Winking Lizard Pottery, a home-based pottery business, has built a reputable clientele and has found success via word-of-mouth and a variety of online avenues.  

Profile

Winking Lizard Pottery began as hobby several decades ago for owner and designer Lisa Salvia.  After 30 years in sales and marketing, Lisa decided it was time to turn her hobby into a business.  Lisa creates functional stoneware products in a studio inside her home.  Most pieces she creates are for everyday use such as casserole dishes, cups and mugs.  Winking Lizard Pottery can be found online at http://www.winkinglizardpottery.com.

Winking Lizard Pottery has recently developed a logo to help with brand recognition.  The new logo, a green and yellow lizard, is now starting to be recognized by customers.  Lisa has her work displayed in six art galleries in the Erie area and also frequently participates in art shows.   Lisa tailors her pieces to fit the setting and clientele of each gallery.  For example, a gallery near the water typically receives pieces that are inspired by the beach and sand. 
Lisa is often faced with the fortunate problem of not being able to get the work to the galleries fast enough, proving a successful following for her business.  The company’s clientele are often looking for custom work, with many repeat customers looking for other pieces of a set to match previously purchased items.

Role of Ecommerce

Lisa launched a website for Winking Lizard in February of 2010.  The site was set up locally and is hosted externally.  Since Winking Lizard Pottery is owned and operated by Lisa, not only does she design and create all of her pieces, but she handles all marketing and website updates herself.   Accordingly, she makes weekly changes to the site, adding new photos and product descriptions.

In addition to the company’s website, nearly a year ago, Lisa signed up for an online store on Etsy.com, a national site designed for artists of handmade items to connect with buyers.  Winking Lizard’s Etsy store has been very successful, providing a national reach to customers, rather than the local demographic that typically responds to the Winking Lizard website and the reach of galleries and art shows.

Etsy is inexpensive, costing only 20-30 cents per post and, most of all, user friendly.  Purchases are managed through PayPal and shipping is previously figured in by the seller before a purchase is made by a buyer.  All of these aspects make Etsy a more economical and time saving solution for Lisa, rather than running her own e-store through her own website.

Etsy, similar to any search engine, uses keywords to lead customers to relevant searches.  Lisa has determined her keywords selectively in order to generate the most possible leads for her business.  She has found through Etsy that customers contact her directly to make requests for specialty work rather than ordering right from her Etsy store.

Winking Lizard actively participates in email marketing.  With a current subscriber list of over 100 customers, they are emailed quarterly to become aware of a new product line, a new show or any updates to the website.  Lisa tracks all emails sent and notices a distinct peak in website traffic after an email blast is sent.  Each quarter she promotes a drawing for a giveaway to build the email list and draw people back to the website by notifying winners online rather than via phone or email.  This also encourages visitors to re-register for the next month’s prize so that they are continually being drawn to the site.  

Social Networking

Winking Lizard has acknowledged the presence of social media in marketing and has integrated her Facebook profile. She integrates the giveaway and announcements on her Facebook profile page.  She is considering creating a page for Winking Lizard Pottery.  Direct mail is also used, as Lisa feels that some of her clientele may not actively engage with the Internet and doesn’t want to ignore this demographic that is a large part of her business.

Old fashioned word of mouth has been one of the highest contributors to Winking Lizard’s success.  Customers who have a positive experience have relayed this to their friends and is building Winking Lizard’s customer base.  With the help of community groups, such as the Arts Council of Erie, Lisa has been able to tell people about her company.  It also helps her e-marketing efforts that organizations such as these often have a direct link on their webpage to hers.

Challenges and Lessons

• As an artist working from home, creating pottery and running my business there are many balls to juggle.
• The online tools are free or very affordable and allow me opportunities to do more with less. 

Relish, a manufacturing and retailing business, has found great success in a niche market.  A marketing plan consisting mostly of events and trunk shows across the country help to drive customers into their e-marketing channel.  Their e-based solutions have helped the company survive through an economic downturn.  

Profile

Relish was started in Erie, Pa in 1996 by sisters Jennifer Reed and Terri Reed-Boyer.  They manufacture and sell custom jewelry and gifts made of glass found along the waters of Lake Erie. What started as a home based business has transformed into a successful studio and gallery – brick and mortar and e-store, www.relishinc.com, over the last 15 years.  Relish has several part-time employees, but the majority of day-to-day operations are conducted by Jennifer and Terri.  Relish’s target demographic ranges from women ages 25 to 100, offering something for everyone.  Due to a changing economy, Relish once primarily targeted only the Erie area, but has expanded nationally.  Relish now attends art shows, trunk shows and events (primarily near the water) other viable options to boost sales and build their brand.  

Role of E-commerce

This family business conducts all marketing and sales efforts internally.  Partners Jennifer and Terri work collaboratively to initiate and execute all marketing plans and share all responsibilities accordingly.  In the past one specific employee was primarily responsible for the technical end of the website, managing all site updates and e-store functionality, while Jennifer and Terri monitor incoming online orders and manage all aspects of the business together.   Recently, Relish has engaged a third party e-commerce partner who does their e-commerce strategy.

Relish utilizes e-marketing methods primarily in their marketing approach.  They have found that with the overhead of operating a business and the soaring costs of other, more traditional forms of marketing, email marketing and other online avenues gives them the most bang for their buck.

The owners pay close attention to changes involving web trends and SEO and try to stay on top of these changes with courses offered through eMarketing Learning Center.  They have found great value in the information that has been learned, but do not always have the time or the resources to implement everything that could provide benefit to the company.  Nevertheless, Relish’s marketing has shown positive results over the years.  For example, Relish offers a monthly drawing for a $15.00 gift certificate that anyone can register for once they sign up for their email list, which has been an excellent method of building their list.

Relish’s website has become a great source of product information for customers while also giving the option to make online purchases through their e-store.  Their e-store offers pictures and product information, giving customers a virtual in-store experience.  The images of their jewelry on the etail store are very important.  When posting in the e-store each image is detailed so that you can get the look and feel of each piece.   Along with more traditional information such as store hours, and frequently asked questions about beach glass jewelry, Relish also sells gift cards through their site and offers product suggestions by price point and occasion.

    
Relish’s homepage changes monthly, highlighting the seasonal and featured products.  They also keep customers up to date of in-store events and shows they will be attending.  The site also offers promotions, such as free shipping on online orders over a certain price point.

Relish has optimized their website and consistently rank high for keywords that pertain to their business, keeping them in the front position over their competitors.  Relish is pleased with their organic search engine ranking results.  They also have invested in some pay per click campaigns. They do use Google Analytics and find that is a viable tool to track visitor trends. They often see a spike in visits after attending an art show or similar event, proving that their attendance as well as their marketing is building their brand recognition. They are able to use this information and look for trends among data and compare it to other time periods and events.

Email marketing is a key component of Relish’s online marketing plan.  They have found it to be a valuable and efficient method for reaching past, current and potential customers notifying them of offers and events.  Email campaigns are sent to a list of over 7,200 recipients approximately one to two times per month.  They have compiled their list from previous online purchasers, and visitors that sign up at shows or in store. Immediately after an email campaign is sent, traffic increases significantly on their website.  They have a low opt out rate for their campaigns, proving a valid interest from their customers.  Consequently, they have found that their email marketing efforts increase web traffic and increase brand recognition, which leads to online sales.

Relish has a fan page on Facebook but does not actively engage with fans.  They currently have over 393 fans and have the ability to make this a successful way to reach their audience.  They have considered implementing multimedia but have not done so at this time.

 
While email marketing plays a primary role in their marketing efforts, direct mail still has its role in the marketing plan. One direct mail flyer is sent to customers each year to notify customers of their annual “Beach Party.”  They find this to be a successful  way to reach all of their clientele that have not subscribed to email.

As a result of a combination of marketing efforts, sales have continued to stay strong for Relish, in light of a downturn in the economy.  Relish has built a company that has incredible power with brand recognition – everyone in the Erie and surrounding area knows what Relish is and what they do.  This has contributed to the success of their SEO efforts.  Relish tries hard to stay on top of emerging e-marketing trends and stay in tune with what is going on around them.

Challenges and Lessons

• A downward economy has forced Relish to re-evaluate and adjust their forces and improve their online marketing efforts. 
• Relish has found other methods for success including shows outside of their area which gives them national reach and exposure, pushing additional sales to the e-store. 

By: Samantha Sherwin

Most of the time we write copy focused on a company and product and not on the customer.  Providing information, the customer needs to know, to make a decision isn’t hard, but it requires one to think.  A great approach for selling to the customer is to help the customer make a decision to buy.  Holly Buchanan, a sought after copywriter and marketing consultant, shared information and tips on how to avoid clichés and write for different customer personas along with how to effectively write for the web.

Holly mentioned that your company needs to have a Unique Value Proposition (UVP).  Get specific with your UVP, answer questions like: who are you?, what do you do?, who is your target market?, what’s the problem you solve?, and why should someone do business with you and not a competitor?  When writing your UVP use what Holly calls the “Which Means” test.  It’s a way to help drill down to specific values. 

Example: “Great customer service” is a cliche everyone uses.  How does your company exhibit great customer service?  Is it the training method and years of experience?  Dig down deep and pull forward the value of your company so that you stand out.

Holly also talked about writing for different persona types that visit your website and the appropriate vocabulary that should be used for each one.  The four persona types are competitive, spontaneous, methodical and humanistic.  When writing for each of these persona’s here are some words to think about using.

Competitive: direct, achieve, imagine, knowledgeable, innovative

Spontaneous: explore, fast, now, choose, easy

Methodical: organize, how to, efficient, plan, prepared

Humanistic: caring, share, concern, connect, believe

Get together with your sales team and find out who your customers are.  The sales teams are the ones who are having the conversations with customers and know what the frequently asked questions are.  Use that information to write copy that addresses their FAQ’s and the problems that your customers are having.

Holly did an excellent job presenting her information; she included the audience in exercises and helped them drill down to specifics.  She even took the time to review some of the company websites and give them tips on how to improve them. Based on the feedback from the seminar, creating a UVP and using the “Which Means” test, were the two tips that people were going to use.

Other tips that the attendees found helpful were:

• Remove cliché’s.
• Address the four persona types.
• Collect testimonials from customers.

“Wonderful! Very informative. Like the suggestions and how to take action now.  Examples were very helpful. Thank you!”
-Megan Fellows

“The entire presentation was very “how to” oriented.  The content was explained in a manner that not only talked about the why, but showed you what and how to do it in as a specific manner as possible.”
-Erica DeWolf

“I wanted to say how much I enjoyed your program today.  Holly was excellent and it's clear you work well together.  I've taken many Continuing Ed  and other short courses over the years, but none better.  I'm looking forward to taking the SEO course.”
-Dan Hill

Check out our Facebook page to see photos and comments from the Writing for the Web Workshop.