This article originally appeared in the June 2016 edition of INVISION.
Hear ye, hear ye! It’s the INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE TOWN CRIER and we think you, and your neighboring stores, should get together to hire one to do the rounds of your strip mall, mall, or downtown shopping district. Advertising is nearly always done through an electronic medium these days, but there’s still power in the human touch. Make your cries newsy. “Oyez, oyez, 23 days to the new school year. Back-to-school shopping waits for no man. Huzzah!”
NATIONAL INDEPENDENT RETAILER MONTH celebrates its fifth anniversary this year amid a growing awareness that mom-and-pop retailers are not only good for marketplace diversity but keep more dollars in the local community. Loudly proclaim your independence with an event tied to July 4th. Tout your individualized customer service and unmatched quality compared to what’s available at a chain store. The Independent Retailer Month site (indieretailermonth.com) has visual elements you can display in your windows.
Today is one of those “how time flies” days. Yes, HALF THE YEAR — somehow — is gone. Instead of getting depressed, get busy. Review the targets from your January planning meetings and check where you are now. If you’re off course, big adjustments are necessary but perhaps more importantly it signals that something is awry with your planning. Simply working harder, for example, won’t boost sales if traffic is drying up.
TAKE YOUR WEBMASTER TO LUNCH DAY sounds like a silly date, but it’s amazing how a little one-on-one time with someone who understands technology can clear the fog. What’s content marketing? Should you be paying someone to help with SEO? Should you blog? How big a deal technically is a shopping cart? The answers to all those questions for the price of a steak sandwich. It’s a bargain!
Humans are social creatures, which is also why we are almost to a one, habitual fibbers — we want to maintain harmony and avoid conflict. This is not always a good thing. On TELL THE TRUTH DAY, go the whole day without telling a lie (including little white ones, halftruths and exaggerations). Have coffee with your staff and tell them what you really think of their performance. Ask them to honestly rate yours.
Do a Google image search for “geek” and the first 100 will be people wearing glasses — until you reach an image of Olivia Munn, who apparently has quite poor eyesight (see quote below). On EMBRACE YOUR GEEKNESS DAY, post a reminder on your Facebook page for anxious bespectacled kids heading to their first day of high school: Stay calm, you’ll soon rule the world. And for those who would tease them, a reminder that one day that will be their boss.
BUSINESS ANNIVERSARIES
HAPPY 10TH ANNIVERSARY TO COMBS EYECARE & EYEWEAR
WESTERN SPRINGS, IL
Irene Combs, OD started practicing in 1991 and later went into practice with a senior doctor in a nearby town. After purchasing it, she moved the practice to Western Springs in 2006, added a second doctor, Carolyn Newcome Sparks, OD, and Combs Eyecare as it is now was born. They celebrated their 10th birthday with an open house offering champagne, food, raffles and a sunglass trunk show with all sunglasses 20 percent off for the month of May.
Does your business have an upcoming milestone? Email us at editor@invisionmag.com.
MORE HOLIDAYS/EVENTS
JULY 2 is I Forgot Day for forgetful well-wishers to make up for all events missed during the last 12 months. A great chance to make contact with customers.
JULY 17 is National Ice Cream Day, arrange to team up with a local parlor for a joint promotion: Sunglasses and Sundaes. The perfect summer combination.
JULY 24 is Old Joke Day. What did the right eye say to the left? “Between you and me, there’s something that smells …” Encourage staff to swap their favorites.
JULY 30 is National Dance Day. Offer a discount to anyone who comes through the door dancing. It will make everyone’s day.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS: DANIEL RADCLIFFE TURNS 27
JULY 23. Daniel Radcliffe, who turns 27 on July 23, has become a household name thanks to his 10-year, eight-film run as the orphaned boy wizard Harry Potter. The Harry Potter film franchise based on the Harry Potter novels by author J. K. Rowling, have grossed $7.7 billion dollars worldwide and arguably had a direct affect on the renewed popularity of round wire-rim glasses thanks to the signature spectacles Radcliffe wore to portray the character.