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Winter 2022
How to Sell With Social Media GET TIPS ON CHOOSING A PLATFORM, BUILDING YOUR AUDIENCE AND MORE
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About Face Designs Acquires Brownlow Gifts Vicki Darrah Retires
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CONTENTS
DARRAH & CO. LTD. 40 JOHN PORTMAN BOULEVARD SUITES 1818, 1819, 1812 & 1834 ATLANTA, GA 30303 (404) 577-6538; (800) 741-6614 FAX: (404) 577-9278 WWW.DARRAHREPS.COM
MADISON/MILES MEDIA PRESIDENT ADAM WEISS EDITOR WENDY ANGEL ART DIRECTOR BEN CARPENTER Darrah & Co. is published twice a year by madison/miles media, 2000 East Lamar Blvd., Suite 600, Arlington, TX 76006. Visit madison/miles media on the Web at www.madisonmilesmedia.com. No part of this publication may be reprinted without permission. © 2022 Darrah & Co.
winter 2022
features
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Up Your Social Game Build your audience and sell more products on social media. Passing the Baton Darrah & Co. founder Vicki Darrah is retiring.
shoptalk 4
About Face Designs Acquires Brownlow Gifts.
in every issue 2
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n Our Minds O Lindsay Darrah DeMyer welcomes you to the winter market in Atlanta.
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ON OUR MINDS
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See You in Atlanta!
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Darrah & Co. Winter 2022
he pandemic continues to change the retail landscape in ways big and small, including causing some consumers to change their shopping habits. Online purchases had been increasing for years, and the past nearly two years has seen that trend upward even further. Our main feature article in this issue helps you capitalize on that trend: Learn how to use social media to build and connect with your audience and sell more products. What social media platform should you focus on? How can you build trust? We’ll tell you! Also in this issue, we introduce you to Shannon Road Gifts, the new name of Brownlow Gifts, which About Face Designs recently acquired. View some of the exciting new products from these two lines as well as what’s in store for their future. We also pay tribute to Darrah & Co. founder Vicki Darrah — my mother — as she retires. We’re looking forward to seeing you in January in our renovated showroom on the 18th floor of Building 2 in Atlanta’s AmericasMart complex. If you haven’t already, contact your rep or the showroom today for an appointment. Don’t forget to follow us on social media (facebook.com/DarrahCompany and @darrahcompany on Instagram) for the latest info on market activities, giveaways and special events.
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shoptalk industry news
An Inspirational
Acquisition
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hinking back on happy memories raising his children, the president of About Face Designs, Robert Ricciardi, is using that nostalgia as inspiration as his company embarks on a new journey. About Face Designs, which produces a line of contemporary gift and fashion accessories, recently acquired Brownlow Gifts and is working hard to bring new categories to its product line starting January 1.
“We’re going to maintain Shannon Road Gifts, which is the new name of the company, as a separate division apart from About Face Designs,” Ricciardi said. “Shannon Road happens to be the road that I resided at for the past 40 years.” The acquisition and expanding product line are a far cry from About Face Designs’ humble beginnings. Ricciardi founded the company in 1998 without a product line and says in its first five Shannon Road Gifts — the new name of Brownlow Gifts — has a wide variety of inspirational giftware.
Brownlow Gifts becomes Shannon Road Gifts as a division of About Face Designs. BY MICHELLE JONES
years, the company tested all types of products hoping to develop a curated product line. “I wanted to be in giftware,” Ricciardi said. “I came from a heavy collectible background and saw some of that appeal was waning with consumers. I wanted to be at price points that were $15 or less retail. I wanted to be in a product that in some way had a message: inspirational, funny or sentimental.” Ricciardi says for about 10 years, starting in 2005, the company found its niche with sentimental and inspirational giftware. Over time, he says, About Face Designs’ 2,000 items became happier, funnier and sometimes even irreverent. “Acquiring Brownlow allows us the opportunity to reconnect with more of the inspirational, sentiment-driven, scripture-based products that we had,” Ricciardi said. “We’re going to continue with the same type of product that they’re in: paper products, textile products, ceramic products. What we will bring are new categories such as aprons and baby onesies.”
MOVING FORWARD
About Face Designs is currently represented by Darrah & Co. and now, the new Shannon Road Gifts will be brought in to Darrah as well. “We want to build our business together as we have with About Face Designs,” Ricciardi said. “I think we have a lot of the same business philosophies, we have a lot of history together, and I think there’s a lot of friendship and caring that will help make us successful.” Ricciardi says Shannon Road Gifts
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Darrah & Co. Winter 2022
About Face Designs is bringing new categories to Shannon Road Gifts, such as these sweet onesies.
will have its own sales organization, and he is especially proud of the fact About Face Designs was able to hire many of Brownlow’s employees. “So when it comes to the level of service, we don’t see that changing. We hope we can do as good, if not better,” Ricciardi said. “The change that they will see is an expansion of different types of product, maybe the expansion of new art. We want to do as well as they’ve done, and if we can expand upon their success, that’s really our goal.” Ricciardi says About Face Designs has already seen immediate success working with Brownlow’s artists who have been developing their giftware line over the past 10 years. “I’m quite proud that we’ve been able to hire a number of the Brownlow Gifts people, so they’ve been able to secure a position with our company,” Ricciardi said. “What has inspired me over the past three months is the way my team has rallied behind this acquisition in regard to absorbing it into our existing company and jumping in with both feet developing the product line and the sales organization and all of the systems that need to happen before January 1.” About Face Designs is also working with Brownlow’s existing creative director and procurement manager.
“A lot of the key people are still in place that made Brownlow successful. That will contribute to our success and minimize the transition disruption,” Ricciardi said. “We’re anxious and excited to see the industry’s response to what we’ve been able to continue and our interpretation of how and where the line can be expanded to in the future.”
One of About Face Designs’ latest collections features modern tie-dye gifts such as mugs, pet products and more.
Stop by the showroom to see About Face Designs’ whimsical and cheeky giftware. Winter 2022 Darrah & Co.
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Selling via social media can seem daunting. Here’s what you need to know to sell more, from picking a platform to connecting with your audience. BY MICHELLE JONES
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acebook, Instagram and TikTok, oh my! Between influencers, paid advertisements, reels and more, it’s easy to get lost in the abyss of social media choices. But even though the options can seem confusing, selling products via social media is a great way to augment your in-store sales and reach new audiences — especially in these pandemic times. Using social media strategically can help build your audience, grow relationships with your customers and sell your products, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. We spoke to marketing strategists who break down how to simplify your social selling strategy and customize it for your business. We also talked to the owner of a small online boutique who shared strategies that are working for her.
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PICKING A PLATFORM
You may be asking which platform is right for your business: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or something else entirely? We know it is frustrating to hear, but there is no one “right” answer. It really depends on who your customers are and where they spend their time online. If you don’t know those answers, talk to your customers, says Van Tran, head of digital at Womaness, which makes solutions for women in menopause. “At the end of the day, what matters to a brand and its success is being super obsessed with customers and knowing where they are,” Tran says. “One of the first things I did was survey the customers. “We asked questions like, ‘What podcasts are you listening to, what TV shows do you watch, what brands do you think do a good job with x, y, z?’ Then
taking all that data, we figured out 10% of them are maybe once a week going on TikTok. So, if TikTok ever comes up as an advertising opportunity for us, that’s way at the bottom of the list because the people have spoken.” Tran says their customers were more than willing to fill out the survey. She believes people want to feel connected to brands they like and genuinely want to help. (And yes, your store is a brand!) Womaness didn’t incentivize the survey takers, but some businesses choose to, such as conducting a drawing for a gift certificate or providing a coupon to those who participate.
GROWING YOUR AUDIENCE
Once you know which platform your customers primarily use, spend your time and energy there to grow your audience.
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Jamie Taylor — who owns Farmington, Connecticut-based social media marketing firm Taylored Media Group — says businesses on Facebook and Instagram should check their analytics to see the age group, ZIP code and other demographics of the people who are following them. Then, tailor your content to that audience. And no matter your number of followers, optimize that audience by posting when your followers are most active and engaged. “Another great simple strategy is local contests,” Taylor says. “If you run
a contest and you’re getting people to enter who are interested in your product or service — and getting them to share it — that’s a really great way to get more people to see you because they’re sharing it to a new audience.” Taylor recommends joining Facebook groups that are relevant to your product types and audience. Engaging in those groups will give you exposure to new audiences who may then start following you. When you’re posting, Taylor recommends using hashtags showing your location and using words that people will commonly search so your posts come up in those searches. For example, a post of yours might be tagged with “#Atlanta #Gifts #BathBombs.”
are the ones where people are organically talking about a product, how they use it and why they love it. “The good ads — [customers] don’t know are ads,” Tran says. “Once you think something is an ad, your guard is already up.” Taylor says it’s important you don’t just post a reel and then forget about it. She recommends retailers engage in a robust question-and-answer format to educate their customers about the product. “There’s so much opportunity for more Q&A,” Taylor says. “You can get a lot more creative and engaging. Customers like that because they feel comfortable by the time they buy the product. They’ve made a decision based on everything they know.”
REELING IT IN
THE POWER OF THE INFLUENCER
While you’re growing your audience, you want to make sure the content on your social page is top-notch. Be true to your brand and, again, know your customers and post content you believe they might like. “If you sell tumblers, maybe they’re really into coffee recipes,” Tran says. “Understand that you can go above and beyond providing them a product. You’re giving them really good value instead of just saying, ‘here buy this tumbler.’” Tran and Taylor agree that a good social strategy is making sure your content feels less like an advertisement and provides valuable information. One way businesses are doing this now is through Instagram reels and Facebook stories, where you can really showcase a product. It’s a strategy that’s worked well for Katie Hallum, who owns the online boutique The Hen House. “When you get someone on a reel, whether it’s a regular person or a celebrity, and they do a tutorial, they can really talk you into buying it,” Hallum says. “We used to watch QVC and they talked you into ordering something, and this is basically what it is in the new day and age.” “That type of content works really well because it gives potential customers a really good idea of what they can expect,” Tran says. The most successful videos she sees
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Another social game changer Taylor is seeing now is retailers becoming branded partners with social media influencers. “Let’s say you send someone a product, and they like the product and they share it on their platform. You, as a business, are allowed to tag and use their branded partnership in your profile,” Taylor says. “You can also create ads based on it, so it’s actually a lot less ‘sales-y’ because you have an influencer wearing your product or using your product. You can actually use their content to sell your product.” You can also use local influencers who genuinely enjoy your store and products to organically grow. They can post to their page how much they like your product. This doesn’t need to be a local “celebrity,” per se, but instead can be simply someone with a lot of social connections. Check out your followers list to see who might fit the bill.
ONE-STOP SHOPPING
Facebook and Instagram are making it easier than ever for consumers to shop on social media sites. Gone are the days where you see an ad on social media and then must leave that site to shop for the item. “You can go straight to the e-commerce store by just tapping on the product that you like,” Taylor says. “It shows the price right away when you tap, so everything
is right there. It’s more convenient and more likely to convert with fewer steps.” It’s a welcome change for Hallum, who says she can link up to five of her products in one Instagram post. “People just touch the picture, and they can see how much it is,” Hallum says. “It helps small businesses seem bigger and more professional. People used to comment and ask, ‘What do you have this in? Send me the link to it. How much does it cost?’ Now, that saves you a lot of time because they can click it, they can read all about it, you don’t have to sit there and do all your customer service part because that’s already taken care of.”
DO YOUR RESEARCH
On The Hen House website’s analytics, Hallum can see how many sales come from both Facebook and Instagram. She says 90% of her sales come from Facebook, so that’s where she spends most of her energy. Eight percent comes from
Instagram, and the other 2% are from people finding her website directly. “I could have a website, but if I didn’t have social media, I wouldn’t have a way to tell anyone about it,” Hallum says. She’s tried a lot of different ways to sell on social media, and not every item is going to be a hit. “Sometimes it’s just trial and error to go from just getting a bunch of likes to getting people to actually purchase,” Hallum says. “Sometimes I see 50 people clicked on it, and not a single one bought it. And then sometimes 25 people clicked on it, and 17 people bought it.” It takes a lot of work to keep up with social media, but knowing what works for you can save you time and money. “Do your research, take a class on social selling before you go spend a bunch of money on an ad because sometimes you can spend $10 a day and reach more people than spending $50 a day,” says Hallum. Wherever you decide to go from here,
Taylor says it’s important to just get started on your strategy. “A lot of businesses I talk to have that fear of not wanting to start because they feel like everything has to be perfect,” Taylor says. “All you need is a smartphone, and no one knows your product better than you do, so start with that. Don’t be afraid to get out there with what you do know instead of focusing on what you don’t know.”
Winter 2022 Darrah & Co.
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After 32 years heading up Darrah & Co., Vicki Darrah is retiring.
Darrah & Co. founder Vicki Darrah reminisces as she readies for retirement and officially handing over the reins to her daughters.
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L
ooking at the roster of employees at Darrah & Co. is like looking at a handbook about how companies today hope to be run: It’s filled with people who have dedicated decades of their working years to a business that treats them like family. It’s been a priority for Darrah & Co. Owner and CEO Vicki Darrah since she bought the wholesale company from a woman named Louise Allen in 1989. “Louise retired at the age of 72, which I thought was really old,” Vicki said. “Today, I’m 77. I probably should have retired five years ago according to that.” At the end of 2021, Vicki Darrah will fully step away from the company, leaving her daughters Lindsay DeMyer and Ashley Hall to run the business. “It’s a semi-sweet exit because I’ve been in this business for so long,” Vicki said. “I’ll be so happy to be retired and to have left the company in such good hands not only with the daughters, but also with all the staff and the reps and the lines that we’ve acquired over all these years.” Looking back through those years, when Darrah & Co. handwrote all their orders, Vicki remembers being one of the first to start scanning orders. “The buyers would come to market, and they really weren’t sure about that,” she said. “They were afraid the orders would be lost. They were right. We lost orders. There was no doubt about it. Today, if you’re still handwriting orders, you’re really a dinosaur.”
CONTINUOUS GROWTH
Vicki remembers taking big risks to grow the business to where it is today. In 1992, Darrah & Co. went from occupying 2,500 square feet at AmericasMart in Atlanta to 6,500 square feet on the top floor of building two. “At first, I thought, ‘This is not a good move, Vicki. You should not have taken that much space.’ My rent increased twoand-a-half to three times, and I was still primarily representing paper companies and novelty gifts,” she said. Those products weren’t bringing in enough business to cover that kind of
rent, so Vicki decided to transition more into gifts to cover the difference. “We could have bigger shows and pay our bills and stay in business,” Vicki said. “We went from three sales reps to two to three times that amount.” Today, Darrah & Co. has 23 people in the field and occupies 22,000 square feet of space at AmericasMart. “We felt it very necessary to have some bigger shows,” Darrah said. “We took a risk, and we decided to take on this company called Blue Sky. The very first show we had with them was a half-million-dollar show. Well, that was incredible back then. You didn’t take a brand-new company and have a half-million-dollar show for them. That was just unheard of.”
“Vicki plans to be fully retired but does plan to still make an appearance at market.” Taking risks continues to pay off for Darrah & Co. Vicki says another company they started out with from its beginning is insulated drink company, Swig. “It didn’t have insulated drinkware at the time. They had a number of different product lines,” Darrah said. “Then a couple of years ago, they decided to concentrate on their insulated drinkware and get rid of all the other categories. That has been extremely successful for us as well as for them.” Darrah & Co. also saw the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to evolve and help buyers get necessary items to customers. They began working with Pomchies, which was using the scraps from a swimwear factory to make facemasks. “We started selling their masks. We had one customer who wanted to buy from them early on, but they didn’t
Vicki Darrah’s daughters Ashley Hall, left, and Lindsay DeMyer, right, will be heading up Darrah & Co. starting in 2022.
want to do a credit card,” Darrah said. “So, in this instance, the sales rep said, ‘What should we do?’ I said, ‘Well, guess what we’ll do? We’ll fund them. We’ll pay their first order.’ So that’s what happened, and that company today is still buying from Pomchies. Had we not taken that risk, that first order would have never gone through.”
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Darrah hopes her daughters will continue to take risks to grow the business. They’re well equipped, too, having worked in the company since the early 2000s. They learned the ropes from their mother, who didn’t always make it easy in the beginning. “I said to Lindsay, ‘You need to learn how hard it is to be a sales rep, so I’m gonna put you in the field, in not such a great territory,’” Vicki said. “She will tell you herself she cried every day. She was not used to buyers saying ‘no.’ And she thought they really meant no. What they meant was to keep at it, and eventually you’ll develop a relationship and they’ll become totally trustworthy of what you tell them about what is selling and what isn’t selling.” Lindsay remembers this life lesson from her mom in a similar way. “She told me that five ‘nos’ equals a ‘yes,’” she said. “That, in a funny way, really teaches you if you believe in something, keep going back. You’ll eventually get it.” Lindsay and Ashley hope to maintain the legacy their mother created. “She really intentionally went out to create a Winter 2022 Darrah & Co.
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Vicki Darrah will be in the Darrah & Co. showroom for a few days at January market. Stop by to see her!
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“It’s a semi sweet exit because I’ve been in this business for so long.”
In retirement, Vicki Darrah plans to spend more time with family, including her siblings Betsy and Roger, left and middle.
company that was people first,” Lindsay said. “She has taught me the power of maintaining good relationships and putting your employees ahead of you. She’s created a lot of loyalty within our
company, and it’s just unique in this day and age.” Vicki looks forward to having more time to spend with her husband, Andy, and their 11 grandchildren. “I’m sure
we’ll do some more traveling that we haven’t been able to do the last couple of years,” she said. “We’d like to spend more time with family and friends and be more relaxed with our everyday lifestyle.” Vicki plans to be fully retired but does plan to still make an appearance at market. “It’s going to be bittersweet if I do. It’ll be harmful to me if I don’t,” she said. “I think I’ll probably show up for a day or two. Not because I’m going to be any great asset to them, but to continue to be a face.” When a longtime employee of Darrah & Co. got married, Vicki wrote a toast to his future. Her words also make for a perfect toast to her in retirement: “Drink and dance and laugh and cry. Remember to never deny the blessing from above. We are blessed to be here with you to say we love you and what fond memories we will have to share this special time with you. So, let’s raise a glass to years of happiness.”
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