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Business SMART: |
Beyond Embellishments |
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By: Fran
Saperstein
Vice President & Publisher, A-Z Media Group, Inc. |
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As I attend
each trade show, I am always amazed by the vastness of
the new products that are introduced. Papers,
embellishments, stickers, rub-ons… the list seems to
grow with each show and each collection. The creativity
is amazing, and the layouts seem to get more complex.
As much as I am enchanted by the products, I am
concerned that, as an industry, we are boxing ourselves
into a corner that will not allow us to grow. The more
complex and artistic we make our sample layouts, the
more we reinforce the idea that scrapbooking is an art
that requires a significant investment in time, money,
and space. With this knowledge, I ask, “How is a new
scrapbooker to start?”
I hear it all the time: women who are interested in the
craft see it as overwhelming. They don’t know where to
start. Last week, I was at a reception and in getting to
know people we went around the circle and introduced
ourselves. When they got to me, I told them about my
role as a publisher in the scrapbooking industry.
Without fail, they all answered, “Oh my! I’d love to do
that, but it just looks so complicated and I wouldn’t
know where to start.” The sad thing is that I hear this
often. It makes me wonder how we, as an industry can
capture those people and get them hooked into the craft.
It also makes me ask, “Where have we gone wrong?”
These women share with me how they have bureaus full of
photos from their childhood and of their college-aged
children. They don’t get to see the photos because
they’re locked away in shoe boxes – or in some cases,
even archival photo-safe boxes. The memories grow dimmer
with each passing day as they sit hidden from the
family.
Imagine the potential market these women represent! If
we could get them to buy just a simple scrapbook where
all they had to do was pop their photos in, put in dates
and maybe a bit of journaling, we’d have them hooked on
the craft. Now, I don’t foresee that these women would
necessarily become expert scrapbookers. On the contrary,
they would see scrapbooking as an answer to their
problem.
Manufacturers, retailers, and publishers, have a huge
opportunity here. If we provide the products and the
support to this group that saves their memories, but is
not interested in becoming “scrapaholics”, we can grow
the industry by leaps and bounds.
And how do we make it easy for them to start? Many
manufacturers have started to create kits – starter
kits. Some retailers have begun to offer beginner
classes for free. Others create starter kits to help
people start the process. Here at Scrapbooking.com
Magazine, we added a basic scrapbooking section where we
take people step-by-step through the process of
beginning scrapbooking. We also added a section on
organization of products, including photographs.
But it’s not enough. As an industry, we need to reach
out beyond the people who are already scrapbooking.
Retailers should reach out to Mom’s Clubs, churches and
synagogues, and businesswomen. These are where the
future of scrapbooking sits - with the pent up demand of
photos sitting in boxes.
I would love to hear how you are all tapping into this
market. Please email me with your comments and ideas of
how we, as an industry, can better reach out to new
potential scrapbookers. If we work together, the
opportunities are endless!
Send your feedback and check out our second installment
next week as we share tips and ideas from retailers,
manufacturers and even from beginning scrapbookers. Send
your comments to:
publisher@a-z.com |
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