Creative Leisure News

Technology issues that affect your business

Seek and You Shall Find

A telltale sign you're living in the 21st century.

by PC Smart (April, 2004)

Overheard on the playground: "My Dad is bigger than your Dad!" "Yeah? Well, my Dad is Google-able!"

Those of you who are snickering understand the implication behind the term Google-able. It means you are someone, you have done something worth being indexed, tracked, and/or searched. Are you Google-able? Don't tell me you have not tried to Google yourself, or your boss, or your ex-girlfriend from high school. We all do it, there is nothing to be ashamed of, so don't hide it.

The Google factor is what led me to adopt my initials plus last name for my published work. (Try a search for Pamela Smart to see why). Now, when people search my pen name, they may not always get me, but they are in the right ballpark: technology. I am in good company with those results.

Have you ever done a search on your products? What did you learn? Not just the first page, but every hit, alternate spellings of the name, and common uses. What you find may be surprising. To start with, what is the ranking of your company website when the product name is searched? It should be first or at least in the top three. Chances are it isn't because of the little-publicized fact that search results are skewed by fee-based rankings. Many e-tail sites will pay dearly for their site to appear in the top ranking spot. The theory is that most people will not even click to the second page. You want your site to be on that first page.

Product Searches.

What about product usage? If I do a search on "spray paint plastic," I would expect to see Krylon�s Fusion Paints in the top ranking spots. But if I left out the word "spray," then Plaid�s Paint for Plastic might come up on the first page.

However, you may be surprised by what you are able to learn about your own products when you search the net. Were you aware that collage artists are using Elmer's Caulk to make image transfers? Or that the same Tyvek your mailing envelope is made from can be used to create beautiful beads? Check out some of the discussion boards and chat rooms on the crafting sites and you will be amazed by the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the average crafter.

Years ago, my friend Kathy Goodman and I had the dubious honor of making soap with 600 Girl Scouts at an outdoor camp. No microwaves and no outdoor stoves but we did have electricity in our pavilion. Using pre-made molds was too expensive on our camp budget. What did we do? We used crock pots to keep the soap melted throughout the day for each unit and every girl brought a clean juice box. Once the box was filled, we refolded the tops and used duct tape to keep it sealed until the soap set. Our only cost was the soap which we purchased in bulk (200 lbs of it!). We were the MacGyvers of the camp circuit. Were we unique? No way! That type of crafting is the norm whenever you have a group on a budget.

At HIA this year I saw there is now a crock pot especially made for soap. This is exciting for me even now because I have spent many a late night making endless trips to the microwave with my kids and their friends.

Your search may show you, like our crock pots, your products are being used outside of their intended use. Could you capitalize on those uses and repackage the product for that need? Or maybe you will find a whole new market to sell your product. How many scrapbook stores now carry hammers and wire tools? Independent craft stores had been selling pasta machines for years before the chains caught on to their use for polymer clay. (Did the manufacturers really believe all those people were making home-made pasta?) The same goes for freezer paper; outside of quilters, how many women actually use the product in their homes? (For that matter, if you even know what the original use was, you are dating yourself.) Internet searching is a great way to find out how consumers are using your products.

Discussion boards and chat rooms are also a wonderful source of information. SuzyQ in Toronto will post all her experiences, both good and bad, with your paints on her "crafting moms" board. Or when "2scrappy" discovers that the hemostats used in the operating room make it really easy to position tiny stickers and hold chalking puffs, she wants to tell the world. How will she do that? By posting on all the sites she visits regularly. She will be thanked, congratulated, and praised by her unseen cropping comrades. On the down side, you may also find out that your new permanent pens are not really permanent or that a group of sorority girls in Michigan used your spray paints in a very non-ladylike manner during pledge week.

Do a search on your favorite chain store and you may discover that in Youngstown they are hosting mom-crops on Friday mornings, but in Duluth the customer service is so atrocious people are posting about it. The Internet is a place for people to praise and to vent; which category does your store fall into?

Another reason to perform an Internet search for your products is sales data. By searching for the specific product, you will see who is selling it and for how much. You may find that Born4crafting is hawking your entire line on an Internet auction site at prices starting way below retail. Or that an independent store in Nebraska has created an entire class series around your stamps to drive product sales. Search results may turn up clearance pricing and overpricing on the same page.

New Uses.

Finally, you might get a glimpse at some of the awesome projects being created by consumers. Not just the designers and artists, but Shannon G of Maine whose crocheted afghan won first prize at her local 4H fair. After all, aren't they your true target audience? If they love your products and love the results they achieve, isn't that the secret to a long shelf life?

So get out there and start searching! Learn the tricks and techniques of a successful search such as quotations and key words. Get in touch with the real reason crafts is an industry worth billions: the crafters themselves. Good or bad, the information you dig up may change the way you view your products or the ways they are used. Who knows? You may even discover you have the next pasta machine in your inventory

(I want to thank Sharon Dugas, my SCD Mentor, Google buddy, and friend. I may be a Searchmaster, but she is the Search Queen. If it exists, Sharon will find it.)

Note: PC Smart writes for art/craft industry consumer and trade publications, in addition to being a marketing consultant and designer. In her previous, non-creative life, she was a database systems designer for a pharmaceutical company. Her main goal in writing about technology has been the marriage of computers and traditional art/crafts. Specializing in consumer level designs, Pamela focuses on the use of graphics software, scanners, and printers to help the average crafter use their computer for more than an expensive email machine. She believes that technology should be used as a tool in creativity and not necessarily the final output. PC Smart can be reached at pcsmart@bellsouth.net.

To read previous Tech Talk columns, click on the titles in the right-hand column.

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