So, I wrote last month about our “plan” for getting everything done in time for the gifting suite. The plan was great, but it didn’t happen according to plan. We were working right up until the moment it was time to leave. And that definitely was not the plan.
But we pulled it off and we were very happy with what we accomplished. Here’s what we did good:
- Plenty of product, good variety of product: We had bibs, silk-screen onesies, floral headbands, and, of course, our blankets.
- Branding: (Really proud of us here) - We had great signs and had almost every celebrity photo taken under our sign, holding the product they chose. We did amazing pinwheels for the kids and these had our happy star stamped all over them.
Here’s where we need to improve:
- Display: We had a great display for what we had to work with, but we could have done a lot better
- Press Kits: We definitely needed more literature to hand out. We need some slick catalogs and brochures. Now we actually HAVE a press kit to put together. We’ve had two GREAT reviews, we’ve been selected for a gift guide, and now we have photos of celebrities with our stuff. All of these write-ups and images should go into our press kit.
What did go according to plan is that this show was a major portion of the prep for our next show. We mainly have to focus on display and literature. We have three weeks to prep for that one, so it’s almost like “away we go” already.
You can click here to view all of the photos from our fabulous day!
January 14th, 2007
I think we might have a prayer of meeting our two big deadlines. Celebrity event (watch us scramble like blind mice) and KIDShow. Won’t we all be interested to see how KIDShow goes? Will it be worth the money we’re about to spend? Huge blessing is that my dad just retired and he’s going to come to our house and stay with our kids for the week. Bless his heart. I’m sure my mom will join him and they can have a jolly olly good time.
We’re in the buckle-down phase now. I’m going to fess up and be completely honest that I haven’t gotten one scratch of a sketch to my pattern maker yet. I definitely got de-railed by planning for this celebrity event, but have faith in our ability to roll with the punches. So, we’ll slim down our offerings even more. Even if we just go with our blankets, which are completely developed and ready-to-go, at least we’re going and we’re going with something to be proud of. But we’ll get beyond that.
For all of these things, merchandising and display comes into play. I can’t believe how many aspects there are to this business. We need to sit down and figure out display options that we love for:
- In-store displays
- Celebrity event (marketing event) displays
- Trade Show Displays
In-store displays: We need our blankets to be well-displayed, and sprawled out enough that customers can see immediately that there is a name appliqued onto the blanket. We need solutions for wall hangings, shelf displays, and floor displays, and we need to keep it simple. They MUST stand out.
Celebrity Event: Signs and wall displays will double for marketing events and trade shows. Capitalize on dual-usage as much as possible. Marketing event table display for gift-ines; marketing materials and coupons will be different than trade show materials.
Trade Show Display: More space than the marketing event for display options, different size and shape of table, and garment racks provided. Different set up, but definitely can keep it along the same lines as the marketing events. It should be a marketing event anyways.
We need to study merchandising now. Or more, just work up some mock displays and get it right. At least it’s something new and exciting. Need to take some time to brainstorm with my eyes closed, but don’t see that happening until after the holidays. My husband is with me all the way, and he does just as much as I do to plan and prep for this, I don’t know how any of it would be possible otherwise. Eternally greatful for his belief in this business.
December 20th, 2006