Be Memorable In a Sea of Forgettable: Ideas to Make Your Store Known for Something

Welcome to After the Show

Crystal Vilkaitis: Hello, we are live crystal is here for after the show. This happens every Tuesday at 5 PM mountains standard time, and however, it’s not happening next Tuesday, so don’t join me next Tuesday, but then pick it right back up the following Tuesday. I’ll be traveling. I’ll be at New York Now. If you’re gonna be at that show, I’m speaking on Tuesday.

I would love to see you in person. And today we are talking about and doing a deeper dive on this week’s episode, which was Jacqueline from the product boss, and I just loved our conversation. I love all of our conversations, but Jacqueline’s was a little unique to me because I haven’t really talked to people who are actually creating products and that’s a newer aspect to the retail world for me. So I got a lot of value out of everything that she was saying in there. She has a lot of great tips. So as always, if you haven’t listened to the episode, be sure that you do because after the show, this is not a recap. We’re just doing a deeper dive on what was discussed.

So we’re going to dive right in. But first, if you are joining me live, go ahead and say hello. And if you’re watching the replay, then you could go ahead and chat replay. I always go in afterwards and see who is here live. If you’re listening to this at a later date, you’re not live with us. Just keep in mind, join us one day live, go to Facebook, search for rooted in retail. That’s where you’re going to find this group.

How to be known for something

Crystal Vilkaitis: So today let’s talk about our episode with Jacqueline. Now one of the things that she said a few times that really stood out to me was you have to be known for something. And I think that is incredibly important, especially today, because there’s just so many choices, the consumer has a lot of options.

So how are they thinking about you first? And how are you being memorable? And there’s a lot of things I really encourage if you’re not memorable for something specific. I’m going to actually give you some ideas in this episode today, but if you’re not memorable, if you’re not known for something, I want you to do the work.

I think this is a really great exercise for you to sit down and start researching, start brainstorming, talk to your team. How are we going to be memorable? What do we want to be known for? And it’s actually really amazing timing because just two hours ago, I did a rooted in retail interview with Heidi, who owns polka dots, a gift shop and accessory store in Florida.

And she talks about how they’re known. They worked on their tagline. They went to evolve last year. They got a ton of ideas. They came home. They’re like, how are we going to be 15 mile famous? Well to be famous. We need to be known for something. And so she sat down with her team and they’re like, okay, we have to have a tagline.

Where are we showing up? How are we showing up? She mentioned, I told her she looked so great in her pink before we hit record. And she’s oh, everywhere at my store has pink everywhere. Like I just love pink. And you’ll go to and see pictures of her. She’s wearing pink, like very on brand. And so you have to sit down, you have to do the work, you have to be known for something so people remember you.

And I often say this when I’m speaking, you want to be memorable in a sea of forgettable. So there’s just so much noise online. How are you standing out? How are people thinking about you? How are people talking about you and telling their friends when their friend is like, Oh, I really need to buy blank or I’m on the search for X, Y, Z.

And they’re like, I have the perfect retailer for you because you need to be known and we need to get that out there.

So a few ideas for you, and then I want you to do your own research as well. If you don’t feel like you have a strong thing that you’re known for right now, this could be your unique brand. Maybe that’s the color. It’s the tagline. Like I was just saying with Heidi. Some people have a brand that people really want to be a part of. Obviously, big brands, we see this. Nike, Adidas, I guess I’m just naming shoe companies, you feel part of the brand, right? You want to wear the swag and be a part of it. So creative branding, messaging, logo can be something you’re known for.

Being a storyteller telling stories, especially if you have a story, then you should be talking about that story. Maybe that story is why you started your store or the stories behind the products you sell. Stories are very memorable.

And in fact, when you are doing any kind of marketing copy, email copy, your captions, when people can see what they’re reading, like they can film it in their head, like it’s a movie, it’s more memorable. And so that’s why telling stories in your captions and in your emails and in your social media videos works really well.

And these social media platforms really want you to tell those stories because they want the stories. They’re more engaging. It gets people to stay on that content longer. So tell your story.

You know, perfect person I think of for this is Gary Vaynerchuk. I’ve heard 5,000 podcasts of his and heard him speak so many places. And he’ll often tell the same story, where he grew up and how he grew up in his family and being a Jets fan. Like he’s got his story and he tells it over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, because that’s a big part of his brand and who he is today. And so that’s another way you could be known. You could be memorable.

Exceptional customer service. I bet when I say that you have shopped somewhere, you have gone to a business, you have had this amazing experience and you’re like, Oh, this brand, this person has the best customer service. And that we love when our customers are talking about us that way.

For me, my favorite store, Pilar, I’ve gotten to know Anna, the owner of Pilar, and one day I just texted her and I was like, or I think I Instagram messaged her, I don’t know if we were text friends yet, but I DMed her on Instagram and I’m like, I really need some outfits for my upcoming event. Can I come in? Like, when do you work? She’s like, what works for you? She came in on a Saturday. She’s like, what colors? What are we thinking? What are we working with? Send me any kind of ideas. She pulled a whole rack for me. And I’m like, that’s an amazing experience. And that didn’t cost me anything extra.

So that exceptional customer service, great way for you to be known.

Experience is a great way to be known, which we talked about a few weeks ago on, after the show, after Kathy Cruz, her episode. Having a niche, being super focused, like if there was a pet store just for French Bulldogs in Fort Collins, Colorado, now here’s the deal, I don’t know if the demand, if the numbers work for that, but maybe a pet store locally could go really hard on certain, categories of dogs, certain types of dogs, and they’re really talking about those specific niches on social, that’s something that would really stand out to me, obviously at Crystal Media.

We’re incredibly niche. We help independent retailers, mostly the brick and mortar. You’ve got to have a physical storefront cause we’re really good at driving foot traffic and connecting with the local audience. So that’s very niche. So we can be known for that. So it’s my goal that retailers would talk to their friends who also have retail stores and say, do you follow crystal media? They’re super niche. They work with retailers. Have you gotten to evolve? It’s a conference just for retailers. It’s a way that you’re known through the niche.

Collabs are another way. Sometimes this is a little harder to create, but you might have a celebrity or an influencer that you partner.

And it might just be a campaign or, just a specific promotion, but if you guys get along really well, and it resonates with your brand and it’s just a really good fit, it could be this ongoing thing that you’re known for, this celebrity’s favorite store or this influencers favorite store. This influencer goes to your store once a month and connects and does these parties and all sorts of cool stuff.

Collaborations are a great way, even just collaborating from a local business perspective and connecting. You could be known for those types of things. It makes me think of on rooted Beth Riches’ episode where we talked a lot about events and she has realtors who will host their own events there.

That’s a collaboration, right? The realtors working with the retail store, they’re bringing in their customers. They get this whole experience that realtor can be known for those events with Beth at Mix It Up.

Also, customer reviews. We want to be known for good customer reviews, right? Not those bad ones. We want the good ones. So the importance of getting reviews. I just actually watched this great video by this woman named Cody Sanchez. She talks about buying boring businesses and she was talking about all sorts of ways to get reviews and how, especially from a service based business, when you’ve got amazing reviews and a lot of reviews, that’s how you just keep that new business coming. But we have to make sure that we’re asking for the review and you have to ask multiple times.

It’s funny. We had dinner with our neighbors last night. It was so fun. We just walked right over and had an amazing dinner. My neighbor is a really good cook and we’re having this conversation. They own a couple of local businesses and we were talking about reviews and how are you getting reviews?

And the topic came up of like people just, yeah they’ll give reviews when they have a negative experience, but rarely when they have a positive. I think the key with positive is that you have to keep asking. I got my grandma’s car detailed a mobile detailing a few months ago, and she told me great experience, love the guy so nice.

The car looked brand new. She just loved it. And then they email me, they text me, how was your grandma’s experience? She was so lovely. And I just was busy when he texted that. So I didn’t respond. And then you forget you get. Carried away, whatever. And then they sent me another text. I’m like, Oh shoot. I need to respond.

And then they asked me for a third time and I’m like, okay, I’m sitting down and writing this review. I know my grandma had a really good experience, so I have to take the time now. So I think it’s just really important for us small businesses and not just product.

Services, especially because sometimes those can be really high ticket. If it’s a repair, if it’s your home, if it’s your body, like we really want good reviews, right?

But product, we still, we need high reviews. When I’m looking at two stores and I see thousands of five star reviews, I’m like, whoa, this retailer is on it. I got to check them out just because of how many reviews they have.

I’ve certainly done that in the past and so we’ve got to just keep asking. Don’t just do it once. Keep asking. Get those reviews. There’s a lot of different strategies to do that. I really recommend focusing on that.

And Nicole, who’s here live. Hi, Nicole. Good to see you. She says five star reviews with all the stars.

Exactly. That is what we want. And then personal touch is another great way for you to be known, adding an element of the person, that also can go along with customer service, but this is where small businesses really stand out and I talk about this all the time on stage, I see independent retailers thriving because they have their people, they have humans. Your social media content is going to resonate way better than a big box content is ever going to resonate because it’s people.

We want human experiences. It’s people to business or no, it’s people to people versus business to business or business to consumer. It’s PDP people to people. And so having that personal touch, a thank you card. Something actually that I really love that my team created is I have these rooted in retail postcards and their seeds.

Isn’t that so cool? Did you hear how excited I got when I said seeds? Like they’re seeds. So we send thank you cards to our guests and then they can plant the Rooted in Retail postcard and grow a plant. And my team thought of that such a cool way to say thank you, to connect with my brand, with Rooted in Retail.

By the way, I’m going to share some names for the rooted retail listeners that people have been submitting. I’ll share that at the end of this episode. We’ve got some really good ones. How are you adding that personal touch and even just the owner being involved? The owner, you could send, you could have a thank you call, a thank you note, a thank you DM. If people are DMing you on Instagram, instead of like writing them back, you can do a video to them, or at the very least an audio note.

And just think about that experience, that personal touch, makes me feel like, whoa, you took the time. You probably took the same exact time it would have taken you to write it, but you actually filmed yourself saying something to me. That is an amazing personal touch. So what are those ways that you can do that?

Now, look, there’s a lot of ideas in here. If you’re checking multiple of these boxes, I think that’s really powerful, but I don’t want you to get overwhelmed by the ideas. I want you to take the time to really sit down and say what resonates best for us, who we are, who our customers are, our brand and have something you’re known for and go all in.

We’re sharing it everywhere. We’re consistent. We do it time and time again, making sure they really known. That was a huge takeaway for me with Jacqueline’s episode, huge. And if you’re stuck on trying to figure out some creative ideas, go to ChatGPT, start having a conversation with it. It’s my buddy in the morning where we’re always chatting back and forth with all sorts of ideas I have.

So you can go there and ask questions, what are ways for whatever type of store you are to be memorable, to be known, and then just ask more questions and brainstorm with it.

Don’t make assumptions about your customers

Crystal Vilkaitis: Now, something else that Jacqueline talked about was the perception of price and what people are willing to pay and the value.

And she said something like keep your mind out of your customer’s pockets or wallets or something. And I really liked that quote so much that I might’ve just butchered it, but it’s true. You can’t, you don’t know what the perception of your customer is going to be. You don’t know what they’re willing to pay. You just don’t know.

Another thing is don’t sell out of your own pocket. I hope I’m not butchering these quotes, but the thing is, we don’t know what customers are going to pay. If you wouldn’t pay, $20 for this lip gloss, but you sell it. It doesn’t matter if you wouldn’t pay for it, your customers would.

And she told us briefly about how there’s a gluten free bakery. Now get this. Listen to this idea. I’m like anything’s possible. Gluten free bakery that charges $200 a year for people to be on their loyalty program for them to get points. So it’s not like anytime you buy bread, you’ll get points and then you rack up your points and then you could get free bread.

Nope. You pay $200 and you pay for bread. You buy your bread and then you can get the points and the bread’s like $25 a loaf. But then people who love the bread and are going to keep buying from her and going to be loyal customers are going to do the math and they’re going to be like, okay how much can I save? So this $200 investment is actually going to save me $400. It’s worth it. And they buy it. So just, this is happening.

There’s very different and creative and interesting business models out there that you can also be known for, that can stand out and that are working really well. Matt Harris, who’s going to speak at evolve, he’s going to talk about perception.

And I just think it’s a really powerful thing for us to keep in mind and be aware of in our marketing and our selling within our store, with our prices, there’s a good chance that you could increase your price and Jacqueline talks about it. I’ll let you listen to what she has to say about it on the episode. It was really good.

So there were so many good takeaways. I could tell Jacqueline, just a natural born marketer. She’s got an incredible, I think it just started today. I tried to catch part of the live stream and incredible program free five day training that’s happening right now. If you go to theproductboss.com/rooted, theproductboss.com/rooted, you could join her challenge for free. I sat in on some of it today. Really good content. I think you’ll love it. If you love her episode, you want to go further, check her out. She also has a podcast that I am a listen listener to. So it was so fun to have her.

Name suggestions for Rooted in Retail Listeners

Crystal Vilkaitis: And if you’ve been live with me, welcome, thank you for being live here. Okay. You guys ready to hear these names and then we’ll sign off for the night. I told a story in last week’s after the show, if you haven’t listened, go back and listen, actually, there was a lot of great information in that episode, a lot of great engagement.

I told a story about my mom and something she said about the show and how I’ve been trying to think of what we should call the rooted in retail listeners. So one idea I had was a Rootizens. Pauline and Dustin don’t like that name. A lot of you didn’t like that name. You told me it’s, I love the feedback.

A couple of you liked the name. So thank you. A couple of you liked them. We’ve got some new ones I want to share with you. So we’ve got Little Roots, which I liked it, like where my little roots at. That is, the one from my mom. So a little spoiler alert, but that’s still something that’s really coming up for me a lot. And I’m seeing people like that.

Rooted Lounge. We’ve got Retail Royalty. Rooties, depending on the spelling of it. It could end in a Z that’s from Julie with T Lula. The Rootailers, which is fun. She likes Rootizens, by the way, there’s a vote for Rootizens. Thank you, Julie. And then she said something funny.

She’s or just call us avocados, because holy guacamole, we are crystal media fans, aren’t we? And avocados grow on trees and rooted. So I could just say, where are my avocados at? Did people be like, what is this girl talking about? Rooters, which is fun. That was by Becky Gauntz. And then Elizabeth Weaver said RoCo, which is cool, like rooted community. So Roco, I like that. RIC Hub or RetailUnity. She did also say Rootizens is not that bad. So that’s a fun one. Rootsters, Katie shared. Rad roots. I like rad. It’s funny because I don’t really like the word rad, but when we put it next to roots, I like rad roots. So that’s fun.

And then we’ve got root retailers, Merle Norman cosmetic studio, Allen, Texas shared that one. And that’s a fun one too. Then we’ve got Patty, and this one made me laugh out loud. Patty Donahue said, avid gardeners. Call us avid gardeners. So where my avid gardeners at? And that would just be hilarious. I’d have people who are gardening that would be me what they wouldn’t have a clue that I’m talking about rooted in retail. So thank you for submitting. My team and I are gonna be connecting. I still want some more. This has been really fun. We actually have a post in the Facebook group. It’s a graphic and it says, what should we call the rooted in retail community members?

And you can go there and give us your names and then we’ll let you know when we pick a name.

Coming up Next Week

Crystal Vilkaitis: Now next week we’ve got Jonathan Schulman on the show, and we actually have part one and part two next week. So we’re gonna have part one come out on the normal Davis. Sunday and then part two is coming out on Wednesday.

I met Jonathan at the Las Vegas market last summer, and he’s a customer experience guy. And there’s so much, I just talked a little bit about customer service and what that experience is and being known for that. And Jonathan has really great insight after working at Ashley furniture for a long time.

And he’s just, you could tell he’s very passionate about customer experience and also data and getting information from the data and trends and learning about that. So we talk about both of those things and it was just carrying on. There’s just so much to talk about. So we did a part one and part two, so be on the lookout for that.

So no after the show next week, but you do have two episodes with Jonathan and I will then see you in a couple of weeks on our live after the show.

Hey, if you’re loving these. Can you tell me, will you leave a comment on Facebook? If you watch them live, whether the replay or live, if you listen to Apple podcasts, write a review and same liking, or I’m loving after the show, you could DM me on Instagram, but I want to hear, I want to get your feedback.

If you’re liking these after the shows. All right. I am rooting for your success. Have a great week ahead. Thanks everybody. Bye.

What's Inside

[00:00] Welcome to After the Show

[01:32] How to make your store be known for something

[14:14] Don’t make assumptions about your customers

[16:56] Name suggestions for Rooted in Retail Listeners

[19:48] Coming up Next Week

Mentioned in the Episode

• Join the Rooted in Retail Facebook Group
• Social Media Hooks & Hacks - Crystal Media
• Crystal Media Insiders
• Follow Rooted in Retail on Instagram
• Join the Rooted in Retail Facebook Group
• Rooted in Retail on YouTube