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Posted By RCI,
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Updated: Wednesday, April 29, 2020
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For candy makers and chocolatiers who produce fresh morsels of deliciousness every day, social media makes for a great, visual platform to communicate what makes your brand stand out. Interesting posts not only inform followers of that fresh batch of toffee now ready for purchase, but when used correctly can effectively drive home your point of difference (how your goods or services differ from the competition).
To identify your points of difference, first evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your business, followed by those of your competition. According to AmericanExpress’s Open Forum, small businesses should assess the consumer’s perception of the following points: price, variety, features, benefits, quality, availability, convenience, customer service and your story (how, why or where you do business). This can be an activity practiced on your own, but would be best to include a group of trusted team members – as long as you can keep an open mind in the process.
After identifying the strengths and weaknesses of both your company and the competition, note areas of similarity. After crossing out the strengths you share with competitions, the strengths that stand apart become your points of difference. Your points of difference should be leveraged to create a consistent brand message which inspires brand loyalty by giving consumers a reason to purchase your product. A point of difference doesn’t always have to be spelled out, in fact, it shouldn’t be – that would get old quick. Everyone knows a picture speaks a thousand words, before posting a photo on Instagram or Facebook think about your points of difference and the message you want to communicate to your followers. If one of your points of difference is that you hand-dip chocolates, post photos of your staff in the act (always make sure they are following good manufacturing practices).
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You don't need to read their company history to know Birnn Chocolates
of Vermont uses fresh, heavy cream from local dairy cows in their truffles. |
As a wholesale supplier, you will not find RCI member, Birnn Chocolates of Vermont on Facebook. However, they do a great job of communicating one of their points of difference to their B2B clients, which is the fact that they use only fresh, heavy cream from Vermont cows for the ganache centers in their famous truffles. They even have a photo of brothers Jeff and Bill Birnn posed with those very Vermont cows on their website.
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Posted By RCI,
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Updated: Wednesday, April 29, 2020
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World Teacher’s Day is Sunday, October 5 and you can bet many parents in your community will be scouring social media (especially Pinterest) for the perfect gift to thank the special teachers in their life…or sweeten them up a bit before they have to spend the week with a classroom of children that just seem like they’re on a sugar high! Don’t miss out on the opportunity to get your business on the radar with goodies worthy of an A+.
Charlie’s Chocolate Factory shared their Apple Box (pictured above) during Candy Clinic at the 2015 Annual Convention, with a cleverly added hole for a gummy worm to pop out. RCI members can view videos from Candy Clinic on our website at www.retailconfectioners.org/candyclinic.
Click here for an easy-to-follow tutorial (with lots of photos) on how to create these cute Oreo Apple Pops.
In addition to offering great gift ideas, help your customers celebrate teachers by holding a favorite teacher contest. It’s a fun avenue to recognize the great teachers in your area and also create some awareness for your company.
First, create a beautiful gift basket that will go to the winning teacher and have it on display in your store. For the contest, invite your customers, Facebook fans, Twitter followers, etc. to nominate their favorite teacher and include the reason they have nominated him or her. To increase excitement for the contest, you could also give a box of your chocolates or “mini” gift basket to the nominator of the winning teacher.
Add excitement to the contest by spreading the word through press releases, radio spots, school newsletters, etc. Everyone will also want to know who wins so be sure to get a photo of the winner with his or her nominator and post it on social media and in your store.
Tags:
Candy Making
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Contests
Creativity
Events
gifts
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Posted By RCI,
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Updated: Wednesday, April 29, 2020
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The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) published findings in 2014 indicating 13percent of commercial sales are driven by word of mouth both online or offline. Statistics, like this and others, point to word of mouth as the strongest form of recommendation. Thanks to social media, word of mouth recommendations spread like wildfire. “Being the talk of the town” can easily morph into “the talk of the state/region/country/globe/galaxy,” and if that talk is about your business and its positive (heck, it doesn’t even have to be positive…ever heard of cicada ice cream? Google it.), you can pretty much bank on a significant spike in sales from new customers. According to a study done by AdAge word of mouth can increase marketing effectiveness by 54%.
So how do you get people to talk about you? Besides the obvious, offer exception customer service and quality products, Suzanne Fanning, president of WOMMA, suggests identifying your influencers. Good news for your marketing budget, Fanning says “The most sought-after influencers used to be celebrities, before the days of social media. Now just about anyone can be an influencer, but the best may be the ones who find you, or your star supporters who actively engage [with your brand].”
Zach Fagan, with StoreYa.com, recommends converting customers into brand advocates by making them feel like insiders, “let them be the first to know about and try new products and services,” writes Fagan. “By making the insiders feel special, you will make them feel more connected on a personal level to your company, so that they will be not only willing, but excited to test out your product and write reviews.”
Knowing your influencers and creating a group of brand advocates is great, but don’t expect to see fireworks if you’re not putting yourself out there. There are plenty of avenues for sharing information, photos and videos about your product and services (many of them free, e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest). Even if you’ve got an arsenal of social media accounts, make sure you understand what topics are of interest to your followers. If you don’t know, gauging your audience can be as easy as tracking responses to targeted questions, such as “Who’s got kids going back to school?” “Do you celebrate your pet’s birthday?” If you get a lot of responses from parents/grandparents with kids going back to school or followers who really love their pets, try posting messages that tailor to your audience. Here's some examples, “Make your child the teacher’s pet with a gift of chocolates from…” or “Did you know we handcraft pet-safe treats for your furry family members? The first person to share a photo of their pet will receive a gift certificate for a free doggie/kitty treat.”
Has your business been “the talk of the state/region/country/globe/galaxy?” If so, tell us about your experience and what triggered the conversation.
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branding
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sales
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Posted By RCI,
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Updated: Wednesday, April 29, 2020
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Thanksgiving is just around the corner which means that Small Business Saturday will be here soon as well! This week’s tip is to take advantage of the free tools created by American Express® to let everyone know that your candy store is a great place to shop local on Saturday, November 29.
Founded by American Express in 2010, Small Business Saturday is a day to celebrate local businesses by encouraging everyone to shop local on one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year. Visit the Small Business Saturday website to create personalized marketing materials to use on your website, social media and in your store to promote your small business as a fantastic place to shop local.
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Posted By RCI,
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Updated: Wednesday, April 29, 2020
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If you’re on Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media platform, this week’s tip is to embrace the conversations that arise out of those avenues.
Did someone comment on your photo? Did they share a post or Tweet on your wall? Take a moment to respond to all posts that are directed at your business and do your best to do so in a timely fashion. Your customers are paying close attention to your response time and if you are responding at all. Many users view your response (or lack of) as representative of your care for them as a customer so it’s imperative that they know you appreciate their business. One study found that 42% of consumers expect a social media response within 60 minutes, while 25% were satisfied if it was more than one hour but later the same day.
Of course we understand that most candy makers aren’t able to have a staff member dedicated only to social media. Therefore, we suggest you take advantage of the alerts within the social media platforms. For example, you can receive an email alert any time you are tagged or mentioned on Facebook, Twitter, etc. so that you don’t miss out on the conversation. If a quick response means gained customer satisfaction, then those extra emails will be worth it!
P.S. Don’t forget to make a plan to promote your business on Small Business Saturday next month! Check out last year’s blog post of ideas to help with your planning.
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Posted By RCI,
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Updated: Thursday, April 30, 2020
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Website? Check. Now, how do you keep website visitors on your site long enough to be enticed to make an order? This week’s tip will help you do just that!
If you have any links on your website that go to a page that is not on your own website (i.e. external links), be sure that you have them set to open in a new window. This means that when a visitor clicks on that external link, they won’t leave your website completely but their browser will open a new window for the link. Then, if they want to return to your page, they can easily do so.
Common external links include social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. If you have these, you want your customers to click on them so they can keep in touch with your company. Using today’s tip, you’ll ensure that just because they click to Like you on Facebook, they won’t completely leave your page where they can make an order for your sweet treats!
P.S. Next week RCI is exhibiting at AACT’s National Technical Seminar. If you’ll be there, be sure to stop by and say hi!
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Marketing
Owning a Business
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Posted By RCI,
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Updated: Thursday, April 30, 2020
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World Teacher’s Day is coming up on Sunday, October 5 and this week’s tip is to help your customers celebrate teachers by holding a Favorite Teacher contest. It’s a fun avenue to recognize the great teachers in your area and also create some awareness for your company
First, create a beautiful gift basket that will go to the winning teacher and have it on display in your store. For the contest, invite your customers, Facebook fans, Twitter followers, etc. to nominate their favorite teacher and include the reason they have nominated him or her. To increase excitement for the contest, you could also give a box of your chocolates or “mini” gift basket to the nominator of the winning teacher.
Of course, you can get creative with promotion of the contest to spread the word (press releases, radio spots, school newsletters, etc.). Everyone will also want to know who wins so be sure to get a photo of the winner with his or her nominator and post it on social media and in your store!
Tags:
Creativity
Holidays
Merchandising
Social Media
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Posted By RCI,
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Updated: Thursday, April 30, 2020
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Father’s Day is just a few weeks away (June 15) so this week’s tip is to utilize social media to help your customers honor their fathers – and hopefully they’ll come in to buy your sweets in the process.
Below find a few ideas for some of the most popular social media tools. Take one and use it, or take a combination approach for the social media avenues your customers use most.
Facebook – For the week leading up to the holiday, have followers post their favorite sayings or lessons learned from their dad. Make a daily post and have followers comment in the post with their sayings or lessons. Then, choose your favorite at the end of the week to win a Father’s Day gift basket. You could take a humorous or sentimental approach with this one!
Twitter – Use a custom hashtag to encourage followers to post about their dad. Similar to the Facebook suggestion, you can take a humorous or sentimental approach here. Be sure to promote the hashtag so you can view all participant submissions.
Pinterest – Have a Dad’s Sweet Dream Gifts contest that requires entrants to have a Pinterest board full of their dad’s favorite items from your website or online store. Require the board to include your company name (awareness builder!) and then have entrants submit the URL to their board by emailing you or posting the link on your Facebook page. (Check out this Pinterest contest for an idea of how it to communicate the idea to customers.)
Instagram – Photo contest! Have customers submit photos of themselves with their dads holding their favorite chocolates or candies from your store. Just as with Twitter, encourage a custom hashtag so that you can easily view the submissions.
For each of these items, you could say that if they come to your store before Father’s Day and show their comment, Tweet, etc. on their phone then they receive a free piece of fudge, truffle, etc. As you know, once you get them in your store, they’re likely to purchase your irresistible treats!
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Posted By RCI,
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Updated: Thursday, April 30, 2020
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We’ve mentioned Pinterest on our blog multiple times, typically because we love to find ideas there to share with you, our faithful blog readers. Did you know that there is a way to determine if your company has images or links being pinned by others on Pinterest? This week’s tip will show you how to check that and also why it matters.
First, why does it matter if people are pinning links and images from your website on Pinterest? Pinterest users post captions to their images. By reviewing the pins along with the captions, you may find great customer insight regarding your current products as well as ideas to adapt them or make them better.
Second, how to find if you are being pinned. You may search to see if anyone has pinned your content by typing the following into your web browser’s address bar: http://pinterest.com/source/retailconfectioners.org (instead of “retailconfectioners.org, enter your own url). The page that shows up allows you to check out the boards that have pinned images and links from your website. Take a few minutes to review the content and the captions. In addition, it might be a good idea to do a quarterly check on this to see if popular pins and content change based on the seasons or other factors.
It’s always a good idea to track your company’s online presence. We hope this week’s tip gives you a great tool to help you do just that!
Tags:
Marketing
Owning a Business
Social Media
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Posted By RCI,
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Updated: Thursday, April 30, 2020
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Are you looking to get your customers and fans more engaged on Facebook?
According to this infographic from Kissmetrics, a blog focused on marketing analytics, photos get 53% more Likes, 104% more comments, and 84% more click-throughs than posts that include just text or links. That is a huge difference!
Ideas for posting pictures include:
· Production– let them feel like they’re behind-the-scenes of a candy store
· Product– remind fans how beautiful and delicious your chocolates and candies are and they may meet a temptation they just can’t resist
· Promotions – create great images highlighting promotions and sales happening in your store
· People – make it personal by posting photos of your staff and customers
This is just another great reason for investing in quality photos just like we mentioned in Tip # 67!
**If you’ve visited RCI’s Facebook page, you know that we love to post photos from RCI events and education courses. Check out photos from last year’s Annual Convention & Industry Expo and then visit retailconfectioners.org/annual to get registered for the 2014 Annual Convention & Industry Expo in St. Louis this June. The expo is FREE to confectionery industry professionals and full registration for the convention covers education sessions, some meals, networking receptions, behind-the-scenes tours and an awards banquet. It’s a week you don’t want to miss!
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