One of the most fascinating things to me is how much misinformation floats around in the cigar business, and how many poorly informed ideas I hear expressed. This is a shame, as it diminishes our credibility as an industry every time an employee in a cigar shop repeats these shopworn ideas.
I cringe every single time I overhear someone recommend that all beginning smokers start with Connecticut wrapped cigars. Folks, I can make a cigar with a Connecticut wrapper that would make even the most seasoned cigar smoker break out in a cold sweat and feel their blood race.
Or, how about this one? "The dark wrappers are stronger." Think about it folks. How great a percentage of the tobacco does the wrapper comprise, and therefore how much strength could it add? In simple terms, you're confusing body with strength.
I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that what we need as an industry is for the people in it to finally accept that a little education wouldn't hurt them, and might even help.
Fortunately there's a resource available that every retailer should be taking advantage of: Tobacconist University, and completion of their Certified Retail Tobacconist course should be mandatory for every employee in every shop in the country.
If you haven't heard of this, or if you have and just haven't bothered with it yet, maybe it's time you do as I've done: require every staff member to attend and receive certification as a requirement for further employment.
It's time we as an industry separated the wheat from the chaff.
A personal journey about cigars, tobacco, and the people who make them.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
And still, it's enough
We've never completed our movie
nor have we taken that walk
Our symphony faded, unfinished
merely abstract and casual talk
A gypsy's room, sadly barren
never more than a weak embrace
Your eyes are across the table
but you in another place
nor have we taken that walk
Our symphony faded, unfinished
merely abstract and casual talk
A gypsy's room, sadly barren
never more than a weak embrace
Your eyes are across the table
but you in another place
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Use it or lose
There's a war shaping up on the internet, and an awful lot of cigar retailers aren't even aware it's coming.
The practical reality is that Social Media, you know, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, and more are making it ever more easy for your competition to gain an edge and pull market share away from you.
We, and several other small cigar manufacturers, go out of our way to use your Social Media presence to your advantage, but some of you might as well go back to sticking paper signs on your front doors, because you just don't get it.
So, here are a few basic things you can do to help us help you, since many of you are too apathetic to help yourselves:
1) Follow us back on twitter at the very least. Even if you're too lazy to use it yourself, it helps us to help you with your marketing, because it gives us greater flexibility in promoting your shop. Be active and try to tweet at least a few times a day, but don't just send out the usual "We're desperate so we're giving this much off today!" Engage the audience with interesting and informative information. If you're using a twitter name that has nothing to do with cigars make sure cigars are mentioned in your profile, and in as many of your tweets as possible. Don't just tweet "We have Grimalkins." Make it "We have Grimalkin cigars by @EmilioCigar." That way people interested in cigars can find you when they search, and you're reaching both your followers and mine.
2) Numerous studies have shown that Facebook users are far more likely to interact with you if you include a photo with your post. Posting something like "Me and Bob smoking" gives your Facebook followers nothing to respond to. Ask questions and ask for answers. Every time you receive a new product post it to your Facebook wall with a photo, describe it completely, and add a link to the manufacturers Facebook page as well. Give your customers all the information they need at one time, and become a portal for them to find out more.
3) Google+ is another social media platform that can allow you to reach your audience, and like others allows you to post pictures and links to interesting and important information. Over time your ability to reach out to potential customers can expand exponentially.
4) Need a place to host pictures? Try using Pinterest. It's an interesting new tool that allows you to categorize photos into areas of interest, and to speak to your followers about other things you're interested in. If you look carefully over time at how your friends and customers categorize their own interests here you may well find you have more in common than you ever knew. Use it to your advantage. Engage them on topics you have a common interest in other than just always business, and solidify your relationship in other ways.
5) Cross post information from one platform to another so that your customers can find you where they want to find you, and not just where you're comfortable spending your time. Some people simply prefer to consume their media in different ways, and you should feed that desire. On every social media platform you use find your actual customers and either friend them, follow them, or whatever is appropriate. You don't need to be friends with the smoking fetish chick in Serbia. You need to be friends with the people who drive to your shop and spend money.
6) Lastly, there are tools available to help you measure your performance in promoting your business on the web, One of these is Klout. It's well worth checking to see how you compare with others in the industry, and to begin examining what is working and not working for you. Take some time to review your Klout profile, and begin improving your web presence in ways that increase your Klout score.
If you're one of those who think all this social media stuff is a waste of time you may as well start having the attorneys prepare your bankruptcy filing. Some day soon a 20 year old kid who has been buying cigars from you is going to think "Hey I'd like to open my own shop!", and when he or she does they're going to outperform and out promote you, because this is what they've grown up with. The media adept generation are not only your future customers, but potentially the future competition you should fear the most.
See what I just did? I'm sure some of you didn't.
The practical reality is that Social Media, you know, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, and more are making it ever more easy for your competition to gain an edge and pull market share away from you.
We, and several other small cigar manufacturers, go out of our way to use your Social Media presence to your advantage, but some of you might as well go back to sticking paper signs on your front doors, because you just don't get it.
So, here are a few basic things you can do to help us help you, since many of you are too apathetic to help yourselves:
1) Follow us back on twitter at the very least. Even if you're too lazy to use it yourself, it helps us to help you with your marketing, because it gives us greater flexibility in promoting your shop. Be active and try to tweet at least a few times a day, but don't just send out the usual "We're desperate so we're giving this much off today!" Engage the audience with interesting and informative information. If you're using a twitter name that has nothing to do with cigars make sure cigars are mentioned in your profile, and in as many of your tweets as possible. Don't just tweet "We have Grimalkins." Make it "We have Grimalkin cigars by @EmilioCigar." That way people interested in cigars can find you when they search, and you're reaching both your followers and mine.
2) Numerous studies have shown that Facebook users are far more likely to interact with you if you include a photo with your post. Posting something like "Me and Bob smoking" gives your Facebook followers nothing to respond to. Ask questions and ask for answers. Every time you receive a new product post it to your Facebook wall with a photo, describe it completely, and add a link to the manufacturers Facebook page as well. Give your customers all the information they need at one time, and become a portal for them to find out more.
3) Google+ is another social media platform that can allow you to reach your audience, and like others allows you to post pictures and links to interesting and important information. Over time your ability to reach out to potential customers can expand exponentially.
4) Need a place to host pictures? Try using Pinterest. It's an interesting new tool that allows you to categorize photos into areas of interest, and to speak to your followers about other things you're interested in. If you look carefully over time at how your friends and customers categorize their own interests here you may well find you have more in common than you ever knew. Use it to your advantage. Engage them on topics you have a common interest in other than just always business, and solidify your relationship in other ways.
5) Cross post information from one platform to another so that your customers can find you where they want to find you, and not just where you're comfortable spending your time. Some people simply prefer to consume their media in different ways, and you should feed that desire. On every social media platform you use find your actual customers and either friend them, follow them, or whatever is appropriate. You don't need to be friends with the smoking fetish chick in Serbia. You need to be friends with the people who drive to your shop and spend money.
6) Lastly, there are tools available to help you measure your performance in promoting your business on the web, One of these is Klout. It's well worth checking to see how you compare with others in the industry, and to begin examining what is working and not working for you. Take some time to review your Klout profile, and begin improving your web presence in ways that increase your Klout score.
If you're one of those who think all this social media stuff is a waste of time you may as well start having the attorneys prepare your bankruptcy filing. Some day soon a 20 year old kid who has been buying cigars from you is going to think "Hey I'd like to open my own shop!", and when he or she does they're going to outperform and out promote you, because this is what they've grown up with. The media adept generation are not only your future customers, but potentially the future competition you should fear the most.
See what I just did? I'm sure some of you didn't.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Land of Conclusions
On my way home from the airport this morning I heard a brief excerpt from a Phil Collins song, and instantly I transmogrified that into "Land of Conclusions." Why? Because I've watched over the past year, as we've done what we've done, people reach conclusions absent all the facts.
With the advent of the internet, social media, and hand-held portable communication the entire world has changed, and although some of us that use these technologies to our advantage are as careful as possible to try to be as clear as possible we are still just a part of the "noise" of life. It is the noise that distorts every message and allows for misinterpretation, confusion, and unwarranted conclusions.
And yet, it is our own fault. We know what we mean when we use this keyboard, but because we do we assume others will. We know when we give with noble purpose that our purpose is indeed noble and that others will realize it as so.
Here's the problem: We know what we know, but we overlook what others don't know, and thereby set the stage for others to draw mistaken conclusions from what we've given them, or that they've obtained from "sources" they deem reliable.
The ramifications of extrapolating from limited data are well known within the scientific community, but in the social media community extrapolation is almost the norm, yet unfortunately there are really no conseqences to those who practice it.
What this means for those of us in business is this: each time someone takes it upon themselves to embellish a fact, or draw an unwarranted conclusion to polish their own reputations as "having insider knowledge" the only damage done will be to the unwitting victim. It doesn't cost the perpetrator a penny.
Here's my advice for those of you who, in your zeal to break the latest news or have the latest pseudo insider information speak out of turn: Take a deep breath, use that phone that is much smarter than you to dial my number, and ask me questions. I will answer honestly, forthrightly, and completely. I will then ask you to respect those confidences that, when broken, may impact the future of my business, my children, and my ability to do for those I love what I love to do. Fail to do that, and you've revealed the essence of your character, or lack thereof, as the case may be.
Where we all fail in this process is not that we haven't imparted information, but in that we've failed to have an actual conversation, and thereby wander into "The Land of Conclusions." We are all guilty.
With the advent of the internet, social media, and hand-held portable communication the entire world has changed, and although some of us that use these technologies to our advantage are as careful as possible to try to be as clear as possible we are still just a part of the "noise" of life. It is the noise that distorts every message and allows for misinterpretation, confusion, and unwarranted conclusions.
And yet, it is our own fault. We know what we mean when we use this keyboard, but because we do we assume others will. We know when we give with noble purpose that our purpose is indeed noble and that others will realize it as so.
Here's the problem: We know what we know, but we overlook what others don't know, and thereby set the stage for others to draw mistaken conclusions from what we've given them, or that they've obtained from "sources" they deem reliable.
The ramifications of extrapolating from limited data are well known within the scientific community, but in the social media community extrapolation is almost the norm, yet unfortunately there are really no conseqences to those who practice it.
What this means for those of us in business is this: each time someone takes it upon themselves to embellish a fact, or draw an unwarranted conclusion to polish their own reputations as "having insider knowledge" the only damage done will be to the unwitting victim. It doesn't cost the perpetrator a penny.
Here's my advice for those of you who, in your zeal to break the latest news or have the latest pseudo insider information speak out of turn: Take a deep breath, use that phone that is much smarter than you to dial my number, and ask me questions. I will answer honestly, forthrightly, and completely. I will then ask you to respect those confidences that, when broken, may impact the future of my business, my children, and my ability to do for those I love what I love to do. Fail to do that, and you've revealed the essence of your character, or lack thereof, as the case may be.
Where we all fail in this process is not that we haven't imparted information, but in that we've failed to have an actual conversation, and thereby wander into "The Land of Conclusions." We are all guilty.
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