A client of mine sent me this magazine clipping from a recent edition of Lucky Magazine a few of days ago. He loved the layout and educational nature of this photo editorial. Lately, we’ve been spotting more and more of these types of presentations in off-line magazines and retail web sites lately.

But did you know that you can make your retail photographs look like Lucky Magazine?

The concept isn’t that difficult to pull off for your own retail business if you set it up correctly.

I consulted with Haley Montgomery over at Small Pond Graphics, and she gave us some great tips for pulling off this look without hiring a professional photographer.

What you’ll need:

1. A ladder or a position that will allow you to photograph from above.

Haley said, “Clothes don’t look good with the sharp perspective of taking this shot from standing in front of it. [The photograph] needs to be from overhead so it’s straight on.”

2. Additional lighting.

I found this great tip on lighting:

Professional light kits can cost from several hundred to several thousand dollars, so a good cheap option for lighting equipment is to purchase some metal shop lights from your local hardware store.

Three of these lights with bulbs will cost you under $20, and they’ll give you a huge increase in the amount of control you have while you film. You can bounce lights off of walls, mirrors, or any other flat, lightly colored surface to provide more ambient “fill” light.

 

3. Mock green screen.

It doesn’t have to be green, but you should create a flat solid surface of a color that is distinctly different from the color of the items you are photographing. Haley recommended using a big piece of solid colored cloth – something in an odd color that separates itself from the color in the subjects to be photographed. She said that this allows a graphic artist or in-house Photoshop-user to easily select, delete and/or replace that background color.

My quick tips for a successful recreation of this sort of look for your own retail store’s marketing:

1. Assemble items to be photographed.

Gather your pieces and your props all together in one place. Practice laying them out in such a way that you can easily see everything and so that it all makes sense to the reader. Edit out a few things… don’t try to include every possibility in one photo. Put the look together – then simplify.

2. Setup the shot.

Spread the “mock green screen” on the floor or a large table surface. One client of mine actually uses the surface of a pool table as the flat surface AND the green screen for smaller items!

Layout the items to be photographed as desired and in a clear and simple manner on this flat surface.

Position the lighting so that there are no shadows and also no harsh direct light on the subjects.

3. Take the shot.

Position your ladder as closely as possible to the items. Alternately, balconies and stair banister areas sometimes provide other good elevated opportunities for photographing straight down onto something if you’re not a professional. Get as close to “straight down” as possible and snap quite a few shots with different settings on your camera. Try to get clear, steady shots so the items are crisp in the final photos. If your camera allows to adjust the “white balance” based on the environment, I recommend doing that. My cell phone camera even allows this, and this simple step makes a huge difference in the outcome (and color accuracy) of your photographs.

4. Edit the shot.

Move the photos to the computer and identify the photos that are most clear and show the most real representation of the colors and textures of the objects.

Using Photoshop or a similar photo editing program (free or low-priced options are available online), select the background “green screen” and delete it.

In one example that we saw, a corkboard look was used as the new background. To accomplish a “new background” after eliminating the green screen, layering stock imagery or even a separate photo of fabric or texture with the retail shot you just edited. In essence layering two images together to get the end product.

Voila!

Moneymaker Notes

This is a great look – and it can be realized in many variations with standard desktop tools and a decent camera. It is definitely possible to do it your self.

However, I must caution you: my recommendation at the end of the day is that it’s a great idea to know HOW to do something like this, so that you can more intelligently discuss projects and marketing concepts. But when the rubber meets the road, the best investment a small business owner can make is to hire professionals to help create investment marketing pieces for their business. Outsourcing frees up our time – and it makes us money by leveraging our time and resources. Professional commercial photographers and graphic designers are worth their weight in gold when you utilize their services in an educated way. But know how they work allows you to keep them reigned in appropriately when it comes to their time and your budget.

Photo Credit: Cell phone photo of a spread from a recent Lucky Magazine. To learn more or subscribe to this creative fashion mag, visit www.luckymag.com.

It’s funny. It seems like the posts you (my readers) like the best are the ones where I give a more personal insight into the work I’m doing, or the thoughts I’m thinking as it relates to business. Not to take all the warm and fuzzies out of it, but I’ve got stats to prove this. The web analytics, Facebook insights and Twitter re-tweets – they all tell the story. My readers…my customers…they like knowing the real me and hearing that inside my brain, emotional, thoughtful type stuff.

Which got me thinking… maybe your customers would like the same thing.

Customers Are Humans, Too.

In general, humans are emotional beings, created to live in community with other humans and to interact with on a personal level. There’s way more to every business transaction than some logical need – there is an emotional connection that takes place – yes, even in the most shrewd business situations. So, how can you use this fact to connect on a deeper level (which creates immense customer loyalty, by the way) with your customers today?

Here are a few ideas I had… But I’d also love to hear your ideas, so fire away in the comments sections to help all of us do a better job at using our “humanness” as a marketing tactic to grow our businesses.

1. Use a picture of a human (you, the business owner, the manager, a key employee, an employee of the month, even a customer testimonial with photo) on your outgoing messages (that includes email, web site pages, traditional advertisements, posts on Facebook and your Twitter profile pic for your business).

2. Have all owners and employees name tags in your business, so that customers can connect with a name, not just a face.

3. Have all owners and employees introduce themselves personally and shake hands or hug customers when they enter (depending on the level of familiarity, of course). Physical contact in this professional way will deepen relationships and leave a more lasting positive impression.

4. Have your owner and employees become a source of valuable ideas instead of marketing gimmicks. For example, instead of greeting a customer with a sales gimmick when they walk in the store, have them demonstrate what to do with a certain item, how to use it, etc.

5. Place signs around the store with photos of employees or owners that provide personalized advice through signage. For example:

Mary’s Top 10 Graduation Gift Ideas Under $50

Mary’s Favorite Pair of Jeans for Summer – White Bootcut Delta Blues

Mary Recommends… Mixing your grandmother’s antique china with this Gail Pittman ivory pottery plate for a bright spring luncheon

6. Use your blog, email, Facebook and Twitter as a place to circulate more of these types of ideas, to reach out to others who are asking questions or making comments that you can engage in conversation about (i.e. be human and join conversations in a normal human way, but on behalf of your business).

7. Use your blog to explain more about the ideas you’ve shared on the signs in-store. For example, you can create a blog post “written by” the person who made the tip on the store sign, include their photo on the blog post as well, include some additional sample pictures of products (include price and official name of product in the caption), and explain in more detail what you presented on the store sign. For instance, if you were saying more about Mary’s favorite pair of summer jeans, you might show some outfit ideas, tell why they are her favorite from her perspective (does she have a certain body type that they fit well, are they lighter weight for hot Southern summers, is there an event that she looks forward to that she plans to wear the jeans to?), and even share a bit of the story behind the brand (a brand created in the South to fit Southern women, etc.). This extends the customer’s in-store experience, and it gives you a lot of content to post on social media, which will in turn also create new sales. And it’s all done from a human, personal perspective, which will lead to tighter emotional connections, higher per-ticket sales averages, and a more loyal customer base.

Trust me… we all really do like it when people are more human in how they do business. The numbers prove it.

Image by: brewbooks

Lately, we’ve pinpointed that our search traffic to this blog is heavily weighted towards posts like this holiday-focused one that hands out retail promotion ideas with retail window display ideas coming in a close second. A quick Google search – followed by disbelief and more digging – showed that there simply isn’t a wealth of retail promotion and window display ideas floating around on the web. So, while we’ve got lots of resources in store for you in this new year, I am boldly stealing both inspiration and format from Chris Brogan’s newly launched weekly blog topics program. You’ve got a small business – and you’d like to keep the customers buying. Want some new ideas?

What’s the plan?

I’ll send weekly e-mails with FIVE OR MORE PROMOTION IDEAS for you to implement in your small business or store. In addition, I’ll be including quite a few visual and window display ideas each month as well as some general marketing strategy and sales advice.

Click to learn more about how to get an endless supply of promotional ideas for your small business!

What Types of Ideas?

The ideas will be widely flexible to work in a variety of scenarios – flower shops, coffee shops, clothes boutiques, grocery, restaurants and gift stores. And everything in between. We’ll be doing seasonal ideas a few weeks ahead of the season or date to allow for advanced planning. The ideas will go far beyond discounting and include many ideas to sell at full price, to inspire repeat purchases and to catch new customers. Your creative juices will get a weekly fix – and your store will never look more inspiring to customers!

It’s not free. It’s $27 a month. Think of it as a magazine subscription. Is it for everyone? Definitely not. Is it for someone who wants to keep their business booming and looking fresh and interesting year-round? Is it for someone who could use the creative encouragement and steady dose of fresh ideas? Yep, that’s who this will serve best.

Each mail comes with a lot more than FIVE OR MORE RETAIL PROMOTION IDEAS. It comes with ideas about how to improve your business, ideas on sales, marketing and customer service in general, retail window display and merchandise display ideas as well as lots and lots of modification ideas as well. The first message was just over 900 words long. The second message is nearly 1000. They’ll stay pretty meaty, because that’s what I’m known for – and I always want you to feel like you got far more than value than you paid and always leave with something you feel you can accomplish immediately.

Want to learn more? Check out the weekly Revolutionary Promotion Ideas email.

Small business owners tend to get used to wearing about 27 hats at a time. You can’t afford to do less; as a business owner, you’ve got to understand your business in every aspect. Even if you hire someone to take on a specific job, you’ve got to be able to check up and make sure the job is being done.

The Multi-Tasking Myth
what’s tricky is finding a way to take off 26 of the hats and wear just one at a time. Multi-tasking is usually a waste of time, because our brains don’t actually “multi” task, they simply follow our commands to switch from one task to another, back and forth, until we feel frazzled and confused and fatigued and can’t figure out what we sat down to do in the first place.

Built to Focus
Psychologist Russell Poldrack, who studies multitasking, says that, “We’re really built to focus. And when we sort of force ourselves to multitask, we’re driving ourselves to perhaps be less efficient in the long run even though it sometimes feels like we’re being more efficient” (from an article in the New Atlantis).

That’s the tough part for small business owners: you have so much to do, how do you decide what to do first? And what’s the consequence of choosing one task over another? What if you choose the one that isn’t that important, and leave the really important one undone?

Setting Your Business Priorities
The first thing, then, you should focus on is getting a clear sense of your business priorities. What is most important to accomplish in an hour, a day, or a week? Set your priorities not only according to the day-to-day needs of running a business, but also according to the long-term goals you have as a business owner. Force yourself to assign a priority value to each main area of your business; it’s difficult to say one is more important than the other, but you have to make the call.

Follow Through
Once you have a breakdown of priorities, you know what you need to do: focus on one at a time, starting with the most important. Of course you’ll have to deal with interruptions, but if you are focused on one task, you’ll find it much easier to deal with the interruption and get right back to work. Check off the task as you complete it, and then move to the next one.
Repeat throughout the day, and you’ll be surprised by how much you accomplish.

The Power of Habit
Another element that increases productivity will surface if you follow this concept for a week or so; you’ll find yourself developing a natural rhythm in your work day, dealing with Priority 1, then Priority 2, and so on. As you do this over and over, it will become a habit for you to focus and complete one priority task at a time. The stronger this habit becomes, the less you will be distracted and frazzled by everything else going on, and the more productive you will be as you focus.

Of course there will be times when you’ve got to wear all the hats while spinning all the plates; but don’t let those times become all the time. Set the tone for your business with your own habit of focus.

Photo Credit:Nina Matthews Photography.

How do you stay inspired as a small business owner? Do you even care to be inspired as a local business owner? Does your marketing and customer experience convey your inspiration – or does your own lack of inspiration pass along to your customers and employees and leave your small business falling flat? Is your attitude costing you sales?

I know that when I get in a funk about my business – everyone else does, too. My clients aren’t excited, my employees are grumpy, sales slow and I teeter on the brink of the all-too-familiar “life’s too hard, this isn’t fair, I’ve lost my passion” PITY PARTY.

I do not recommend succumbing to this ugly beast… It’s true that life is hard – and work is harder. But avoid the Pity Party at all costs. It really doesn’t feel as good as you think it will – and it can cost you a lot of money in the process.

Instead, focus on the positive and look for great ways to stay inspired and refreshed about your small business and local marketing.

For some people, this is finding time alone (maybe to read a book, write, or pursue a non-work creative hobby) – for others it’s refueling in a crowd (maybe a networking event or a social occasion). Exercise (with inspiring music, friends or co-workers) should be part of every business owners’ inspiration – without it you simply cannot maintain the stamina required for success (but that’s another post altogether). Maybe music inspires you. Maybe it’s art or well-written prose. Maybe it’s time outside – gardening, watering the planters in front of your store, walking down the street to say hello to a fellow business owner, helping a customer load their car, or just breathing fresh air. There are all sorts of things that inspire us – just make sure you find inspiration and consume it regularly.

How do you stay inspired and passionate about your small or local business?

Photo Credit: Seth1492

Our last past on inspiration garnered some interesting feedback including the question, “How do you stay inspired?”

Here’s my answer for business inspiration – and not in order of priority:

1. I read blogs. LOTS and lots of blogs. Mostly business and marketing related. If you’re interested in exactly what I read, connect with me on Google Buzz. I click “share” for all the posts that I read that I like on pretty much any subject.

2. I read and analyze print magazines. I read magazines that have nothing to do with my career niche. By the time it comes out in print, it’s long gone. I get my business info on the web because the web moves quickly just like business. But I love to analyze layouts, strategies, organization and article presentation in print magazines. My favorites of the moment feed my current hobby of decorating our new-to-us 1920s urban bungalow and my desire to be a more creative, organized, and thoughtful mother to my kids and friend to lots of types of people. Currently, I’m reading House Beautiful (because they run the gamut of practical to totally impractical, on their editorial while keeping their presentation creative and simple to consume), Martha Stewart Living (because Martha and company still have the perfect balance between practical and remarkable) and Real Simple (because I usually find a tip that sparks inspiration in my life) pretty much every time a new issue comes out.

3. I read product packaging. I like the wit and information found on great product packaging and the opportunity that it provides to connect with an existing customer and extend that customer experience. I love it when I hear the personality of the company come to life on the product labeling. Right now, I’m drinking a Sparkling Blackberry IZZE from a can. The label reads: “We stay true to the fruit. IZZE is 70% pure fruit juice. A splash of sparkling water. Made with natural ingredients and fortified with vitamins with no refined sugars, no caffeine, no preservatives. Naturally delightful. Visit IZZE.com.” They could have skipped the “stay true to the fruit and the naturally delightful part and still told their story. But the personality jumped in a bit and makes me more interested and adds value to my experience. I watch for that, consider it, am inspired by creativity in the details of a business.

4.  I hang out with my kids. We paint, read, laugh, play games, cook together and go on special outings together. Each child sees things from a unique vantage point – which inspires me to do the same. They help me look through a new set of lenses and give me ah-ha moments unlike any others.

5. I garden a manageable amount of flowers that give me opportunity to be rewarded in short order with cut-worthy blooms. I water them to get refreshed. I look at them to get inspired. I tinker with fertilizing them, pruning them, and rearranging them to learn from them.

6. I exercise… With Andy or alone, mostly by walking or running outdoors. I’m not a group game sorta person. I use my exercise time to talk things out, think things out, breathe fresh air, run off my frustrations, capture a change of scenery – all leads to a more inspired me – and make me a healthier human for my family.

I hope that helps and gives you some ideas for gaining your own inspiration – what about you? What inspires you in your business?

Photo Credit: Clearly Ambiguous