"The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity."

-- Peter Drucker

by Jami Petersen

"Pens are a universal common denominator," says guest writer, Judi Kauffman. Have you thought about how to market your specialty pens? Judi has some suggestions for retailers to sell more of these handy items. And in this week's Press Release section, Cropperware is taking some unconventional steps to sell the business. Get the scoop on these topics and more!

Jami Petersen
newsletters@a-z.com

Sakura

Sticklers™ kits include gold or silver outline stickers with three Glaze® (glossy) or Soufflé™ (opaque) 3-dimensional ink pens.

 Fun to demo because anyone can color! All ages can easily personalize cards, bookmarks, cell phones, picture frames, votives, journals & more. All-in-one family fun kit works on glass, paper, plastic & metals. Great for travel, parties, incentive, award, gift and home.

Peel Sticker, Place, Color-in, Let Dry. View video on website. $6.99 U.S. MSRP

http://www.sakuraofamerica.com/Kits-Sticker

Press Releases

News you can use about the latest media coverage of hot trends, noteworthy events and dynamic industry leaders. Learn more about the current headlines in arts and crafts by clicking on the title of each article segment.
 

 

Art Glitter Goes to Washington D.C. Art Glitter was proud to collaborate with the Arizona State Parks efforts in creating dazzling ornaments for the Capitol Christmas Tree 2009 Program. This is the first year that Arizona was given the honor to provide The White House Christmas Tree. School children from around the state had the privilege of making 4,000 ornaments for this special 65-foot pine tree from the Apache Junction Sitgreaves National Forest.

Photographers Create Instant 4”x6” Photo Albums for Weddings, Special Events, Promotional Gifts, & Portfolios. Peleman Industries announced the new MyBook Collection kit for photographers at PhotoPlus, held at the Javits Center in NY, October 22-24, 2009. MyBook Collection is a low-cost, easy way for photographers to quickly make portable 4”x6” photo books for wedding and special event photography. Perfect as a promotional gift or portfolio giveaway for prospective clients, all a professional photographer needs is the MyBook Collection and a stapler to make instant photo albums in just minutes with no heavy, expensive equipment or messy glues!

Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L™

SCRAPBOOK ADHESIVES BY 3L™ offers you a new opportunity to gain more sales!

They now have launched an online store powered by Shopatron! This move also bolsters the commitment SCRAPBOOK ADHESIVES BY 3L™ has to their fulfillment partners by driving sales through independent retail stores. The addition of in-store pickup available for brick-and-mortar stores will create ancillary sales of complementary products when customers arrive to pick up their orders.

Sign up for FREE today!!  

The Memory Tradeshow

The Memory Tradeshow is the premiere market for scrapbooking and related products, family history and digital imaging.

It is the most important gathering of this industry regionally, and it’s attracting executives from all sectors: manufacturers, retailers, distributors, suppliers, sales reps, designers and press. The show’s goal is to provide the highest ROI show within the industry with a greater focus on the business of the memory industry, education and best business practices.

Learn more and save >>

by By Judi Kauffman for Sakura of America

You can’t walk two feet in my house without finding a pen within reach. I thought that this penchant for pens was related to my profession. After all, we designers need to be ready when an idea strikes, when a sketch suddenly needs to move from brain to hand. I decided to do a bit of research to see how my friends and family view pens, and found - to my great joy - that I am not that different from the rest of the people in my life.

My Internet and local stamping friends, without exception, say that they “can’t have too many pens.” They stock up, as if the world would end if there weren’t at least four gold pens on hand. We talk about pens, describing in the same loving detail one would reserve for favorite desserts the features we like about a particular color or brand. We share. We give each other pens for gifts, even though we know that the other person already has quite a stash. My artist friends and all of my students, past and present, own a wide variety of pens and use their gift certificates to buy more.

It was no surprise that my friends in the creative world would have the same pen “habit” as I do, but I had never noticed that my minimalist beloved stepmother who likes to keep a clean desk has pens in at least five places in their house while my 90-year-old dad has the fountain pen he was given for his Bar Mitzvah over 70 years ago, right next to the black and red Micron pens he uses for making notes. He’s partial to fine lines, loves the .01, and writes on the backs of recycled envelopes.

My economist friend has jars of pens in her kitchen, home office, by the phone in her living room, and next to the bed. I found seven pens in her purse, too. She buys pens in packs and assortments, and singly. My neighbors’ children - boys, girls, every age from five to college student - keep pens in backpacks and on their desks. They tend to choose pens that their friends think are cool, but there is no gender-specificity other than the fact that the girls stock up on pink, purple and raspberry more often than the boys. They use pens for sketching, for writing notes, for doodling on anything and everything. These are the same kids who have cell phones, send text messages, and know more about computers by ten than I may ever know.

The neighbor who owns a restaurant has at least two pens in his pocket at any given time, the retired pharmacist, likewise. My next door neighbors keep pens on the table between the chairs where they sit while watching TV. They also have a box of pens about four feet away next to the wall phone.

You get the idea. Pens are a universal common denominator.

It’s easy to see that pens are one category no store can ignore. Every person who walks through your door wants them and loves them. Their reasons and choices vary. They buy them on impulse; they buy them for a particular project. They buy them again and again, and come back for more. They choose them for archival qualities selecting only those with acid-free ink; they couldn’t care less about whether the inks are light fast and long lasting. They pick up a “Collection” with fourteen colors; they only buy yellow and teal. They stock up on black or wouldn’t be caught dead using anything other than purple.

For the impulse buyer, make sure pens are displayed near the cash register and around the store, not just in one spot. For those who keep journals, place pens near the blank books and book making supplies and kits. For scrapbookers, put out pens that coordinate with the newest stickers, papers and embellishments.

There is a doodler inside each of us. Set up a table with some sample pens and let customers doodle as they wait for friends. Put out the companion books on doodling, showcase doodling projects like greeting cards and layouts. Talk about how doodling can de-stress after a long day or during a trying time. Host a Doodling Club, offer a class on doodling - you’d be surprised how many people need a bit of coaxing to step back from a keyboard, free their mind, and play with pens the way they did as kids.

Educate your customers and help them choose the right pen for each project or task they have in mind. Make sure they know why some pens have a longer shelf life than others, tell them which pens should be stored flat and which ones have ink that won’t wash out if they use it for signing checks and documents. Help them understand which pens work best for scrapbooks, journals and other heirloom projects.

Give your customers lots of reasons to buy pens. Connect those pen displays to the season, the next holiday, local events and life’s many occasions. Remind the grown-ups that one-on-one time with a child, a few pens and some paper can be priceless.

Cross sell. Pens and templates, pens and doodling books, pens and rubber stamps, pens and die cuts, pens and stickers, pens and blank surfaces, pens and card stock - and of course, pens and pen storage boxes and containers.

Pens are year round, consumable, affordable, and endlessly exciting. They hold the key to imagination, creativity, and fun.

Take a break right now, get out YOUR favorite pen and spend some time doodling. Start with a big dollar sign: Embellish with swirls, stars, stripes, paisley shapes, and dots, and see if your face doesn’t relax into a big grin!    

Tragic Magic

Tragic Magic

The next Scrapbooking mystery takes readers back to New Orleans, where there are spookies, foodies—and crafty killers. Carmela, owner of Memory Mine scrapbook shop, and her best friend have a big project converting an old mansion into an unforgettable haunted house. But when Carmela’s client turns up dead, she finds herself in some deep gumbo again. Discover more Tragic Magic including recipes and scrapbooking tips.

Click here to learn more about this scrapbooking mystery...

Cropperware Chooses Twitter to Announce its Business on the Auction Block

Mary Petto, owner of Cropperware® LLC and creator of the scrapbooking tool, the Page in Progress® Box, announced last night that her company is available for sale. While not surprising that the owner-operated company is looking for a larger enterprise to take over, some more traditional M&A big-wigs may wince at the vehicle it chose for its announcement, which read: “Okay, world. We're accepting bids for Cropperware LLC: inventory, IP, the whole enchilada. Please send inquiries to info@pagesinprogress.com.” Simple, folksy, and, you guessed it, a Twitter post.

Petto explains, “We made the decision to sell Cropperware and its intellectual property a few weeks ago, but going the traditional route of finding an M&A expert isn’t necessarily proving the best way to go. If we can’t show them that we are a $3 million company, they hang up. We’re not sure what happened to the good old days when big businesses were opportunists looking for the next big idea, but we’ve got it, and we’ve got the social proof and orders to prove it. Twitter may be a bit casual, but who knows who will see it and take a second look? Another individual with dreams of his or her own can take our product to the next level. It’s too great a concept to keep behind the closed doors of the traditional M&A world.”

With the wonder of Twitter and its exponential impact (Petto’s twitter updates also post to her Facebook status, which posts to her Plaxo account, etc.), Cropperware just may be catching up with a trend that celebrities have already figured out. If you’ve got something to say and you don’t want anyone in the middle getting the message wrong, say it yourself.

For more information on Cropperware, go to www.cropperware.com.