Lifestylist® Marketing Ideas
from Lifestylist® Suzanne Felber
Buying Local
May 23rd
Today was a great day – I got a lot of work done on my gardens then we went to our local farmers market to pick up some goodies for the week.
The Home Idea Factory is in an area of Dallas called Oak Cliff and we are very fortunate because we are close to town but it’s an older established area that is really coming into it’s own. Some amazing restaurants have opened, I’ve heard there is now an organic coop and now we even have our own coffee company – Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters. So today we picked up some coffee, and sampled our way through the local farmer stalls at the Dallas Farmers Market. Local peaches were just coming into season and there also was a bounty of tomatoes, onions, squash and cucumbers. It’s going to be a healthy tasty week around here!
Some vendors are only there weekends and we discovered the Lucky Layla Farms which had amazing cheeses. I bought the Fresh Campesino which was perfect with my tomatoes, avocados and cucumbers for lunch. I’m going to make some homemade ice cream to use with the peaches for dessert.
One of the best things about being a Lifestylist is getting to explore what’s out there and figure out how to make it approachable and accessible. I was amazed how much I saved by buying at the farmers market vs. a typical grocery store – I got 5 huge beautiful tomatoes that were picked that morning for $1 each! My goodies helped me make a quick and healthy lunch for under $1.50 per serving.
We have got to support our local farmers and businesses. The Lemley family has been bring exceptional tomatoes, peaches and other produce to the farmer’s market for over 30 years. I know that a lot of the better restaurants in town also buy from them and I can’t imagine a summer without their goodies. It’s exciting to have all of these choices now and I plan on supported them so they are here for years to come.
Lifestylist Marketing New Champion Home
May 10th
Our latest Lifestylist Designed Home debuted at the Great Southwest Home Show a few weeks ago and the response has been tremendous. The home was for Champion Homes of Texas, and it was a chance to show what the new Champion Homes is all about, and if you haven’t take a look you need to – great homes with great value and style.
Take a look at the article we wrote for MHMSM about the show to learn more about where the factory built housing market is heading.
Marketing Homes the Lifestylist Way
May 4th
What a busy, busy month so far! Three models and a design center for three different clients in three different states – it looks like the Lifestylist Designed concept is gaining momentum.
Yesterday I was out working on the new model home for American Custom Builders in Frisco, TX and was fortunate enough to have the very talented Lisa Stewart of LAS Photo join me to take some preliminary photos. The home isn’t done yet but we wanted to get an idea of what it would like like in photos. This has ended up being one of the more difficult homes that I’ve done, but I think it is going to also be one of the most successful. Using the Lifestylist Designed philosophy we have merchandised this home with items that can be purchased at stores within 10 miles of the home or online – all being within the budget of what a prospective homebuyer might want to spend. Drapes and rods are JCPenney or Bed Bath and Beyond, all furniture is from the Ashley HomeStores, and a lot of the artwork and accessories is from Wisteria – a great catalog resource. Pottery Barn Kids helped the children’s rooms come to life, IKEA helped us stay in budget, and we even found a very cool resource here in Dallas – a consignment pool table company that got us an incredible deal on the pool table and they even picked it up and installed it for us!
American Custom Builders will now be working with the Ashley HomeStores so that their customers can go in and purchase what they see in the model, and we will be providing purchasing information on most of the items in the home. More information and photos to come – I’d love to have your feedback on what you think of the home and our concept.
Lifestylist Speaking Engagement in Las Vegas
Apr 11th
My bags are packed and I’m almost ready to go – tomorrow I’m off to Las Vegas to be a speaker at the 20th annual MHI Congress, and of course I made my reservations with the help of my Travelocity Gnome.
Held every year in Las Vegas, this convention brings together that biggest and brightest names in manufactured and modular housing. This year keynote speakers will be Jim Clayton – founder of Clayton Homes and Harold Gross of Market Research Answers so I know everyone that attends will leave with lots of great new information to grow their businesses with. I’m honored to to speaking in from if this group for the 7th year and I hope to be invited back for many years to come.
This year I’m speaking on how a Lifestylist approaches the fast paced world of Social Media. I bought my first domain name in the early 90′s and I’ve always been intrigued with this very cost effective way of doing marketing. Now I have expanded the Lifestylist Brand to include a presence on various blogs, Blogger, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare,Yelp and You Tube. Is it worth the time investment to manage and update all of these? Absolutely! One of my great new clients, American Custom Builders found me through my Lifestylist Blog so I feel investing the time in keeping up with Social Media pays dividends to my brand and my business.
If you happen to be in Las Vegas next week, come and join us at Caesar’s Palace. If you mention that you read this I’ll give you a copy of my new Do-it-Yourself Guide to Social Media and Networking. See you there!
Lifestylist Marketing Article Published
Apr 2nd
What a busy Spring already! Houses to design, design centers to merchandise, and lots of great marketing ideas to talk about.
Last week I headed to Tunica, MS to attend the South Central Manufactured Housing Show which is held every year at Harrah’s Tunica. Considering the economy, the turnout was fantastic and it was fun to catch up with people I hadn’t seen in awhile. Let me tell you, the homes on display were not your grandma’s trailer – these homes compete in design and quality with any comparable site built home.
If you were not able to attend the show, MH Marketing Sales Management has my review in their virtual magazine and there is also a link to tell you where you can view the over 500 photos we took of these very exciting homes.
Please take a look and let us know what you think!
Best Buy vs Apple Stores
Mar 20th
There is a very simple way to earn my dollars and loyalty as a customer – simplify my life and I’ll be a customer for life. With as hectic and time challenged as we all are, our time is one of our most precious commodities and something I don’t like to waste. Helping to make my life easier and less complicated is what a great Lifestylist, marketing program or customer service department should be all about. To show this, I want to talk about two competitors and how they handle the customer experience.
Best Buy has spent a fortune advertising how they understand the customer and their lifestyles, and they are there for us to help us make the right decisions in our electronics buying dilemmas. They started their “Geek Squad” which is supposed to help customers in their homes or online – for a fee of course. To be honest I had stopped buying at Best Buy because of their sales teams lack of knowledge, and every time I went in and needed help there never was anyone in sight to help. But my grandkids were coming to visit and my television projector that I had bought through NewEgg and have had for years died. I ordered a newer model online and when I received it found out it was a projector, but couldn’t be used with cable. Called them, they were wonderful and immediately issued a refund and a call tag so I could ship it back. This didn’t leave me with enough time to replace before my company got here so went to my local Best Buy to see what they had. After looking at them and trying to decipher what my options were I made a decision and of course – it was mis-marked and the price was actually $200.00 more than the tag said. They wouldn’t honor the price shown, but again I was time challenged so went ahead and bought it. By this time I was working with the manager trying to get them to honor the price, no luck on that but he did talk me into the extended warranty which included one bulb replacement which I knew was an issue. Bought it, got it home in time to hook it up, all was well with the world.
Fast forward 7 months, and the bulb is going out. I call the number on my warranty policy and was given to the parts department after 4 attempts to get connected to the right department, and they didn’t have and couldn’t get a bulb for my model. The warranty is supposed to be “repair or replace” so they try and connect me to customer service where I get disconnected 3 times. At this point we are going on over 2 hours on the phone trying to get this resolved, and remember I was looking for a way to simplify my life. When I finally ask for and talk to a manager… wait for this… they tell me I have to find a place to buy the bulb, pay for it and install it myself, then send them the receipt and they will reimburse me! The only other thing they would do is I have to take the unit into the store, they will ship it off, then they will try to find a bulb, and it could take up to three weeks. Even though they know the part number they won’t look for it until I send the unit to them. Best Buy, and Kevin, Mary, and Daniel who totally wasted my time on a beautiful Saturday – you failed me and every other customer who walks through you doors.
Now let’s look at the Apple Stores. If you have never visited one you need to – I just can’t say enough good things about them. The people who work their are obviously treated well and love their jobs because they couldn’t be nicer, and more helpful. My favorite example is when I was in there having a lesson the other day a gentleman rushed in and asked one of the sales guys for help. Said was from out of town, had an iphone that he hadn’t even purchased from Apple and it had crashed. Oh – and the store was packed like it always is. The sales person said not a problem, leave it with us for 10 minutes or so and we’ll see what we can do. The customer came back, the phone was fixed, no charge to customer and Apple picked up another Customer for life. Apple is there to simplify your life, and they sure have been able to do that for me. I have the confidence to know that when I buy from Apple I’ll have a team of geniuses ready to help me succeed in my marketing and life tasks.
It really doesn’t have to be that hard – if you show that you truly care about your customers it will show. Not once did I get a “sorry you are being disconnected”, “let us try to find that for you”, nothing from Best Buy. They took my money and ran.
The great lesson for me and if there is a silver lesson in all of this it’s that everything should start and end with the customer. I do appreciate the customers that support Lifestylist Design and I consider them a critical part of our success. I know Apple understands this as well which is why if it’s a product I can’t buy from Apple, I’ll be buying online and not from a company (Best Buy) that doesn’t appreciate my business.
Lifestylist Marketing by a True Lifestylist
Mar 13th
What makes Lifestylist Marketing different from other forms of marketing? In our case it’s because the base information that we market around is someone’s lifestyle. To understand that buyer’s needs or expectations we go to places they would go to, shop where they would shop and read what they would read. This includes our extensive research on the travel and leisure industry, and participating in events that would attract the buyers that our clients are hoping to attract. We are definitely more than a design firm, and one of our strengths is our relationships outside the design arena.
We are now busy planning for the Super Bowl that will be coming to Dallas sooner than we think! The Gaylord Texan is the official hotel for the Dallas Cowboys and our relationships with this amazing hotel will help our clients experience this event in a great way. For anyone coming into Dallas that needs recommendations on where to dine or what to see, we are the people in the know that can make that happen. Lisa Stewart of LAS Photo is another one of our great resources and her team can help capture your special Super Bowl memories in photos. Event planning? Extraordinary Events and Design are the people to call.
We’ll be sharing more of our resources in the future – contact us and let us know what your needs are and how we can be of service at answers@lifestylist.com
Savor Dallas Wine Stroll in Arts District
Mar 6th
One of my favorite foodie events that I attend every year is finally here! Savor Dallas started last night with the wine stroll and it couldn’t have been more perfect – perfect weather, perfect locations, perfect food and of course perfect wines!
My favorites were the Cakebread Cellars wines, Fedora, and the food and team at the Dallas Museum of Art. People go to events like these for different reason, but I see it as a great opportunity to get to meet the different winemakers and chefs and really get to know what makes their creations special.
The Cakebread host was amazing. So gracious and willing to share his knowledge. They brought 5 different wines to try and I would have loved to try them all, but with the wine stroll being only 2 hours with over 60 participating companies sadly I had to keep moving. But he did share a DVD that is a Virtual Visit from Vine to Wine with me that I can’t wait to watch and learn from. And the Cabernet that I tried? Stellar!
Fedora is one of my favorite restaurants, and I was thrilled to see them on the stroll at the Nasher Sculpture Center. A beautiful backdrop to beautiful food. I still remember the dish they brought last year because it was a work of art with pomagranate sprinkled on it and tasted great as well! This year they brought a Bruschetta that was divine and I would have loved to have had more than one but I’ll just have to go back and sample them at the restaurant.
Fedora has been very generous about giving back to the community, including HomeAid / HomeBuilders Care. One of the owners was at the wine stroll serving – loved getting to visit with her and being able to thank them for all that they do.
I also absolutely loved the chef and team at Seventeen Seventeen in the Dallas Museum of Art. I wish I would have gotten teh servers name because she was so helpful, and when I told her I wanted to get some photography she brought out fresh food and helped us guard the goodies from all of the participants who couldn’t wait to sample! But what really won me over is when Executive Chef Jason Ferraro came out and introduced himself. I’m not sure restaurants understand how much of an impression it makes when the chef takes the time to come out and greet you. It makes you feel so special, and it makes the dining experience personal.
There is so much more to talk about, but I need to get ready to head to some of the seminars and the Grand Tastings this evening. Hope to see you there!
How Social Are You?
Mar 2nd
It’s hard to believe some days how quickly the world is changing. Am I just getting older or is technology changing the way we live and do business? Social media is changing the way we get our information and how our customers shop. If you don’t have accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Blogger and Buzz you are missing out. If you think I’m writing in a strange foreign language when I talk about these it’s time to do some Google searches and find out what the buzz is all about!
Some of the greatest reasons to join in the conversation with these groups are that:
1. They are free!
2. Information is shared immediately – no lag time for what you want to share to be published.
3. These are great places to listen as well as share your thoughts.
How do you get started? Join us at MHI Congress April 13 – 15 when Lifestylist® Suzanne Felber will be sharing her experiences and resources with this marketing tool. We have also stared a Facebook group for PreFab Housing to help share between our community as well as get consumers excited about what we do. Please join us and help change the image of our community!
A Lifestylist Marketing Model Homes
Feb 14th
Using color is one of the least expensive, most terrifying but also most rewarding ways to change a room. When I’m designing a new model home most builders will encourage me to use memorable colors, but when they first paint the room and see it without any accessories or furniture I often get a call wondering if they have the right information.
These rooms are a perfect example. You can imagine the call the builder got from the superintendent the first time they saw these! This is a model for Canoa Homes in Tucson, and they trusted me enough to wait and see what happened. This is also a great example of designing for your buyer, not yourself – we were targeting families with school age children. A Lifestylist targets in on what the buyer is really looking for, even when they may not realize it themselves.Once we had a few families go through the home we found that almost every female from 2 – 50 wanted that room with those paint colors. It was something the buyer might not have been brave enough to try on their own, but when they saw it completed they loved it.
This is also a great example of Partnership Merchandising. The Home Idea Factory had a great relationship with Home Interiors and Gifts – a direct sell company that we had done styling and product development with. Many of the accessories and “wallies” – the decals on the bath wall – we theirs and we identified them as such so buyers could reproduce what they saw in the room at a price they could afford. The bedding was from Bombay and the furniture from Ashley so all could be bought at local stores or from a Home Interiors and Gifts consultant.
Let your child have a say in what they want their room to look like. It might not be a color you would chose or a style you would like but by letting them be a part of the decorating decision they’ll take ownership of their decisions and be even more proud of what they accomplished.
Happy Valentines Day from all of us at The Home Idea Factory!