Social Marketing

By Jen McGahan • September 28th, 2009

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Daily, I follow some big fish and small names in social media and copy writing and try to keep up with various online communities of people interested in some of the same things I am: business, art, politics, religion. I probably waste too much time doing this, but I haven’t tallied up the minutes because I fear the truth in this one area of my life. Having recently committed to writing this book on small business, that’s what I should be doing. Still, there’s this desire to scoop up online info and online candy (let’s be honest), before I get down to work.

I’m telling you this because I suspect sometimes I become transfixed with my computer, and I forget some of the things that make me truly happy — coffee at the Magnolia Cafe and a walk around Ladybird Lake with a friend, volunteering (and seeing my kids) at school, making fiber art in my craft room, which has sadly collected dust since I last used it.

I have to tell you about a woman Sam and I met with last week, a fabric shop owner who took the plunge and opened The Cotton Cupboard in July 09, without any consideration of the state of the economy. She saw a need, found a way to put her personal stamp on it, and rolled it out to the city of Lakeway, TX, a growing former resort town in the hill country west of Austin. She says she never had any doubt about its success (the shop is already profitable) and she adds new customers and class participants daily. Frugal and principled, warm and community oriented, Jessica sat with us for a couple of hours in her store and told us her story. The whole thing is going to be revealed in the book, but I’m adding a snippet of the interview here.

When you hear about social marketing, this is the real thing. When you visit this store, you can get help with a quilt square or color choices, you can browse and touch fabrics you won’t see anywhere else in Central Texas, or you can sit and chat with a friend over coffee and a cookie. (Jessica offered us a surprisingly light and delicious oatmeal cranberry cookie the day we interviewed her.) She recently offered the Girl Scouts a free afternoon of sewing lessons, further embedding the store into the creative life of the community. And the shop is only a few months new.

Online or in person, people crave and revisit those connections. This shop owner’s friendly ideas are growing her small business. We learned a lot from the interview; can’t wait to share more of Jessica’s insights and social marketing ideas with you!