As you might imagine, I've been spending a lot of time considering the direction of AVCOSA and the possibilities of its impact on the antiques / vintage community. In my course of discussions with others in the business, one conversation has stuck with me.
It was during my recent interview with Auctionwally (you can listen to the podcast here: http://tinyurl.com/a9vlrz), when host Walt Kolenda made reference to the Dairy / Milk Producers "Got Milk" Campaign. He was suggesting that as an antiques, vintage and collectibles community, AVCOSA could leverage resources to do something similar - to raise awareness of and to create interest in antiques and vintage. (Note: I'm not suggesting we can do anything NEAR the scale of the Got Milk Campaign with television ads, etc. but there are things our group CAN AFFORD to do).
There are two very timely issues that the antiques / vintage community can create a campaign around: 1) the economic downturn and 2) the "Go Green" movement.
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It's the Economy Stupid
We all are aware that the economy is dismal and we have felt its impact in our daily lives. However, there are two basic premises that the AVCOSA can promote to the general population to spur our businesses during this difficult time. First, there are often cost savings associated with buying vintage items over new - vintage clothing, housewares, etc. When you consider the cost savings and the better quality of manufacture (which is often the case with vintage items), you can make a real case for buying vintage.
Additionally, it's been historically shown that antiques are a great investment in times of financial crisis. When investors are concerned with the performance of the stock market, more of them move to tangible assets like gold, silver, art and antiques. This is a critical opportunity for those of us in the business to conduct an outreach program to prospective investors.
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Go Green? We Went Green Years Ago
Our next opportunity is to leverage the popularity of the "Go Green" movement. What is more eco-friendly than antiques and vintage items? When you consider the mantra of "reduce, reuse, recycle", our products are a natural fit.
What's more, the primary audience of "Go Green" is much younger than the demographics of typical antiques / vintage collectors. This offers an opportunity to introduce the the younger crowd to the wide world of antiques, vintage and collectibles!
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So how can we use these opportunities to raise awareness and increase sales? I'm going to save my thoughts for tomorrow. I want to give you some time to consider the opportunities and the impact a successful campaign could do for your business. Tune in tomorrow...
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Learning from Case Studies
I've been thinking of ways to bring value to AVCOSA and one idea I'd like to add immediately is "case studies."
As the group helps more individuals with specific marketing or promotional needs, I thought it would be worthwhile to profile each of these "cases" by describing the posed problem/issue, the marketing techniques employed to resolve the issue and the outcome.
My hope is that instead of just discussing topics and how they can help your business, case studies will allow you to see them "in action" - making it easier to understand how each tactic works and how that tactic can improve YOUR business.
The opportunity for "case studies" is virtually endless. Topics may range from the critique and redesign of logos and banners to comprehensive search engine optimization and copywriting for Web sites. Each time we will try to select ONE marketing tactic to "highlight" creating some real opportunities to learn.
As the group helps more individuals with specific marketing or promotional needs, I thought it would be worthwhile to profile each of these "cases" by describing the posed problem/issue, the marketing techniques employed to resolve the issue and the outcome.
My hope is that instead of just discussing topics and how they can help your business, case studies will allow you to see them "in action" - making it easier to understand how each tactic works and how that tactic can improve YOUR business.
The opportunity for "case studies" is virtually endless. Topics may range from the critique and redesign of logos and banners to comprehensive search engine optimization and copywriting for Web sites. Each time we will try to select ONE marketing tactic to "highlight" creating some real opportunities to learn.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Let's Talk About Leveraging
As an organization, there is a lot we can do through our combined efforts to benefit all or, in some cases, some of the group.
Since our launch, we've had several discussions about our personal experiences and expertise. Now that we've identified many strengths, let's consider coming together to use these individual skill sets and bases of knowledge to formulate cooperative plans of promotion.
With this in mind, how can we leverage our collective resources?
I'll provide an example... Squidoo is a great promotional tool but one that requires some time and effort to maximize its potential for exposure. It's a great tool for public relations, building a brand, providing content for your individual site, as well as feeding content to search engines.
(For those of you who don't know, Squidoo is a community Web site of content - topics range from child-rearing to writing a business plan. Individual uses of the site range from individual site promotion to vast collections of information (or lenses) about nearly anything you can think of. Check it out at http://www.squidoo.com/.)
In our case, we can identify those topics we are knowledgeable about and, just as importantly, have many sellers in that product category. I'll use "vintage linens" as an example of how this could be done...
As I've welcomed new members, I've noticed there are quite a few selling in this particular product category so that group of vintage linen sellers could come together to work on content. One individual could write the lens introduction, another could write about caring for vintage linens, another could discuss manufacturers and values, and so on. What would take one individual days to write (which is time away from listing and selling), a group could assemble in a much shorter time.
Each individual participating in this group stands to benefit by having new informational content to share with their prospective and existing customers via link, effectively positioning yourself as an expert in the field, added exposure on the Web and in search engines. Each participant would have their own promotional page on the lens - including the listing of relevant items they are currently selling.
A couple of things about logistics - to create a lens, only one individual could manage an account so one group member would have to function as the "group leader" - that person would be responsible to upload content as other members provided it and link it appropriately within the lens.
As you can tell, I'm thinking aloud as I'm writing this (that's right, I'm talking to myself - lol). If anyone is interested in trying a collaborative Squidoo lens, please contact me. I would be happy to serve as the "group leader" for our trial run. In that capacity, I will help each participating member select their content assignment, manage the lens, upload content, edit content based on keyword research - and anything else I can think of as we go!
As mentioned at the beginning of the post, this is just one example of what we can do together to overcome limitations that we face individually (i.e. time, specific skills, etc.). The reality is our opportunities to work together to market our products is virtually endless. I have a number of ideas I'll continue to share with the group in the weeks ahead.
But the point of this post is really to start a dialogue among members. I hope that it gets you thinking about ways we can actively promote our businesses on the Web by leveraging our group resources.
Since you are part of AVCOSA, you can even think more creatively - you are no longer limited by your own personal skill set. We have members knowledgeable about nearly any form of marketing so we have a greater chance collectively of bringing those outstanding ideas to fruition. What do you think?
Since our launch, we've had several discussions about our personal experiences and expertise. Now that we've identified many strengths, let's consider coming together to use these individual skill sets and bases of knowledge to formulate cooperative plans of promotion.
With this in mind, how can we leverage our collective resources?
I'll provide an example... Squidoo is a great promotional tool but one that requires some time and effort to maximize its potential for exposure. It's a great tool for public relations, building a brand, providing content for your individual site, as well as feeding content to search engines.
(For those of you who don't know, Squidoo is a community Web site of content - topics range from child-rearing to writing a business plan. Individual uses of the site range from individual site promotion to vast collections of information (or lenses) about nearly anything you can think of. Check it out at http://www.squidoo.com/.)
In our case, we can identify those topics we are knowledgeable about and, just as importantly, have many sellers in that product category. I'll use "vintage linens" as an example of how this could be done...
As I've welcomed new members, I've noticed there are quite a few selling in this particular product category so that group of vintage linen sellers could come together to work on content. One individual could write the lens introduction, another could write about caring for vintage linens, another could discuss manufacturers and values, and so on. What would take one individual days to write (which is time away from listing and selling), a group could assemble in a much shorter time.
Each individual participating in this group stands to benefit by having new informational content to share with their prospective and existing customers via link, effectively positioning yourself as an expert in the field, added exposure on the Web and in search engines. Each participant would have their own promotional page on the lens - including the listing of relevant items they are currently selling.
A couple of things about logistics - to create a lens, only one individual could manage an account so one group member would have to function as the "group leader" - that person would be responsible to upload content as other members provided it and link it appropriately within the lens.
As you can tell, I'm thinking aloud as I'm writing this (that's right, I'm talking to myself - lol). If anyone is interested in trying a collaborative Squidoo lens, please contact me. I would be happy to serve as the "group leader" for our trial run. In that capacity, I will help each participating member select their content assignment, manage the lens, upload content, edit content based on keyword research - and anything else I can think of as we go!
As mentioned at the beginning of the post, this is just one example of what we can do together to overcome limitations that we face individually (i.e. time, specific skills, etc.). The reality is our opportunities to work together to market our products is virtually endless. I have a number of ideas I'll continue to share with the group in the weeks ahead.
But the point of this post is really to start a dialogue among members. I hope that it gets you thinking about ways we can actively promote our businesses on the Web by leveraging our group resources.
Since you are part of AVCOSA, you can even think more creatively - you are no longer limited by your own personal skill set. We have members knowledgeable about nearly any form of marketing so we have a greater chance collectively of bringing those outstanding ideas to fruition. What do you think?
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Announcing AVCOSA, The Antiques, Vintage & Collectibles Online Sellers Association
Welcome! This is the companion blog for The Antiques, Vintage & Collectibles Online Sellers Association (or AVCOSA), a recently formed organization to advance the interests of antiques, vintage and collectibles dealers online and to provide them with a centralized source of news, resources and information. If you would like to learn more about AVCOSA, please visit our site, http://avcosa.ning.com, or read our recent press announcement, http://www.news-antique.com/?id=786047.
For those of you who have joined AVCOSA, this blog will serve as your news outlet for all things concerning the development of our organization. It’s a view from “behind the scenes” of AVCOSA from those of us working daily on the group’s development.
A couple of things worth noting today… we have reached our first organization milestone as we welcome our 100th member. In an approximate two week span, we have significantly grown our membership and communicated the need for such a group.
We have also organized our initial steering committee meeting. Ten members of AVCOSA have graciously volunteered their time to represent the group and work to determine its direction. This meeting is scheduled to be help on Thursday, February 12th at 8:00 p.m. EST. All members are encouraged to express their views about the organization’s focus here: http://tinyurl.com/b4nywd.
This blog will be updated on a daily basis so please be sure to check back for new information about AVCOSA.
For those of you who have joined AVCOSA, this blog will serve as your news outlet for all things concerning the development of our organization. It’s a view from “behind the scenes” of AVCOSA from those of us working daily on the group’s development.
A couple of things worth noting today… we have reached our first organization milestone as we welcome our 100th member. In an approximate two week span, we have significantly grown our membership and communicated the need for such a group.
We have also organized our initial steering committee meeting. Ten members of AVCOSA have graciously volunteered their time to represent the group and work to determine its direction. This meeting is scheduled to be help on Thursday, February 12th at 8:00 p.m. EST. All members are encouraged to express their views about the organization’s focus here: http://tinyurl.com/b4nywd.
This blog will be updated on a daily basis so please be sure to check back for new information about AVCOSA.
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