This month has been slightly busier than April was for me. The number of orders received in my ghostwriting business topped 50 totaling almost 90 different projects which kept me going steady for the entire month. What was most interesting was that I also took on a few outside projects to help promote Brenda’s home-based business. Let me explain this a little further.
It was sometime last month when the two of us decided that if we were going to keep vending steady at the Oliver Indoor Flea Market in Oliver, we should seriously consider some extra marketing plans. As both of us have experience in the newspaper advertising world, that was the first place I started researching. I contacted two Oliver-area papers for ad rates.
I pretty much knew what I wanted to do and Brenda was on board right away. I thought a business card sized ad running weekly would give us an affordable way to get the word out beyond the online marketing we already do. In conversations with the market managers in Oliver, we quickly found ourselves with an interested advertising partner.
The thought process Brenda and I had was simple. Once one or two of the vendors in Oliver started to advertising in a local newspaper we would probably see more jump on board. Well, that was exactly what happened within two weeks of our first ad. I designed it, which I must admit I quite enjoyed doing having not ‘built’ a print ad since July 2016.
That was when we had closed our own local newspaper business. I was pretty happy to be able to put those skills to use and I also designed the ads for the two other vendors who joined with us to advertise the Oliver Indoor Flea Market in the Osoyoos Times. There’s already talk of one and possibly two more vendors getting into the program which will keep growing.
Rack Cards
A few months ago I designed the rack cards for the Oliver Indoor Flea Market. As part of our discussion about expanding our marketing in the Oliver region, Brenda and I felt we should become members of the local Chamber of Commerce. Both of our home-based businesses hold Princeton Chamber memberships so we joined the Oliver Tourism Association as well.
Actually, it was just JamBusters! that joined but we also paid extra for rack card display space at the Oliver Tourist InfoCentre. The Manager there explained to us that they also distribute member rack cards to area hotels, motels, B & B’s and related tourist spots. We saw this as a great opportunity to promote JamBusters! and Watkins plus the market indirectly.
So, my job was the design the rack cards for us to use in our Oliver-area marketing. Once again, I was pretty happy to be able to take this little project on but I had hit a few road blocks along the way. I had a concept, Brenda had a concept but I was having difficulty in making the concept come to life. I was trying to use royalty-free photos and graphics as part of the design.
This morning (May 29, 2018) I decided to scrap that idea and use some of my own photos instead. It actually worked out better than I had expected and Bren was pretty happy with the final design as well. And wouldn’t you know it, this morning I received an email offering 40% savings on the printing of the rack cards so that encouraged us to order a larger press run.
As for the rack cards themselves, I started with the Oliver Indoor Flea Market information on the bottom first. I then chose to put JamBusters! on the top third of the remaining space and used some colourful photos of a few products to act as an eye-catching feature. I used our recent “spicy, fruity, boozy” tag line and made sure to include the website.
The Watkins portion was the easiest as I just dragged in two of the Watkins-approved graphics that Independent Consultants are allowed to use in advertising. I then used the remaining space to promote Sparkle By Bee (hair silks). I used one of my photos, added that there are 21 colours to choose from and included our cell phone number as a contact and that completed it.
Once I got rolling on what I wanted to have in the rack card design, and consulting with Bren a few times, I had the finished product ready to print off as a proof within an hour. I’d have to say the print ad and rack card design projects were probably the ones I enjoyed the most of all the work I had come across my desk this past month. Next month is going to be different, I’m sure.
It was sometime last month when the two of us decided that if we were going to keep vending steady at the Oliver Indoor Flea Market in Oliver, we should seriously consider some extra marketing plans. As both of us have experience in the newspaper advertising world, that was the first place I started researching. I contacted two Oliver-area papers for ad rates.
I pretty much knew what I wanted to do and Brenda was on board right away. I thought a business card sized ad running weekly would give us an affordable way to get the word out beyond the online marketing we already do. In conversations with the market managers in Oliver, we quickly found ourselves with an interested advertising partner.
The thought process Brenda and I had was simple. Once one or two of the vendors in Oliver started to advertising in a local newspaper we would probably see more jump on board. Well, that was exactly what happened within two weeks of our first ad. I designed it, which I must admit I quite enjoyed doing having not ‘built’ a print ad since July 2016.
That was when we had closed our own local newspaper business. I was pretty happy to be able to put those skills to use and I also designed the ads for the two other vendors who joined with us to advertise the Oliver Indoor Flea Market in the Osoyoos Times. There’s already talk of one and possibly two more vendors getting into the program which will keep growing.
Rack Cards
A few months ago I designed the rack cards for the Oliver Indoor Flea Market. As part of our discussion about expanding our marketing in the Oliver region, Brenda and I felt we should become members of the local Chamber of Commerce. Both of our home-based businesses hold Princeton Chamber memberships so we joined the Oliver Tourism Association as well.
Actually, it was just JamBusters! that joined but we also paid extra for rack card display space at the Oliver Tourist InfoCentre. The Manager there explained to us that they also distribute member rack cards to area hotels, motels, B & B’s and related tourist spots. We saw this as a great opportunity to promote JamBusters! and Watkins plus the market indirectly.
So, my job was the design the rack cards for us to use in our Oliver-area marketing. Once again, I was pretty happy to be able to take this little project on but I had hit a few road blocks along the way. I had a concept, Brenda had a concept but I was having difficulty in making the concept come to life. I was trying to use royalty-free photos and graphics as part of the design.
This morning (May 29, 2018) I decided to scrap that idea and use some of my own photos instead. It actually worked out better than I had expected and Bren was pretty happy with the final design as well. And wouldn’t you know it, this morning I received an email offering 40% savings on the printing of the rack cards so that encouraged us to order a larger press run.
As for the rack cards themselves, I started with the Oliver Indoor Flea Market information on the bottom first. I then chose to put JamBusters! on the top third of the remaining space and used some colourful photos of a few products to act as an eye-catching feature. I used our recent “spicy, fruity, boozy” tag line and made sure to include the website.
The Watkins portion was the easiest as I just dragged in two of the Watkins-approved graphics that Independent Consultants are allowed to use in advertising. I then used the remaining space to promote Sparkle By Bee (hair silks). I used one of my photos, added that there are 21 colours to choose from and included our cell phone number as a contact and that completed it.
Once I got rolling on what I wanted to have in the rack card design, and consulting with Bren a few times, I had the finished product ready to print off as a proof within an hour. I’d have to say the print ad and rack card design projects were probably the ones I enjoyed the most of all the work I had come across my desk this past month. Next month is going to be different, I’m sure.
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