. This purveyor of high-end candles and all related accessories painted their stores deep charcoal, and lit them only with burning candles and narrow-beam spotlights on displays. You literally gasped when you walked past, and were inexplicably drawn into the store to investigate this anomaly of mall shops. Yes, MALL shops. They outperformed every other store when it came to visual presentation of their brand and concept. {Illuminations is no longer in business, but I don't think it's due to the colors on their walls.}
The other store that breaks just about every rule in visual merchandising SUCCESSFULLY is 'Victoria Company' in Orange, California. This tiny, narrow shop competes with many other antique, vintage, and home decor stores on the famous 'Circle'. You are met with a riot of color before ever entering the store, because the sidewalk outside is loaded with a plethora of bright, happy vintage-style furniture & accessories. Cars literally screech to a stop!
Once you walk in, you feel like a kid in a candy store with brightly-colored merchandise piled ceiling-high. The walls are bright sunny yellow, the trim is white, and everything else is kaleidescopic overload. Dona, the owner, is just as bright and colorful in spirit. She's had this darling shop for years and is a very knowledgeable retailer. No one else - possibly not even Disney - could pull this look off successfully. Even Mary Engelbreit didn't do it this well in her colorful stores.
SO, though rules of design and selling psychology apply to color, there is always room to break them. It's just harder to succeed when you go out on that limb.
Image Credit: Color Guides - see them for help with color choices for your business environment.
By the Book - a Giveaway!
Have you read this book, 'The Martha Rules'?
I'll admit I don't watch the Martha show much, but I do have a few of her holiday decorating books. I highly recommend THIS one, which is geared specifically toward women entrepreneurs. In it, 'The Queen of Domesticity' sheds that crown and puts on her business suit to share insights, plans, guidance, and perspective on being a business owner. This is the book that Martha wrote while serving time in a womens' prison a few years back... and that experience is referenced in the book. {I actually like the fact that she's included it, too.} If you have a business already, you will find some helpful practices in this book that will help you grow & expand.
I have several brand new hardback copies of this book, and would love to share them with a few of you...so let's have a giveaway, shall we? Call it an early Valentine. ;0)
Leave a comment on this post telling me why you'd like to receive a copy and you may get lucky! I'll choose the three best answers next Monday, February 8th, and post them here.
**And don't forget that I am still looking for props & fixtures for my seminar in March - read the post below this one for more into!**
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