The Authors Den

Cashmobs, Marketing and Your Business

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson

There's something new on the online horizon. So far it's being used effectively by small retailers, but I see no reason why it couldn't also be used by authors to sell books, or manufacturers to sell particular products and, though it so far it has been a flashmob phenomenon, why couldn't it be adapted to online fan pages.

What is it.

It's called cash mobbing, but check and credit cards are accepted.

It was started by buy-local advocates. It uses any kind of media including the Web and traditional media to get loyal folks to support a local business on a specific day, sometimes at a specific time. They are encouraged to come spend a minimal amount of money out of loyalty (with, perhaps, a little self interest stirred into the mix), and people do. They come. They come to be supportive, to feel part of the crowd, because it's an event, because it's a fad.

Time magazine reports it was started in 2011 by Chris Smith who read that Groupon methods of increasing business using mass discounts might backfire because retailers or service providers couldn't sustain the discounts and remain profitable. And he liked the term "cash mob." The idea was to get people interested and he did. Time reporter Katy Steinmetz says, "100 of Smith's fellow citizens [in Buffalo, NY] each spent around $10 at a wine shop with local media in two. He's been hosting cash mobs ever since."

Then Andrew Samtoy tried it in Cleveland. And he is using @Cashmobs on Twitter to promote these events. He is now incorporated as Cash Mobs, Inc. You could use his service—or do it on your own, but do think of your own name. Samtoy apparently has a stranglehold on "Cashmobs." Yours could be the name of your book or store plus the word "mobs." And do your own promotion.

Of course, do use the second edition of The Frugal Book Promoter (http://budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo) to give you tons of ideas of how to attract the crowds. And A Guide To Frugal In-Store Promotions (http://budurl.com/RetailersGuide) will help retailers with the bling needed to pull a cashmob or any other event. Let's combine a couple of mottoes. "Just Do It and They Will Come."

Online or in person.

And, if they don't? Well, you'll have gotten tons of exposure and maybe even some news coverage for your efforts. That's called publicity. And it's free.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of how-to books—one series for writers, one for retailers. She was an instructor for UCLA Extension world renowned Writers' Program for nearly a decade and was named Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment by members of the California Legislature. Learn more about her at http://HowToDoItFrugally.com.

So! LA Times reports "Big chains get a back-to-school revenue boost." AND they attribute that boost to in-store promotions. So, if using promotions can give big chains a boost (3.6%) that sets them to thinking positively about Christmas, you can too. And if you've run dry of ideas or the promotions you ran last year were only ho-hum, maybe you need some new ideas. Or maybe you need to revive some of the ideas small retailers used last decade or the decade before that to boost sales. And maybe it's time to do some reading to get some new ideas--or just get inspired and motivated. Yes, I'm suggesting A Retailer's Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions (http://budurl.com/RetailersGuide).

What about letting marketing savvy-authors help you boost sales with a workshop, seminar, or reading promotion. Ask them to use their contact lists and social networking skills to bring new customers into your store?

Get details and ideas on a host of other sales producers, too. Signs. Utilizing dead space in your store. Creative events. Point-of-purchase promos. Ideas for your display windows. Contests. Building your lists in-store . Using them effectively. Reward cards. Layaway. Gift certificates. New gift registry ideas (see the last post on this blog, too!). Catalogs. Gift-with-purchase ideas. Parking lot ideas. Cross-promotion. Home parties. Are you tired yet?

And while you're at it, up your social networking skills, too. Check http://howtodoitfrugally.com/retailers_books.htm for more retailing ideas.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson's FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques launched at the National Stationery Show at Javits Center. Because she is the author of the multi award-winning how-to books for writers,The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, retailers will also find essentials of writing for blogs, Web sites, and newsletters on this blog. She is the author of an award-winning novel, This Is the Place; and other fiction and poetry. She blogs on better writing at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog. Find her tweeting for retailers at @frugalretailing . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use this little green widget to let them know about it:

Patricia Norins, editor of Gift Shop magazine, and I will be doing a Webinar on how to reach more people by integrating your online marketing and how to save time by doing that very thing. It’s at 10 am Pacific Time on Thursday, August 12. The fee for the Webinar includes a copy of my book Your Blog, Your Business: A Retailer’s Guide to Garnering Customer Loyalty and Sales Online and In Store (www.budurl.com/Blogging4Retailers ). The Webinar is priced $79. But my blog friends—can pay only $49 for it by entering the code “twitter.” Don't use caps or quotation marks.

Go to http://www.retailconferenceseries.com/ . This is the second in a series of Webinars. Did I say that attendees get a free book? (-: Did I tell you I love Webinars. You get the visual and the auditory benefits. Not quite like being there in person, but close.

Did I mention that I love working with Patricia. She believes--as I do--that personal contact is important. Webinars, in their way, help us do that.

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Posted by Carolyn Howard-Johnson. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques launched at the National Stationery Show at Javits Center. Because she is the author of the multi award-winning how-to books for writers,The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, retailers will also find essentials of writing for blogs, Web sites, and newsletters on this blog. She is the author of an award-winning novel, This Is the Place; and other fiction and poetry. She blogs on better writing at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog. Find her tweeting for retailers at @frugalretailing . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use this little green widget to let them know about it: