Thinking about my challenge to newsagents yesterday about choosing optimism, I have this morning been looking through new marketing from my POS software company where the team put a call out for Tower Systems customers who would like to be professionally photographed in their shop for a national postcard marketing campaign.
These two photos from businesses in South Australia, a bike shop and a specialist confectionery shop, show small business owners happy to be in their businesses and happy to be promoting them. The photos exude optimism.
In each photo you can see pride in their faces. In the background you can see good visual merchandising and professional retailing principles.
The owners of these businesses excuse pride and confidence with justification. They are terrific small businesses having a big impact.
We choose ourselves how happy our shop is. We do this in our heads as well as on the shelves of our businesses.
How would you and your look if this photo was taken in your shop? Thinking about that could guide you to changes to make.
I appreciate there are challenges for the traditional newsagency business. We choose impact of those challenges on our mindset and demeanour and this plays out on the performance of the business.
While there is nostalgic appeal the traditional newsagency, you will make more money breaking free from that history and focussing on representing a bright and happy future.