Game On!

During a performance review too many years ago my boss challenged me to do something different.

To show myself (and her) that I could do more to bring traffic into our store.

• I told her I would do an event a week.
• We normally did one a year.
• I don't really know why I said it.
• First thing that came to mind, I guess.
• Be that as it may once I said it I owned it.
• We recorded it on the review and I signed it.

Game on!

Our bookstore was in a big mall, back when malls did really really well.

We were in a town that made steel; the mall was actually built on an excavated slag dump.

But the mills weren't doing so well. Unemployment was up. Things were tense.

Books are an easy thing to avoid when you need to buy food, buy school clothes.

But I had opened my mouth and I had to do it. In our little mall store that didn't realize it was a little store, we had our weekly events.

I hit the yellow pages (because; no internet yet) and looked up non-profits.

• Looked up clubs.
• Looked up groups.
• Looked up non-profits,
• And then I called them.

"Come in", I told them, "and I will give you a table at the front of our store. You can tell people about your club/group/charity/special interest/hobby. I'll put a display of books that relates to the topic at the front of the store. Hang a sign letting people know you will be here. You can hand out business cards, do a demo. Need electricity? No problem! I'll send press releases, you tell everyone you know, OK?"

It worked.

Back when the Big Box stores (the ones we eventually joined), were testing Community Events Coordinators, I was using Day-Glo paint to make posters for the store front.

Making little name badges that said "Special Guest' with a place for their signature. Got a fancy cut glass goblet and filled it with ice and water from the Dairy Queen across the hallway.

-We had bass fishermen with a giant tank, fish, and rods at the store front.

-We had the Star Trek club, complete with a sound machine that sounded 'swisssssh' when people crossed the lease line.

-We had my boss' favorite: the We Remember Elvis Fan Club. (They had a scale model of Graceland made of sugar cubes, an Elvis look-alike, and raised money for a juvenile burn center.)

-We had girls scout selling cookies, gingerbread house demos, knitters, and a trail bike club.

-I brought in a bread machine (they were the instant pot of that time) , made fresh bread, and gave out samples... conveniently placed next to the bread machine cookbooks.

We had

• story time,
• a summer reading program,
• made Mother’s Day cards,
• valentine card crafts,
• colored globes for Earth Day,
• and displayed the entries for the local elementary science fair.

I got to go to a cool conference with 'store event people' at the home office.

Me- from the teeny mall bookstore among all the big box folks with budgets and business cards!

That's where the giant pencil came from (because I save almost everything).

• We had fun.
• We had traffic.
• We had sales.
• We made money.
• We hit sales plan.
• I made it up as I went along.

Created a problem for the people I invited (you need to let people know about you and what you do! Be visible to the community!)

Gave them a solution they didn’t know they wanted, (I’ll publicize for you, take care of your display needs)

And they spread the word to their ‘network’ (we didn’t call it that then- it was ‘friends and family’).

But we DIDN'T have the internet or social media.

Boggles my mind what I could have accomplished then with all of the tools we have now.

If you are

• in sales,
• if you own your business,
• if you are a writer,
• a crafter,

and you aren't reaching out to people around you using online tools and opportunities....

well, if I was doing your review you bet you would get a Needs Improvement.

So let’s do a Developmental Action Plan together.

1) Set an outreach goal.

Make it concrete so you can measure it.

• “Post once a day, every day.”
• “Write 200 words by 10 AM every day.”
• “Join one new group a week and contribute one post a day.”

2) Do your research.

What tools fit your product?

• Vocal is a good place for you to flex your writing skills.
• The various Facebook groups for Vocal writers take that to the next level by providing encouragement and feedback.
• Pinterest and Instagram are natural fits for visual product and trends. Create boards and share them, making sure to use tags to draw interest to your posts.
• LinkedIn has expanded not only their interactive emojis, they also offer a place for short form articles.

Are you an expert in your field? Do you have a technique that has brought good results that you can share?

Perhaps a story that can serve as either an inspiration (or a caution) to others? Keep it professional and you will find an audience on LinkedIn.

3) Spread the news.

Press releases and neon paint still have a place in getting out a message.

But, unlike the 90’s, cross posting your message on various platforms can create your personal brand awareness much easier!

• Tweet out a link to your LinkedIn story.
• Share the link to your Vocal article in a Facebook group with similar interests.
• Share your Pinterest board on LinkedIn- photos encourage people to interact with your post.

Listen: Don’t wait until your yearly review, or your birthday, or when the kids go back to school, or until the New Year: challenge yourself NOW.

Go ahead. Game ON!