What we are hearing quite often lately is, "The lady who works at Wal-Green's (or Wal-Mart, Hastings, the library, Super One, St Vincents, etc) or a friend told me about you! This is by far the best advertising available! One day, a few weeks ago, two ladies came into the store telling us that they had just had the best recommendation to Literary Souls from a complete stranger. That stranger was an employee at Hastings! We've heard similar stories from others - Word Of Mouth advertising is the BEST! Thank you all for the great referrals!
Although we have not promoted them like we should we have Refer-A-Friend cards for our customers. Next time you are in the store pick some up and give then to your friends or anyone you come across looking for a used bookstore. Remember to put your name on the back. When someone brings one in they receive $1 off of their purchase AND you receive $1 off of your next purchase. If you give enough of them out and they are returned to us you could rack up some $$ off! AND every card returned goes into a quarterly drawing for a Literary Souls Gift Certificate or other great prizes! If we start getting lots of them back we may change it to monthly or even weekly drawings!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
On the same topic, advertising, or actually the cost of advertising: Obviously we do not have the resources of the big box stores to advertise sales or specials so we have decided to utilize Facebook to do this. We are randomly posting sales/specials on FB. The more "likes" Literary Souls get, the more often we will post them. If you are on Facebook suggest our page to other friends and/or relatives who might be interested in our store. I know that some people are not on FB for whatever reasons so I will also post random specials here. They will be the same ones that are on Facebook. And for those who are not on the computer much we do have our weekly in-store trivia question -answer it correctly and receive $1 off of your purchase (one trivia discount per week.)
FBC - Our Frequent Buyer Club (or even not so frequent!) - We like to recognize the customers who keep coming back - the computer (what did we ever do without them?) will average the cost of every 20 books you buy and will automatically deduct that amount from your next visit after purchasing the 20th book! It averages out to one free book (give or take)!
This was just a few things I had on my mind to share. On that note I would like to remind everyone that today is Wear Pink Shirt Day.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Wear Pink Shirt Day:
**UPDATE 10/11/10: We realize that some folks are observing National Bullying Prevention Day by wearing purple to support the GLBT community. We encourage everyone to wear whichever color that starts a conversation about the importance of bullying prevention and the reduction of suicides. By working together, we can put a stop to bullying of ALL people in ALL places: kids and adults, schools and workplaces. Pink Shirt Day is a ...day to come together to make a difference in our country, promote tolerance and create a community of acceptance.
- - -
**ORIGINAL INFO 9/11/10: Over 160,000 kids stayed home from school today because of bullies. Too often, bullying goes unreported and is perpetuated by the stigma associated with seeking help. In fact, in many cases, bullying can lead to suicide. Pink Shirt Day is LifeWays' inaugural event to promote bullying prevention in our schools, homes, workplaces and the internet. We are wearing PINK on National Bullying Prevention Day (10/20) to say to others, "The end of bullying begins with me!"
- - -
Why pink?
In 2007, two high school seniors in Nova Scotia, David Shepherd and Travis Price, stood up for a fellow male freshman student who was being bullied on the first day of school for wearing a pink shirt. David and Travis heard about it, bought a bunch of pink shirts, handed them out and texted their friends to wear pink. The next day, nearly the entire student body was wearing pink.By wearing pink, we'll be telling the community that bullying is not okay. No pink shirt? No problem! You don't have to wear a pink shirt to show your support: it can be as simple as a pink necktie, t-shirt or jewelry.
- - -
Join us on October 20th to take a stand and lend a hand. Together, we can save lives.
- - -
If you or someone you know is having a crisis, please call our toll-free 24/7 crisis line at 800.284.8288."
