Shop Front – Love Marks

Wee Love Mole – Quernus Crafts

High street shops spend huge quantities of cash on marketing experts that will build their brand and make their products appeal to a certain demographic of society. Many companies are desperately seeking what’s known as ‘brand love’  using social media to compete for fans and followers. Saatchi and Saatchi invented the term ‘Love marks’

Lovemarks reach your heart as well as your mind, creating an intimate, emotional connection that you just can’t live without. Ever.

Take a brand away and people will find a replacement. Take a Lovemark away and people will protest its absence. Lovemarks are a relationship, not a mere transaction. You don’t just buy Lovemarks, you embrace them passionately. That’s why you never want to let go. Lovemarks.com

The lovemarks site has created a check list to nominate a ‘lovemark’.  (find it here) Read through the lists of yes/no questions, it’s a fun and useful way of analysing your own shop.  Thinking about every aspect of your communication on social media and through your shop and how it affects the way people perceive your brand.   The people that put this list together are experts in their field and even if some of the questions are a bit too much for a small start up business they will certainly get you thinking – and why not think big right from the start?  Ask your family and friends (or folksy forum users) to help you answer the questions.  For example they ask if you could associate a noise, smell or taste to your brand – if your shop was bricks and mortar would it smell of fresh coffee, lavender or a smokey pub?  Would it be enhanced by a soundtrack of Tchaikovsky or perhaps Lady Ga Ga would be more appropriate (or maybe radio 2?) They may seem like silly questions but all of them will help you to identify your shops unique brand and the kind of person you should be marketing it to.

If the word ‘brand’ scares you off then think ‘personality’ instead. Your shop needs to have it’s own recognisable personality, this personality should come from you. You are the designer, maker and marketing team, your passion and enthusiasm for the products you make will show through. Try to focus and concentrate this personality to make it prevalent in all of your presentation and communication.

Blogs, Facebook and twitter accounts are free so if you haven’t got a Saatchi brother available and J Walter Thompson wont answer your calls, you can still take some cues from the big boys and start your own thoughtful marketing campaign. Big companies are trying to connect with people on a personal level, allowing their employees to interact with customers and desperately trying to manufacture and share their personalities.  As a one man set up you have a huge advantage already – you are your company and you know every detail about it!

10 super useful Twitter tips

Promoting your shop on facebook

Setting up a Folksy shop on Facebook

The above are links to some good advice on the best way to use these free tools to start to build up a network, we’ll be posting more soon about how and why to set up a blog – a great way of adding life and personality to your shop front.

If you have a blog please leave us a link to it in the comment box below or if you are considering starting up a blog then tell us about your concerns and why you haven’t yet taken the plunge.