Monday Morning Quick Tip – Use Storify To Tell Your Horsebiz Stories

It’s no secret that I like Twitter, but many still haven’t jumped into the tweeting pool, citing ‘it goes too fast’ or ‘it’s too confusing.’ Here’s a way to slo-o-o-o-w things down for your target markets when it comes to Twitter and other social media, plus gather and use that social media to tell a story about your horsebiz.

Still in a Beta (test) version, Storify nonetheless has some interesting features, uses, and possibilities. It’s a ‘drag and drop’ way to curate items from various social media like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and more.

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Monday Morning Quick Tip – Postcards Aren’t The Only Item That Can Carry Your Horsebiz Message

Last Friday’s 52 Fridays post about creative ways to use postcards in marketing your horsebiz turned out to be a 5-star favorite – thanks to all the readers who shared their own tips and thoughts on the topic of postcard marketing! However, those aren’t the only collateral items that can carry your marketing messages to the masses.

One option that dropped into my email inbox recently is from Vistaprint, an online company that puts printing on everything from business cards to bumper stickers. I used to get my business cards through Vistaprint when they first started, and I’ve been thinking about giving them a try again.

The option they sent to me is t-shirt printing; they were doing a promo on ‘one white t-shirt free’ which I just might take them up on to see what the quality is like. Here are Vistaprint’s Top 5 suggestions for using t-shirts in a business.

 

There are other sites for getting t-shirts printed, such as Zazzle and Cafepress. Are there any online printing websites you’ve used? Share your experience (good OR bad) via the Comments link below.

Vistaprint’s email also included lots of specials and freebies; I’m able to ‘mail this offer to a friend’ so if you’d like a copy of that email passed along to you for some good savings on printed marketing collateral, send me a message via the Comments link and I’ll forward the email to you. Your request and email address won’t be made public.

One postcard comment over the weekend mentioned the ins & outs of actually mailing the postcards, and the design considerations along the way if you’re going to mail them; in looking over Vistaprint’s site, it turns out they have an option for mailing the postcards for you, including getting a bulk postage rate, and mailing lists you can buy; here’s a 6-page guide to postcard marketing from their website, which has very good tips and ideas even if you don’t order your postcards through them.

As with any marketing tactic, it’s essential to tie strategy to your goals. What do you want to accomplish? That’s the question to ask first, before you order any printed merchandise.

Did you enjoy this article or find it useful? Please take 5 seconds and scroll up to the top to give this article a score, from Very Poor (hope it’s not at that end of the scale!) to Excellent, via the new Rate This tool right under the title (hint, look for the stars!). You can also share your thoughts and experiences on the topic via the Leave a Comment link in the grey box below.

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This article and the site contents are copyright Lisa Kemp and Kemp Equine, all rights reserved. Brands and trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. Content may be linked to from your site or social media, but not copied, in whole or in part, without prior permission. It’s also good karma, and good ethics, to give source credit. Thanks.

Monday Morning Quick Tip – Are You Doing The Bump?

I’d heard of Bump a while back (it was the billionth app downloaded through the App Store, giving it some real exposure shortly after its launch), but because I have a Droid and not an iPhone, it wasn’t available to me at first. Now, the Bump developers have created a version that’s Droid-compatible, so I decided to give it a go.

What’s Bump? It’s a free app from Bump Technologies that allows your smartphone to exchange information by gently ‘bumping’ another. Both of you have to have the Bump app, holding your phones and bumping hands together (like a fistbump but with your phone in your hand). Now, even iPhone to Droid bumps are possible, as are like-to-like phones. How does this bumping thing work?

By using a number of different factors, from geolocation to cloud interface, Bump ‘matches’ the bump registered by your phone with a matching bump by another phone. So it’s not directly sending content or contact information, but both phones are sending stuff out into the atmosphere on your Internet signal, where it gets sorted by a server and an algorithm, connected, and sent to the appropriate phones. And all that happens in an instant.

I set Bump up on my Droid so I could use it at the American Equestrian Trade Association tradeshow this month…I’ll let you know how it pans out in actual practice. (UPDATE: I didn’t have a chance to use it with anyone at AETA; it seems paper horsebiz cards are still the norm. However, my partner JR sent a pic to me (of our dog Bella) using Bump – it showed up as a ‘share’ option. I’ll keep you posted on my Bump experiences.)

Here you can see how some ‘test bumps’ looked on my own phone.

Bump Technologies also offers the ‘bumping’ code via an API key, which developers can add into their own applications. One company integrating Bump into their app is PayPal, which offers a way to exchange money by bumping and entering in the transaction amount. Yes, no need to carry money anymore when you have your smartphone, apparently!

Read more about how Bump works, and the Bump FAQs here. The Droid version lags behind the iPhone version in terms of features and what you can exchange via bumping, but the Droid version allows the exchange of contact information (are business cards really necessary then?), photos, other apps, and contacts. Just met someone and have a perfect contact for them to connect with? Bump it to their smartphone, and you’re done! It looks like you can also bump things from a distance once you’ve bumped with someone, as they remain as a Friend in your Bump network. Intriguing possibilities for horsebiz, methinks.

Did you enjoy this article or find it useful? Please take 5 seconds and scroll up to the top to give this article a score, from Very Poor (hope it’s not at that end of the scale!) to Excellent, via the new Rate This tool right under the title (hint, look for the stars!). You can also leave a more detailed comment via the Leave a Comment link in the grey box below.

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This article and the site contents are copyright Lisa Kemp and Kemp Equine, all rights reserved. Brands and trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. Content may be linked to from your site or social media, but not copied, in whole or in part, without prior permission. It’s also good karma, and good ethics, to give source credit. Thanks.

Monday Morning Quick Tip – What’s It All About, AETA?

All right, raise your hand – who here has heard of AETA?

AETA is the American Equestrian Trade Association. You can read all about AETA here, but basically it’s a nonprofit association formed about four years ago to support and improve the equestrian manufacturing and retailing industry. You know, the people and businesses that make the horse stuff we buy, and the stores and websites that sell it to us.

AETA has some interesting stuff going on now, and plans for more in the future. How do I know? I was asked a few months ago to join the AETA marketing committee, an honor I appreciate and welcome as an opportunity to contribute my experience and expertise to the equestrian world.

The association has two industry-only tradeshows each year, one in August and one in January. There’s a lot of buying and selling that happens there, but tradeshows aren’t open to the public; it’s retailers, manufacturers, sales reps, etc.

Oh, and this August it’s also yours truly.

I’ll be at the tradeshow this month, teaching workshops on social media with Chad Mendell of CowDog Media. Should be fun, we’ve got lots of information to share. If you’re attending and a No Biz Like Horsebiz reader, please be sure to find me and say hello!

You’re not a retailer nor a manufacturer? There’s still room for you and your horsebiz in AETA, which offers membership categories for Suppliers, Industry Partners, and Affiliates, with very reasonable annual fees and lots of member benefits; read about categories or apply for AETA membership here. 

To me, it seems like AETA has strong possibilities for the future, but I’m curious and would like to hear YOUR opinion about AETA…what do you already know about the organization? Or, what do you think the equestrian industry needs, manufacturing, retailing, or otherwise? Share your thought(s) via the Leave a Comment link below – and if you want your comment to be confidential and not publicly posted, please indicate that in your comment.

Did you enjoy this article or find it useful? Please take 5 seconds and scroll up to the top to give this article a score, from Very Poor (hope it’s not at that end of the scale!) to Excellent, via the new Rate This tool right under the title (hint, look for the stars!). You can also leave a more detailed comment via the Leave a Comment link in the grey box below.

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This article and the site contents are copyright Lisa Kemp and Kemp Equine, all rights reserved. Brands and trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. Content may be linked to from your site or social media, but not copied, in whole or in part, without prior permission. It’s also good karma, and good ethics, to give source credit. Thanks.

Monday Morning Quick Tip – Publicity Could Result, If You ‘Help A Reporter Out’

The 52 Fridays article from last Friday received some nice extra traffic – it was picked up as a StumbleUpon item, quadrupling my traffic for Saturday. Nice to have, so thanks, StumbleUpon! However, many of those readers probably weren’t in my target markets (horsebiz owners and managers and equestrian professionals), so I’m not expecting those one-day numbers to continue as the norm. Likewise, don’t be disappointed if that happens in your marketing efforts, just take the ups and downs in stride.

Image courtesy HelpAReporter.com

However, since the 52 Fridays series is currently focused on media and publicity topics, I thought I’d share a resource that might help you with getting connected with journalists. It’s a website called Help A Reporter Out (HARO) at HelpAReporter.com.

Founded by Peter Shankman and now owned and run by Vocus, Inc., this site allows people and businesses to sign up as sources, and it allows journalists, writers, authors, bloggers, and reporters to send out queries when they’re looking for a specific type of interview source or a subject matter expert.

Queries from journalists are sent via email newsletter 3X daily, so you’ll need to review and respond quickly in order to snag a potential story opportunity. You can follow HARO on Twitter via @HelpAReporter, and connect with them on Facebook, too.

An audio intro on the homepage (a 3-4 minute spiel by founder Shankman) says they’ve helped over 100,000 journalists globally, many of them repeat customers. Over 130,000 sources are signed up, and Shankman says they’ll never charge for this service.

It’s pretty easy to sign up as a source; just fill in your email address and password, and voilà! The site does use cookies and collect some information, but they don’t sell/rent the information according to HARO’s privacy policy.

HARO, just like any tool, isn’t a ‘magic bullet’ when it comes to getting publicity, building brand awareness, and attracting new customers for your horsebiz. But, I’ve heard from a number of my equestrian writer colleagues that they’ve found it a lifesaver, and since it’s f-r-e-e, why not? And, if HARO brings you some media attention, I hope you’ll come back here and share your results in the Comments section.

Did you enjoy this article or find it useful? Please take 5 seconds and scroll up to the top to give this article a score, from Very Poor (hope it’s not at that end of the scale!) to Excellent, via the new Rate This tool right under the title (hint, look for the stars!). You can also leave a more detailed comment via the Leave a Comment link below.

This article and the site contents are copyright Lisa Kemp and Kemp Equine, all rights reserved. Content may be linked to from your site or social media, but not copied, in whole or in part, without prior permission. It’s also good karma, and good ethics, to give source credit. Thanks.