Put this under the category of cool thing...
Joan Hawley of Lazy Girl Designs shared an interesting project that combines the power of blogs and email communication with product awareness. Joan has been sharing her blog with me for a few months now and she actually was the person who inspired me to join the blogging world.
I put Joan in my "person to watch" list- that is a positive thing- ever since she first was part of a class action suit against the UCC when they tried to renege on their promise of one-time payment, lifetime ownership of UPC numbers. She is an example that one person at a small company can make things happen. She is a smart lady and forward thinker.
Now she is experimenting with the power of blogs.
Joan has teamed up with the folks at LakeHouse Fabric to see how a blog could be used to promote a fabric line that was introduced at the Fall 2006 Quilt Market. For Joan the motivation was to explore the the marketability of reaching consumers through her blog. Holly Holderman at LakeHouse Dry Goods is looking to connect with retailers between Quilt Markets and promote the Day Z Deux fabric collection.
For 12 consecutive days, Hawley will promote a specific designer's inspiration and projects- all of which were exhibited at the last quilt market. Here's the thing it took me a while to digest-they are not selling anything specifically, they are promoting designers and fabrics.
But the primary motivation for people to participate in the blog hop is to gather information.
No free product, no project sheets, just "here's something neat."
What takes this project to a new level is the participation of distributors in getting the word out to retailers before the blog hop begins. If you've got a goal of reaching tens of thousands of consumers to promote a product, it's in your interest to make sure the retailer is prepared. So Joan contacted distributors, including Checker and EE Schenk, and they are emailing information on the blog hop to their retailers. Kudos to these distributors for seeing the value of this communication.
Joan tells me other companies have jumped on board and are including the blog hop event in their newsletters, e-nnouncements websites and blogs, she estimates a consumer reach of 75,000-100,000 and that is what she knows about right now.
Why do I think this is great? Partnerships within the supply chain. A small independent pattern designer is partnering with a one of the newer fabric resources in the quilt world. They in turn partner with distributors who do their part by informing retailers what's up. Meanwhile, consumers are getting excited about a fabric line that recently hit stores.
I also love this because anybody in the industry can follow the model assuming you have information and inspiration that consumers will find interesting enough to share with others. Consumers can be our greatest marketers, especially when we put the right information in their hands.
Check out Lazy Girl presents the DayZDozen by LakeHouse. http://www.lazygirldesigns.com/blog/
Retailers who email Joan can get a special link to her retailer information site that is not yet open to consumers.-- Beth