News from Earth and Fire -- November 9, 2007
I told you I hate advertising....
After the ad came out in September in the local paper, I heard that that ad rep had left the paper. I kept waiting for a bill to come, and it never did. I mentioned it to Kristin next door at I Do Wedding Essentials, and she said she hadn't gotten a bill either.
Since the original plan was that the downtown merchants were going to place three ads before Christmas, I thought perhaps they were going to wait until after the third ad to send a bill.
Two days ago I got a phone call from someone in the collections department of the paper wondering why I hadn't sent in my payment. I told her I had never received an invoice. She informed me that they had sent one out twice -- once at the end of September, and once at the end of October. I told her that I hadn't received either one. She checked my address and I said yes, that was correct. She again insisted that two invoices had been sent out. I again insisted that neither had arrived. I suspect she didn't believe me. (I know I didn't believe HER). She then faxed me the bill. OK then. We're moving forward.
I went next door and told Kristin what had happened, and she said the exact same thing had happened to her. What are the chances that four invoices to two businesses got lost in the mail? Yeah.. that's what I thought, too.
Then yesterday a new ad rep called and wanted to discuss the second of the three planned ads for the downtown merchants, and also something called The Gift Guide that was going to be coming out next week. I think my first year in business I got sucked into advertising in a "Gift Guide" that another local paper was running. I had this wonderful fantasy that it was going to be an inclusive and extensive listing of all the places a person might be interested in shopping during the hoilday season. What I learned was that it was just a way for the paper to sell a page of ads from people who didn't know any better than to get sucked into it. So I told her I wasn't interested in advertising in The Gift Guide at all.
She said the second ad for the downtown merchants was going to come out right before Thanksgiving, and have a theme of "Start your shopping at the mall, then end your day with your friends downtown."
Ugh.
I hate to be a contrarian, but I think that's awful. I told her that I would only participate if the theme was "Come home for the holidays".. or something like that. I put the ball in her court to nail down exactly what the message was going to be and get back to me.
It is a little like herding cats getting a bunch of rogue merchants to all agree on a single theme, but you know what, that's her problem, not mine. I'm pretty much hoping that she never returns the ball.
One little ad that the downtown merchants can put together in one local paper the week of Thanksgiving is just going to be lost amongst the mountain of ad slicks for Macy's, Target, J.C. Penney, Wal-Mart and The Premium Outlet Mall.
In general, I also think my customers don't really spend a lot of time perusing the ad slicks for Macy's, Target, J.C. Penney, Wal-Mart and The Premium Outlet Mall.
I try to make what I think are wise decisions about how to spend my very limited advertising dollars. Maybe I'm right. Maybe I'm not. Who knows?
NEW WORK
I scored some great new pots from Sam Taylor, Mark Shapiro, and Michael Kline last week.
Jason Bohnert sent a few more of the great little juice cups that were so popular in the recent show. (Most of the rest of the pots in the show are going back to the artists this weekend, by the way, so if you're on the fence about anything, you'd better jump on it quickly!)
And finally, just in time for the great soup weather now, three soup mug and saucer sets from Allison Severance.
Here's a few sample of the new work:
Sam Taylor -- Dinner Plate A
Mark Shapiro -- Yunomi A and B
Michael Kline -- Scalloped Dish C
Jason Bohnert -- Juice Cups A, B, C and D
$16/each
This just in: I told you these were popular -- once again they're all gone! I hope to have a few more on Monday...
See more of Jason's work
This just in: I told you these were popular -- once again they're all gone! I hope to have a few more on Monday...
See more of Jason's work
Allison Severance -- Soup mug and saucer set A and B
I have some work from a new artist, and I expect some new pots in from Sequoia Miller within a week or so -- but I have to draw a line in the sand and get this newsletter out. When I get these pots online, there will be a link to them from the home page.
If I don't talk to you again before Thanksgiving, I hope you share a warm and wonderful meal with your family and friends (served on handmade pottery, of course!).
Safe travels.
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