Supporting Local Businesses

Hello world, I am very excited to write this blog. I was able to get the interview that I wrote about in my previous blog. If you haven’t read my previous blog I mentioned at the end that I really wanted to interview Mrs. Andrea Gottschalk, the owner of UNIKAT. Not only because I love jewelry, but also because I would like to incorporate my own jewelry into my own shop. This was my third time in her store and I enjoy looking at all her beautiful jewelry. Her store looks very classy and I thought because of that I probably wouldn’t be able to afford anything in her store, but I was wrong. Although, she has some expensive pieces, she also has many affordable pieces that are just as beautiful, but everything in her store is worth every penny.


This is just something I wanted to share with all my readers. I’ve purchased a pendant from UNIKAT that has now become my favorite necklace. In my family the girls have this tradition. The tradition is that mothers pass a favorite piece of jewelry down to their daughters when they turn sixteen. My grandma passed down a simple gold ring to my mom on her sixteenth birthday and my mom passed the same ring down to me when I turned sixteen. I would like to continue the tradition and pass on my ring (that was given to me by my mother) and my necklace (I purchased from UNIKAT) to my daughter on her sixteenth birthday because these are my favorite pieces of jewelry. I just wanted to share this because my favorite pendant is from UNIKAT and will become apart of my family tradition. Let us move on to the good stuff I was able to learn from Mrs. Gottschalk.

My first question to Mrs. Gottschalk was which internet marketing strategies she uses to promote her business. She at first said that she doesn’t use any internet marketing strategies, but after thinking about it for a moment she told me she did have something online. She doesn’t use blogs, e-mail, newsletters, or social media, but she is apart of a group that promotes their business together. She can be found online at ACD-LV.com (Arts and Culture District) under the business directory. She is apart of a bigger group that is called AMIBA (American Independent Business Alliance), and they are trying to create a site that will offer more information, than the ACD-LV.com site. Mrs. Gottschalk said that this site will be more detailed, with pictures of work and what they specialize in. The second question I asked was which internet marketing strategy works best for her. She said that radio ads, word of mouth, and yellow pages work the best for her, but especially word of mouth.



My third question was what types of strategies she uses to promote repeat business. She has stickers with her business information and they are placed on the tops of the jewelry boxes. When I bought my pendant that was the first thing I noticed about them. I’ve also noticed that she gives out her business cards. Since I’ve been in her store I’ve been given two business cards. I have one in my wallet and one in my business folder. I like the fact that she makes sure to offer her business cards to her customers instead of leaving it up to the customers to take one. As a customer, I know that I don’t think to grab business cards when they’re out on the counter, but with Mrs. Gottschalk handing them out it ensures that customers has her name and number and remember her business.


Another strategy that she uses is cross advertising in prime locations, such as Hotels. She cross advertises with other businesses by having newsletters and business cards at their locations. Mrs. Gottschalk also said that it helps if businesses have nice business cards. Cards that are cool, so customers will notice them and then read them. When I think of business cards, I think of plain white cards, so it really got my attention when I saw UNIKAT’s cards. From my perspective having cool business cards will help small businesses because customers will look at them and want to keep them because of the way they look.

When I asked about her newsletter Mrs. Gottschalk gave me one that was in her display window. I really liked the newsletter. It listed a lot of the small business that are in Las Vegas and their address, number, and a description of what each business offers. I told her that I’ve never seen any newsletters before. She said that part of the problem with the newsletters are that they are having a hard time getting them out to the people to read and the fact that they become outdated.

The fourth question I asked was if it is important for small businesses to have better customer service than bigger businesses. Mrs. Gottschalk said, “Absolutely essential in my opinion, that customer relationship and service is even better because people will always run back to Walmart.” To follow this question I asked if she had any advice for others that would like to start their own small business and she said that to have a good reputation, good customer relations, specialize in something, and offer services. She said, “Create something you can draw groups of people, while browsing your store.” For example, she not only sells jewelry, but she also repairs and makes her own jewelry. Another example that we talked about was that an art gallery in the plaza not only sells art, but they also offer lessons for children to learn how to paint.

The last subject that Mrs. Gottschalk and I talked about was educating the locals about supporting local businesses. I don’t know how we came to this subject, but I’m glad she brought it up. She said that small business are trying to educate the locals on the importance of shopping at local businesses. Supporting bigger businesses, such as, Walmart doesn’t help the community. Supporting local business keeps the money in the town and provides jobs, which will in turn ensure the vitality of the town. She basically described it as recycling money within the town. She also added that her local customers are very important to all local small businesses, compared to the tourist that pass through, because local customers are the ones that are going to do repeat business.

I would like to thank Mrs. Gottschalk for all of her help and taking time out of her busy day to sit and chat with me during lunch time. I really enjoyed talking to her and I think a lot of what she said will help me in the future. Hopefully, this blog can help the small businesses of Las Vegas by helping to spread the word of the importance of supporting local small businesses.

Thank you World for reading my fifth blog. Peace and Love.

Using Social Networks

Hello World. My last blog I wrote that I wanted to compare and contrast the success from my newsletter to my Facebook idea. I ended up not making a newsletter, but I did send out an e-mail. I simply sent out an e-mail to those who asked, letting them know that I received new rings. After discovering that Facebook could be used as a tool for my small business, it became very apparent that my customers preferred that we communicate through Facebook instead of e-mailing back and forth. A few mentioned that they are constantly on Facebook and it would just be more convenient for them if I wrote on their wall or messaged them, rather than e-mail.

Facebook has actually helped me a lot. Previously customers were texting me orders or asking questions, which is fine, but my current phone doesn’t have a lot of inbox space. I was losing orders due to the fact that my cell doesn’t show any new messages unless there is enough space for them to be accepted. Basically, I have to delete messages to get messages. Some times I would erase new messages because I thought they were old messages or not see new messages until days later. How this affected me and my business is that I wouldn’t know that customers ordered anything or I would find out too late. If a customer orders a friendship bracelet I try to finish it and get it to them within a couple of days. It is important to me that they know I’m trying hard to make the things they order in a timely fashion. Erasing orders and finding them too late was not helping me to stay organized or satisfy my customers. Facebook has helped to reduce this problem majorly.

Although, Facebook has helped in this aspect it hasn’t completely solved my problems. Most of my customers are ones that I see in my classes, activities, soccer practices, etc. They are the ones I see constantly. They still rather tell me their orders in person rather than e-mail or message me on Facebook. I would have to say that the number one way that my customers like to order or ask me something is in person, then on Facebook, and lastly via e-mail.

Since I am using a social network as a tool for my business I thought it would be good to share some of what I learned. For my last bulletin board I went on clickz.com and read an article on social networks because from other articles I read they suggested that when a business becomes established they should invest in social media marketing. The article I read for my bulletin board I was Social Marketing by Tessa Wegert. I don’t really want to recap anything that I wrote about in my bulletin board, but I would like to share some of the numbers and percentages that she offered because I think they will convince any business that social marketing is becoming an essential part of successful businesses.

The first number I would like to throw out is that 66% of marketers worldwide are expecting to invest in social networks this year. Also, a poll that was taken showed 51% of Facebook and 67% of twitter users said that, “they are more likely to buy from brands they “friend” or “follow” and 60% on facebook and 79% twitter users said that they are “ more likely to recommend those brands to others.” As a potential business owner this shows me how social networks are directly affecting sales. I would like to share the amount of time that Facebook users spend on their site because according to a site called Nielsen Wire, the time spent on Facebook has increased by 82% this year. This is basically saying that users spend an unimaginable 5.5 hours on Facebook each day. Isn’t that CRAZY?

Another tip that I read just while breezing through clickz.com, reading up on other articles related to social media marketing, is that social media marketing is not something you do half way. In order for social media marketing to really make a difference, businesses need to really incorporate it. Just like it was recommended for newsletter businesses need to make sure that just as much time and effort is put into it. It’s not something businesses can take a break from.

When I finally open my own shop I believe that social media marketing will be just as essential as it is now. Maybe even more so, I can’t say for sure. The one thing I do know is that the amount of time spent on Facebook is a good indication of where potential customers can be found. With people spending that much time on Facebook I really think it’s important for businesses to be where their customers are. I believe that social marketing will work for businesses if done properly and the right amount of time, effort, and money is invested. I know I will invest in social media marketing when I get my business started.

Lastly, I just want to mention that when I do open my own shop I will make sure to separate my personal social networks from my business social networks. From what I’ve read and seen in the past I really don’t think my personal Facebook and business Facebook should be one and the same. It’s not professional. I’m only doing it because my business is smaller than small and combining the two doesn’t create any problems for me or my customers. I just thought I’d add that, so my readers aren’t confused.

For my next blog I’m hoping to get an interview with the owner of UNIKAT. Her name is Ms. Andrea Gottschalk and she specializes in fine jewelry and repairs and her store is located in the Plaza. I’m really excited for this interview and I hope to get a lot of good information about advertising for small businesses.
Thank you World for reading my blog. Peace and Love