Today my mom and I went shopping for shoes. We were in a shoes store and about to pay for my mom’s walking shoes. The cashier told us, today they ran “buy one get the second one half off” promotion. She asked if we wanted a second pair. Honestly, I usually ignore this kind of promotion, but I did need a pair of sandals, so I turned back and looked…I didn’t realize we’ve spent quite some time in the store to look for shoes for my mom, if something met my need, I should have found it before we walked to the cashier. No surprise, I couldn’t find anything, but I spent another 5-10 minutes in the store to try on shoes.

When I went back to the cashier, there was a long line. Everyone was carrying at least 2 shoe boxes. Even though I knew those marketing tricks, still couldn’t avoid it. “Buy one get the second one half off” is commonly used, and kind of old fashion, but still tempting and obviously working.

Do you judge a book by its cover? Yes I do. Well, to be more precise, I choose a book by its cover. I usually pick the book that has pretty or interesting cover/name on the bookshelf first when I am in a bookstore.

One day last week when I wandered in a bookstore, I found a book that had a pretty girl on the cover. I picked it up. The book has an interesting title “In order to live”. I opened and read the introduction, then I realized this is a sad and inspiring story about a brave young girl and her mom, who escaped from N. Korea to seek freedom. I liked the book immediately and found it available in the public library. I reserved it right away.

I believe I am not the only one, who picks a book by its cover. It doesn’t mean that this book is better written than the others. It is just because it has a pretty cover, so it has a higher chance to be picked, to be read, and to be reviewed, and all these would definitely help its book sales. In my case, I didn’t buy the book, but I am writing a blog post about it.

Similar to product, service, even professionals who work in their industries, the “cover” is important.

Well, I think the smartest way is to have someone pay for your marketing, and at the same time you are making sales on it.:)

Making hand crafted greeting cards is one of my hobbies, so I have several stamps/paper stores that I usually shop in the local. My favorite stamp store is small, locating inside a busy shopping mall closed to a university (location is the key).  It sells stamps, but also sells blank cards, paper, inks, color pens, and some crafting tools, all the hand crafted card accessories. I like everything there, but my favorite part is the classes! The store has different kinds of classes to show people how to use stamps, paper, colors and tools to make cards!  They have hundreds of stamps in the store. I enjoy browsing all the cute little stamps, and the sample cards created by those stamps. However, too many choices are not always good. It is hard for a consumer, like me, who doesn’t really have a target before I get into the store.

So those classes are essential to drive sales. I didn’t interview the owner, I didn’t know how much sales she/he made a month, but I was the one paid $35-50 for one and half hour class. Before or after the class, I usually spend at least another 20 bucks to buy the stuff I will use/used in the class. I also invited friends to join classes with me. I, as a consumer, paid for the marketing and make sales for the store. Think about they can take as many as 10 people per one class, and 1-2 classes a day…

There were 3 local stamp/paper stores I shopped a lot before 2010. During the economy recession, one got shut down. That one was a chain store. It is easy to understand, when people lose jobs, who care about crafting? Those leisure/hobby type of stores are the ones get hit the most when economy goes down. However, that little tiny store has survived, and it has a lot more classes now.:)